Flying with MAS and experience at Heathrow terminal 4

I was pleasantly surprised, as a gold card Enrich member, I was offered the use of the first class lounge. I had once used it in 2002 on my way to New Delhi on official duty. It is much quieter of course compared to the normal business class lounge and the food is served by waiters on white table cloth. It;s like a five star hotel and I had a couple of well-heeled Europeans for company.

The shower room is complete with WC facilities unlike in the business class which is separate. Yes the experience was welcoming prior to the long flight to London.

I had a good dinner in the lounge and opted not to have anything on board. Watched some videos and off to a good sleep. Woke up about five hours before arrival with a headache! Despite knowing the physiology of headache I decided to ask for a cup of MILO... ghee that made the headache worse I immediately requested for two cups of orange juice and within 10 minutes the headache had disappeared... thanks goodness, I was dehydrated... so no paracetamol please.

Breakfast was not so good as I made the wrong choice of "nasi lemak".... the rice was soggy and the condiments not so tasty. The attentive steward tried to replace it with omelette but I declined.

Yes my next seat companion was a lovely English lady who returned from Perth Australia after playing golf there. She was very stern at the beginning but we got talking a few hours before arrival as she had been going to and fro the toilet. I was glad I chose an aisle seat.

As I mentioned earlier we were given a card for premier lane immigration check. Very fast but too many people initially at the lane . I was served by a young British Pakistani officer  with a funny gelled hairstyle. Anyway as my passport was brand new as I just renewed it before this travel, he had his uneasiness and brought out a little gadget from his pocket to "scan" the passport!! He took some time triggering me to blurt out that he did this because it was a Malaysian passport which has been getting bad names around the world airport immigration check. I then took out my professional membership cards, my IC etc without him ever asking and he finally stamped the passport! By that time there was no one behind me. he was doing his work and yet why does a bona fide traveller always have to suffer this undue scrutiny? By the way the last time I was through this lane it was a breeze and the serving officer was a British English man with an unpleasant and sour face! This Pakistani officer at least had a nice smile and he even apologised for taking so long..... I forgave him.

After a long walk, luckily I had a bag on trolley, I arrived at the baggage reclaim carousel. It was cramped and like most space in London very narrow. I prefer Terminal 3 anytime. It is less vibrant and people crowd together. KLIA is 100% better.... ghee! How I miss my country with its warts and all.

We arrived at 5.10 am local time and I was out by about 6.20 am, would have been earlier if I had my old passport with me with all those international travels stamped on it... the young immigration officer would not have to apologise. Well a single lady travelling..... remember those mules? It makes me cringe.

Remember when you are travelling with a brand new passport just bring a long your old one. It saves you a lot of hassles.