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

[ycp81]

Flight map on PTV shortly after takeoff.


Seat belts signs were turned off, service video played and the KLM crew sprang into action. First was the distribution of earsets, followed by piping hot towels. Serving my aisle was a young and cheerful female attendant, seen here distributing hot towels.


Hot towel on armrest. Noticed how tiny is the width of the armrest?


Firing up the inflight entertainment system.



After we have leveled at 36000ft, the pilot came on with some information of our flight. He really talked a lot! Haha.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw2entuLbrg


Half hour after takeoff, meal service started with the distribution of special meals followed by the rest of the cabin. Again a full dinner was served but similar to the outbound, no choices were offered. The meal seemed to be catered in Singapore, judging by the breadroll and butter on the tray. On each tray were again a starter and a dessert.


Starter: Carrots and raisin salad. Simple but fine.


Main: Breaded chicken in lemon sauce, egg fried rice and vegetables. The portion of the chicken is rather big and the rice is tasty.


Dessert: Peach tart. Nice sweet pastry.


For drinks, I had a Chilean white wine and orange juice to go with the meal. Wines were served in mini-bottles.


Crew distributing meal and drinks. Meal service took some time as the flight was again almost full!


I watched an episode of Glee while enjoying the meal!


Polished off almost everything!

[ycp81]

By the time meal trays were being collected, we were only about slightly more than 30min away from Singapore.


However coffee/tea and post-meal liquors were still offered during tray collection. I had a tea with milk and an Amarula. It was interesting to note that the plastic cups used by KLM had a marking (line around the cup) for the crew to fill up the liquors to. So everyone had the same amount of liquor when being served.


Coffee/tea/liquor service. Note that milk from cartons and mineral water were also available on the carts.


A run of duty-free service was also quickly conducted after trays were cleared. By this time, we had descended halfway and nearing Singapore!



Seatbelt signs were switched on when we were overflying Batam, barely less than 10min to landing. Arrival announcements were also made. Note how low we were now! Crew then make a quick sweep through the cabin to clear remaining trash and secure the cabin. They really did worked hard for the entire flight!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va8-MGJ9Bns


Made a right turn towards Rwy02L. Gears were then lowered and crew requested to go to their landing positions, barely a couple of minutes before touchdown!!


Night view of Eastern Singapore.



Landing on Rwy02L at 2253hrs, 7 minutes before the scheduled arrival time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5PBtZeSvx8


Taxied and parked at Terminal One.


Cabin views during disembarkation. 4 seaters in the middle.


3 seaters at the window. Crew were at the doors bading farewell.


Seat pitch is rather decent.


Goodbye, Nationaal Park Amboseli.


Another nice flight on KLM! KLM has shown that european carriers could be comparable to asian carriers on regional routes and it had rightly proven itself. Inflight offerings and service on this short sector has greatly exceeded my expectations! It was really a pleasure flying on KLM from Singapore to Bali! If their prices remained so affordable, I might even be tempted to try its World Business Class cabin on my future Bali beach holiday!

Next trip would be another weekend jaunt, to the food paradise Penang!! Meanwhile, any comments on the report thus far is greatly appreciated.

[Kyo]

Thanks for the TR so far! Enjoying it and looking forward to your final PEN instalment!

[chinhk]

The meal served onboard KLM flight looks good. Considering it to be a rather short flight, it is amazing that they still serve a full meal.
Strangely enough, for most of KLM intra-european flights which is also around 1.5 to 2hours, they only serve a sweet or savoury snack +drinks (a sandwich at most, if its a morning flight).

[ycp81]

The meal served onboard KLM flight looks good. Considering it to be a rather short flight, it is amazing that they still serve a full meal.
Strangely enough, for most of KLM intra-european flights which is also around 1.5 to 2hours, they only serve a sweet or savoury snack +drinks (a sandwich at most, if its a morning flight).

I guess in order to compete, KLM needed to have "asian standards" when operating the intra-asia flights. They also served a similar full meal on the shorter KUL-CGK (1hr45m) route and their prices are sometimes almost equivalent to the budget carriers.

[ycp81]

And now, the final installment of this report, a gastronomical weekend in Penang! The flights were bought just slightly more than a month before departure and I was surprised that Tiger was only offering the fares for S$96 return all-in, really a steal for departure on a friday morning and return on sunday afternoon. With such great fares, it was of course a no-brainer to book it! The flights might be the normal Tiger LCC experience, but these 2 flights would be more significant for me as they could well-probable be my last departure and arrival into Changi's Budget Terminal. As such, I was prepared to take lots of photos before its closure on Sept 24.


25 May 2012
Tiger Airways
TR2426
Singapore(SIN) - Penang(PEN)
A320
9V-TAO "turbotiger"
Budget Class

Checked it an hour before departure and it was fuss-free with only hand-carry luggage. I was surprised to be offered the emex row without me even requesting for it! Seemed that Tiger allocates seats in the emex rows even when the flights are not full. On my last 3 departures on Tiger out of SIN, I was allocated the emex row on all times!!

Through immigration and security in a jiffy and lets take a look at the departure hall of Budget Terminal.

Lounging area.


Shopping in budget terminal.


Quite a busy morning.


Last ever departure through here?


Sterile walkway to the gates. My flight would be departing from Gate 1.


Tiger Airways paper boarding receipt.


Waiting for a buyer?


Lots of SQ birdies at T2!


Another SQ bird at the remote stand.


CX taking off.


Turbotiger would be flying me to Penang!

[ycp81]

Boarding was started very early at around 0830hrs for a 0905hrs departure. No photos on the tarmac due to a security personnel staring sternly at all passengers. Some other pax were stopped from taking photos too! However I grabbed a photo just before entering the plane.


Was greeted by the crew and directed to my seat at row 13. The best emex row as the seats have extra legroom and do recline.


Snapped a photo from the window before my 2 seat mates arrived. I was seated at the aisle and so not many window-view photos from now. Another Tiger getting ready to depart for Taipei.


Great legroom!


Seat pocket contents. No used tissues/wrappers/cookie crumbs this time round. Guess the plane was freshly cleaned.


The flight was almost full! Flight time was announced to be 1hr. All passengers had boarded by 0855hrs and doors were closed. However, the captain came on, thanking all passengers for the speedy boarding, but however due to morning congestion at Changi with us scheduled at number 12 for departure, ATC had advised pushback only at 0912hrs. Whats new.... And so we waited for almost 20min for pushback, then spent almost another 20min taxiing to Rwy20C, finally taking off at 0935hrs, 30min behind schedule. On the way to the runway, I also spotted 5 Tiger planes parked at remote stands. Not very efficient utilization of planes by Tiger, or Tiger currently has too many aircrafts?

Shortly after takeoff, the usual Tiger buy-on-board service started, with not many takers.


This was followed by a duty-free sales service.


Generally, service by the crew on this flight is rather fine, but being such a short flight, it was rather hard to fault the service too. Also, no regrets with not having a window seat as we were in the clouds almost the entire flight, with some slight turbulence.

Landed at Penang Rwy04 right on schedule at 1035hrs (Tiger padded their Penang flights at 1hr30min when the flying time is normally about 55min-1hr).

Disembarking turbotiger.


Preparing for the return trip. Lots of cargo on the flight!


Penang International Airport terminal building. The interior is currently undergoing a major renovation.


Short and no-frills flight again by Tiger, had an on-time arrival even though with a late departure (no fault of Tiger though).

[ycp81]

Gastronomic Penang!!

[ycp81]

Gastronomic Penang!!

[Kyo]

Thanks for doing my hometown proud

I'll be doing this in 4 more days... can't wait! How's the terminal renovations going? It looks mostly done now. When did the trip take place? This past weekend?

[ycp81]

Thanks for doing my hometown proud

I'll be doing this in 4 more days... can't wait! How's the terminal renovations going? It looks mostly done now. When did the trip take place? This past weekend?

Most of the renovations are within the terminal itself, with hoardings all over. Yep the trip was done over the past weekend.

[calvinoeh]

Thanks for doing my hometown proud

I'll be doing this in 4 more days... can't wait! How's the terminal renovations going? It looks mostly done now. When did the trip take place? This past weekend?

the domestic side is mostly done. the international side is still a mess though...

[Kyo]

the domestic side is mostly done. the international side is still a mess though...

Do you mean landside/airside/both?

I have a car rental that I need to pick up (and later drop the car off at), and the last time I did this during renovations last May, it was an absolute mess...

[SilverChris]

Thanks for the report, ycp81!

Do you mean landside/airside/both?

I have a car rental that I need to pick up (and later drop the car off at), and the last time I did this during renovations last May, it was an absolute mess...

Landisde should be fine. It's just intl airside which is a complete mess.

IIRC, the arrivals were merged with departures when work first began mid last year, which was probably what you went through

[ycp81]

After 2 nights and gaining 2 kilos in Penang, it was time to return back to Singapore. The flight was scheduled to depart at 1220hrs and I checked in at 1100hrs. As mentioned, Penang airport is currently undergoing a major interior renovation. Not sure about the domestic side but for the International side, both land and airside are still seeing renovation works, with most of it airside. However as there were not many international departures, it did not pose much of a problem.


27 May 2012
Tiger Airways
TR 2423
Penang(PEN) - Singapore(SIN)
A320
9V-TAF
Budget Class

Major upgrading works airside. The duty-free shops had to be shifted out to along the walkways!


The Tiger landed early! It was already taxiing to the gate just after I had passed security.


Approaching the gate. Second time flying on 9V-TAF this year! My previous flight on this aircraft was just 3 months back from Kuching to Singapore.


Some plane-spotting (not that there are many planes at the airport). FedEx A310F crossing the runway to the cargo ramp.


Air Asia A320, probably the most frequent visitor to Penang.


Wings Air ATR72 to Medan.


After the arriving passengers had disembarked, boarding was announced at 1140hrs, a full 40min before STD!! Was welcomed aboard the aircraft by another set of friendly Tiger crew again. This time, I was seated at 3F, towards the front of the plane. Back to the reality of budget legroom.


Air Asia beside, also departing to Singapore, and a MH B738 at the far end of the terminal.


Flight time was announced to be 1hr. All passengers were boarded by 1205hrs but due to sorting out of pax numbers, doors were only closed at 1210hrs. Total load, 159/180.


Pushback with engine startup and safety briefing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj5NstcNOz8


Passing a UPS B763F.


MH B738 ahead of us.


Holding at Rwy04 for takeoff. Slight wait for takeoff clearance even though there were no planes landing.



Take off!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syDKM8sa4oQ


Entering the mainland. A new bridge to Penang is currently being built.