The rather long background for this trip is in the last flight-report, but focusing on this leg, I had originally looked at Alamaty-Frankfurt which was a fair bit cheaper than London. Unfortunately there were no good Frankfurt-London flights, and the difference in flying to London, especially with a stop in Almaty, wasn't as high. Frankfurt also meant going via Astana on most days with a very early departure from Almaty, none of which was ideal.
I also liked the idea of trying a proper long-haul flight on KC's A321LR (NQZ-FRA was a couple of hours shorter than ALA-LHR). And so, Almaty-London it was.
Enchainement de vols
- 1
- 2
- 3KC663 - Economy - Almaty → London - Airbus A321LR
Welcome to Almaty International Airport, the largest airport in Kazakhstan and Central Asia, and the largest in the Commonwealth of Independent States outside of Russia.
It was a nice and quiet little airport despite all that, though.
Only the Air Astana check-in was active. Nice designs on the wall.
Check-in didn't take too long, though as in Delhi they were very strict and actually measured carry-ons which is quite uncommon.
Some interesting international departures with far fewer Russian flights than I'd have expected, including Hunnu Air to the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar and FlyArystan to Ghulja in Xinjiyang, which was a place I'd never heard of before this. It's always interesting to come across new cities like this because when it comes to international flights it's rare that I see any to places I have no idea about. There was also AirAsia going to its home city, which I imagine would be a brutal flight to take.
Security and immigration were both efficient, though in both some agents seemed a bit new and unsure about what they were doing. It took about forty minutes from arriving in the airport to getting to the gate area.
It was a nice airport and waiting area, peaceful with plenty of seating and natural light, though not uncomfortably sunny or anything.
And also - or as some here may feel, more importantly - good views of the planes.
Air Astana was quite dominant.
Some FlyArystan and SCAT presence too.
Sadly the plane that would be flying to Heathrow was less visible. EI-KGH again, the same plane that had operated the flight from Delhi.
No activity at the gate area.
Great views of the mountains as well.
And with Uzbekistan Airways coming in. I'd seen one of them in Delhi, and would see another in London.
Boarding, when it finally happened, was also quite peaceful and fast despite a full flight.
After the gate, there was a better view of our four year old A321LR.
Here's business class.
And economy. It's a nice looking cabin.
And here's my seat.
With the regular literature pocket+normal seatback pocket.
And screens with USB-A charging, as well as more under seat charging. The content didn't seem to have changed in the three days since the last flight so I didn't take any new pictures. While I'd thought it was plenty before, now on a long haul flight I did realise it was actually a bit limited. One difference was that there was a two minute unskippable ad before each movie which wasn't the case on the last flight.
At every seat there was a pillow, and also a small water bottle, earphones (a bit better than the regular ones) and an amenity kit. While it didn't feel as impressive on this flight as on the short hop from Delhi, it was still a great addition to have and I really appreciate that Air Astana still provides them in economy. The bottle was also nice to have and not something that everyone gives.
The contents were the same, just green rather than blue, and with one extra item…
An inflatable neck pillow! From what I'd seen before this flight I believe these are only offered out of Almaty but that also means that even the medium haul flights should have them on the outbound. This was a very unique thing to give, if a bit hard to blow up.
This is what it looks like fully inflated.
It really did make the flight more comfortable and it's honestly so cool, just a little thing but I've never come across anyone else offering it.
Unfortunately the cabin was quite warm, and the vents:
…did very little before departure.
Adjustable headrest as well.
The literature pocket had the tengri magazine, a sickness bag and safety card.
It was, of course, the same safety video, and it's a really good one.
And while on the ground at least, still a nice view.
Before too long, we pushed back on what I'm 90% sure was my longest narrowbody flight, kind of exciting.
And soon we were in the sky.
Pretty good views from up here too, at least for a few minutes.
The crew handed out blankets after takeoff.
The blanket must have had magical properties as mine just disappeared soon after this. I had no idea where it went, I looked all around the seat several times just out of curiosity since I didn't really need it, but it was nowhere to be found. It's not like there are that many places it could go in such a small space, it was very odd.
Lunch service began with a refreshing towel, another nice touch where Air Astana is among only a few remaining airlines that do this in economy.
Unlike the Delhi flight, there were snacks and drinks offered before the main meal, peanuts being the only option.
The peanuts were good, though a bit dry. Luckily drinks came by soon. I got "lemonade" which neither looked nor tasted like lemonade but wasn't bad.
The rubbish from this service was collected quickly but besides that service was slow with long waits between each thing. The meal finally came about an hour and a half into the flight - and since I had a special meal, I was actually served earlier than most.
Pretty fancy looking cutlery packet.
The meal presentation wasn't great. The meal itself was generally average, not bad but nothing special, and that was true of the main meal and the sides.
The crew served two seats in my row with beverages then went back like three rows and didn't come back. It was really weird, something similar happened on the last flight.
After the meal, the crew asked people to close their windows. I already had but I'm not sure what the point was since it was the middle of the day, it's not like anyone would sleep.
The seatbelt sign was on for pretty much the whole flight though no one seemed to be paying much attention to it. Initially I still wasn't sure about getting up during it and there were no beverage runs after the meal so eventually I used the call button to ask for some water (I was a bit thirsty after no drink during the meal.)
Eventually I did get up for the bathroom and this is the cabin view from then.
A flight attendent came by for another request so I asked for a drink again, "lemonade" this time.
They were always fine with giving them - unlike on the last flight - and while not extraordinarily friendly were still much nicer than the Delhi flight's crew.
About two and a half hours out of London the lady sitting in front of me was delivered a meal. I'm not sure what that was all about, as there was no other service happening just then and the second meal was meant to be more of a snack.
A little while after that, lighting came on in preparation for the actual second service.
Service began soon after that. There was no special meal available this time, but luckily they did have a vegetarian option: a small cheese sandwich sort of thing with some veggies. It was decent, a bit sad for such a long flight but sadly that seems to be the norm now.
While this wasn't an issue for me, people with other dietary restrictions may have had problems with no special meals for this second service.
The crew came with wipes and drinks a few minutes later. I got tomato juice and I must admit I don't get the appeal, sadly I couldn't even finish it.
Half of an hour out of London they collected the blankets. Mine, of course, had disappeared, so I couldn't give it back.
And there's the English coast. It actually felt so short, definitely not like an actual long haul even though I was awake the whole time so was conscious for more hours than on many longer flights, I guess it felt that way because was full daytime for the entire route. The plane being a narrowbody was no problem at all.
I was just thinking about how it was such a nice, clear view when a sea of clouds appeared.
The same thing happened with Oman Air last year, that was actually a similar flight in many ways.
Before too long, the clouds cleared up.
I got an excellent view of Windsor Castle. At least I think that's what it was.
And soon we were touching down.
Welcome to the United Kingdom!
The diverse group of aircraft at Heathrow included Malaysia Airlines and Asiana A350s, Qantas A380, British Airways Concorde, Kuwait Airways and RwandAir A330s, an Uzbekistan Airways 787, a Gulf Air 787 in a 75 years special livery, and a Tunisair A320 I think in the Olympics special livery, which I'd seen last year in Tunis.
And then we were at the gate, concluding this trip on what I believe is the longest route for Kazakhstan's flag carrier.
A few last pictures from the way out.
It was a bit of a walk to immigration and the terminal wasn't the nicest, but there was no line and it was very fast with the e-gates.
International arrivals in T4.
It took a few minutes for bags to arrive.
Afterwards I discovered that next to the Hilton parking lot was a good place for planespotting, with a plane going by just about every minute. While waiting for the rental car I saw an Emirates A380 flying off, plus aircraft of Air France, Delta, Eurowings, Cathay Pacific, Air Canada, and at least half a dozen BAs.
Anyway, that'll be the end of this flight report. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it.
