Business Traveller Asia-Pacific Edition September 2017

Someone recently asked me what my favourite part of the magazine was to put together. Easy question – it’s the Inbox pages. Your letters, and particularly your online forum posts, have us tutting in sympathy, laughing at the banter and chasing down hot tips… because at the end of the day, you are the real business travel experts – the agents out in the field, road testing aircraft and checking in to new hotels. That’s why your voices are so important in the annual Business Traveller Asia-Pacific Reader Poll. At the end of this month we will be announcing all the properties and companies you’ve crowned as this year’s most outstanding business hospitality providers. We’ve got a total of 56 awards for 2017 – featuring new categories such as Best Business Hotel in…

STEVE DINNEEN has written about gadgets for more than a decade and believes the most important tech purchase you will make is a pair of headphones. Whether you want to escape constant aircraft noise or take your audio experience to the next level, there’s the perfect pair of cans out there for you (page 64). MARK GRAHAM documents the monumental changes in China for a range of international publications. Based in Beijing for more than eight years, in this issue he reveals how to get up close and personal with the Great Wall while enjoying luxury surroundings and avoiding the tourist masses (page 58). ROBIN LYNAM is a Hong Kong-based freelance journalist who specialises in all things food, drink, art and culture. This month he turns his taste buds to the increasingly…

Changi Airport unveils T4 SINGAPORE’S Changi Airport has completed work on Terminal 4 with an official opening expected before the end of the year. Facial recognition technology will be used across self-service check-in, baggage drop, immigration and boarding gates, making this Changi’s first fully automated end-to-end terminal. Two massive LED screens (one in the security screening area and one airside) offer unusual entertainment. Disguised among a collection of traditional shophouse-style storefronts, the screens showcase a series of beautifully animated videos featuring traditional life in Peranakan-style houses. Terminal 4 also has a decidedly green theme, with 186 trees dotted throughout – more than the other three terminals combined. For an in-depth look at T4’s offerings, visit businesstraveller.com/asia-pacific. changiairport.com Etihad’s Dreamliner now flies to Seoul ABU Dhabi-based Etihad Airways is now flying its two-class B787-9 Dreamliner to Seoul,…

GHOST PASSENGER I want to provide feedback about how Singapore Airlines makes redemption flights difficult. I was on a business trip to Hong Kong flying SQ860 on February 6, 2017 and planned for my wife to join me on a redemption ticket. An online booking was made in January 2017, but I was only able to secure a return flight for my wife. She was put on the waitlist for the Hong Kong outbound flight. I made subsequent phone calls and emailed the PPS hotline to follow up and was advised each time that the flight was full and the waitlist could not be confirmed. I made a last attempt on February 5, and highlighted that during my online check-in, I noticed that there was an empty seat (43F) next to mine (43G). The staff…

BACKGROUND Hong Kong got its first direct service to Australia’s Gold Coast in January last year, when Hong Kong Airlines launched a three-times-weekly service. The return flight includes a stopover in Cairns. CHECK-IN I arrived at Gold Coast International Airport (OOL) at 6.45am for my 0940 HX16 flight. Despite there being separate business and economy lines, the staff directed all passengers to one queue. Fortunately, I completed the process within ten minutes. As Hong Kong Airlines doesn’t operate a lounge at OOL, I was given two A$15 (US$12) vouchers to redeem at the terminal restaurants. I moved to the second security scan for international departures at 0845. The immigration check was an impressively speedy affair, thanks to high-tech electronic self-scan passport stations – even for foreign passport holders. BOARDING Boarding was called at 0905.…

BACKGROUND Juneyao Airlines started operations in 2006. In May 2017 it became the first airline to join Star Alliance as a Connecting Partner – a scheme that enables outside airlines to join the alliance and plug gaps in the network without having to fulfil all the requirements placed on full members. The partnership with Juneyao gives Star Alliance members greater connectivity to Shanghai, with certain earn-and-burn privileges, lounge access, and priority boarding and check-in. CHECK-IN I arrived at Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport at 5.30pm for a scheduled 1900 departure. I headed to the premium check-in counter in aisle J, which was fast and efficient. Pudong airport doesn’t have a Star Alliance fast-track immigration lane, but the queues were surprisingly short that evening and I was through security in ten minutes. THE LOUNGE…