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At the pre-flight ceremony, speeches were given by the boss of ExxonMobil Singapore, SQ CEO Mr Chew Choon Seng, and Ms Jennie Chua (representing Community Chest of Singapore).
(Note : this is a follow-up of Part 1 of this trip report here : http://www.sqtalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2586)
Here is Mr Chew escorted by a stewardess, listening to one of the other speakers :
Iangoodwin was quick-thinking enough to have a photo taken with Mr Chew right there.
Then there was a ribbon-cutting ceremony, and boarding commenced, beginning with Mr Julian Heyward (sp?) and companion (he paid US$100,380 for a special 2 Suites package), followed by the rest of us :
A pic from the aerobridge window showing this aerobridge leading to the upper deck.
There were 2 aerobridges leading to the lower deck.
My brother (and newly-minted SQTalker) SDE747 and I were seated in 80 F and G, perfect seats with unlimited legroom. The goodie bags were sitting there waiting for us.
This row was so spacious that it became a party area for the rest of the flight.
I studied all the economy seats carefully, bearing in mind I may fly long haul in it one day. Well, I'll do a detailed report with pics in another thread, but briefly I would advise sitting in the upper deck - it's only 88 pax in a 2-4-2 configuration with more pockets of space, vs 313 in 3-4-3 config crammed downstairs.
Soon the plane pushed back, and we taxied to the runway.
The takeoff took a long time, I timed it at 75 sec, such that we were looking at each other wondering what was happening. The Sydney Morning Herald the next day reported that we took almost the whole runway length to make it. But eventually we did, to cheers from everyone !
The pilot switched off the seatbelt sign very early, and the party started :
That's Lee from Florida chatting with my brother.
The 2 guys sitting next to me were wearing custom-made "First to Fly A380" T-shirts. I watched as several people came to ask them, and the guy next to me, Garry told them how he designed and had them made, and that he was asking SQ for permission to market them.
He also told 2 people in succession, "I have one last T-shirt, if you want it, you can have it". But I think due to his Irish accent, they didn't understand him, and left one after the other.
So I grabbed my chance and asked him, "do you really have one more T-shirt to give away ? Can I have it ?"
He said, "Yeah, you can have it, but you must put it on for the whole flight, and you must fit in it".
So I grabbed it :
I then went to the toilet, opened the box, and looked at the smallest T-shirt I've ever seen - something that my wife would fit in. But I told myself that I HAD to have this nice T-shirt no matter how much I suffered, so I sucked in my tummy, pulled it over my head, and voila !
(I was just hoping that Garry wouldn't say "Nah, it doesn't fit you, give it back !")
I think Garry only had 5 of these to give away, and I got the last one !
THANK YOU !!!!
He wouldn't accept a single cent for it, and I didn't have anything to give him in return, so I bought one of those A380 handphone strap things and gave it to him.
Also, much later, on another day in fact, I would make another supreme tummy-sucking effort to try to repay him for his generosity.........
Stay tuned for Part 3 : more on the flight !
(Note : this is a follow-up of Part 1 of this trip report here : http://www.sqtalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2586)
Here is Mr Chew escorted by a stewardess, listening to one of the other speakers :
Iangoodwin was quick-thinking enough to have a photo taken with Mr Chew right there.
Then there was a ribbon-cutting ceremony, and boarding commenced, beginning with Mr Julian Heyward (sp?) and companion (he paid US$100,380 for a special 2 Suites package), followed by the rest of us :
A pic from the aerobridge window showing this aerobridge leading to the upper deck.
There were 2 aerobridges leading to the lower deck.
My brother (and newly-minted SQTalker) SDE747 and I were seated in 80 F and G, perfect seats with unlimited legroom. The goodie bags were sitting there waiting for us.
This row was so spacious that it became a party area for the rest of the flight.
I studied all the economy seats carefully, bearing in mind I may fly long haul in it one day. Well, I'll do a detailed report with pics in another thread, but briefly I would advise sitting in the upper deck - it's only 88 pax in a 2-4-2 configuration with more pockets of space, vs 313 in 3-4-3 config crammed downstairs.
Soon the plane pushed back, and we taxied to the runway.
The takeoff took a long time, I timed it at 75 sec, such that we were looking at each other wondering what was happening. The Sydney Morning Herald the next day reported that we took almost the whole runway length to make it. But eventually we did, to cheers from everyone !
The pilot switched off the seatbelt sign very early, and the party started :
That's Lee from Florida chatting with my brother.
The 2 guys sitting next to me were wearing custom-made "First to Fly A380" T-shirts. I watched as several people came to ask them, and the guy next to me, Garry told them how he designed and had them made, and that he was asking SQ for permission to market them.
He also told 2 people in succession, "I have one last T-shirt, if you want it, you can have it". But I think due to his Irish accent, they didn't understand him, and left one after the other.
So I grabbed my chance and asked him, "do you really have one more T-shirt to give away ? Can I have it ?"
He said, "Yeah, you can have it, but you must put it on for the whole flight, and you must fit in it".
So I grabbed it :
I then went to the toilet, opened the box, and looked at the smallest T-shirt I've ever seen - something that my wife would fit in. But I told myself that I HAD to have this nice T-shirt no matter how much I suffered, so I sucked in my tummy, pulled it over my head, and voila !
(I was just hoping that Garry wouldn't say "Nah, it doesn't fit you, give it back !")
I think Garry only had 5 of these to give away, and I got the last one !
THANK YOU !!!!He wouldn't accept a single cent for it, and I didn't have anything to give him in return, so I bought one of those A380 handphone strap things and gave it to him.
Also, much later, on another day in fact, I would make another supreme tummy-sucking effort to try to repay him for his generosity.........
Stay tuned for Part 3 : more on the flight !
He he!
Thanks for capturing the memories!
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