Category Archives: Reviews

Thai Airways First Class Seoul to Bangkok on TG659

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Thai Airways has been an underdog of Star Alliance for quite some time. Despite providing quite a good service and delivering food and drinks during flights, Thai Airways still has issues of being quite unreliable, which affects the reputation of the company.

Thai First Class flight from Seoul Incheon Airport (ICN) to Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) was a nice and pleasant surprise.

While flying first class with any airline from Star Alliance via Seoul ICN airport, you will have access to Asiana first class lounge, which is ok, but definitely not the best lounge out there. Check the review of Asiana first class lounge here.

Thai flight to BKK was boarding on time and had no delay, it was operated by Airbus 747 with the updated cabin, which is a drastic improvement to old 747 cabins, but yet nothing compared to Lufthansa first class cabin. The most interesting part is definitely a middle seat, which is quite a unique seating combination, compared to other airlines. It is an interesting concept to keep one more row as just one seat, but also looks weird.

Booze:


Thai Airways does not have much of variety in first class service when it comes to champagne. It is Dom Perignon Vintage 2006, but it is a very good choice! Definitely, no complaints on the bubbly choice. Wines are less interesting and presented by some generic Australian, New Zealand and European varieties.
Food:


This particular flight it was bad… It was just really bad. When flying to BKK you cannot “order a Chef” service, so you are limited to the menu options. Beef with rice was just disgusting, it looked like baby vomit and the taste was corresponding, One messy place of some overcooked beef mixed with some over boiled rice, nothing to complement there.

And here is vegetarian option offered in Thai Royal First cabin


It was definitely tasting much better than meat. Some tofu with curry, good tomato soup, and different veggies.

Service:


Definitely, a strong side of most Asian airlines and especially Thai Airways is exceptional service onboard. Flight attendants in Thai Royal First class are putting extra effort into making it a very pleasant and relaxing experience. They are always there for you and trying to go an extra mile no matter what request you have.

Cabin:


Depending if you like those personal “cubicles” or not, you will love or hate Thai new cabin. For me, I like more open spaced cabins and those cubicles looked wrong. Especially, if you are flying with 2 friends and want to talk to them, rather than being isolated. By no means, it provides any sort of additional privacy in comparison to popular private suites. Yet, the seat is nice, it transforms into the full flatbed, allows to have a dining table enough for 2 persons (to dine with a friend), has all the extra space needed to store your belongings.

Amenity Kit:


On the bright side, I managed to get PINK Rimowa amenity kit. It is the cutest looking amenity kit out there made by Rimowa and Lufthansa does not carry that color. On the other hand, Thai Royal First does not provide any decent products in those kits. It is really the cheapest possible products, nothing compared to Lufthansa La Prairie skin care.

Overall:

Thai Royal First is a good alternative within South Asia. It is the only direct flight with first class from Seoul (ICN) to Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) available with Star Alliance. The cabin is nice, service is good and champagne selection is delicious. Food wise, it’s a complete gamble. You can get something delicious, or gross as I did.

In Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) if you transfer to a domestic flight, do not rush to domestic lounge. It does not have a single drop of alcohol and no smoking area. Try staying in the International part of the airport, otherwise, you might need to pay 25 Euros for a bottle of Prosecco and drink it on the rocks!

Eventyr Lounge review in Kastrup Copenhagen CPH airport

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In the beginning of March 2017 Copenhagen Kastrup Airport announced new lounge in C departure zone (non-Schengen flights).

Now it is time to review Eventyr Lounge in Copenhagen airport.

Eventyr Lounge review

Video review:

Location:

Eventyr Lounge is located in C departure zone, near Gate C26, which is right after passport control and dedicated to all non-schengen flights from Copenhagen. Clear signs assures you cannot miss it.

 

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Entrance:

All travelers flying from CPH airport can enter the lounge for a fixed 250 DKK fee (30€). Unfortunately, American Express is not accepted and you have to pay with Visa or MasterCard.

British Airways business class and oneworld Sapphire/Emerald tier flyers can access for free, when departing on British Airways operated flights.

Lounge:

Given that Eventyr Lounge is only few months old, it looks quite nice, clean and fresh. When I entered the lounge at noon, I was the only visitor for 20 minutes, followed by a few British Airways customers.

Furniture is brand new and has many seating options, tables, sofas, work zones and everything in between.

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Eventyr lounge is very nice decorated, with lots of plants and has spectacular overview of C gates.

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Booze:

Straight to the most important part, alcohol availability and selection!

Eventyr lounge is equipped with draft beers, some cheap heavy booze and an interesting wine dispenser.

Both white and red wines are French Le Petit Chat. To my honest surprise, white one was quite drinkable, even though, I usually refuse to even clean my toilet with Frenchie wine ;).

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Interestingly, wine fridge is full of wine bottles, where first row has tubes, which transfer wine.

It is fun to use such interesting wine dispenser, but in case lounge is crowded, changing empty bottles and tubes consumes unnecessary time, both from lounge staff and visitors.

Food:

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Food options are very limited and boring, but this is a case of most lounges. Standard soup of a day, in my case it was thai chicken soup, one kind of cheese, ham, tasteless cabbage salad without any dressing, some bread and, actually, very tasty hummus.

To my surprise there were two kinds of halal meat.

Showers/restrooms:

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Shower rooms and restrooms are fresh, clean and sparkling white. Surely, with not that many customers it is well expected. Would be more interesting to see it again during crowded period.

I did not find any shower amenities. Perhaps, you can ask lounge staff for it.

Overall:

Eventyr Lounge is a nice addition to Copenhagen Kastrup Airport, especially in boring C Pier. Hands down, Eventyr Lounge has the best views among all CPH lounges.

Would I pay to access this lounge again? Less likely.

Would I visit it when flying Great British Airways? Definitely! Enjoy a glass of something, while watching big birdies taxing to/from gates.

What do you think of Eventyr Lounge in CPH airport?

Would you pay to access it and how do you compare it to other lounges in Kastrup?

Travelgenio review – tricky sneaky scammers!

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I just happened to be looking for a flight today, and as usual used SkyScanner.com meta search to find prices. And if you have ever used SkyScanner or Momondo, you know how many flight deals you get. It is impossible to keep track of all trustworthy websites to book your flights, and today I got experience with Travelgenio, which I would recommend to avoid at all costs.

I personally trust SkyScanner, as I have been using it for several years by now, so I do not check reviews of websites they are offering in their search. First cheapest options were ignored, as they do not accept SAS EuroBonus Amex and I could benefit from few thousand points for my next first class trip in May.
I checked Travelgenio.com and hey, they do accept Amex. Bingo!

Next step, check if the price on SkyScanner is matching on Travelgenio, as it is quite common to get notification that the price has increased since last search. Bingo again, same price displayed when I visit Travelgenio flight results. As you could see, Travelgenio offers me a flight for 305.65 euros. Lets remember this number.

I selected the flight and got to the second page, where I was asked for my personal information, email, DOB and etc. Once again, for second time I see the same price for the flight, 305.65 euros.
Third page offers endless amount of insurance, coverage, protections and etc. I don’t need any, so let’s move further.

Fourth page, which is showing me price for 3rd time is looking like this:

 

Travelgenio review scam

Travelgenio review

Once again we see our magical 305.65 euros, which we have seen at the very least 3 times by now. Once on SkyScanner and twice during booking process. But now we also find a Special Discount, which is not explained why, when and how. We also see a selection of credit card logos, with some numbers next to it. It is quite common that American Express cards are processed with additional fees, but it is clearly 0.00 €.

So my reasoning is, you have a fare of 311.61 and got unexplained discount of 5.96, and if you pay with Maestro or Visa Debit/Credit there will be additional 2,98 € discount, meanwhile any other card will have 0 impact on your total price.

I have my personal details on auto-fill in Google Chrome, same as my Amex credit card details, two clicks to fill it in, quickly select 0,00 € American Express option and click Submit.

And only while submitting progress, I realized my total price was changed by double the amount of Special Discount. The payment went through and it was too late to cancel it.

So I wanted to figure out, what is going on?

Apparently, the total price that has been shown twice during booking process is only valid if you pay Maestro or Visa Debit/Credit. To start with, who on earth still has Maestro card?

Travelgenio reviews

Travelgenio reviews

Secondly, there is some unexplainable logic behind Special Discount being double the amount of what seems as surcharge near credit card logo.

So at the end of the day, if you are not paying with Maestro or Visa, as in my case, because I could have paid with Visa/Maestro at websites not accepting Amex and saved almost 30 €, you will end up in a higher price than advertised by Travelgenio during entire booking process.

In example here, it was only 6 € more, during my booking I ended up paying 15 € more.

It is definitely not the end of the world for my budget, but it is really annoying and frustrating to constantly check all those flight booking websites at which point they try to scam you. And I do believe, those credit card logos with 0.00 € signs are completely misleading and actually used to trick and, pretty much, scam customers of Travelgenio.com

And if you read negative reviews from TrustPilot you will see its not the only one case. They have endless issues with rebooking, hiden charges and not providing  full information regarding fees.

Black Caviar service on Lufthansa, Thai and Asiana. Which one is better? 

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Flying first class is exciting, especially if you get to enjoy delicious black caviar complimented by expensive champagne.

Lufthansa, Thai Airways and Asiana Airlines provide excellent first class service onboard, which includes  sturgeon black caviar service.

Lufthansa black caviar service

  • The only airline out of three that is serving black caviar as a portion from a bigger can, rather than as a personal jar in Thai and Asiana, therefore the portion can be smaller than a jar, or much more generous, depending on the flight attendant mood.
  • Recently introduced, as a cost reduction measurement, a gradual switch to some Chinese produced black caviar rather than authentic Beluga option
  • Great presentation with classic garnishes, including egg, onion and sour cream
  • Accompanied by Laurent-Perrier Grand Siecle champagne

Thai Airways black caviar service

  • Standard portion of black caviar in a glass jar
  • The best presentation with a pearl plate and spoon
  • Boring and mismatching bread combination
  • Accompanied by Dom Perignon champagne


Asiana Airlines black caviar service

  • Same as Thai Airways, Asiana serves a personal glass jar of black caviar
  • Accompanied by tiny, tasty and cute blini (Russian pancakes)
  • Served with standard garnishes
  • Accompanied by Pol Roger’s Sir Winston Churchill champagne

Thai Airways Royal First Class review: Bangkok to Milan on TG940

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Thai Airways Royal First Class review

Thai Airways has several first class routes from Bangkok to Europe. They fly directly to London, Paris, Milan and Munich. While London and Paris routes get to enjoy new Thai first class cabin on A380, routes to Munich and Milan on Boeing 474 have an old cabin.

I was sceptical about taking an old cabin flight, irrespectively of the airline, it is usually worse experience than a new cabin. For sure, would not like to take old Lufthansa First Class cabin.

Thai first class flight came as a pleasant surprise after not so impressive Thai Royal First lounge in Bangkok.

 

Cabin overview

As expected, the cabin was looking old. Very old. The oldest one so far. Let me tell you, it was older than I am and it didn’t even have a wall between First Class and Business Class, it was only a curtain separator.

 

My power outlet refused to work during entire flight, so had no way of charging my phone. Thanks to Xiaomi powerbank bought in Malaysia to keep it working.

Thai Royal First cabin on 747 is located on the lower deck, meaning you have boring wardrobe in front of you to stare at during 10-12 hours of flying. It is a common issue for any airline using lower deck for first class. Yes, it’s more spacious area, but damn the wardrobe is boring, even if you put some screensaver on it.
Surely the seat transforms into a flat bed (you can build your own with Sleep Essentials), which is quite comfortable but not as  much as competitors renovated  first class seats. Also, Thai Royal First lacks an additional mattress under, which results in you feeling each single corner and pointy part of the seat.

Entertainment system


Have no idea about how good or bad Thai entertainment system is…

I’m always way too drunk to remember or even try to use it, when I’m flying first class on any Star Alliance flight.

Food and drinks served in Thai Royal First class

The most important part of any first class flight, is definitely what champagne is served on board. Thai Airlines Royal First does not disappoint here. They serve Dom Perignon Vintage 2006, and have it enough in stock, compared to Asiana First Class flight Seoul (ICN) to Frankfurt (FRA).


My next favourite part, black caviar. Delicious, luxurious, fishy and yammy.


It is served on a nice pearl plate and accompanied by what is called “traditional garnishes”. As Russian who knows what black caviar is, I can tell you that much: egg and sour cream are not traditional black caviar garnishes. Either eat it on a piece or bread, or better blini, or just straight up. Do not destroy poor delicious black caviar by mixing it all together with onion, sour cream, egg and lemon juice. You destroy all the flavour!


Amuse bouche is nothing to remember. Some nuts, some pate on a piece of bread and a wrap with coconut rice.


Appetizer was not my favourite either. Some meat slices with veggies. For my taste, it was more of a school lunch.
I ordered one of the Thai Royal First Class signature dishes, their butter lobster. I guess it is as good as you can expect from a lobster flying 10km above the ground.

As any seafood, especially so delicate as lobster, if it is not prepared fresh, it becomes rubbery and tasteless. It was a bit heavy and rubbery, but was eatable for airline meal. So for, Thai Airways Royal First has nothing on Asiana First Class on food side.


Desert… Fruits… Melon, pineapple, watermelon and dragonfruit. Nothing that is not available in Thailand on each corner.

Thai Royal First Amenity kit

I love airlines amenity kits, when they are good.


These tiny Rimowa luggage cases became iconic and always get frequent flyers excited! Some travellers even change their travel dates to catch a particular amenity kit, if it is offered seasonally.

Thai Royal First amenity kit is a similar to Lufthansa First Class Rimowa amenity kit, but only on the outside.


While Lufthansa First Class is offering superior La Prairie cosmetics and Swiss Smile toothpaste, Thai Airlines Royal First settles for some cheap Monteil creams and unknown dental supplements.

Service:

After several travels to Thailand with Thai economy class and generally annoying experience with endless tuk tuk, massage and ping pong offers, Thai First Class service was a pleasant surprise. The flight attendants were very professional, attentive and yet not overwhelming. They were always there to serve another glass of Dom Peringon and fix anything needed during the flight.

Overall:

Thai Airways Royal First definitely has a room for improvement, starting with Royal First Lounge in Bangkok and putting more effort in amenity kit products.

Even though Dom Perignon is a great champagne option, the wine list could be improved, as none of offered wines were tasting particularly good.

Food is simply good enough, not as great as Asiana First Class Bibimbap, but definitely not lagging behind Lufthansa and ANA.

Fuego at Troika Sky Dining review- latin american disasterious food in Kuala Lumpur

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Fuego by Troika Sky Dining

Is one out of three high class restaurants currently present in Kuala Lumpur.

It’s advertised as Latin American fusion cuisine complemented by a stunning overview of Petronas towers in Kuala Lumpur.

But is it really that good as it’s TripAdvisor reviews are saying?

It was my second New Year trip to Kuala Lumpur, one or my most beloved cities in Asia. And as much as I love KL, I always find it extremely hard to find a decent restaurant there. Tried everything from Hyatt rooftop restaurant, which was not good whatsoever, to small food trucks in the middle of the city, I have decided to book a table at Fuego just a few days before New Year celebration.

Arriving on time to the restaurant, the table was not ready. I personally believe it’s a trick to sell additional drinks in a tiny bar before the restaurant, as everyone was escorted to the bar before entering restaurant.
The drinks in the bar were quite good, but priced ridiculously for Malaysia.

Anyways, after a drink our table became all prepared and available so we followed the host to it.

The immediate disappointment came from the fact that promised spectacular view on Petronas Towers is blocked by a new sky scrapper construction. So we can cross that one out.

We were offered a wine list and food menu.

We decided to try Misha’s vineyard wine, simply because of it’s name. It was not the most expensive wine, but definitely not the cheapest on the menu either.

Misha’s vine from New Zealand was not appealing to my taste, but the biggest issue with it was that the waiter refused to change it. He brought a bottle, showed it to us, poured some wine in a glass and asked to try. When I said I really don’t like it and could we please change it, the answer was simply “NO! You ordered it”.

So if the restaurant refuses to change wine in case you don’t like it, why do they bother with all that trying it? Just bring a bottle, serve it and run away before your clients try it.

In a place that claims to be one of the higher class places in the city, wine policy of Fuego is definitely poor.

Appertizer:


Main dish


Lufthansa First Class lounge Munich MUC airport

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Lufthansa’s First Class Lounge (FCL) in Munich (MUC) airport is considered to be ‘creme de la creme’ of the first class lounges all over the globe in Star Alliance network. There are not many airlines who manage to provide such top notch experience as Lufthansa in their first class lounges in Munich (MUC) and Frankfurt (FRA), perhaps Singapore Airlines and ANA airlines, the rest fades away like United Airlines with plastic wrapped sandwiches and paper cups.

It starts with the efficient, personal, yet not annoying service, continues with a great selection of food, and finished with a great selection of drinks and beverages.

My most recent visit to Lufthansa First Class Lounge was on December 26th 2016, and they had really cute Christmas decoration in the lounge.

Check the video to get a quick overview of the lounge.

Here is the drinks and food menu

New Swiss Airlines Bombardier CS100 series

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Given that it was an economy 55 minutes flight from Zurich to Rome on Swiss Airlines flight 1732, I would have never written a single word about it.

But! It was a brand new Bombardier CS100 series aircraft, which had a stunning cabin! Currently, everyone is praising Dreamliner (which still has not learned how to get airborn, given the endless engine problems) and A350, which is actually quite nice.

But if you live in Europe, where the longest flight is usually less than 3-4 hours, you will not experience A340, A350, B777, B747 and A380… The maximum you can expect is A321/B373, which are not that impressive at all.

Swiss Airlines brand new Bombardier CS100 is something that makes intra-EU travel fun again! They have one of a kind seats, which some might find insanely annoying, but if you consider it is 1 hour flight, you might find a reasoning to enjoy more foot room rather than space for your iPad or laptop. It is also giving a luxurious feel by using leather, stitched leather headpieces and stainless steel (or some metal) in front of you.

It looks neat, cool, new, fresh, fancy and rich.

Thumbs up for Swiss Airlines new Bombardier CS100, which they currently have 6 in operation and 8 more to come on order!