Our Festive Season began at dinner on November 14th, when the Four Seasons Vail gave us a gift of an Indian Culinary Trip by Chef de Cuisine Pankaj Bisht at Flame. It was a delicious and magnificent 4++ course meal served and explained by Chef de Cuisine Pankaj himself. The flavors were complex and perfectly spiced. We are so well taken care of and spoiled by the residence team at the Four Seasons Vail. It makes it difficult for any other Four Seasons that we visit to compare to the place we call home.
From Vail, we again took B-Line Express to the Westin at the Denver Airport even though the price had risen to US $700! We looked into various cheaper alternatives and decided that we were willing to pay the price for the comfort and reliability. The weather was dry (for a change) and beautiful. Our room at the Westin was fine but the Jacuzzi was not. It was being maintained and we couldn't use it. Bummer. We went to the airport to find the Global Entry office to have our interview. It was impossible and scheduling an interview online was also impossible. Bummer squared. We'll try again when we return in January using the Enrollment on Arrival program.
For dinner that night, we took the A Train from the airport to Union Station; it was efficient and we were able to have a good meal at Stoic & Genuine. The octopus mortadella was unusual but didn't have much punch to it. The clam chowder was pedestrian. However, the halibut collar was huge and excellent. We shared everything as usual and the food was plenty for us. We spent US $66 plus tip and were happy (particularly because we didn't eat at the horrible Westin restaurant).
The next morning we skipped breakfast at the horrible Westin restaurant and went to the airport to have breakfast at the United Airlines lounge. For US $20000 (round trip) we flew business class to Narita and then economy from Narita to Kuala Lumpur.
Although we bought the tickets from ANA--All Nippon Airways--the flight was operated by United so it was United's business class. It was not at all as pleasant as our previous flights in the QSuite on Qatar's business class. On the positive side, the seats flattened out into a bed and there were nice bed coverings and pillows. On the negative side, the entertainment system did not work at all during the entire 12-hour flight. Also on the negative side, the food was only so-so and was served on a schedule that United set, not whenever the passenger wanted like on Qatar. Both of us slept on the flight and were otherwise bored. (There was no free wi-fi like on Singapore Airlines business class or even limited free wi-fi like on Qatar.)
At Narita, the connection was uneventful and we used the ANA lounge where the food was Japanese--imagine that! For an unknown reason, Dimitri was unable to book business class on the ANA website all the way to Kuala Lumpur. The 7-hour flight from Narita did have entertainment, did have food that was okay but Dimitri's butt hurt because of the uncomfortable seats.
After traveling for around 24 hours, we were greeted at the KL airport by a Four Seasons representative and whisked off for the one-hour ride north from the airport to the city (costing US $123 because it was after midnight). The car service was comfortable and efficient. At that time, the roads were empty but impressively modern.
One afternoon in November in Kuala Lumpur we went to the ANA office to try to upgrade our economy seats to business class for our return in January from KL to Narita. When we arrived at the office we were told it was a corporate office and there was no ticket office in KL. A nice corporate man had the ANA call center telephone us while we sat in the reception area (neither we nor the FS concierge could get the call center to answer the phone). Nevertheless, we were still unable to upgrade. A woman named Yoke Ching at the ANA call center explained that in our fare category, there were no business class seats available for purchase. If we were to buy business class seats in the only category then available, they would cost US $5943 each, additional. In our fare category, they would cost about US $60. Go figure! Yoke Ching said that she would monitor the availability in our fare category and telephone us if any business-class seats became available. So that's where we left the matter.
And Yoke Ching did in fact monitor the availability of business class seats and she telephoned us at the Four Seasons on January 3rd to tell us that we could be upgraded for the KL to Narita segment and that the cost would be RM 260, US $56.03 for the both of us! We were thrilled and so very impressed with Yoke Ching and her level of customer service.
Audre & Dimitri, Bill Hibbs sent us your latest journal entry as you started out on your new odyssey. While it has not been a smooth or inexpensive start, things can only get better and we wish you safe travels. Mike & Doreen Trucano
ReplyDelete