I flew form London Heathrow to Abu Dhabi airport on the evening departure on-board an A340-500, which I found to be very comfortable in the Economy class cabin compared to the earlier model A340-300 which I have flown on previous occasions.

An early departure from the gate was followed by a very smooth flight across mainland Europe and the Middle East into Abu Dhabi for a slightly early arrival. The service on board the aircraft was excellent, with very attentive staff and very good food served promptly after take-off, along with a regular drinks service.

The in-flight entertainment on the A340-500 was better than I have experienced on some other airlines, each seat having a large screen with a good selection of movies and music on offer. I was however disappointed with the comedy and documentry programmes on offer, but this was compensated for by the moving map displays and the forward and downward looking cameras which were available throughout the flight.

On arrival at Abu Dhabi airport, a short taxy to the terminal gate followed a smooth landing. It is very easy to find any onward flight gate at the terminal due to the small size of the satellites where the aircraft park, and I was soon queueing for my next flight to Bangkok. This leg was a morning departure with most of the flight undertaken in clear skies across the U.A.E., India, the Bay of Bengal, Myanmar and finally Thailand into the new Bangkok airport to the South East of the city. On the final leg, we flew over the old Don Muang airport, which having flown into many times was like seeing an old friend!

This flight was undertaken on a Boeing 777-300ER, once again a very comfortable aircraft with a similar in-flight entertainment system to the A340-500. One added bonus was that the Boeing has wireless internet available to anyone in all three classes, as long as you have your own laptop with wireless capability.

One point I was annoyed about was that I was informed by the airline staff in London prior to departure that all seats have a laptop powerpoint. This is definitely not the case in Economy.

Once again the food service was excellent as was the drinks service, with regular visits by the crew.

One small grumble I will make is that when it came to the time to complete the arrival/departure cards for Bangkok, not one member of the crew could supply a pen to fill out the card and I had to beg my fellow passenger, who I was not travelling with, if she would lend me her pen which she grudgingly did after continual pestering from me. Yes, I know I should carry one myself, I normally do, but this time I forgot.

Again a smooth landing at Bangkok airport ensued, followed by a very efficient transit through the immigration and baggage re-claim areas.

My return flight were much the same as the outward journey, apart from the last leg from Abu Dhabi to London being onboard what seemed a very warm aircraft for most of the flight.