31 May 2025: Dubai - Doha - KL
After wrapping up our quick visit of Dubai, it was time to continue our long journey to Malaysia. We arrived Dubai airport at 8.30am coz I wanted to check in as early as possible for our 11.45am flight. This was a surprise that I had planned since last December when I booked these First + Business + Economy class flights for 40,000 AA miles + $74.50 per person. I was excited about this AA sweet spot but had to keep it a secret coz mom had no idea about this until we got our tickets at check in.
Since our first flight from Dubai to Doha was in First Class (Qatar only has first class and no business class for shorthaul flights within the Middle East), we were able to access the Ahlan First Class lounge in Dubai Airport Terminal 1.
The lounge was pretty busy with decent buffet options but we were told to go to the back of the lounge for a separate section reserved for First Class passengers. So fancy...lol!
The area reserved for First Class passengers was much quieter. Mom enjoyed the massage chair.
The server provided us with an Ala carte menu to order our food and drinks. It was before 11am so we could only order from the breakfast menu. Got myself an Egg Royal and a champagne to start off our trip. Cheers to a smooth journey!
Flight #1: Qatar First Class from Dubai to Doha at 11.45am.
This was mom's first time traveling in 'First Class' but I felt like I was more excited than her. The layout of this flight is the same as the business class flight I flew from Doha to Kolkata in 2022.
Goodbye Dubai! I picked the aisle seat in the middle and let mom have the window seat so that it was easier for us to talk, but I wished I had picked a window seat as well because the view flying out of Dubai was pretty good with the skyline and Palm Islands.
This was a short 1hr 15 min flight and we were still served a meal. I got the Smoked turkey and truffle croque monsieur and champagne (of course). Didn't even have enough time to finish all my food before it was time to prepare for landing.
Landed in Doha at 11.54am. There was a one hour difference between Dubai and Doha. Hello again yellow bear!
Finally got a chance to visit the Al Safwa First Lounge in Doha...this lounge was huge! I intentionally planned a 7-hour layover in Doha to enjoy the lounges. Btw, we were able to access this First Class lounge because we arrived on a Qatar First Class ticket. It didn't matter that our next flight was in Business Class.
Yes I just ate in the flight but the feasting continued in the lounge. Ordered Hong Kong beef soup and grilled salmon fillet from the ala carte fine dining menu.
We spent 3.5 hours in this lounge and I am kicking myself for not checking out all the amenities this lounge had to offer since we had so much time and the lounge was pretty much empty at 3pm. What was I doing/thinking...lol! I should have checked out the jacuzzi and nap rooms. Oh well...
We could have stayed at the Al Safwa First Class lounge the entire time but I wanted to let mom visit the Al Mourjan Business Lounge - The Garden so we left at 3.45pm and walked over. I've been fortunate to have visited this lounge multiple times in the past few years. The lounge was empty and quiet in the afternoon.
Don't ask me why didn't I use the jacuzzi and shower in the First Class lounge and came her to shower instead. Clearly wasn't using my brain that day.
The lounge food marathon continues....came here for the sushi and more champagne. How many times have we eaten today?
Flight #2: Qatar Qsuite Business Class from Doha to KL at 7.15pm.
Intentionally picked these middle seats that could be turned into a double bed. The middle divider was lifted when we first boarded, so we requested the crew to help lower it down. My champagne marathon continues, and added one more Diptyque amenity kit to my collection. I made myself comfortable very quickly by changing into the pajamas before we even took off.
Thankful to be able to share the experience of flying on the world's best business class with mom. Guess this counts as a belated Mother's Day gift. Thanks to points and miles for making experiences like this possible. =)
Time to eat again while watching movie. Starlink internet was available onboard for free and it was very fast. We got a super nice flight attendant who was from Czech Republic.
All the food we ordered on this 7.5 hour flight which went by too quickly...Dashi-poached prawns and torched salmon, Classic Arabic mezze with pita bread, Thai yellow chicken curry with jasmine rice and kai lan, Seared Angus beef tenderloin with Bearnaise, Prawn and pumpkin congee with youtiao, Gooseberry friand with vanilla ice cream, and Pierre Marcolini chocolate.
Finally got to try out the Qsuite double suite in the air. The hardest decision to make when traveling business class is to sleep or not to sleep. I slept for about 3 hours.
I asked our very nice flight attendant if they had any souvenirs for kids and she brought us 3 cool toys (for each age group), which was perfect for our transit detour in KL later.
As always, Qsuite was amazing and 7.5 hours flew by! We landed KL at 8am...Hello Malaysia!
1 June 2025: KL - Penang
First stop upon arriving KLIA was the Sky Suite Lounge, which we were able to access with my Priority Pass. We still had one more flight to get to Penang in the evening. Took a shower to freshen up and had our 'Malaysian' breakfast before leaving the airport.
Took a Grab from the airport to the city, and were able to get a complimentary ride from the airport with the UOB PRVI Miles Elite Card.
I strategically planned for a long 13-hour transit in KL when booking our flights so that we could go out for a quick visit of twin bro and family, and to meet the newest addition to the family. Lil' niece was born on April 23. This was the first time we saw her in person.
Had late lunch with bro and niece before heading back to the airport at 5pm. It was a very short visit but glad we were able to squeeze in some family time in KL.
Made it back to the airport at 6.30pm for more lounging and eating at KLIA's Domestic Golden Lounge before catching our final flight to Penang at 9.05am. I was able to access this lounge with my Oneworld Emerald status.
Finally made it back to Penang after traveling for 25 days...9 flights from America -> Europe -> Middle East -> Asia.
2-15 June 2025: Penang
Home trip = spending time with the family. Didn't have as much time to play mahjong with the grannies on this trip though.
Made it back just in time to attend granduncle's funeral with mom and grandaunt. While funeral is sad, it gave us the opportunity to meet and catch up with a lot of our maternal relatives.
The timing of my home trip was pretty good this time...started the trip meeting maternal relatives, and ended the trip meeting paternal relatives to celebrate aunt's birthday. Coincidentally, cousin's family also came back from the US to visit so it was good seeing them too.
Always good to catch up with friends and finally got to meet this lil' cutie pie this time around.
Good timing on this trip to attend this talk at Setia Spice Convention Center with mom, bro and SIL.
This 2-week trip was a busy one filled with errands...got a root canal done, did a health exam, accompanied grandaunt to the orthopedic, got a haircut.
Of course couldn't miss some good ol' Penang food every home trip.
Din Tai Fung treat for the family
15 June 2025: Penang - Singapore
This 2-weeks home trip flew by...time to say goodbye again. Take care and see y'all next year!
Traveling back to the US with SIA+United to take advantage of my Krisflyer Gold/Star Alliance Gold status before losing it in October. 37 hours journey to the US. Booked these flights for 55,000 United miles + $86.71. And yes, I still travel economy, not always bougie ok...lol!
Was able to access the Plaza Premium Lounge - International with my Krisflyer Gold status (could have accessed with my Priority Pass as well). Ended up spending more time here because my 9.25pm flight ended up being delayed an hour.
I was supposed to have a 2.5 hour transit in Changi and planned on making a quick visit to the Krisflyer Gold lounge before my next flight but this plan was out of the window as I had to rush to catch my next flight because I'd only have 1 hour between my scheduled arrival (12am) and the departure time of my next flight was 1.10am.
Flight #1: 1.5 hour from Penang - Singapore on Singapore Airlines at 10.36pm (originally scheduled for 9.15pm).
Thanks SIA for an 'amazing race' start for my trip. Boarding time for my London flight was 12.10am.
12.17am: Landed in Changi
12.28am: Got off the plane
12.31am: Got on skytrain to get from T3 concourse A to B
12.33am: Got off skytrain and started speed walking
12.41am: Made it to the gate for Last Call, still had to go through security screening
12.50am: Made it with 20 min to spare before departure!
16 June 2025: Singapore - London - Denver
Flight #2: 13.5 hour from Singapore - London on Singapore Airlines at 1.10am.
Thanks SIA for the midnight workout and stress..lol! Glad to have an empty seat in my row for this 13.5 hour flight. SIA provides free wifi onboard so that was nice. I ordered the seafood meal and wasn't impressed with what I got.
This flight was 2 days after Israel launched attacks on Iran. As you can see, all flights were diverted away from Iran's airspace but it looked like our captain was the ballsy one flying closest to Tehran.
Landed in London Heathrow at 8.21am, 35min behind schedule because of the diversion. I turned off airplane mode and got a message from United that my next flight to Houston was CANCELLED. =.= Thankfully, I had 6 hours transit in London so I had time to figure out what options I had. I quickly checked United's app for other flights and found connecting flights to Houston, Chicago, and Denver.
I headed straight to United's transfer desk to find out what options I had, and United's staff was pretty quick in rebooking my flights to Denver and rerouting my luggage. To United's credit, I was pretty impressed with how fast an email came with a compensation for the flight cancellation, on top of being rebooked on an alternate flight that would get me home around the same time.
I originally scheduled a 6-hours transit in London to do some Star Alliance Gold lounge hopping but with this change, I was left with only about 1.5 hours before boarding the flight to Denver.
Headed over to United Club first as I remember that the shower rooms in this lounge were nice when I last visited in 2017, so I decided to take a shower here. Also took a quick look at the fod options, which were pretty good compared to most of the United Club lounges in the US, but I decided to skip eating here and headed over to another lounge next door.
Hopped over to the Singapore Airlines SilverKris lounge next door to check it out. This lounge is smaller and was pretty busy.
I was expecting more Asian food options in SIA's lounge but the breakfast options were kinda disappointing. I got some pad thai, congee, Stella, and ice-cream for my chapalang breakfast combo.
Flight #3: 9.5 hour from London - Denver on United at 11.25am. Got lucky to have an empty seat between me and the other lady in the window seat. Finally watched "How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies" on this flight. I was surprised that United served 2 rounds of snacks on this flight.
Landed in Denver on time at 2.07pm. With all the immigration/ICE news we've been seeing on social media, I wondered how it'd be like going through border control. My experience...apart from the 5 seconds stop for photo in front of the Global Entry kiosk, I literally did not need to stop at all to get through immigration. No lines, no questions.
3.5 hour transit in Denver and was able to access the United Club in Concourse B with my Star Alliance Gold status.
Of course, my last flight ended up being delayed as well. Initially, the delay was due to late arrival of incoming flight, then it was due to the maintenance team servicing the restroom onboard (apparently someone smoked in the lavatory on the incoming flight), then we were informed that the pilot would time out at 7.15pm so we will need to wait for another pilot to come to the airport while they continue servicing the restroom. Finally at 8pm, we were informed that our flight would be delayed to the next morning, and I was officially stuck in Denver for the night.
To United's credit again, they were quick to send out the compensation for this delay. Yes, my 2nd compensation from United on this trip.
At this point, I am 4 out of 4 flights delayed on this trip.
United's gate agent was quick to send out the hotel and meal vouchers. We were given 3 hotels to choose from and I quickly chose and booked the hotel as I started walking to the hotel shuttle area.
Hopped on the Hyatt Place - Denver Airport's shuttle at 8.25pm and arrived at the hotel at 8.55pm. Checked in to the hotel at 9pm and booked the 4am shuttle to return to the airport the next morning. As if my long journey home wasn't long enough, this overnight delay added 13 hours to my trip.
Btw, this was the 2nd time I got stuck overnight in Denver due to flight delay, the last time was in 2008, also with United.
17 June 2025: Denver - Huntsville
Took the 4am hotel shuttle to head back to the airport. Majority of the people on this shuttle were on the same flight.
Arrived Denver airport at 4.15am with plenty of time to spare until my 6.45am flight.
Had to wait till the lounge opens at 5am and had some light breakfast here.
Flight #4: 3 hour from Denver - Huntsville on United at 6.45am.Finally made it back to Huntsville after traveling for 50 hours...but not home just yet. Landed at 10.33am, got my bags at 11.08am, hubby (and Hilton bear) picked me up from the airport at 11.10am, and rushed straight to the dentist for my 11.0am appointment...phew!
And that's a wrap for my home trip!
Bonus tip for anyone traveling through, to or from Europe/UK. Look up EU261/UK261 in case you experience delay or cancellations.
With my cancelled and delayed flights, I figured I should be eligible for the UK261 compensation so I went on United's website (go to Customer Care, choose the "Question" option and then click on "International Passenger Rights") and submitted my request attaching all relevant supports.
I submitted my request on June 18 and was impressed to receive United's reply on June 25 offering 3 choices - $1000 United Travel Credit, 50,000 United miles, or £520 cash.
I opted for the £520 cash option and received the payment of $703 (converted) directly into my bank account on June 26. I was very impressed with United's responses throughout all these. P.S. I didn' t have any status with United. All in all, I am pretty happy with this 13-hour delay, considering that I paid 55,000 miles + $86.71 for this flight, I received:
- Cancellation of London - Houston flight: $175 United Travel Credit
- Delay of Denver - Huntsville flight: $100 United Travel Credit
- UK261 compensation: $703
- 2 $15 meal vouchers
- 1-night hotel stay
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