My Longest Flying Hours: SQ First Class AKL-SIN-LHR (Text & Photos)

[Rejuvenated]

After feeling refreshed from the shower, I decided to pursue through the wide range selections of food & beverage at the bar and buffet station.

Plenty of hot food and beverage selections at the buffet bar.

[Rejuvenated]

Cappuccino and Espresso machine also available.

At the end I settled for some satays, fried noodles, sushi, fish fillet, and potato bites along with a can of soft drink.

A meeting room is also available for those wishing to discuss corporate matters.

As I continued to wind down towards boarding time for the flight, I decided to spend the last moment of the lounge in the computer room to type reports and check emails. Plenty of computers equipped with high speed internet as well as ports for laptops.

[Rejuvenated]

Boarding pass for following sector.

At approximately 10:50 pm I decided to vacate the lounge and head straight to the gate. Surprise surprise. The gate as well as the aircraft registration was exactly the same gate in which my earlier flight ex-AKL parked at and the same aircraft registration, 9V-SPI, that earlier operated my AKL-SIN sector.

A massive queue has already begun forming as I made my way back to gate E26 with passengers being screened at the security station of the gate. Lines move quickly though everyone carrying laptops including myself had to remove them from the bags and placed in a separate tray. We were also required to briefly turn on our laptops and present the screen to the security personnel. UK landing cards were distributed to each passengers post security before reaching the seating areas of the gate.

Singapore Airlines SQ 322
First Class, Seat 3A
Sector: Singapore (SIN) – London Heathrow (LHR)
Aircraft: Boeing 747-400
Registration: 9V-SPI
Departure Gate: E56
Scheduled/Actual Departure Time: 11:20 pm (Oct 7, 2006) / 12:10 am (Oct 8, 2006)
Arrival Gate: 27
Scheduled/Actual Arrival Time: 5:50 am (Oct 8, 2006) / 6:15 pm (Oct 8, 2006)

Once passengers began permitted to enter the aircraft, there were dual aerobridges one going through 1L for F & J passengers and 2L for Y passengers. With the usual routine after I made my way through 1L and back into 9V-SPI, I was greeted by the leading steward named Seetch who escorted me to my seat – 3A (yes my favorite seat in the F cabin).

Without a doubt this one of SIA’s most profitable flight with all 12 skysuites for tonight’s flight occupied and taken. Raffles was also full and economy only had a few seats left. I can see why we will be seeing the A380 on this flight once it is properly delivered by Airbus.

A pre-takeoff drink as always is offered and even though I am mainly prefer the DOM as my pre-takeoff champagne I decided to bend my preferences this time around. Especially having had the DOM on the previous sector, I decided opted for the Krug Grande Cuvee instead for a nice change which after the request was delivered shortly as I began to position myself in the skysuite.

Around five minutes prior to midnight, doors closed and the captain welcomed everyone onboard and apologized for the takeoff delay. 12 hours and 50 minutes was our estimated flying duration to LHR this evening and the 40 minute of flying faster than the scheduled arrival time should make up for some lost time affected by the delay.

[Rejuvenated]

Menus like the previous sector is readily available on our seat above the stationary tables.

We began pushing back from Gate E26 at around midnight and the safety demonstration video lit up our 14 inch PTV as we were making our taxiway for the departure.

Our designated flight path.

Very heavy traffic at Changi during this hour with all the heavy departures to Europe, Australia, and North Asia taking place at the same time frame. We had to wait patiently on the taxiway before the green signal was given to us for liftoff.

15 minutes past midnight our megatop finally lifted its belly into the Singapore night sky. Upon gradually reaching higher altitude, my Singapore Sling Cocktail which I had selected prior to takeoff was brought to my seat.

[Rejuvenated]

As I gradually sipped into my cocktail beverage, 9V-SPI pursued a northwesterly direction along the western coast of the Malaysian Peninsula flying above Kuala Lumpur and the surrounding cities as it begins approaching towards the Andaman Sea.

Approximately one hour following takeoff, routine for the supper service commenced with the setting up of the table by leading stewardess Seetch.

Supper

Appetisers
Chilled malossol caviar
with melba toast and condiments

Salad of abalone with roasted capsicums and balsamico dressing

Soup
Beef broth with shimeiji and enoki mushrooms

Main courses
@ Roasted lobster with saffron in chervil and capers butter, sauteed spinach
Steamed potato

Chicken and scallop congee
Shredded chicken and dried scallops in rice porridge
With deep fried chinese crullers

Trilogy of asian kitchen
Thai red curry beef, japanese beef curry,
Indonesian dry curried beef with pickled vegetables and steamed rice

Dessert
Warm pear frangipane flan with rum-raisin ice cream and berries salad

Cheese
Selection of cheese with garnishes

Fresh fruit
A selection of fresh fruit

From the bakery
Oven fresh rolls
with a choice of extra virgin olive oil or butter
Garlic bread

Hot beverages
Freshly brewed coffee
Espresso or cappuccino
Selection of tea

@ Exclusively created by Gordon Ramsay, London


Did not opt for Caviar on the previous sector but did so for this sector.


Beef Broth Mushroom Soup followed afterwards.

[Rejuvenated]

Have booked the cooked in advance for the main course – Chicken Curry Peranakan. Very mouthwatering and tasty with huge chucks of potato and chicken served with bread roll and rice. But be warned for those who plan to BTC for this dish, it can be spicier than what your taste can tolerate. I am accustomed to consuming spicy dishes and the level of spiciness for this dish was perfect for my taste buds but may not necessarily be the case for everyone.

A great desert plate to conclude the supper service.


Cheese plate one can choose what and how much to be put on the plate.

Following the conclusion of the supper service, lights inside the cabin were dimmed and virtually the time has come for most passengers to sleep. Apparently in the vicinity and reading my mind accurately, leading stewardess offered her pleasure for the turndown service to convert my skysuite into a bed.

[Rejuvenated]

Amenity kits distributed after takeoff were the same as the previous sector only difference is the light grey Givenchy pajama as oppose to the dark grey one.

Manage to sleep for four hours following the turndown service but was awoken with turbulences while flying over Afghanistan. Not able to immediately go back into sleeping rhythm, I browsed through Krisworld’s Wisemen 3000 to try to tire myself out.

To further speed up time, I opted for a midnight snack of instant noodles which were accompanied in a bowl with chopped pieces of chilies and small vegetables along with a glass of orange juice

Snack menu on this flight is identical of that on the earlier AKL-SIN sector BTW.

[Rejuvenated]

Approximately halfway through the flight after consuming the noodle snack.

Saw the beautiful full moon illuminating the sky outside from my window as we continue our northwesterly pattern by flying above Turkmenistan having just crossed the Afghan border.

Manage to sleep the rest of the journey all the way through before waking up for the breakfast service 2.5 hours prior to landing in Heathrow. Noticing me fully awake, leading stewardess Loke offered to convert my seat back into the normal upright position while at the same time, I headed to the lavatories behind seat 4A to refreshen myself.

Breakfast

Juices
A choice of apple, tomato or freshly squeezed orange

Fruit
Fresh fruit plate

Light starters
Choice of cereals or yoghurt
Cornflakes or granola with fresh cheese-kumquat compote
Plain or fruit yoghurt

Wholesome beginnings
Scallop udon soup
White wheat noodles in chicken broth garnished with scallop, shredded dried scallop and seaweed

Panfried veal sausage in morel jus
With roasted tomato, leaf spniach and new potatoes

Fresh eggs with bacon or sausage, tomato and mushrooms
Baked, soft boiled or scrambled

From the bakery
Assorted breakfast rolls
Butter, jam, marmalade or honey

Hot beverage
Freshly brewed coffee
Espresso or cappuccino
Selection of tea

Breakfast service began with a plate of fresh fruit.


Followed by a bowl of cereal.

[Rejuvenated]

Our inflight supervisor serving the gentlemen at 3D across from me.


Ice Cappuccino


Scrambled Eggs with Sausage, Tomatoes, Mushroom, and Toast – a great breakfast to start the day.


Everyone gradually digging into their breakfast plates

[Rejuvenated]

Shortly following breakfast flying over Holland approaching the North Sea, the captain greeted us through the PA and informed everyone that our descent into LHR would commence shortly. With that in consideration, our crews began clearing everyone’s plate and stowing the tables away. As we inched closer to our destination, leading stewardess loke began distributing pink fast track cards to all 12 F passengers.

As we finally entered the skies above Britain, we continued to decrease in elevation with dark skies outside still persisting while we made our final approach into Heathrow.

At 6:15 am local time we touched down on 27R, 25 minutes behind schedule before approaching T3 and parked over at Gate 27. Bid farewell to the wonderful crews who did a spectacular job before heading out onto the terminal aerobridge.

LHR T3 was at its usual dismal state of condition. Foul indoor odor with ceilings that is about to drop and crush me. Luckily Gate 27 was not too far away to the passport controls and our 25 minute late arrival had the fast track lane already open and running for me to breeze through with the pink card the crews distributed to us because the other lines were packed like sardines in absolute chaos. Some were cutting in front of each other that resulted in voices being raised and tempers flaring which is not your typical generous morning wake up call for heavens sake. Baggage retrieval following fast track was equally chaotic but at least this time, they had the monitors lit for carrousel assignment and I was able to retrieve my bags at Carousel 7 shortly afterwards.

So there you have it. The longest number of hours I have spent flying in one go. It is not an easy task to travel half-way around the world but when you’ve got the splendor of SIA F pampering and comforting you virtually from the beginning to the end, it certainly doesn’t feel as if you have just spent 24+ hours going from one place to another. Overall two great flights in F delievered once again by SQ.

[jjpb3]

Thanks for kicking off the Trip Reports forum, Rejuvenated, and quite a kickoff too.

I landed in LHR two days ago and experienced the the usual delays (though I was spared the experience of being bussed in). The pictures of Changi made me nostalgic for an airport that functions with supreme efficiency and passenger-friendliness.

[plkong]

hi rejuvenated,

a wonderfull report indeed!!!

[AndrewSQ011]

Wow, thanks for the trip report

The food served by SQ looks very delicious!


Side note:
How much is one First Class ticket?

[Lobster]

Side note:
How much is one First Class ticket?

Well this of course depends very much on what route you are taking. You can of course go to Singaporeair.com and price up some flights in F.

[jhm]

Well this of course depends very much on what route you are taking.

(for completeness)

... plus booking class, type of ticket (e.g. RTW), whether paid for in miles (KF, LH, BD etc) and/or cash and corporate discounts ... and anything else I've forgotten!