SIN-SYD Singapore Airlines Business - SQ211

[echa2949]

Deleted

[echa2949]

SQ211 (SIN-SYD) Business Class

SQ211 Singapore to Sydney, 3 March 2012
ETD 9:40am, ATD 10:20am
ETA: 8:30pm, ATA: 8:35pm
B777-300 (refitted)

Check-in
In Terminal 3, check-in for Business Class is in Row 6, which is conveniently located adjacent to the GST Refund Counter. This meant that I could open my luggage to show the GST Refund Officer of the contents subject to the GST refund and then walk 20 metres or so to the check-in counter.

Row 6 Business Class Check-in






The lady who checked in my family and I (4 of us) was efficient and generous because my cousin, who was travelling on the same flight but in Economy Class, was allowed to check-in with us at the same counter. But the cherry on the pie was that my cousin’s luggage was also tagged with the priority Business Class labels. We tried to go further by requesting for a complimentary upgrade to Business Class but this was politely refused by the lady as well as the Singapore Airlines ticketing staff.

SilverKris Lounge
At first, we walked into the Krisflyer Gold Lounge without realising that there was another lounge, the SilverKris Lounge, which we were entitled to enter because we were travelling on Business Class. It was counter-intuitive because "Gold Lounge" connotes something higher than "Silverkris Lounge". I was told by the staff manning the Krisflyer Gold Lounge that the SilverKris Lounge was down the corridor in the corner. At the SilverKris Lounge, I asked to the door staff whether my cousin (travelling on Economy Class) could access the lounge. Initially, gentleman told me that without a Gold Krisflyer card, I was unable to invite a guest into the SilverKris Lounge. However, the (more senior) lady said that this time there would be an exception because my cousin was travelling with my family and I. We were very happy and excited by their (rare) kindness.

My first impressions of the SilverKris Lounge were that it was grand, spacious and luxurious. Arriving at around 8am, it was quite crowded, especially around the food area. However, by 8:45am, most of the crowd had disappeared and so the lounge felt more exclusive and comfortable. Breakfast included quite a good selection of both oriental and western foods including har kow (prawn dumplings), cereal, muesli, noodles etc., but the quality of the food was not fantastic. This was particularly so after eating really delicate breakfasts the previous mornings at the exclusive Meritus Club Lounge at the Mandarin Orchard Hotel in Singapore.

The lounge had comfortable seating ranging from the high-up wooden chairs to leather couches.

SilverKris Lounge Chairs




There were also many computers available with Internet access, and a good range of reading material. I was surprised to see that there were international newspapers such as The Australian and the Sydney Morning Herald and was even more surprised to discover that the newspapers were the most current versions (i.e. today’s newspapers), even at 8 in the morning! The bathroom was opulent and contained various amenities including shaving cream, razors and cologne.

I left at around 9:15am and quickly realised that I had little time to get to the gate because it was a good 15 minute walk from the lounge located in the ‘A’ gates area to my gate, which was B9. I arrived at my gate at 9:25am, just in time before it was scheduled to close (i.e. 10 minutes before departure).

Departure
I was welcomed aboard by a male chief steward. Within 2 minutes of settling into my seat, a flight attendant offered me various drinks. I took Apple Juice, but there was also tomato and orange juice, and water on offer. The cabin was about 75% full.

Our departure was delayed because we pushed back late (at about 10am) and there were 3 planes in front of us lining up for take-off (2 Silkair and 1 Tiger Airways flight). We finally headed for the clouds at 10:20am.

Singapore Airlines Parked Out



QF32 Departing for Sydney Too





Seat
I was seated in 16A. The cabin was configured in a 2-2-2 configuration. Having read other reviews of the new regional medium-haul business class seat, I did not have very high expectations of the seat but I was pleasantly surprised by its comfort. The beige colour and leather were attractive.





There was ample leg and storage space, and it felt more spacious than the Qantas sloped Skybed. There was a jacket hanger and 2 storage seats in between the back of the seats in front. This was in addition to the document pocket, drinking bottle storage areas, and the laptop storage area next to the seat.



Apple Juice and Tomato Juice



The seat itself was very wide and could be electronically adjusted to various configurations using the control under the flap of the armrest. Although the seat could not be adjusted to a completely flat configuration, the slope was very gentle and so I was able to easily sleep on the seat without sliding down. I found that it was more comfortable to place the pillow behind your head, whilst sleeping on the flattest seat configuration. The armrest also housed the remote which controlled the TV.



There were also a power point and 2 personal reading lights: one in the ceiling and another on the side of the seat.

[echa2949]

Meals
Shortly after take-off, we were offered another drink. This time I opted for orange juice. This was quickly followed by the taking of our orders for the main course for breakfast. At the time of booking, I noted that the meals on my flights included brunch and refreshment. However, last month, to my irritation, brunch was changed to breakfast. It is ridiculous to have breakfast at 11am (that’s time for brunch) and the choice of food, particularly on the Book the Cook menu, for breakfast is not as good as that for Brunch. For example, on the Book the Cook menu for brunch, there is chicken breast and Lobster thermidor. These choices do not exist for breakfast.








Nevertheless, I was impressed by the choice and quality of food from the onboard breakfast menu. The breakfast service commenced with the offering of a hot towel and white table linen. The Prelude, “sliced fresh fruit”, was delivered from a trolley and was very juicy and sweet.

Sliced Fresh Fruit




This was shortly followed by the Starter, which for me was cereal and for my brother, muesli.

Cereal



Muesli



The Main was not delivered from the trolley but instead carried individually by the flight attendants to each passenger. This was a nice personal touch. I chose Nasi lemak whilst my brother chose the carrot cake with prawns. Although it did not look presentable, it was certainly yummy.

Nasi Lemake



Carrot Cake with Prawns



Croissants and various bread rolls were also served, but I did not enjoy my bread roll as it was hard and dry. Breakfast was concluded by another hot towel.

Several hours later, we were offered an assortment of very crunchy peanuts that I enjoyed.

Peanuts



Approximately 2 hours before landing, the cabin lights were turned on and our orders for Refreshment were taken. Again, this was followed by a hot towel and white table linen. There was a choice of steamed Chilean bass and Panfried canjun spiced chicken. I was excited by the steamed Chilean bass (Patagonian toothfish) because it sounded exotic and was a fish that I had never eaten before. It certainly did not disappoint and was very delicious – I wanted more!

Chilean Bass





Throughout the flight, the flight attendants walked up and down the aisles collecting empty glasses and taking orders for various drinks. Their presence was noticeable. I ordered the Silver Kris Sling and Colombian Supremo coffee, which were both very nice.

Colombian Supremo Coffee and Champagne

[echa2949]

Inflight Entertainment
The inflight entertainment was slightly disappointing. Analogous to the breakfast in the SilverKris Lounge, there was a great variety of movies and TV shows, but there was nothing that I desperately wanted to watch. I ended up watching J. Edgar and The Descendants and several documentaries. I thought that Qantas’ February inflight entertainment was much more interesting: it included The Iron Lady and the King’s Speech.

The Krisworld system was very responsive and easy to use and navigate. The LCD television was decently sized and sharp. Each seat was provided with a pair of noise-cancelling earphones, which are specifically designed for the Krisworld system. These were extremely effective in drowning out the engine noise, but it became slightly annoying to take them off in order to hear normal conversation (e.g. when being asked what food order I liked by the flight attendant).

I noticed that the flight information/map had changed since my last flight on Singapore Airlines – no longer does it display the annoying page of measurements measured in feet, Fahrenheit or miles/hour. I also noticed that the inflight entertainment system was activated prior to take-off. I remembered that in the past, entertainment was only activated after take-off.

Service
The cabin crew, as with all Singapore Airlines flights, were impeccable. They operated like clockwork and to perfection. They were friendly, always smiling and more than happy to assist with anything. I was impressed that they had memorised our names, and constantly referred to us as Mr/Ms X, making their service very personalised and pleasant. The crew were also very responsive to my “call button”, always responding to it within 30 seconds after pressing it, which is in direct contrast to Economy where it can take a few minutes for a response. Sometimes, there is no response, forcing me to hit the “call button” again.

Amenities and Toilet
Amenities included socks in the shape of slippers and eyeshades. Various newspapers and magazines were pushed by trolley at the beginning of the flight.

At first, I thought that the Business class lavatories were located at the back of the Business class cabin but quickly learnt that they were Economy class lavatories. I then realised that the Business class ones were located at the front of the Business class cabin next to the galley. I am not sure whether these toilets are also shared by the First class passengers.

The lavatory was cramped but the amenities provided were good. They included linen towels, eau de toilette and L’Occitane after-shave and toothpicks, which I thought was slightly unhygienic to place in the toilet (even though the toothpicks were packaged). Flowers decorated and provided a refreshing fragrance to the toilet.

Toilet Amenities



Arrival
During the flight, there were incredible views of the Australian landscape ranging from the red, dry deserts to the lush, green trees. I think we flew alongside Lake Eyre.

Lake Eyre?





We began our descent into Sydney at 8pm (local time). The seat belt signs were turned on before that time because the cloud cover and showers made landing slightly turbulent. By 8:30pm, we touched down and within 5 minutes after landing were parked at our gate next to Malaysia Airlines (MH141) that had flown in from Kuala Lumpur. It only took another 5 minutes before we alighted off the aircraft.

The arrivals hall was packed. The queue for holders of foreign passports snaked outside the arrivals hall into the duty free area because flights from Abu Dhabi, Honolulu, Manila, Kuala Lumpur, Auckland and another Qantas flight from Singapore all landed during the 7:30-8:30pm time period. I was so happy to have an “Express Arrivals” card which meant that I waited in a special immigration line that took only 10 minutes. Judging from the expression of the holders of the foreign passports, I could see that they were frustrated and annoyed with our effectively ‘jumping-the-queue’ move.

Our luggage was one of the first to arrive on the baggage carousel. Amongst the 4 of us, we carried 7 pieces of baggage weighing a total of 110kg. We were shy of our 120kg limit, which was a relief because we were worried of being overweight.

Unfortunately, we were unable to use the Express Arrivals card in customs/quarantine because we had things to declare. Notwithstanding that however, the customs official dealt with us in less than 5 minutes, which was surprisingly fast because in the past, they X-rayed our luggage and regurgitated its content. We left the airport by 10pm.

Conclusion
This was our first time flying Singapore Airlines Business class. The experience was certainly significantly different from that of Economy. Overall, we were impressed with the service, seat and meals, but were slightly disappointed with some aspects of the SilverKris Lounge and the quality of the inflight entertainment. In any event, it was very enjoyable and we will certainly consider travelling Business class on Singapore Airlines in the future.

[Kyo]

Thanks for the TR...

Sorry for dragging this off-topic. Is that camera case for a Canon Ixus 980IS? It looks exactly like my previous one from two years ago that I sold to someone in Melbourne!

Picked it up in NRT, by the way.

[echa2949]

Thanks for the TR...

Sorry for dragging this off-topic. Is that camera case for a Canon Ixus 980IS? It looks exactly like my previous one from two years ago that I sold to someone in Melbourne!

Picked it up in NRT, by the way.

No, it's a Canon Ixy Digital 2000IS. I bought both the camera and the orange leather case at Akihabara, Tokyo, at the beginning of 2009.

[sushiinSYD]

echa2949, Thank you for the TR.
Glad to know that you enjoyed your experience wz SQ in C.

Cheers,