Today I leave Kuching for Melbourne via Kuala Lumpur. The flight leaves in the late afternoon, but I wanted to do as much as I could for Mum and my brother who recently had a knee operation.
So I started the day at 0800 with getting their groceries, not entirely missing the rush-hour traffic. After some breakfast of free-range eggs and coconut cream made into an omelette (improvising what we have), we dropped off the groceries to Mum, chatted and said our goodbyes.
Tim and Elena wanted to do coffee, so we had a brief but delightful 30 mins with them before rushing back for shower and a final departure check.
At midday I summoned Grab to take us to the airport. The driver turned up wearing a name badge, suggesting he is a government officer on his lunch break. The affable Malay guy was so pleasant to chat with, spoke excellent English and super-nice. He turned out to be a Malaysia Airlines flight attendant before working for a state Ministry looking after the environment and forestry. That’s the kind of Malaysian Hospitality you get from that airline on a good day but on a bad day, it’s pretty “meh”. Whatever you’re lucky enough to get is real.
After two hours of agonising Thai massage (we both like it that way), we took a short ride to Kuching International Airport to arrive there in torrential rain. I noticed that AirAsia has implemented FACES their facial recognition boarding system here but I hadn’t registered for it. My flight left for Kuala Lumpur slightly later than the scheduled departure of 1730 but with a slightly shorter flight time to day, arrived on time.
On the A320neo, I was 8 rows from the back but could hear clearly the crew chatting in the aft jumpseats during the climb!
At klia2, it only took me 9 minutes to walk from my domestic arrival gate through to immigration, security and the international departure area. I had a quick shower and a light bite before relaxing.
I was surprised that my boarding pass showed me as Zone 1 when I wasn’t in Flatbed class or on a Flexi fare; I attribute it to being Platinum status in their frequent flyer programme. That earns me zilch points because the lowest fares don’t earn. So I get a status that actually has very few tangible benefits! So today I was first to board the flight.
With some cunning planning, I managed to secure three seats on my AirAsia X flight from Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne Avalon. We left on time at 2220 and I was horizontal with a sleeping pill an hour after take-off.