MH780 to Bangkok and my gate mix up at KLIA

 MH780 to Bangkok and my gate mix up at KLIA

At the end of October I travelled to Bangkok for a long weekend.

I didn't want to take MH796, which departs at 22:00, or use half a day's leave. So I decided to work from the lounge for the latter part of the day and take MH780 at 18:05 instead.

I arrived at the lounge around 15:30. It was quiet and peaceful so I took a table in the dining room next to the window. As it was Thursday, the new menu rotation had just started and I was pleased to see it was one of my favourites.

To start I had the potato soup, which was OK, but next time I will try the Szechuan soup. The main course was the beef tenderloin steak, which was well presented and very tasty. The service was excellent and together with the lovely food it made for a very pleasant dining experience. Apologies for the food photos as I was too hungry to take my time over them.

After my late lunch I moved to the Galleries area, where the team kindly let me use a dining table so I could get some work done. From there I also caught the arrival of Lufthansa on only its third day of operation since resuming flights to KL.

Several of the lovely staff dropped by to say hello and they really are a fantastic bunch who always give you a warm welcome. It never ceases to amaze me how many people actually read our posts, which is a good reminder that constructive criticism is welcome but abuse and rants are not.

All too quickly it was time to close the laptop and head over to the main contact pier for my flight. I was walking towards H8 while chatting with a friend on WhatsApp when I heard the final call for G8. *&$%... time to pusing balik ke G8!

After a brisk walk I cleared an empty security line, was one of the last to board and settled into 3C, my preferred seat.

The on time pushback and prompt departure were appreciated because bad weather was approaching. The first 20 or so minutes were pretty bumpy with the seatbelt sign staying on.

I had used Chef on Call to pre-book the Ayam Sambal Bali for dinner. It was tasty as usual, although it seemed a little more pedas than normal.

The Business Class cabin was full but an excellent, attentive and proactive crew made sure every passenger was very well looked after, which led to a pleasant and relaxing flight.

With 9M-MAX operating the flight there was no internet connectivity, but that was no real issue on such a short flight.

We landed at Suvarnabhumi on time and parked at F2. I made my way to immigration to try the arrival eGates for the first time.

The staff at the entrance to the immigration hall didn't seem to listen or understand. They sent me and several others to the regular foreigners' section, which had a moderate queue. Fortunately there was a small barrier gate where people were being let through to reach the eGates. They aren't as quick as the NIISE gates at KLIA and require fingerprint scans, but I was through in a minute or so.

Baggage at Suvarnabhumi is notoriously slow, but it was my lucky day. The priority bags appeared within a minute of me reaching the carousel.

All in all, an excellent flight and a hassle free experience at Suvarnabhumi.

After Bangkok I needed to get back to Singapore. MH flights were busy and expensive (they have been since the SQ deal!) while SQ offered a similar price for a direct flight on a widebody with flatbeds. Because I booked the trip less than two weeks out, KrisFlyer points for the return were far too expensive. 

I ended up with another option, which involved a downgrade and some excellent service recovery.

More on the return in a later post.