Trip report: SQ Y SIN-BKK-SIN

[WSSS]

I just came back from Bangkok this evening and since things in my mind are fresh from the flight sector back to where I call home (Singapore ). Well, I will be posting pictures and other stuff soon when I'm done sorting with them. This thread will also include some pictures from my trip to Bangkok and of course food!

Flight Summary:

• SQ972 - Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 2 (Depart 1040) to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport (Arrive 1205); Aircraft type: Boeing 777-200(ER), 9V-SQ*
• SQ979 - Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport (Depart 1650) to Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 2 (Arrive 2000); Aircraft type: Boeing 777-300, 9V-SYA

[WSSS]

SQ 972 - SIN - BKK

I arrived at the airport at 0840, two hours before my scheduled departure time to check-in and walk around the transit area. As always. Since this was a family holiday, I do have some kind of restrictions and have to follow them usually. :S All the boarding passes were printed the day before and an internet check-in was done. My family proceeded to Row 9 to drop the bags, but instead went to Row 8 since the queue there was shorter. It was fast, within five to seven minutes, everything was done. Phew. However, the boarding passes that I printed out were swapped for the normal boarding passes since I checked in at Row 8.

Proceeded to immigration and things were done very fast and efficiently. I didn't had breakfast since the time I woke up so my family proceeded for breakfast. Had a prata sausage from Gogo Sausages at the airport which was tasty and it was my first time trying it despite seeing the stall at Takashimaya all the time.

Went to do plane spotting right after having breakfast. Spotted several aircraft before waiting for the flight and took a couple of pictures. Now I have more plane pics in my collection. Spotting was quite fun during that short period of time and decided to explore the terminal. Since I always fly with SQ, I do not go to T1 at all, but I wanted to take a look at how T1's transit area was like after all these years. Took the Skytrain to T1 and walked a bit round the terminal. It was nothing special, still the same. But this will change when the upgrading of T1 in September commences. Decided to walk back to T2 since that particular section was physically connected to T1. Thinking that the walk was near to my gate, I decided to walk back. However, it didn't turned out to be that near. By the time I arrived at Gate E8, it was already the last call. We boarded the plane and were the last to board the plane. Security check was not so strict like that at Bangkok.

To be continued in the next post.

[WSSS]

After boarding the plane, I immediately went to my seat. There was no time for any cabin photography. Took my window seat and looked out of the window, and was too eager for the plane to depart, as always. My seat was at the wing so I didn't had such a good view from the window, but its fine with me. The plane taxied towards the runway and from there I snapped some shots of planes . During the takeoff, I took was taking aerial pictures of my little homeland and yes, with a view of the wing.

Once up in the sky at 35,000 ft, I was just reviewing my pictures (despite being the start of the trip) and was too lazy to watch a movie. To see where was the plane was flying past, I tuned into the flight path channel of KrisWorld. What a boring channel for an excellent IFE system!

Not long after, food was served. No menus were given out during the flight given the short 2h 25min flight. I had a delicious roasted chicken rice lunch. I mainly ate the chicken rice since the other things on the tray looked unappetising. The chilli sauce is too spicy for my taste buds and the ginger is not nice when lime juice is added to it. Overall, I think its a good meal and it comes a close second to my sweet and sour pork meal I had on another flight.

Since I started flying, I never felt air sick until these flight. I didn't feel good and started to vomit. Eww. I felt better after that. Service was excellent, I must say. They were efficient, fast and were always smiling. Soon it was time to land, and I started to take some more pictures when approaching the runway. Despite the stories of how unsafe Suvarnabhumi Airport was, I didn't felt the landing was bumpy or there are cracks in the runways. I believe they have fixed these problems. The plane taxied towards the parking bay and passengers started to disembark from the plane when it came to a complete stop.

Overall, I must say its an excellent flight and I particularly like the service and the food. Flying a 777 is way better than a 747.

When I entered the airport, I didn't really like it but it was way better than what Don Mueang was. Immigration queue was long and things were slow. Luckily, luck was on my side and my family was able to clear via the fast track counter. Baggage claiming took quite a long while to come out and was not particularly happy about it. It takes so long for baggage to come out, come on, you can do better than that.

[SuperJonJon]

Baggage claiming took quite a long while to come out and was not particularly happy about it. It takes so long for baggage to come out, come on, you can do better than that.

Thanks for sharing, WSSS. It is always a pain when collecting baggage at BKK. Not sure what is wrong with their baggage system.

[WSSS]

Their baggage handling system broke down on Wednesday, again. They now need the engineers from the US to come and repair them since its a critical error. Their immigration counters are real real slow, and I had a very rude officer attending to me on my way back, compared to quite a friendly one last year.

[WSSS]

SQ 979 BKK-SIN

I will be doing a long winded, lengthy, and detailed (cheem) trip report of my trip back. As the saying goes, "A picture tells a thousand words", I shall let the pictures do the talking for now. There are more pictures to come, but I need to sort them out as well as edit them.

Entrance to departure hall. Pictured here is Entrance 6 since Entrance 5 was closed due to "servicing"...


Flight information display. Yes, the panel was meant to be slightly blurry.


Check in rows at BKK




Pictures of HM The King Bhumibol Adulyadej to celebrate his Diamond Jubilee, the pictures were exhibited at the airport. Long Live the King.


Typical Thai-style pavilions around airport. This is one of the many.


King Power duty free. Again!


Directional signs at airside.


Regional C seat on 777-300. IMO, not worth the money.


At the arrival gate at SIN (F41), I took this picture without a tripod, it turned out pretty good.



I will post more pictures tonight. I'm off for now.

[jjpb3]

Thanks for taking the time to write down your impressions and post your pictures, WSSS. Nice trip report so far.

Once up in the sky at 35,000 ft, I was just reviewing my pictures (despite being the start of the trip) and was too lazy to watch a movie. To see where was the plane was flying past, I tuned into the flight path channel of KrisWorld. What a boring channel for an excellent IFE system!

Actually I find the map a good break from the shows I watch, and I'm one of those who like map-letching (route maps as well as the flight path map).

The chilli sauce is too spicy for my taste buds

Not the Kris Chilli sauce, I hope. That's one of my favorite aspects of travelling on SQ.

When I entered the airport, I didn't really like it but it was way better than what Don Mueang was. Immigration queue was long and things were slow. Luckily, luck was on my side and my family was able to clear via the fast track counter. Baggage claiming took quite a long while to come out and was not particularly happy about it. It takes so long for baggage to come out, come on, you can do better than that.

BKK isn't one of my favorite airports, and based on SuperJonJon's assessment and yours, I've been fortunate not to have had to collect any luggage so far.

[WSSS]

Actually I find the map a good break from the shows I watch, and I'm one of those who like map-letching (route maps as well as the flight path map).

Heh. That's the only channel you want to watch on a short flight. Rather, if you are real lazy or impatient to get to your destination.

Not the Kris Chilli sauce, I hope. That's one of my favorite aspects of travelling on SQ.

It was in this little plastic container. Is it Kris Chilli sauce?

BKK isn't one of my favorite airports, and based on SuperJonJon's assessment and yours, I've been fortunate not to have had to collect any luggage so far.

Priority baggage handling is rather slow, imo. So if your luggage isn't in the priority set of luggages, you have to wait long long (Singlish slang) for the baggages to appear like I had to do. Luckily, things were better than at the start. Two days later, the whole system crashed. That's very bad to hear. Before those Suvarnabhumi stories appeared everywhere, I had high hopes of the airport making it a drastic change from DMK. To my disappointment, it was more or less the same.

[WSSS]

Some more pictures on return sector

Yes, as I have promised just now, I will post some more pictures here.

Travellators to Concourses C and D.



Another Thai-style pavillion in this airport. One unique feature of BKK.



View of Concourse C from Level 4.



Duty Free area... Thank goodness, this picture does NOT have any King Power signs.



Concourse D. My gate was Gate D2, you can see the sign quite clearly.


Waiting area of Gate D2, it's empty since most are onboard. Nope, I didn't need to use this waiting area as I was one of the last to board the plane. There were people behind my family and I to board the plane.



Part of the airside. The tourist is looking around the big airport.


Avenue of Luxury Goods. I think King Power operates the branded goods stalls at the airport. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[WSSS]

More and more pictures; SQ 979 BKK-SIN Y

Continuation from previous post.

A sculpture at the airport. I don't know what this symbolises and I don't wish to guess it.


After taking off from the airport. Aerial view from my seat. NB. This picture isn't taken by me. And its rather blurry since I was not seating at the window on my way back so it was quite hard to take a picture or two.



My dinner. Was way below my expectations after tasting the meal I had on this particular sector last year. Sorry, the pic is rather blurry.



Home sweet home. Immigration was super fast and the luggage came out very fast and efficiently. The luggages came out quite fast as one came out much much later. N.B. This is a picture I took last year, since this time I was too lazy to take a somewhat duplicate picture. P.S. The baggages came out at Belt 35, not Belt 38 as shown here.



There's more to come, but I need some time.

[KeithMEL]

Thanks for the trip report, WSSS. Looked like a very nice trip.

[CGK]

Thank you for sharing!

[SQflyergirl]

Great report!

[token01]

good stuff mate cheers for posting esp some of the pics of the airport - really shows the airy nature of the terminal

[whatsthequestionnow]

great report... great to see inside. Heading up there later in the year... once get home from Kl. Certainly better than the old aiport. And thats the go with King Power.. have never seen one retailer dominate an aiport like Bangkok