We left the Hilton at 10:30pm and arrived at the airport at 10:45pm. To get to the check-in desks, you must first pass a security screen and this time I remembered to take off my belt and I went through without setting off the machine. The online check-in desks were not open and we were directed towards the quick baggage drop counters which are also used by passengers who used the kiosk check-in service. As a result there were 4/5 people in front of us and we had to wait about 20 minutes where we were told that our flight would be departing from gate 17 and that the gate would open at 2:25am for our 3:10am departure.
Once through check-in, we had to queue again for secondary screening. The UAE has just implemented the 100mL/clear plastic bag rules (on 17/06) and it seemed as though not many passengers were aware of the rule change. The area was pretty chaotic with people having to go through their hand luggage to throw away bottles of water and the like. Other passengers were told to take off their shoes for screening while others were not the selection process seemed a bit random and Im not too sure what sort of criteria they used. Some passengers tried to get through with liquids greater than 100mL and they were subject to bag searches by the security staff. One guy I saw had about 15 bottles of perfume confiscated, while others had beer and tinned food taken.
We made it to the departure area at about 11:30pm and got a bite to eat and browsed the duty free. The store selling chocolate/alcohol also doubles as a supermarket with packs of Lurpack and gigantic boxes of Daz, things I would have never imagined to buy at the airport. A passenger on his way to Bangladesh stocked up on about 100 cans of Coke how he was going to carry them all I have no idea.
The gate opened at 1:40am and boarding commenced at 2:35am. This flight to Kuala Lumpur would continue to Jakarta and there were a lot of students going back home. The gate area wasnt really big enough for the number of passengers and as there was only one member of the ground staff checking boarding passes before entering the airbridge, it became a bit of a scrum. Boarding was called by row, but clearly passengers were queuing when their rows had not been called which made things even worse. Ive never really understood the desire to get on board as quickly as possible to a seat to which youre confined to for the next 7 hours or whatever.
Once on board the captain let us know that the flight time would be 6 hours and 30 minutes and that we should expect some turbulence. As we were seated in 14B/C, there was a passenger in 14A. She was on her way from Glasgow to Jakarta to meet her friend. This flight was only a couple of days after the incident at Glasgow and she said that although there were police diversions and the damage could clearly be seen, Glasgow airport was running pretty smoothly and that she had experienced no delays.
As this was a middle of the night flight, Emirates have decided that people dont want a heavy meal after take off and so the menu looked like this:
As You Like It
-tortilla wrap with Thai-style chicken -or- mushroom tortilla wrap
-fresh seasonal fruit
-assorted chocolate and cereal bars
Breakfast
-orange juice
-fresh seasonal fruit
-cheese omelette -or- mee goreng (stir-fried noodles)
-muffin
-croissant
-tea/coffee
We pushed back from the gate at 3:25am and eventually took off at 3:45am. ICE was only displaying the airshow and it was quickly rebooted, returning to its usual capabilities. The As You Like It service was so quick and efficient that instead of the mushroom tortilla, I was thrust a chicken tortilla which was a tad on the spicy side. Managed to watch Starter for Ten before feeling the need to try and get some sleep. Just a note on the toilets as well as paper towels they also had Emirates flannels which although very nice led to the question of what to do with them once you had dried you hands. They seemed a bit to fancy to stick in the bin and as a result there was a pile of them next to the washbasin which was a tad unsanitary and unkeeping with the pristine condition of all the other Emirates loos which I used.
Breakfast was served two and a half hours out of Kuala Lumpur and I chose the omelette which was perfectly fine for an airline omelette. The announcement that we were landing and to switch off electronic devices was made only 10 minutes before landing this was compared to 50 minutes before landing on EK006. Do the devices only interfere with equipment during the actual take off or landing? We touched down at 2:10pm and made it out of the airport by 2:50pm.
As some of you may know, KLIA is about 60km away from the city centre and the main public transport options are the KLIA Ekspres which runs every 20 minutes taking 30 minutes into town and costing RM35 (approx. 5) or the coach service which is hourly (12:30, 1:30, etc) taking 1 hour and costing RM10 (approx. 1.50). Both services take you to KL Sentral which is the main transportation hub in the city. We took the coach and then took a taxi (you must first purchase a coupon which you give to the driver done I think to ensure consistent pricing) to my Uncles office.
Jonathan
