Myanmar (Burma) — Flight from Mandalay, via Heho, to Yangon (Rangoon), Myanmar (Burma) with Air Bagan

Off to Yangon (Rangoon)

March 2015

Mandalay International Airport (MDL) was interesting.

As I said in an earlier post, the airport was tiny. The check-in gates were located post-security; I had to pass the "passengers only" sign to have my luggage screened before I could check in. All very odd and confusing.

Once checked in, I went through immigration and into the departure terminal, which had a few shops and a couple of cafés.

I then had to go through more security to a holding area with chairs, a small stall selling drinks, and a smoking room to get to domestic departures. No toilets.

Again, there are no electronic status boards. The staff boarded the passengers by walking around, calling flight numbers and waving tickets.

Café De Mandalay, Mandalay International Airport (MDL), Myanmar (Burma)

Café De Mandalay was a lovely little café/coffee shop after immigration at the airport (departures). It was enjoyable, with good coffee and comfy seats.

The flight from Mandalay, via Heho, to Yangon (Rangoon)

I took an Air Bagan “puddle jumper" (no idea where I got that expression?) from Mandalay to Yangon (Rangoon). The plane was an ATR 72-500, a small turbo-propped aircraft with around 68 passengers and four crew.

I like small turbo-propped planes as you feel like you are flying. You never get above 18,000 ft (5.5 km), and you can often see the ground flit by, so you get a feel for the country you are flying over. The big 'jumbos' of the world can be tedious and impersonal, but on a “puddle jumper”, you feel part of it.

Air Bagan operated the flight like a bus service. I have no idea where my flight started — passengers were already on the plane when I boarded. On the way to Yangon, we landed at Heho to drop off and pick up passengers.

The first part of the flight was about 20 -25 minutes, followed by 15 minutes on the ground and then a 70-minute flight to Yangon. The 'plane change' caused problems for my flight checking app (TripIt), which assumed I had to get off a plane, move to another gate and board a new plane. I sat on the plane while one group of passengers got off and a new group got on.

And again, Air Bagan managed to serve drinks and a pretty tasty snack on the 70-minute leg of the journey.

Yep, I have enjoyed flying Air Bagan. Thanks.

Baggage Claim, Domestic Terminal, Yangon (Rangoon) Airport, Myanmar (Burma)

I arrived at the Domestic Terminal at Yangon (Rangoon) Airport, where they had a very interesting approach to baggage handling.

I was not sure how it worked, but, as I suspected, it was for money.

As I walked off the bus from the plane and into the arrivals area, I was asked for my baggage ticket, which, I thought, was odd. People kept asking me for my baggage ticket. Why?

The baggage hall was strange. There was no baggage belt. Just numerous people hanging around.

Then I realised what was happening.

As the bags were brought from the plane, a group of baggage handlers ran out to collect them and get them into the hall. Each handler checked the ticket on the bag before picking it up. If they had collected the matching ticket from a passenger, they would run the bag into the hall and give it to the person for a small fee. If they didn’t have a match to the tickets they held, they moved on and checked the next bag.

Once all the bags for which they had tickets were in the hall, the baggage handlers then went back for the bags for which they hadn’t been able to collect tickets. I guess this was a sort of ‘express baggage’ claim method.

I had to wait for my bag.