City, Beach and Food Paradise (Jetstar, KLM, Tiger)

[ycp81]

It is a bliss to be based in Singapore as I can go on short weekend trips to cities around the region without bursting my pocket (sometimes airfares could be as cheap as the taxi fares to town!). As these short trips are rather frequent these few months, I would be combining them into 1 report rather than 3 separate ones. With the frequent offers available, I made trips to Kuala Lumpur (city) in March on Jetstar, Bali (beach) in April on KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, and would be going to Penang (food paradise) in May on Tiger! Most of the focus would be on the KLM flight as it is a full-service carrier and it would be interesting to see how they fare on the short 2hrs regional sector.

First report would be the Jetstar shuttle to KUL. Most of the report would comprise of pictures as it was just the standard Jetstar short-haul flight with budget but pleasant service.

24 March 2012
Jetstar Asia
3K 681
Singapore (SIN) - Kuala Lumpur(KUL)
A320
9V-JSB
Budget Class

Boarding Pass. Given emergency exit row by the check-in agent!


Red-tails at T1 (Jetstars and Lionair)


Jet Airways A332 being towed to a remote stand.


Big brother vs small sister


2nd time flying 9V-JSB, with Valuair titles.


Parked beside the beast.


Loads of legroom!


Items in seat pocket.


Are you willing to assist in an emergency?


Waiting for remaining pax. One pax did not show up and luckily there was no check-in bag. And so door closed and off we go, slightly behind schedule.



Pushback with safety briefing by crew.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QcaGGL3q30


Passing the iconic Changi control tower



Taxi pass Terminal 3. Long taxi to Rwy02C.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpM2lqLfO0Q


Cebu Pacific A320 in front if us.

[ycp81]

SQ Cargo 744 MegaArk behind.



Takeoff from Rwy02C.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p3TMrhgQ00


Left turn towards KL.


Cruising at 20+ thousand feet.


A quick buy-on-board service was offered, with not many takers. Well, it is only a 30min flight. Food and drinks can wait.


Very soon, we were descending through the cloudy skies.


Weather is not too good.



Fast and hard landing into Rwy32L.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQBZFIk6-FE


Welcome to MAS land!


Nothing but MH.


MH Baby B738.


Competitors a distance away at LCCT.


Parked at the KLIA satellite terminal.


Preparing for the flight back to SIN.

[ycp81]

Weekend in KL

Some images of KL food and scene.

[Handiman]

Nice TR , Ouch the food.....

[ycp81]

Just a night in Kuala Lumpur and back to Singapore next.

25 March 2012
Jetstar Asia
3K 686
Kuala Lumpur(KUL) - Singapore(SIN)
A320
9V-JSJ
Budget Class

Check-in was done online earlier, with the possibility of choosing seats too! Obtained my boarding pass at KLIA about 75min before departure.


Not many interesting aircraft other lots of MHs and Air Asias. An Emirates B773ER being prepared for flight.


My Jetstar plane arriving slightly late (reason given by pilot due to congestion at Changi. What's new...).


First time flying on 9V-JSJ. Rather new plane this is.


Boarding in progress. Again very friendly and helpful Jetstar crew who were proactively assisting with the storage of cabin bags and guiding pax to seats. Truthfully speaking, other than the different uniform, they seemed like just any other SQ crew during the boarding process. Similar with SQ, a resident of Singapore could also feel like "home" upon stepping onto a Jetstar Asia flight, haha. Cabin was very clean and new, with Jetstar radio music blaring during the entire boarding process.


Towards the rear. The plane eventually filled up almost to the brim.


Across the aisle. Now horrors! The seats on this aircraft could not be reclined! They are all "stuck" in this very position.


Very poor seat pitch. Added with the non-reclining seats, it made for quite an uncomfortable short flight. Any flight longer than 2 hours on these seats would be murderous! The seats are so unpopular that Jetstar soon scrapped the seats on their new planes.


China Airlines B744 parked beside.


MH B738 taxi into gate.



Soon, we pushed back with engines starting up. Apologies, but you will hear a child who refused to be strapped in screaming/wailing in most of the below videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVqgdbAek8s


Safety briefing on this aircraft was pre-recorded. Crew just performed the manual demo while we taxied to the runway.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2dvm7udyrM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WmAr1B8c04


Sri Lankan A320 following us.



Took off from Rwy32R for the 30min hop to Singapore.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A7utJB1cr0


Making a left turn shortly after takeoff.

[ycp81]

Flying back over KLIA. You can see KLIA2 and a new runway being constructed!


Window view


We flew along the coast all the way towards Singapore.


Snacks or drinks?


Along the coast again.


We flew all the way south towards the Indonesian Riau islands before turning up north to Changi. Don't it looked like the Maldives islands?


However due to traffic, we made turns over Batam, adding 5-10min to the flying time.


More islands.


Finally on our approach.


Congestion at sea too!



Landing at Changi Rwy02L. Even though we were only 15min late, the crew still apologised for the late arrival. Good job, Jetstar!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FEV6GU43FU


Parked at Terminal 1.


Myanmar Airways A321 beside.


A couple of good flights on Jetstar again. Only complaint is the dreadful non-reclining seats on the return sector. Hopefully Jetstar does not use this plane for flights of 4hrs or more as it could be really unbearable comfort wise!

Next up, we would see how KLM fares on a Asian regional sector!

[ycp81]

Now for the main focus of the report, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines on the SIN-DPS sector for a weekend beach getaway! I was checking for flights to Bali about a month before the trip and KLM came out cheapest at S$313 return all-in (could have got it cheaper at S$303 if not for a day's worth of contemplation), which is cheaper than the budget airlines AirAsia/Jetstar on the same dates (QZ and VF/JQ selling at around S$400 return) and Qatar, also at S$400+. For S$560 return, you could even fly in World Business Class on KLM, which for the price, would not even get you an economy ticket on SQ to Bali! SQ is selling tickets in economy for S$700+ which is ridiculously high for a 2hrs sector in a prehistoric era plane! Not to mention the SQ flights I checked out departs within 15min of the KLM flights. Wonder who in the right frame of mind would pay such crazy prices on SQ. It was not my first time flying on KLM (check out my previous report on the BKK-TPE sector) and this time, it would be interesting to see how they fare on an even shorter regional flight compared to the legacy asian carriers.

Booking on the KLM website was easy enough and I also signed up for their FFP for the fun on it. Interesting fact, you can redeem a one-way economy tkt SIN-TPE on Skyteam member China Airlines for just 10,000 flying blue miles! Well, guess I would not be flying KLM too much to reach the 10,000miles mark. Seats could be selected online but KLM do charge extra for seats in Economy Comfort (more legroom and recline), seats at emex rows and bulkheads and seats in pairs.

Online check-in was allowed up to 30hrs before departure, and the check-in procedure was easily accomplished. Now I only need to collect my boarding pass at the airport. Also, KLM has a Singapore-based facebook page which had a promotion where you add your reservation code and would expect a surprise upon checking in. Free upgrade to Business? Haha... I added mine and wondered what would the "surprise" be.

On the day of departure, we proceeded to Terminal One for dropping of luggage and getting the boarding passes. KLM check-in row was at Row 2, and was not very busy. There were very cool electronic signages at the check-in counters!


Boarding passes. Lets see what the surprise was? A nice "Bali notebook" with a thank you letter was handed to me by the friendly check-in agent. No upgrade to Business.... However, another check-in agent at the side, probably the supervisor, then decided to "upgrade" us to Economy Comfort for free! Still an economy seat, but considered an upgrade I guess, hehe...


After checking-in and wished a pleasant flight and holiday by the check-in staff (they were real friendly!), we proceeded through immigration. Got the duty free cosmetics as required by my mum and then did some plane-spotting. Not many interesting movements though.

China Airlines A340 and one of the many Jetstar A320s.


Biman Bangladesh B738. This livery looked so similar to CX!


Proceeded to Gate C26, where the plane had arrived from Amsterdam. As the gate is at the end of the pier at T1, it offered a fantastic view of the runway as taxiway!


Jetstar A332 on the remote. There were 2 of these Jetstar birds at the remote stands.


FedEx B777F.


Thai B772 arriving from Bangkok.


Xiamen Airlines B738 taxiing to the gate.


Finnair A340 arriving from Santa Claus Land aka Helsinki.


Asiana Cargo B744F


SQ A333 touching down.

[kapitan]

gawd, should have not peeped into this report, looking at the charsiew makes me very hungry...

[CarbonMan]

Thanks, ycp81, for the TR. As with Kapitan, I commend the food shots - the glistening sweet oil on the meats look tantalizingly seductive! Looking forward the DPS.

[ycp81]

Qantas Longreach B744 from Frankfurt.


Turkish Airlines A333 taxi to gate.


Here comes the Lion (B737-900ER)



27 April 2012
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
KL 835
Singapore(SIN) - Denpasar Bali(DPS)
B777-300ER
PH-BVF
Economy Comfort

The whole boarding gate was packed! Seemed to be a very full flight. KLM's B773ER has a total capacity of 425 pax, which is a very dense configuration indeed! Boarding was announced to be delayed for 10min due to aircraft preparation and ground staff announced a couple of times the boarding procedure. Families with kids/needy/elderly, premium pax, followed by economy according to rows from the rear of the aircraft to the front. Surprisingly, boarding was very orderly when it began. In order to expediate boarding, other than the World Business Class pax boarding through Door 1, economy pax with seats F-K could also board via Door 1, passing through the Business Class cabin on the way to the seat.

KLM's newest B777-300ER PH-BVF "Yakushima" would be flying me to Bali today!


Was welcomed aboard by friendly crew at the door. Newspapers were also available at the door (not sure if they were only meant for Business Class or for all pax). Passed through the World Business Class cabin on the way to my seat. Lots of kids in Business today! Jealous....


Magazine rack in Business Class.


Reached my seat at the second row of Economy Comfort. It is just a normal economy seat, but with more seat pitch at 34" and more recline. First impression, aisle and seat width is really narrow (3-4-3 configuration in economy) but bearable if one is not horizontally challenged. But the legroom more than made up for it. For me, I would prefer having more seat pitch than wide seats. Still a rather comfortable seat if your seatmate is not too "wide" haha. PTVs, headphone jack and remote control are on the seatback.


The mighty GE engines. QF B744 parked beside.


Barely minutes after I have settled down, doors were closed and armed. Welcome announcement was made in Dutch and English and we began our pushback with the safety demo playing on the PTVs. Flight time was announced to be 2hrs15min.


Listen to the start-up of the GE engines!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iZtO3M32Ms


Preparing to taxi.


When we started the taxi, I noticed a Qatar B77W also departing to Bali as well as a SQ B772 to Bali too! There were 3 B777s departing within 10 minutes to Bali! Both the flights were taking off from Rwy20C which was normally the runway used for takeoffs. However we did not turn towards Rwy20C but proceeded ahead to Rwy20R! A very rare occurance as this is predominantly the landing runway and there were other planes queuing at Rwy20C too. Hmm, special departure clearance for KLM? During this time, QR (1658hrs) and SQ (1702hrs) took off for Bali.

Taxi to Rwy20R.



During taxi. Rare to taxi along this route.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqjc0eg1Trs


Finally we took off at 1704hrs to Bali! Almost 30min behind schedule. See the rare takeoff from Rwy20R. Excuse our conversation in the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzZwRhywRUw


Climbing out of Singapore.


Nice view of southern Singapore...

[ycp81]

Over Batam, Indonesia.


Then a right turn heading towards Bali. Don't the GE engine looked gorgeous?


Soon seatbelt signs were switched off and a service video was played. Lets explore the seat further. Cabin view of economy and economy comfort. There are pseudo dividers between the 2 cabins. Fully packed flight with no empty seats at all!


Inflight magazine and safety card in the seat pocket.


First, the crew came down the aisle distributing earphones , the clip-over ear type.


Followed by lavender scented hot towels! It was the disposable type but was still a rather big and thick towel.


I fired up the PTV with a chinese movie. There were plenty of choices in the AVOD system and it was fairly easy to navigate. However till far, QF's IFE still wins with the ease of use and movies/tv choices.


Yes, I am in economy class....


Cruising at 37000ft.


About half hour after takeoff, meal service started. Special meals were distributed first by the crew followed by the standard meals on carts. There were no choices offered. I read that KLM used to offer a choice of meals on this sector but I guess it was scrapped.

The tray presentation was very nice! On the tray were a starter, crispy hot roll with butter, main course and a dessert. Comparable to what major asian carriers would serve, and I dare say probably even better than what SQ would serve in economy on this sector.


Starter: Achar (pickled cucumbers and carrots salad). Simple yet tasty starter.


Main: Curry chicken with yellow rice and sambal brinjal. Tasted much better than it looked! Might be a tad spicy for the western palette but perfect for me!

[ycp81]

Dessert: Apple crumble. Nice sweet ending but would have preferred something more sinful!


Cold drinks were served together with the meals. Wines, beer, juices, soft drinks, carbonated water (perrier) and mineral water were available on the meal cart top. KLM does not serve "tap" water during meal service! Who can resist a Dutch beer on a Dutch airline? I also had an orange juice to go, all served with a wide smile and "Enjoy your meal" from the wonderful KLM crew!


Now, lets talk about the KLM crew. They may not be as young, slim and well-groomed as the crew on asian carriers but their service was just as good or even better than some of the "sweet young girls". I could only judge the crew based on the ones serving my aisle but if all KLM crew were similar, then they would be fantastic! A "motherly" crew member was serving my aisle and she was such a warm and friendly figure, with genuine smiles throughout the whole flight. Even though this short flight was really tough for the crew with a meal service and full load, they remained professional throughout and never appeared to be in a rush. All the crew really worked hard for the entire 2 hrs of flight to complete the service, all the way till 5min before landing!

During meal collection, coffee/tea and post-dinner liquors were served. Yes, KLM actually proactively offered liquors with coffee/tea. Also, fresh milk was even offered from milk cartons with coffee/tea even though sugar/creamer sachets were given out. On SQ, coffee/tea would be served together with the meal tray and liquors would only be available "upon request". I had a hot tea.


The sun is setting...


Dusk has fallen.


Made a routine visit to the lavatory. No amenities except for the necessary.


A crew collecting meal trays and serving coffee/tea/liquors.


Another cabin view after meal service. A crew attending to a passenger. Notice how narrow the aisle is.


We only had slightly more than half hour of flight left after the meal service. Duty-free sales was also conducted. Gosh, I am getting impressed with the quality of cabin service offered on this short flight!


The pilot came on with some arrival announcements shortly before descent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vrH3ixdRPc


We soon started our descent into Bali but seatbelt signs only came on halfway through the descent, which is about 10+min prior to landing. Made SQ's "you have to be belted up 30min before landing" rule seemed so ridiculous! The crew made a quick sweep through the cabin to collect any leftover trash and ensure all are belted up. AVOD was also switched off and PTVs only showed the flight map. Not that I am complaining though.


Pilot only announced for crew to take their landing positions barely minutes to landing when the gears came down.


Landing into Denpasar Bali Rwy27.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9de7fFp8rs


We had a short taxi to the gate after landing. I was trying to spot the SQ and QR flights which departed before us but they were nowhere to be seen. Then I saw the SQ flight landing behind us, followed by QR! All 3 airlines operated B777s, and so I am not very sure what magic did our KLM pilot did for us to have priority landing?!

Docked at the gate and disembarkation was very swift as we were towards the front of economy. A look at my economy comfort seat.


Passing through World Business Class cabin. Noticed that amenity kits were distributed in Business on this short flight!


Goodbye Yakushima, with future Skyteam partner in the background.


Luckily our KLM flight had landed first as the arrival immigration became a sea of chaos after passengers from SQ and QR flights (which I believe were also choc-a-block) came down. Easily a thousand passengers arriving within 10 minutes!!

Impression of KLM after this short flight? Pleasantly surprised! Flying KLM on the SIN-DPS route was really value-for-money. Seats may be a bit cramped but definitely not as bad as the budget carriers. Service was great and very much comparable to the major asian carriers. I guess the many praises lauded by reviewers flying KLM on the SIN-DPS route is truely justified. And with KLM having daily flights on the SIN-DPS route, it has given us travellers based in Singapore another great option to fly to Bali!

[ycp81]

Bali Beach Weekend!

Holiday Inn Baruna Bali

[ycp81]

Balinese architecture and cuisine

[ycp81]

After 3 relaxing nights in Bali,with lots of suntanning and spa sessions, it was time to return to Singapore. Transport was provided from our hotel, Holiday Inn Resort Baruna, to the airport, which took less than 10min. However, cars could not stop at the terminal building now due to some expansion/construction works going on and we had to walk a distance from the alighting point. Tickets were checked before we were allowed into the terminal building.

Checking in for the flight. Coincidently, it was a national holiday of Netherlands on the day of our flight, Queen's Day!


All passengers were handed a little treat in the form of a chocolate lolly! Nice gesture by KLM!


However no upgrade to Economy Comfort this time round. I would experience the "comfort" of normal economy on this leg. The boarding pass issued in Bali was also much more colourful than the ones issued in Singapore.


Paid the 150,000rupuah departure tax and proceeded through immigration. Met with lots of shops in the departure lounge. Seemed like the airport did some refurbishment as certain shops seemed quite new.


Interesting that they would showcase a SQ plane instead of a Garuda plane.


SQ947 operated by the Star-Alliance plane 9V-SRI with no AVOD, departing from the gate just beside and 25min before my flight. I really pitied the pax who paid through their noses to fly on this prehistoric plane.


As gates 7-9 shared the same security counters, it resulted in a very long queue of passengers queuing to clear security. Finally cleared security after quite a wait and proceeded to the boarding gate. Boarding has already commenced. Wow was I happy that the plane in Skyteam livery, PH-BVD, would be operating my flight! Skyteam vs Star Alliance!



30 April 2012
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
KL 836
Denpasar Bali(DPS) - Singapore(SIN)
B777-300ER
PH-BVD Skyteam Livery
Economy Class

Boarded through Door 2 this time round and no newspaper trolley was seen at the door. However was still welcomed by a friendly set of crew. Had a loooong walk down the B773ER cabin to my seat right at the aft economy cabin. Boarding was efficient and orderly, guess typical of european airlines?


Legroom in normal economy, even though advertised only as 31", was not too bad actually as the design of the seats allowed me to stretch my legs under the seat in front. Rather comfortable in fact! However, width was still a tad tight.


The contents in seat-pocket again. The disposal bag looked nice!


Qatar Airways B772LR, operating a flight to Singapore too!


As with European efficiency, doors were closed barely minutes after I sat down and we pushed back with safety demo played on PTVs. Flight time was announced as 2hrs10min.


Taxied and took off from Rwy09 into the Balinese night sky.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acuDPfV3Jho


Lights of Bali.