Hectic LCCT

An early start this morning. Sending my Mum and Aunt to LCCT. They had to catch the 7am AirAsia flight to Vietnam. That meant that they had to check-in by 5.30, and setting off from Bukit Antarabangsa by 4 in the morning.

Even though the drive in was smooth, the traffic got a lot heavier by the time we reached KLIA. And it was still about 4.30am.

The place got unbelievably crowded by the time I reached LCCT to drop my Mum. Next order of business would be to find a parking slot. Long queue and unhelpful signage made the simple task complicated.

Sunday morning and the terminal was super crowded. Checking in also took rather long. Luckily my Mum was traveling in a group. She didn't have to queue up for the group check-in and everything was sorted out in time.

Wishing her a safe journey, I was just about to leave for an early start for my ward round. On second thought, maybe I just have a breakfast first.

Maids Returned for Raya

Our current maids - one with our family and the other one with the in-laws - had been with us for a year and a half. They were aunt and niece, coming from the same village in Padang. A few months ago, we planned for them to have Aidilfitri back home, and they left this morning.

The AirAsia flight booking was straight forward, but the two ladies had never been on an airplane before in their life. Expect some drama then. Anita and her mother went over with them after sahur to LCCT in Sepang. Got them checked-in. The flight left on time, so, they should be with their family by later this afternoon.

As for us, we had another couple of maids coming in for during the day - one Filipino, as a cleaner and another local lady to do the cooking. Our maids would be away for a couple of weeks. But we should be able to manage. Fingers crossed!

Air Asia it was

I have to confess that the recent day hop to Kota Bharu was my first on Air Asia. I have been hearing mixed experience from those who have been on one before. Air Asia was efficient, straight to the point and basically you pay for what you get.

I was not sure how to categorise my recent experience. On the whole, it was not bad. However, flying off from the LCCT have one drawback however. Traveling to the terminal from KL was a pain as I usually take the KLIA Express from Sentral. There were bus service from Sentral but being buses, I can't assume that it would be as efficient as the 27 minutes travel time you get from the train service. You would also enjoy the convenience of being able to check in your luggages from the Sentral Air Terminal. And since I was able to travel on Business often, there were no such service on Air Asia - disclaimer, I do not pay for my travels usually. Cost was never an issue. The reason for taking Air Asia on that occasion was the timing of the flights. But due to the hold-up which I would mention later, I could have used MAS instead and still reach my house at about the and time.

I decided to drive to LCCT rather than call for a cab and parked at e public space just in front of the terminal. I was only charged RM 27 fees for parking from 7am to 6pm. Open car park though, so your car would bee losers to the elements. The roofed space was located a furthers walk back and I was on a rush then. The terminal would also take you an extra 20 minutes travel from the KLIA main terminal - I almost missed my flight that morning since it took longer than I expected to get to the LCCT.

Landed in the rain, and finally allowed out of the cabin after 30 minutesThe second issue was the fact that we could not disembark or board in heavy rain. According to the crew, opening the cabin door was the main problem as the rain will get into the cabin and make the floors wet. Practical excuse I thought. It would cost the airline tons of money to leave the jet idle on the tarmac, so I was sure they were not making it up.

So the bottom line, would I take Air Asia for traveling with my precious brats? Definitely no. They would go berserk at the terminal. But traveling on short hops like I did last time, I would definitely do it again but if the schedule was tight and I couldn't afford a delay, then definitely I would have prefer MAS.

Waiting game

I have just landed at LCCT at KLIA following a day trip marking papers at Kota Bharu. I started off very early as I drove there and parked the car at the airport. The journey was fine, but upon landing, we were greeted with a heavy downpour and had to stay in the cabin until things settle down. We have been on the ground for a good 20 minutes now. To make things worst, the air conditioning system started fogging up the cabin, not to mention the amount of money AirAsia would have lost with the airline lying idle on the runway.

That was probably one of the major drawback with LCCT, as there were no terminal connecting the cabin and the main building. The other was the fact that it took liger to reach the place compared to KLIA proper if you plan to drive there. It took me a good 20 minutes from KLIA to get here this morning, worrying about missing the flight. Finally, upon arriving, I just parked my car at the main carpark, not having the chance to find an alternative one. Maybe in the future, given the choice for a business trip, I might just prefer MAS instead - if I was not paying for the flight o course.

Happy Birthday to Me

090620 KL Butterfly Park 12, originally uploaded by Haris Abdul Rahman.

I had a long day yesterday. Woke up early to send my maid away from the LCCT in Sepang. SHe is going home for around 10 days to visit her family before the coming Ramadhan. Got back home just in time for Jumaat prayers. Luckily there were no delay.

It was the first time I have been to the LCCT. It certainly was .... low cost. Completely different to the grandiosity of KLIA, it more resemble a branch of Tesco for a lack of a better description. Bear in mind that you are there just to catch a flight, not doing anything fancy at the lounge or duty-free shops.

The rest of the day were filled with answering emails, SMSes and facebook messages. Many thanks for those who took the time to write. I have tried answering all of them, but I am sure I missed a fair few. I will try to get round yo that. We went to dinner, just the four of us after Idlan's music class.

Today, we had a celebratory lunch with my father-in-law. Due to some freak coincidence, he was also born on the 10th of July. I guess that's how I manage to get her daughter's hand for marriage you see. We had a Chinese at Corus Hotel. I must say that this meal was better than the one we had here for Idlan's birthday. I guess it was because this being a lunch rather than dinner, and there were no other guess. Food was excellent and the waiters looked after us very very well.

Thanks again for the warm wishes.