For the Deepavali long weekend, I decided to book my ticket early in the year where there were free seats available, hopefully with new products by PT KAI showing up in the later half of the year. True enough, there were quite a few developments on Java, so this AirAsia free seat trip was pretty worthwhile.
NOTE: Effective 12 December 2018 at 3.00am local time (GMT+7), all AirAsia international flight arrivals and departures at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (CGK) will be relocated from Terminal 3 to Terminal 2. AirAsia no longer operates flights from Terminal 3.
Getting my boarding pass from the FAST Check-in kiosks at Changi Airport Terminal 4. Thanks (?) to me forgetting to check-in online early around 2 weeks before as I usually do, this time, I was auto-assigned a Hot Seat at Seat 2C.
Thank you AirAsia for the “free upgrade”!
Heading for departure immigration and security screening.
My flight was departing from Gate G1.
While the main sign points to the gates through the duty-free shops, I took the shortcut to Gates G1 to G5 instead.
The unmarked shortcut is through this trolley rank.
Passing by a set of toilets.
And viola, I’m at the gates without passing by a single retail outlet.
Gate G1 is still a travellator ride away at the last gate.
Waiting for a few minutes for the gate to open.
Despite being an auto seat assignment, Zone 1 was printed on my boarding pass and I was entitled to priority boarding.
Heading down to board PK-AXD “Colours of Indonesia”.
Boarding the plane via the aerobridge.
A “WiFi Available” sticker was placed by the door, however, there was no WiFi connectivity throughout the flight.
The legroom of the Hot Seat at Seat 2C. Not sure if it’s just a placebo effect, but it feels just slightly more spacious than the regular seats.
The Hot Seat headrest covers were lined with advertisements of Indonesian attractions behind.
As Row 4 (A-C) was empty when the doors were closed, I made my move to pick an empty row for myself for this flight.
The view of the front of the aircraft cabin from Row 4.
Disconnecting the aerobridge from the aircraft.
The advertisement on the seat in front of me.
The empty row which I have for this 1 hour 40 minutes flight.
The air stewardess greeting all passengers before the safety demonstration.
Two jumbos taxiing to the runway.
The rare SilkAir Airbus A319-100 taxiing to the runway.
Waiting for Singapore Airlines and Scoot to pass before joining the queue.
Taking off from Runway 02C.
Bye Terminal 4.
The view of Changi West from above.
Leaving mainland Singapore.
Turning over Pengerang.
Entering Indonesia over Batam and Bintan.
Free WiFi was advertised on board, however, there was no connectivity available throughout the flight.
For breakfast, I pre-ordered a Nasi Kuning Manado to start the day.
AirAsia’s food is one of the rare places in the world where the advertised picture looks pretty much the same as the actual product. The meal was flavourful with a nice chili sambal to go with the rice.
The clean toilet on board.
Enjoying my empty Hot Seat row.
Descending into Jakarta.
Approaching the airport through the polluted skies.
Flying above the airport highway, which I won’t be using for this trip.
Touched down at Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.
Looking at Terminal 2 (where AirAsia is now operating from).
A rare sight of Lion Air’s Boeing 747-400 at Terminal 2, furthermore connected by an aerobridge.
Turning back to Terminal 3.
Heading into Terminal 3.
NOTE: Effective 12 December 2018 at 3.00am local time (GMT+7), all AirAsia international flight arrivals and departures at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (CGK) will be relocated from Terminal 3 to Terminal 2. AirAsia no longer operates flights from Terminal 3.
Turning into the narrow-body aircraft stands.
Scoot’s Airbus A319-100 also flies to CGK apparently. Hmm.
Connecting the aerobridge to my aircraft.
Goodbye Hot Seat, a nice premium-ish experience does feel good once in a while.
PK-AXD “Colours of Indonesia” from the aerobridge.
Heading up to the terminal building via the aerobridge.
Once in the terminal, the path leads to an escalator down to the arrivals level.
It was a pretty long walk to immigration from here.
However, the modern airport look makes the walk feel just slightly strenuous.
Thankfully, travellators are lined throughout the path to immigration to speed up things a little.
Yup, that’s what I’ll be taking to the city.
The travellator path ends just before the immigration hall.
Heading past the arrival belts after immigration.
With no bags to collect, and the customs declaration form already filled up on board before arrival, it was a quick walk through this hall.
A quick collection of the customs declaration form and scan of my bag later, I was out of the airport in a flash.
Here, I waited about half an hour to meet up with the SIM card agent to pick up my 3G/4G SIM Card (CGK Pick Up) for Indonesia from Klook which was ridiculously long, before catching the Skytrain to the Railink station.
Overall, yet another great flight with AirAsia, the World’s Best Low-Cost Airline of 2018, and the free Hot Seat upgrade makes it even better.
NOTE: Effective 12 December 2018 at 3.00am local time (GMT+7), all AirAsia international flight arrivals and departures at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (CGK) will be relocated from Terminal 3 to Terminal 2. AirAsia no longer operates flights from Terminal 3.
One comment