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“There is a client I would like you to meet in Kuwait. Would you like to go there?”
“Yes, sure” I replied, “but let me check the visa requirements first.”
I was about to head to Dubai on SQ. I had planned four days there for work from Monday to Thursday, and possibly Friday as a free day (They have their weekends on Fri/Sat in Dubai), but those plans went out the window, now that I had to fit in a side trip to Kuwait.
I had never been to Kuwait. In fact, Kuwait had been off the radar for me for a while, since the Iraqi invasion in 1990, and Desert Shield/Desert Storm in 1991.
While Iraq, Syria and Lebanon have been in the news recently, Kuwait has stayed out of the “limelight” in recent years, which is probably not a bad thing. Work aside, I was interested in visiting just to get a sense of what this country was about, and to see if there were any trace at all of the Iraqi invasion 24 years ago, if only in the memories and recollections of the people I would meet.
As it turned out, there was a need for a business visa for Kuwait, but this was sorted out quickly.
But first, I would head to Dubai on SQ, This would be a perfect opportunity for a Business Saver Upgrade to J.
I was booked on SQ494 SIN-DXB, a 3.10pm departure out of Singapore, arriving at 6.25pm local time in Dubai. Equipment was a refitted 777-300.
I had just done a TR on SIN-PEK on SQ J on the same type of equipment (TR here). Any point in doing another TR on a 773A? It turned out that there were a few differences in experience and service format in SQ J on this flight, compared to my recent SIN-PEK trip, that were worth highlighting.
For a start, I had a bulkhead seat this time, 12C – first row of Business Class. Also the business class meal service formats were quite different in SIN-DXB from SIN-PEK despite both flights departing in the mid-late afternoon. Singapore to Dubai is 7 hours 30 minutes. The flight to Beijing is 6 hours 20 minutes. Just an hour’s difference, but enough to change the inflight meal service format significantly.
In Dubai, I stayed at the Sheraton Dubai Mall of the Emirates. In Kuwait I stayed at the Sheraton Kuwait.
For my Emirates flights, my DXB-KWI sector, flight time 1 hour 20 minutes, was operated by a Beong 777-300ER in configured 3-4-3 in Y, whereas KWI-DXB was on an Airbus A330-200 configured 2-4-2. When we get to that part of the TR I’ll share my wildly different inflight experiences on these two aircraft types on exactly the same route: and why one of these is a config I try to avoid if at all possible.
As my Kuwait side trip on EK was planned and ticketed separately from my Dubai trip via SQ, this would be on an entirely separate airline ticket DXB-KWI-DXB on Emirates, which meant a connection to SQ on my return leg for my DXB-SIN.
My reservations on SQ and EK were not linked. On my return leg, I would need to get from Dubai Airport Concourse B, where my Emirates flight arrived from Kuwait, to Concourse C where SQ flights depart from Dubai. Shouldn’t this be straightforward for a megahub like DXB? Surprisingly, this simple connection turns out to be not quite so simple. Possible, yes, but far from seamless!
Interested? Read on!
“Yes, sure” I replied, “but let me check the visa requirements first.”
I was about to head to Dubai on SQ. I had planned four days there for work from Monday to Thursday, and possibly Friday as a free day (They have their weekends on Fri/Sat in Dubai), but those plans went out the window, now that I had to fit in a side trip to Kuwait.
I had never been to Kuwait. In fact, Kuwait had been off the radar for me for a while, since the Iraqi invasion in 1990, and Desert Shield/Desert Storm in 1991.
While Iraq, Syria and Lebanon have been in the news recently, Kuwait has stayed out of the “limelight” in recent years, which is probably not a bad thing. Work aside, I was interested in visiting just to get a sense of what this country was about, and to see if there were any trace at all of the Iraqi invasion 24 years ago, if only in the memories and recollections of the people I would meet.
As it turned out, there was a need for a business visa for Kuwait, but this was sorted out quickly.
But first, I would head to Dubai on SQ, This would be a perfect opportunity for a Business Saver Upgrade to J.
I was booked on SQ494 SIN-DXB, a 3.10pm departure out of Singapore, arriving at 6.25pm local time in Dubai. Equipment was a refitted 777-300.
I had just done a TR on SIN-PEK on SQ J on the same type of equipment (TR here). Any point in doing another TR on a 773A? It turned out that there were a few differences in experience and service format in SQ J on this flight, compared to my recent SIN-PEK trip, that were worth highlighting.
For a start, I had a bulkhead seat this time, 12C – first row of Business Class. Also the business class meal service formats were quite different in SIN-DXB from SIN-PEK despite both flights departing in the mid-late afternoon. Singapore to Dubai is 7 hours 30 minutes. The flight to Beijing is 6 hours 20 minutes. Just an hour’s difference, but enough to change the inflight meal service format significantly.
In Dubai, I stayed at the Sheraton Dubai Mall of the Emirates. In Kuwait I stayed at the Sheraton Kuwait.
For my Emirates flights, my DXB-KWI sector, flight time 1 hour 20 minutes, was operated by a Beong 777-300ER in configured 3-4-3 in Y, whereas KWI-DXB was on an Airbus A330-200 configured 2-4-2. When we get to that part of the TR I’ll share my wildly different inflight experiences on these two aircraft types on exactly the same route: and why one of these is a config I try to avoid if at all possible.
As my Kuwait side trip on EK was planned and ticketed separately from my Dubai trip via SQ, this would be on an entirely separate airline ticket DXB-KWI-DXB on Emirates, which meant a connection to SQ on my return leg for my DXB-SIN.
My reservations on SQ and EK were not linked. On my return leg, I would need to get from Dubai Airport Concourse B, where my Emirates flight arrived from Kuwait, to Concourse C where SQ flights depart from Dubai. Shouldn’t this be straightforward for a megahub like DXB? Surprisingly, this simple connection turns out to be not quite so simple. Possible, yes, but far from seamless!
Interested? Read on!
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