Flight Review: AirAsia AK1729 from Penang International Airport to Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 4 by Airbus A320-200
AirAsia AK1729 is 1 of 2 evening AirAsia flights from Penang International Airport to Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 4 departing 35 minutes apart. Heading back to Singapore, I decided on AK1729 as it was the first out of the 2, and eventual delays would still allow me to catch public transport back home. Turns out, this was exactly what happened.
Penang International Airport
Heading in to Penang International Airport.
The entrance for departure immigration is immediately in front of the driveway.
As I was very early for my flight, I walked around the departure hall for a bit to check on my flight status before proceeding to immigration.
The main departure board screens before the check-in area.
Hey, what’s this plane bunching happening here. Isn’t my AK1729 flight supposed to be departing at 7.25pm?
I went to the AirAsia check-in kiosk area to double-check with the ground staff on what’s going on with my AK1729 flight, and they confirmed that it has been retimed to 8pm.
My E-Boarding Pass on my AirAsia app also reflects the new boarding time of 7.20pm. Argh.
My AK1729 was reflected as retimed on another smaller departure screen in the terminal.
Immigration
Despite being 3 hours early for my flight, as I wanted to skip the traffic jam timing out of Georgetown going to the airport, I headed for immigration anyway since there’s nothing to do outside, and I can charge my phone and camera batteries inside somehow.
With no immediate flight departure, there was no queue for immigration and security at all.
Departure Transit Area
The simple departure transit area after immigration and security screening.
Plaza Premium Lounge
With 3 hours to spare, I decided to use a Priority Pass visit for the Plaza Premium Lounge. At least I’ll be able to rest in comfort with food and drinks with my early arrival plus my delayed flight.
Boarding
I headed back down at about 7.30pm in time for boarding, and the queue to enter Gate A1A stretched to Gate A3. I decided to take a short stroll around the gate to wait for the queue to subside.
Preparing my E-Boarding Pass for boarding.
Boarding passes are scanned when entering the gate hold room of Gate A1A. This is a shared gate for domestic and international departures, as Gates A1 and A2 can cater to domestic and international flights, offering flexibility to disembark and board separate domestic and international passengers.
My aircraft, 9M-RAN, had just arrived from Kuala Lumpur, which explains this gate assignment.
The zone queues had already formed inside the gate hold room. As I was in Zone 3, I didn’t bother joining the queue, and just waited for everyone to board first.
Some passengers who did not know about the zoned boarding decided to hop over to the Zone 2 queue which was moving, but were promptly held back by the AirAsia ground staff. Kudos to the AirAsia ground staff for boarding the zones properly.
Heading to board last at the end of the Zone 3 queue.
Turning right to Gate A2.
A bit of a Ryanair moment here as passengers were held on the path to the aerobridge, probably due to slow boarding on board at the moment.
Heading down the aerobridge.
AirAsia AK1729
Boarding 9M-RAN.
The interior of the AirAsia Airbus A320-200.
The legroom available on board the AirAsia Airbus A320-200.
My seat at 18A was over the wing.
With the delay retime, everything was done quickly and pushback started just as the doors closed when I took my seat.
Taxiing to Runway 04.
Taking off from Runway 04.
My AirAsia AK1729 departed from Penang International Airport at 8.16pm – 49 minutes late.
Unfortunately, the wings did not offer a good view down to the scenery below from the window by my seat.
Pak Nasser’s Nasi Lemak
For my on-board dinner, I pre-ordered a Pak Nasser’s Nasi Lemak, the AirAsia classic, and my motivation to pay a higher fare for AirAsia, just to eat this Nasi Lemak.
The Pak Nasser’s Nasi Lemak is now served neater with a foil cup containing the Chicken Rendang and Pak Naseer’s Sambal. The rice was very fragrant and lemak which provided a good end to my short Malaysia visit, and the Pak Naseer’s Sambal certainly complemented the coconut rice well.
Approaching Singapore at Tuas South.
Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 4
My AirAsia AK1729 landed at Singapore Changi Airport at 9.22pm – 22 minutes delayed.
My AirAsia AK1729 arrived at Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 4 Gate G6.
Heading up the aerobridge.
Taking the travellator on the arrivals level towards immigration.
Immigration
Heading down for arrival immigration.
There was quite a crowd heading for the Automated Lanes, so I just went to the manual counter with nobody in front of me.
Heading past the duty free shops.
Baggage Reclaim
Baggage reclaim for my AirAsia AK1729 was just in front at Row 1, but I had no bags to reclaim since I was travelling extremely light.
Despite the delay, I was still in good time to catch public transport back home from Changi Airport.
Conclusion
The delay of my AirAsia AK1729 was a slight annoyance, but not too bad as I was spending my waiting time up at the Plaza Premium Lounge.
If I did not have a lounge visit, the wait at Penang International Airport would have been really boring. I arrived at Penang International Airport early to be ahead of the evening jams out of Georgetown. If I had wanted to arrive just in time at about 6pm, I might even have missed the flight due to the signature unpredictable jams.
The flight itself was good with all staff trying to speed up the process as fast as possible to minimise further delays. My meal was also served quickly and hot. It was also a quick taxi over to Terminal 4 via South Cross, so that sped up the total time spent on board the aircraft quite a bit.