Southeast Asia: October 2025: Index

Southeast Asia

Credit where credit is due, United Airlines has been very aggressive with new routes the past few years. Their network planning team has been pulling out all the stops, and with the rare opportunity to do a triple inaugural (well, one was technically a re-inaugural)... and throw in the opportunity to fly Emirates' Airbus A380 in the middle? Why not? Who needs to touch the ground?

Days 1 and 2: positioning in Hong Kong for a double-inaugural day tomorrow, including a rare stay for me at one of the airport-adjacent hotels, which had the unexpected benefit of actually being a not-crowded place to run outdoors.
Day 3, part 1: United's inaugural flight from Hong Kong to Bangkok, now done as a tag from LAX-HKG, and complete with way too much media attention.
Day 3, part 2: after a relatively subdued arrival in Thailand due to the passing of the queen mother, ran through the transfer area to make it to the Emirates lounge and then the BKK-HKG return on EK 384, complete with United's social media team.
Day 3, part 3: starting to feel the long day waiting for United's re-inaugural flight from Hong Kong to Saignon, a bit more subdued than Bangkok, but still plenty of formalities on arrival in SGN.
Day 4: recovering from the 24 hour day (literally) yesterday during a rainy day in Ho Chi Minh City.
Day 5: the second return of UA 153, SGN-HKG, and its ridiculously early 6:00am departure. Then off to Japan via ANA's Hong Kong to Haneda flight.
Day 6: the clockwork-smooth but also very crowded airport limo bus from Haneda to Narita, then United's inaugural flight from Tokyo Narita to Koror, Palau.
Day 7: much like the SGN-HKG return, which had the same pilots as the inaugural HKG-SGN, had the same pilots today, for the return inaugural ROR-NRT... then a quick layover in Narita for the flight home.