Thursday, September 03, 2009

Aleenta part 7 - KA vs. EK+TG+AG(hotel)+aleenta(resort) - affordable luxury trip to be considered

At around late July, I got a phone call from my sister about a trip to somewhere in SE Asia. I told my sister's family to get something else instead of going to BKK again as my bro-in-law would for sure be bored to death. So I suggested a trip to Aleenta Phang Nga or another luxury mansion in Pranburi, but I chose Aleenta as it's really something.


In calculating the cost, something interesting came up to me. When I tried to book the KA direct flight ticket, it showed the least expensive economy class on a KA 320 jet (3-3 row with a capacity of 130 to 150 passengers) and it cost at HK$4,800 excl. tax. Then I went check on the EK flight for HKG-BKK and the ticket is HK$1,300 incl. tax. So for the domestic, I chose TG instead of Air Asia since now most big airlines have some competitive prices; so the BKK-HKT(Phuket) is at around HK$600 incl. tax. Then AG got a special on Asiatravel and it's just HK$400 for one person (based on a share-twin) for 2 nights. Then for Aleenta, a 3 night stay is HK$2,100 per person and on our way back, AG cost is a bit higher due to one night stay; so it's around HK$150. Then about our mini-van 6 time hotel-airport transfer, the cost is HK$250 per person. So the total is around HK$4,800 per adult. It will be a bit less for the kid (around HK$1.5k less). The KA ticket alone before tax (on a 320 smaller jet without TV/entertainment) is HK$4,800. This one on EK (773 big jet with 400 movie selection/games...etc.) plus TG 330 big jet (with individual TV) plus AG/Aleenta hotel cost plus transport cost. If you want more luxury, just add up HK$1k for EK business class and another HK$700 for TG business class. What do you think?


1. the meal for our outbound flight - stir fried cashew with chicken - pretty good! 2. the meal for our return flight - chicken breast coated with cheeze/egg with pasta - also nice too. Our travel mates told that the fish is a bit salty but I then explained that in-flight meal chef is very cautious on cooking seafood; so marinating the fish to more salty is a safer way for keeping it for longer hours. I would prefer it to be marinated to a bit more salty under this circumstance. Some people often complain about in-flight meals but please be considerate of how to make meals at 35k elevation with restrained ultensils and utilities.

3. Emirates' own chocolate - pretty good too. 4. I think this is the only Sprite I have ever tasted that they used some mineral water! UAE and Emirates may not need to check on their P&L or budget table.

5. cabin of EK 773 jet. 6. TG new seat configuration on their 330 jet. Hint: when booking on TG, try to choose those 330, 340, 744. Avoid 300/310/320 if possible. Phuket's weather can be very stormy. Some jets may not withstand sudden strong wind and rain.
7. snack on TG flight. It's not the best but may be something ok when you want some food.

4 comments:

Stella said...

I have invited my friends to check on this blog for their tour tips/knowledge.
They like to have a luxurious "ho" trip with affordable price so this is it.
The cost of your trip looks 3 times more than your real price by the fancy presentation of the hotel and the airline/food/restaurant you had.

in the sea said...

I often told the others the "cheap" look sometimes isn't cheap, but the "expensive" may not be that expensive. First, don't get scared with those branded names. No harm to go check it and make the best of your money. Like Grill Tokyo, no one knows we paid only THB350++ for a meal which looks like it's THB2k.

Stella said...

You are 100% correct SEA.
Spending wisely and gracefully is an art and talent.
You and TC spent $1 on food and look like you spent $10. But some people spend $10 and look like $1.

in the sea said...

Yes, we should make the most of our money - money environmentalist.... :)