Singapore (SQ) new first and business class, plus a medley of 12 F & C SQ flights
Singapore (SQ) new first and business class, plus a medley of 12 F & C SQ flights.
Discuss Singapore (SQ) new first and business class, plus a medley of 12 F & C SQ flights, on the Trip Reports and Trip Photos forum of FrequentFlyer.com.au, the home of frequent flyers.
Welcome to Australia's leading independent Frequent Flyers resource! We hope you find the information useful and decide to join our online community. Its free to join, simply click on the register link. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.
Digital Luggage Scales
UK bobbies to recover security costs from Airport Operators?
Singapore (SQ) new first and business class, plus a medley of 12 F & C SQ flights
Report coming soon.
My usual year end round the world travel plans in disarray due to events unfolding after I had made some bookings, I hastily attempted to salvage some decent travel. I think I managed to succeed - with 12 flights on Singapore Airlines, all in business and first class, on several aircraft types and even managing to route such as to experience the new (well a couple of weeks old by the time I flew) first and business class on their new 77W (777-300ER) aircraft.
Re: Singapore (SQ) new first and business class, plus a medley of 12 F & C SQ flights
INTRODUCTION
Due to some unexpected events and changes to my schedule I found myself cancelling a booked round the world and searching for ideas for alternative travel. Given the relatively short notice and being at a very busy time of year for airlines, I was relieved to be able to cobble something together that certainly wasn’t the most efficient set of flights but fitted my constraints. I would get to try the new business class on Singapore Airlines’ new 77W aircraft just a couple of weeks after the inaugural flights.
I’d been trying for an upgrade for a few weeks watching the nil availability even in full fare on the flights thinking an upgrade was impossible. Yet I managed to clear an upgrade at the last minute (day before departure) to get to try first class on the 77W as well. Yay.
So lots of SQ flights. Both business class and first class. Several different aircraft types. The newest first and business class products to look forward to. Yes I was anticipating this trip with glee. The observant amongst the readers of this little report will have noted I am referring to business class and not Raffles class. Yes it’s true that after using the Raffles name to denote business class for a long time, SQ has decided to conform to industry standard and call it business class – the end of an era. Still I can’t be too depressed as it is still one of the best business class products around, and with the latest improvements I am sure to enjoy the flights.
Re: Singapore (SQ) new first and business class, plus a medley of 12 F & C SQ flights
AUCKLAND to SINGAPORE in Business Class on SQ 747
After a hectic morning with last minute meetings and seeing to all the miscellany of stuff that had to be dealt with before I went, I was glad to settle back on the way to the airport and start relaxing. Traffic was crazy and instead of the usual 30-40 minutes the trip took about 80 minutes. Fortunately I’d anticipated this and left earlier than normal. Besides I wanted to chill out in the lounge pre-flight and a late check in wouldn’t give me this option.
Arriving at the airport I head straight for the F class check in line, which I’m entitled to use thanks to my status. This is the only line in the whole check in area, for all airlines, without a big queue (or indeed any queue at all), on this very busy travel day. I’m processed for check in quickly despite the agent being new. It wasn’t until later that I noticed that she’d ignored the proferred FFP # and the boarding pass showed my Kris Flyer status only rather than PPS status plus the status of the FFP I am crediting miles too. Regular SQ flyers know this spells trouble. I guess I was distracted chatting to the SQ rep.
As usual I pay the departure tax to bypass the big queues at the bank (and avoid the machines using ATM cards to pay for departure tax). The check in agent asks if I know where to go for pre-cleared immigration and to the lounge, then pauses to think and comments “Oh I guess you already know that!”. I answer “yes, thank you” and smile.
Amazingly there is no queue at the immigration desk for premium passengers on SQ, CX, EK etc. So I am soon threading my way through the mass of people downstairs and then up to the pre-cleared immigration line. Here there is a moderate wait, but not as bad as the wait in the main queues. Then on the familiar trek through the labyrinth to the lounge, right, ahead, right again, left, right, up the escalator, and hard left. I’m welcomed back to the lounge by the bouncer.
As the lounge is fairly full I head for a shower to freshen up while there still are showers free. Then it is time for a snack – mmmm Christmas goodies as well as the usual fine lounge fare, and a drink or three.
The time to boarding passes quickly and I then notice the incorrect FFP on my boarding pass. So I head out to the gate a couple of minutes early (for NZ are unable to adjust it in the lounge) and get the FFP # changed at the gate. Either it didn’t stick or SQ had already processed the mileage credits for the flight as miles did end up on Kris Flyer. Grrrr. This annoyed me even more than it used to as the upcoming February massive devaluation makes them worth even less than the larger number of miles I would have earned on another FFP.
But I digress. Boarding has now commenced so I head on up to my favourite SQ business seat – the upper deck exit row window. I am the first one to board upstairs, which is most unusual for me as I would normally wait in the lounge until boarding is almost complete. I grab a Straits Times and a couple of magazines and settle in with pre-departure drink while boarding progresses.
We push back on time, have a short taxi and take off over the city, turn and head across the Tasman Sea. Flight time is announced as being longer than normal due to strong head winds, and indeed our flight path is more northerly than average. So no views of Sydney or Uluru (Ayers Rock).
The flight passes quickly in a blur of eating, drinking, and watching the landscape of northern Australia and Indonesia pass by – at first under clear skies but from near Darwin onwards the view is glimpsed in between towering thunderstorms. We land to a wet Singapore somewhat late.
Only one runway is in operation and so we have a long taxi more than half way around the terminal complex to get to our gate – yup F60, the farthest gate from the lounge.
Re: Singapore (SQ) new first and business class, plus a medley of 12 F & C SQ flights
SINGAPORE
I head to the first class lounge for some Dom Perignon, and spend several hours catching up on emails and doing some work. FT was down much of the time so I got a reasonable amount done By the time I realised the time it was 4am and not worth going to sleep for a short while so I kept going, figuring that I would have plenty of time to catch up on sleep later. There were quite a few others staying up all night in the lounge, as well as the usual dozen or two sleeping in the slumberette rooms and sprawled across the comfy chairs.
When the lounge check in desk opened the next morning I headed over to get some more boarding passes. It took a lot longer, and more tension on my part, than normal to get these. First the multiple attempts to upgrade weren’t properly linked to my booking (upgrades get a separate record locator) so it took a while for the agent to confirm that I actually had a confirmed upgrade. Oh oh. Would I not get to try the new first class after all? What about the miles that had been deducted – could I get them back?
There seems to be a shortcoming in process – I had received no email or confirmation number for the upgrade, and I couldn’t even show him the deduction of miles from my account without the agent abandoning his post for I couldn’t use his computer to look up my account and the public computers do not have printer access (since earlier in 2006). Eventually I got that sorted only to find the next problem.
Whoever had processed the upgrade had confirmed it for a different flight to the one I’d booked – on the same route but different but similar flight number (SQ631 instead of SQ63). A simple typo but highlights why the recent renumbering of SQ flight numbers supposedly to reduce errors is far from perfect. In some circumstances being on a different flight wouldn’t have mattered but I had other flights to make. Could I get changed back on what is a very busy travel day? Will I have to reschedule my other flights to goodness knows when I will next have the opportunity to take them?
Fortunately there was still space in first on my original flight so I got switched back. Further I had the choice of a seat by itself, meaning there had been an aircraft substitution from 777-300 with regional product to 747-400 with longhaul product – ie Skysuites. Yay.
Re: Singapore (SQ) new first and business class, plus a medley of 12 F & C SQ flights
SINGAPORE to BANGKOK in Business Class on SQ 747
Boarding passes sorted out I had just enough time for a shower before heading out to the gate, which as is often the case in my experience, was one of the furthest from the lounge.
By the time I got to the gate boarding had already commenced – nicely timed having just missed gate close off. Having been through Changi airport so much in the past few years I feel I have the time to gates down pat and can just about walk there in my sleep. Just as well as I am feeling rather sleepy this morning.
The flight was full, so no wonder there had been an aircraft substitution to the larger 747. I was pretty tired but couldn’t sleep so watched a movie in the short 2 ½ hour flight. We arrived at the relatively new Suvarnabhumi airport slightly late and then had a slow taxi due to aircraft congestion. We got the same gate D2 as I had on previous SQ flights at Suvarnabhumi.
Sponsored Links
Registered Users have the option of
removing this and all other advertisements.
More
Re: Singapore (SQ) new first and business class, plus a medley of 12 F & C SQ flights
BANGKOK to SINGAPORE in First Class on SQ 747
Having already gotten my return boarding pass I knew I didn’t need to race to the transfer desk in the short turnaround. Still, with the late arrival and large distances in this airport terminal, I didn’t have a lot of time to dally and so walked fast past the transfer desk and up to departures level.
Unlike previous visits this time I get to try out the Thai first class lounge, the entrance of which is immediately to the right of the business class lounge. The lounge is similar to the business class lounge but almost deserted (just me plus one other passenger) at this time of day in contrast to the busy business class lounge. I only have a few minutes to spare so a very quick look around before heading to the gate. There doesn’t seem to be any computers (unless I overlooked a corner) and certainly no shower – thus offering less amenities than the Thai first class lounge at old Don Muang airport. However there is a reasonable selection of nibbles and drink, as well as several newspapers and magazines and plenty of comfortable chairs. Being more spacious there is less of a fishtank feel than the similar styled business lounge.
Time to go. There is no queue at security in between the lounge and gate. At the gate they ask about departure tax and when I say I’m in transit look up the computer to confirm (wonder what they’d do if the inbound flight was not on SQ and on a separate ticket?). Boarding is then called for first class, business class, PPS Solitaire, PPS, Kris Flyer Gold Elite, *Gold and as one every passenger (a nearly full 747 load) at the gate goes to the airbridge door They can’t all be premium passengers. Fortunately the agent does a great job keeping an clear gap for the real premium passengers to board while holding everyone else back.
On boarding I get the usual greeting and shown to my seat. At first I’m told I’m the only one in first today (lucky me!) but then someone else is shown to another first seat (an op up?). I have a couple of drinks while boarding proceeds. During this time one toddler boarding with his parents through door 1L made a beeline for the nearest skysuite – clearly has his priorities right and a possible future FTer? I was offered yet more Krug pre-departure but I turned it down for I have lots of flying ahead of me and plenty of time for drinking.
When the lunch orders are taken I am told with much apologies that there was a mix up in catering and only one first main was loaded. I guess the other passenger either had paid for first class or had a higher status (where passengers have the same PPS or PPS Solitaire or Lifetime PPS Solitaire status, SQ ranks according to the number of years qualified). After considering my options I decided to have the starter (which they had enough of) and skip the rest of the meal (except for drink). For my troubles I was offered a voucher for Kris Shop duty free. They didn’t have any service failure vouchers onboard so they called ahead to Singapore.
We push back late and I am glad I hadn’t chosen for my next segment the flight with a 45 minute connection (right on the minimum for SQ at Singapore) and instead booked a later one. I while away the flight drinking, flicking idly through the Kris Shop magazine wondering what to buy (for I also have PPS requalification vouchers to spend) and looking out the window. On this route I often spend a lot of time looking out the window at the seascape (and landscape when we are near or over land) as well as scanning the skies for there are often other aircraft on a similar flight track to be seen. Today I only see a few aircraft and none close enough to clearly identify. However I have had flights from Bangkok to Singapore where I can see several other aircraft at once flying almost in formation for long periods.
It seems Singapore is still using only one runway so we circle around a bit over Malaysia and again in the strait to the south of Singapore before finally getting our turn. Once more it is a long taxi, this time around 3/4 of the terminal complex to a gate at the end of E pier. By now we are quite late and I would have struggled to make the earlier onward flight before the gate closes 10 minutes prior to departure, which as luck would have it was leaving from F60 gate a long walk away. Instead I head to the lounge to freshen up and relax before my flight.
Re: Singapore (SQ) new first and business class, plus a medley of 12 F & C SQ flights
Bangkok to Singapore SQ63 First Class Menu December 2006
LUNCH menu
Appetisers
Hot smoked salmon and gravalax with salad Dill dressing
Main Courses
Sauteed chicken in red wine sauce with confit of lemon slices, fricassee of peas – mushrooms and potatoes
Thai style fresh water prawns “chu chee” curry served with seasonal vegetables and steamed rice
Grilled beef fillet in port wine sauce with vegetables and roasted potatoes
Fresh Fruit
A selection of fresh fruit
From the Bakery
Oven fresh rolls
[i]with a choice of extra virgin olive oil or butter
Garlic bread
Hot Beverages
Freshly brewed coffee
Espresso or cappuccino
Selection of tea
BEVERAGES menu
special cocktail
Orange Cooler
cocktails
Singapore Sling
Silver Kris Sling
Gin Fizz
Cloud Nine
Screwdriver
Bloody Mary
Daiquiri
Red or White Wine Cooler
aperitifs
Campari
Dry Vermouth
non-alcoholic cocktails
Citrus Royale
Tropical Sparkle
Golden Spice
Fruit Spritzer
Sunrise Surprise
spirits
Bombay Sapphire Gin
Cognac XO - Hennessy
Chivas Royal Salute Scotch Whisky
Johnnie Walker Black Label
Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey
Macallan 12 years old Single Malt Whisky
Smirnoff Red Label Vodka
Bacardi Carta Blanca
liqueurs
Cointreau
Tia Maria
Baileys Original Irish Cream
beer
International Selection
champagne
Dom Perignon 1999
white wines
Chablis Premier Cru Les Beauroys 2000 Domaine Laroche
Chablis Premier Cru Fourchaumes “Old Vines” 2003 Domaine Laroche
Dr Loosen 2004 Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling Spatlese
red wines
Chateau Cos D’Estournel 1999 Saint-Estephe
Chateau Leoville-Poyferre 1999 Saint-Julien
Morey-Saint-Denis 1999 Joseph Drouhin
Beaune Les Avaux Premier Cru 2002
port
Dow’s 20 year old Tawny Port
Grahams 20 year old Tawny Port
tea selection
Pure Ceylon Tea
Earl Grey
Darjeeling
Camomile
Decaffeinated Tea
Fruit Tea
Japanese Green Tea
Chinese Jasmine Tea
Chinese Oolong Tea
Mint Tea
gourmet coffees
Brazil Santos Bourbon
Colombian Supremo
Jamaican Blue Mountain
Kenyan AA Kilimanjaro
specialty coffees
Brewed Coffee
Café Royal
Espresso
Cappuccino
Café Latte
Café au Lait
Decaffeinated Coffee
Mocha
other beverages
Chocolate
Ovaltine
Milo
mineral water
Sparkling mineral water
Non-sparkling mineral water
fruit juices
Apple, Orange, Pineapple and Tomato
soft drinks
Bitter Lemon, Coke, Coke Light, Ginger Ale and Seven-Up
iced drinks
Iced Fruit Tea
Iced Tea
Iced Mint Tea
Iced Coffee
Iced Mocha
Iced Chocolate
Iced Ovaltine
Iced Milo
Re: Singapore (SQ) new first and business class, plus a medley of 12 F & C SQ flights
SINGAPORE to JAKARTA in Business Class on SQ A345
On entering the first class lounge I first get some more boarding passes for following flights.
While I wait I freshen up, unsure of how much time I will have later. This is something I am in habit to do when travelling long itineraries – take a shower (almost) whenever I get the chance. For even if I think there will be plenty of opportunity later I have learnt from experience that the best laid plans can go awry due to weather or mechanical issues, missed connections, strikes, etc. Plus it just feels better travelling fresh, especially if tired as I was.
I had enough time left over to check emails and FT, while drinking some more Dom Perignon I must have been more tired than I thought as I realised with a start that it was only 20 minutes until departure – I better go now. On the way out I check the monitor for the departure gate. Dang F54, quite some distance away. Still at least it isn’t F60 this time. So I power walk to the gate, making it just before it closes. Boarding is almost complete by this time so straight down the airbridge, onboard and to my seat.
Online I’d earlier picked the bulkhead row in the forward of the 2 business class cabins for that is the smaller one. It seems I made a lucky choice as there were some noisy babies in the second cabin – the front cabin was much quieter. The flight was reasonably full but I was lucky enough to have an empty seat beside me so plenty of room to stretch out.
For those unfamiliar with SQ’s A345, these are used on the ultralonghaul non-stop flights between Singapore and Los Angeles and Singapore and Newark (see for example my trip report on the double inaugural SIN-EWR-SIN). Due to issues with weight and performance, SQ fitted them out with reduced seating meaning an extra several inches of pitch, in both business and economy classes. The Wisemen 3000 avod IFE is also loaded with additional movies from the non-A345 version. In between the ultralonghaul flights the A345s do some flights between Singapore and Jakarta. As long as you aren’t wanting to fly in first class (for SQ’s A345 has no first class) these flights are a good choice on this route IMHO.
But I digress. Shortly after I had taken my seat the doors were shut and we pushed back. During my transit the active runway had switched sides of the airport (but still in the same direction) which meant a short taxi.
I catch up on some sleep during the short flight, awaking near Jakarta as we encounter some turbulence. We turn past the city to land and descend past the edge of the runway, until ...
... with a roar of the engines on full power we suddenly climb sharply. An aborted landing in the final stages. This is an experience which lately I have had every year (at least once). I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised given the high number of flights I take it is bound to happen from time to time. However it is still enough out of the ordinary to jolt me awake and wonder what went wrong. Most passengers and crew are talking amongst themselves about it too. A couple of minutes later the captain comes on the PA to advise a sudden wind shear occurred (well, he didn’t use that wording but instead referred to a sudden strong tailwind). While there were thunderstorms in the general area the nearest looked to be about 50 kilometres away and so I couldn’t help think that there may have been another reason. We circled a big loop before coming back in to land on the same runway in the same direction some 20 minutes later.
We taxi in the long way around, past the rotting aircraft, to our position at the gate closest to the main part of the terminal.
and a possible future FTer? I was offered yet more Krug pre-departure but I turned it down for I have lots of flying ahead of me and plenty of time for drinking.
I must have been more tired than I thought as I realised with a start that it was only 20 minutes until departure – I better go now. On the way out I check the monitor for the departure gate. Dang F54, quite some distance away. Still at least it isn’t F60 this time. So I power walk to the gate, making it just before it closes. Boarding is almost complete by this time so straight down the airbridge, onboard and to my seat.
Linear Mode
