Aug 26, 2012

Project Squeeze Miles 2012 - (4) AK 726 (SIN - KUL)

Date:  08th August 2012
Airlines:  Air Asia
Flight:  AK 726
Route:  SIN - KUL (Singapore - Kuala Lumpur)
Aircraft type:  Airbus A320
Registration:  9M-AFY

This Air Asia flight was the only non-premium cabin flight in the trip. There were two purposes for flying this flight, the first and principal one was to position me in KUL ready for the coming up KUL-SIN-KIX sector, the second was to savor their renowned nasi lemak.

As I arrived Singapore before Air Asia opened their check in counter, I was there to wait them open. The kinetic rain of terminal 1 is quite a stunning piece of art that changes its form with time, which is quite a visual pleasure to kill time by looking at it, other than ask for a free WIFI login from the information counter.

As there was no lounge access come with this flight, I got my lounge access with my Priority Pass into Rainforest by SATS at Terminal 1 after I have checked in and completed the immigration formalities. (The Skyview Lounge was under renovation so I did not need to bother on choosing which one to go).

Personally I refer lounge which could be accessed by credit cards and Priority Passes or alike as "fake lounge", as contrast to the "real lounge" which access can be granted only when flying premium cabins of respective airlines. On this day's visit to this "fake lounge", I felt strange that I was observed by almost every of the handful fellow guest with weird and unpleasant eyesight, which I do not encounter in "real lounge" anywhere else in the trip. My bet would be I look young and they think this is not a place where I belong to, and they do care about who are their fellow guests while in fact is none of their business. To make matter worse, all of them chose to sit right in front of the food area had strengthen their attention on me when I grab my food. 

Furthermore, this "fake lounge" was where I got my first trouble of photography of the trip. While I was shooting an SQ A340-500 "outside" of the window, I was approached by a staff who told me photography was not allow "inside" the lounge. And thanks to this I have no photo to share with you about this lounge, all is left for your imagination and Google search, but to me, quality of food was mediocre at most, lighting and atmosphere was terrible, the only plus is shower is included in the general entrance fee if you should need it.

The flight was operated by 9M-AFY, an A320 with Lotus F1 special delivery, but the layout of colors appeared ugly to me, the yellow nose resembled the beak of a bird which I think the scheme would fit more for an Angry Bird. I have no idea when I will fly Air Asia next, therefore I have ordered two meals, one being the renowned nasi lemak, and another Uncle Chin's chicken rice, since this is the first time I have nasi lemak, I have no way to tell whether it is inferior or superior than average, but one thing for sure is nasi lemak does not suit very much to my appetite, I prefer Uncle Chin's chicken rice more even though I consumed it cold in hotel afterwards as the flight was too short to complete both meals.

Arriving at the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) is a unique experience. Stairs for disembarking the aircraft is human-powered instead of a stair truck, and rather than a shuttle bus transfer you to the arrival Hall, you walk on the tarmac with other aircraft and ground vehicle movement, and self-elect whether you are arriving from an international flight or domestic flight, and the whole terminal building is more like a temporary structure, very primitive I would say, together with the tropical weather I have considered myself arriving into Africa or similar, I think the experience would resemble the old flying days of 1960s and 1970s.

















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