SIN-HND-NRT-LAX on SQ 777 Economy and SQ A380 Business Class

[yflyer]

True enough, the signage leading to the Gold Track queue was huge (Not to say that I would not have missed it if SQflyergirl hadn’t pointed it out. Never underestimate the blurness of a traveller in a rush.)



Through the Gold track, I got to the security screening area.

I did my best George Clooney “Up in the Air” choreographed security checkpoint routine through security, and profiled the pax lined up in each passport queue to identify the shortest one to join…

…and somehow zipped through it all very quickly and made it airside with just minutes to spare, before heading to the bus gate where SQflyergirl was queuing in the waiting lounge, about to board the bus.

We introduced ourselves and shook hands…

“Hello!...Always good to put a face to a name!”

This was the first time we were meeting face to face, and SQflyergirl is every bit as engaging in person as she is online!

We talked a little about how SQTalk started, and compared notes on our respective journeys. She travels a lot!

And literally five minutes later, they announced boarding for her flight. We wished each other a pleasant journey. She would be heading back to KUL and I would be heading to LAX on SQ12.

Always good when a plan to meet up during an airport transit stop comes together…just barely! I can’t imagine cutting the timing any closer than that!

I headed to the ANA Star Gold lounge, and on the way there, I noticed that the inbound SQ12 from Singapore had just landed…

[yflyer]

The Duty free stores in the airside area stocked many varieties of Japanese whisky…not easily available at DFS in Singapore or in many other locations…

[yflyer]

I walked to my departure gate about 45 minutes before scheduled departure time.

My ride to LAX that evening was 9V-SKQ, a 4 year old Airbus A380. This was configured with an all-J upper deck.



There were convenient tables and chairs (and complimentary wifi) right next to the boarding gate.



Boarding began on time, with long, but orderly, queues arranged by boarding priority.



I was travelling J today, and I boarded through the upper deck door.

[yflyer]

I looked to the left, to the front of the J cabin…



…before turning right towards the rear of the J cabin, which spanned the entire upper deck of this huge aircraft.

This is the 2nd J cabin, in the middle section of the upper deck.



The upper deck is laid out 1-2-1, which gives it a very spacious, uncrowded ambience.

My seat was in the rear section of the upper deck.

On the first SQ A380's there was a small Economy section on this rear section of the upper deck, but many (All?) of the later A380's have the full upper deck as business class, including this 3rd section.

The next picture shows the rear J cabin on the A380 upper deck.



In this section of the cabin, there are 2 emergency doors, which means two rows of J seats, namely rows 91 and 96, don’t have that protrusion in the front of the seat. In those rows, you have the whole width of the J seat to use as a bed or footrest, although the protrusion near the head end, from the seat behind you, is still present.

Seat 91A…



Seat 96K…





Middle seats in row 96, the last row of the cabin.



Note that there is a narrow aisle and walkway between rows 95 and 96, where the emergency exit is.



There have been mixed reviews online about the merits of row 96, but looking at these seats in real life, I felt that they would be quite desirable seats.

Here are examples of the regular J seats in the other rows of the cabin, with the characteristic protrusion for the IFE and slot for your feet in the front of your seat.

Row 95 window seat…



…and aisle seat…

[yflyer]

Today’s flight time was fairly short, just under 9 hours from NRT to LAX.





We would land in LAX just after noon.

In typical SQ fashion, cabin service began as soon as we boarded, with a pre-take off beverage…



I chose champagne…



Newspapers and magazines were handed out…



Phitek noise-cancelling headphones were already placed at your seat…



The have dropped the sockettes, and now provide socks and bedroom slippers instead, along with eye shades.



Hot towels were handed out prior to take-off…

[yflyer]

We took off into the night sky…



Post take-off drink…a dry martini…



I took a moment to examine my seat more closely…

Here is the seat in fully upright position…



…and fully reclined. To turn it into a flat bed, you need to stand up and flip over the seat back.





Side compartments by the window for additional storage…





Needless to say, my seat had both windows and direct aisle access (One of the benefits of the 1-2-1 layout)…

Seat controls…



Clear, widescreen IFE …



IFE controller under the armrest…



A/C and USB power…



Large fold out tray table…

[yflyer]

Satay as a pre-dinner canape…

[yflyer]

This was the menu for today…

[yflyer]

Beverages on offer…

[yflyer]

On the recommendation of a friend and fellow frequent flyer, I chose the Japanese “Hanakoireki” meal for dinner.

This was presented quite differently from the typical J class Asian or Western meal service on SQ.

The “Hanakoireki” meal is served in two parts, each in a bento box.

After setting the table with a crisp white tablecloth, the first bento box was presented.



This contained a beautifully presented selection of different items, as well as soba noodles, to be eaten with a bowl of dipping sauce.



This was a feast for the eyes as well as for the tastebuds…







I enjoyed the different flavours and textures of the different items. Conceptually, this was not all that different from a Western degustation menu, with the difference being that all dishes were presented at once, rather than in a sequence.

That first bento box was a meal in itself, however once that was cleared, a second bento box was presented, this time with hot selections and miso soup…



Again, this was a dazzling selection of different dishes, with each bite different yet tantalizingly tasty…



The presentation of each dish was faultless…each compartment on the tray an artistic microcosm of seasonal ingredients and preparations…





The range of different tastes in one meal was mindboggling…

[yflyer]

I accompanied all of this with cold sake (Only available on SQ J on flights to/from Japan)…



…and ended off with a fruit and wine jelly dessert…



Overall, a wonderful meal, very different from the conventional SQ J meal service.

[yflyer]

One of the Japanese passengers seated close to me opted for the Western style meal option, which was presented in typical SQ style…



After dinner, the cheese and fruit trolley came round, but by then I was too full to eat any more…

[yflyer]

After dinner, I explored IFE options…

This was Back to the Future month (It being the month and year in the future that Marty McFly and Doc Brown were supposed to have travelled to in the movie: October 2015, with the exact date being 21st October) and all the BTTF movies were featured on Krisworld.



Other movies on that month, included Ah Boys to Men 3: Frogmen, a continuation of Jack Neo’s Ah Boys to Men franchise...





This movie is not going to win any academy awards, but I enjoyed watching it all the same.



Wifi internet access was also available, but using the old (and expensive) system, which charged by megabyte, not time, so I did not use it.

[yflyer]

I got up to flip the bed into bed mode…





I’ve always found this fully flat, and very wide, bed to be very comfortable to sleep on, and had no trouble sleeping for several hours on that flight. That said, I suspect my earlier dashi chazuke which I ate for lunch in NRT had a little caffeine in it so I remained awake longer than I usually do on longhaul flights…



The A380 upper deck is whisper silent, so I was grateful that there were no snorers around me. We were flying into daybreak, so shades were drawn down.



Some folks have said that the A380 upper deck cabin gets progressively colder the closer you get to the rear, but on this flight, the temperature was perfectly comfortable. I slept very soundly.

[yflyer]

About 2 or so hours before arrival, the cabin was slowly brightened, and the cabin crew began preparing breakfast for those who indicated that they wanted to have it.





Hot towels..



Juices…



I could not resist raising my window shades for just an instant. It was a bright and sunny morning outside.



I headed to the bathroom to freshen up…



SQ may not offer a full amenity kit in J, but everything you need to freshen up is stocked in the bathrooms.