SQ A350 Y to Copenhagen: Bicycles, The Little Mermaid, and Lunch at Noma

[yflyer]

I stepped onboard...

In the Business Class cabin, the now familiar 2013 J product, a variant of the J seat first seen on SQ's 77WN and 77WR. The J cabin was laid out 1-2-1, giving every passenger access to the aisle.



After all this time, I still have not tried this 2013 J seat on the A350, although I was very impressed with the 77WN version of this seat.



Next the premium economy cabin, laid out 2-4-2.



I have tried PEY on the A350 in the past. While SQ's PEY hard product on the A380 and 77WR are pretty decent, I am not a fan of SQ's A350 PEY seat. The 2-4-2 seating in PEY isn't too different from 3-3-3 in Y, and SQ's PEY catering isn't really too different from Y either. I did not feel a lot of envy for PEY pax on this flight as I made my way to the Y cabin...



Now this was familiar territory for me. This was 2013 Y, not the very latest 2017 Y, but to me this was still a very comfortable economy class seat that could still hold it's own with any Y seat out there.



Row 41 bulkhead seats...



Note that while these seats had extra legroom, the armrests were immovable.

The Row 47 emex seats were great, but as a single traveller my favourite remained the Row 48A/K window seats, with a missing seat in front...



Also note the position of the armrests in the row 47 bulkhead seats: Only the armrest between 47D-47E could be raised.



My seat was in the rear of the plane -- selected by choice, so that I would not have to worry about anyone behind me when I reclined...



On these long overnight flights, I tend to choose seats at the back, as there is a greater chance of an empty seat next to me. But no luck on this flight -- it was completely full.

Note that the last few rows of the A350 Y cabin don't have any overhead lockers (Because that space is occupied by the Crew Rest Area), so remember to stick your carryons in the rows further forward before getting to your seat.

[yflyer]

My seat had decent recline...



...and had an armrest that could be raised (If you pressed the button at the base of the underside of the armrest)...



There are no longer any footrests under the seats in the Y cabin. No big loss I think -- while I was a fan, many other pax did not like them so much. Instead, these days I just put my laptop bag under the seat and use that as a footrest instead.



Super sharp and clear HD widescreen on the seat back..



An amazing selection on the Krisworld IFE...



USB charging port, great for keeping your phone fully charged during the flight (Bring your own cable)...



There was also A/C power...



Some items in the seat pocket: Safety card and internet/wifi instruction card, as well as a KrisShop magazine (But still no SilverKris Magazine)...



I was keen to try the new SQ headphones...



Two-pronged airline plug...



Which can be folded up so that you can use the headphones on your own personal devices as well...



I tried out the headphones...

Verdict? Absolutely horrible sound quality. Everything sounded muffled and as if it was played through a cave. Totally useless. I really have no idea how anyone can watch movies or listen to music on Krisworld with these terrible headphones. I don't think any airline has good headphones in economy, but I do recall that EK and QF had at least passable headphones in Y. These new SQ ones are just awful. and to me, below any acceptable standard of sound quality. To invest so much on an excellent Krisworld IFE system, and then ruin the experience with substandard headphones just doesn't make any sense.

I would strongly recommend bringing your own headphones and an airline adapter.

[yflyer]

There was a great movie selection on Krisworld this month...all the latest movies, plus classics from the recent (and distant past) as well, including Asian, European and International selections...



The hit new movie, Top Gun: Maverick was featured...



An adrenalin-filled action movie like Top Gun is probably best experienced in an IMAX theatre on the ground, but it was nice to have it on Krisworld as well...



I was pleasantly surprised to find, with a little digging around the movie search function, that the original Top Gun movie, from 1986, was also on this month's Krisworld...



This was a classic movie I enjoyed in my youth, and it remains eminently watchable to this day...

To see the young Val Kilmer face to face with Tom Cruise in the original...



...and then fast forward to Kilmer and Cruise today, in Maverick, was just so poignant...



...here was also live television on board, mainly news, channels...



Including the BBC, which had extensive coverage of the the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II...

[yflyer]

The familiar Journey through Singapore safety video was played. Time flies...I sometimes still refer to it as the "new" SQ safety video, although it has been in use since 2017. Today's version had Danish subtitles...

[Correction: Oops...fellow SQTalker hybridace101 was kind enough to leave a comment informing me that those were actually Swedish subtitles...which makes sense since CPH actually serves both Denmark and Sweden, with the Swedish city of Malmo just a bridge and a car ride away. Thanks, hybridace101!]



About 12 hours and 40 minutes to Copenhagen tonight...



The flight would take place almost entirely in darkness, with the sun only rising at dawn just prior to arrival...

[yflyer]

I signed up for wifi internet not long after take-off. This could be done by turning on wifi on your phone or tablet, then using your camera to scan QR code on the wifi sheet...



I was very pleased to see that SQ now offered plans by the hour, rather than by data, and better still, there was a full flight plan for unlimited wifi for the entire flight for USD 15.99. This was a deal well worth it, especially since you could use the internet on any number of devices, although only one device could be connected to the internet at a time (You resumed a prior connection by keying in your email address).



There was also a complimentary 2 hour plan for Krisflyer members, which I thought was also generous.

I switched from my mobile to my iPad to browse the SQ portal on a larger screen.





By right, the digital menu should have been viewable...



...but for some reason no menu was uploaded for today's flight...

[yflyer]

There were 5 bathrooms available for Y pax. 4 were in the middle island in between the first and 2nd Y cabins. There was one more bathroom at the left side rear of the aircraft, just ahead of the rear galley.



Bottles of hand sanitiser were mounted outside the bathroom doors.

[yflyer]

On this late night departure, dinner service commenced shortly after take-off...



Meal service began from front to back of the plane.

Although there was no separate drink service before meals were served, I still felt like a drink before my meal, so I ordered my usual G&T, making sure to explicitly ask for a lemon slice, since SQ crews these days tend to omit the lemon slice in their G&T by default...



My meal tray was served while waiting for the G&T to be delivered.



This was Mediterranean style fish, in a tomato-based sauce with green peas and chickpeas...



This was quite tasty, and paired well with the Frontera Chardonnay from Chile...



The other Y meal option was an Asian dish, chicken (Or was it pork?) with rice.

Y meals no longer come with an appetiser, but the main course casseroles did look a little larger than they were before.

The meal tray also no longer comes with salt or pepper sachets, but these are available on request...



I also sampled the red wine, a French Cabernet Merlot, which was pretty decent for a wine in Y...



Dessert was a chocolate Magnum...



Simple pleasures!

[yflyer]

I spent much of the flight asleep, and awoke over Turkey, near Ankara, about 9 hours into the flight, with 3 and a half hours left to run...



The flight took a fairly southerly routing, passing over India, Pakistan, Iran and then Turkey...



Our flight stayed well clear of Ukrainian airspace, for obvious reasons, although that routing would have been far more direct...



It was time for a snack.

I headed to the galley. There was a nice selection of snacks laid out for pax to help themselves...



There were other snacks available...a pastrami sandwich...



...and a Hummus wrap...



Cup noodles were also available...I decided on Koka Curry Noodles and a Hummus wrap...



Yum!



The flight continued over Bulgaria. We were now at an altitude of 40,000 feet (12192m)...



Many folks were already awake, with many watching shows on the IFE...

[yflyer]

2+ hours before landing, the lights came on for breakfast...

I took the opportunity to snap a few pics of the cabin...



This was a completely full flight in Y and PEY...



That said, the A350 cabin still felt open and serene.

Breakfast was served from the rear of the aircraft. I had a choice of a Western-style egg dish or Asian noodles. I chose the noodles.



The tray as served...



The noodles were ok, but nothing to rave about...



Decent noodle texture, but overall I thought a few slices of cut chilli and soy sauce would have livened up the dish...

[yflyer]

With an hour and a half to run, I spent the rest of the time watching the IFE...



There were very good music selections on Krisworld this month, including violin virtuoso Leonidas Kavakos's traversal of Bach's solo violin partitas and sonatas...


I watched more live television...



There was round the clock BBC news coverage on the proceedings in London, as ceremonies and preparations for Queen Elizabeth's funeral continued...



By then the sun was coming up...



I wasn't seated by the window, so the only opportunity to take pictures was out the small window in the rear doors...

[yflyer]

Descent into CPH was smooth...



...with bright sunlight streaming into the cabin as we made our final approach...



Landing on Runway 22L at CPH...



And off the plane on a beautiful morning...

[yflyer]

The dark wood flooring at CPH made it much easier for me to push my rollerboard along, compared to the carpet at Changi...



CPH is one of those airports, like Changi, where departing and arriving passengers could intermingle once off the plane.

The immigration queue was quite long, however it moved quickly...



I was out of the airport just after 8am, and decided to catch a taxi to my hotel...



I noticed that you could also catch a Swedish taxi, presumably to take you to Malmo, which was just across the Øresund Bridge connecting Copenhagen with Malmo in Sweden.

It was just a short taxi ride to the Moxy Copenhagen in Sydhavnen, where I would be staying for the next few days.


My 10 minute, 10km, taxi ride from the Airport to the Moxy cost me DKK (Danish Krone) 300, which worked out to be SGD 56. I will never complain about taxi prices in Singapore again.

Speaking of prices, things in Copenhagen are expensive. VERY expensive. And this is coming from a resident of Singapore, where things aren't cheap either! Copenhagen is a wonderful city, but it has been a while since I visited a place and gasped at how expensive everything was. More on Copenhagen later in this TR!

[yflyer]

Overall, this was a very comfortable flight, well up to SQ's high standards.

While the aircraft was not brand new, the 2013 Y economy class cabin product remains very comfortable, and the A350 is such a modern, quiet plane to fly in. Krisworld IFE was excellent as well, and it was great to have wifi for the full flight for a flat fee.

Catering was good, although not the very best I have had on SQ. Surprisingly, while complimentary wine, beer and liquor were all available onboard, there was no whisky available on this flight, which was unexpected.

The crew on this flight were good, although thiswas an overnight flight, with most of the time spent sleeping, so there wasn't much opportunity to interact with the crew much, apart from during meal service.

One interesting thing about this flight, although it was completely full, the pax onboard were all very quiet and considerate. There were few wailing babies, and I never even heard anyone press the call button during the flight (Either that, or I was fast asleep when they did!). I've seldom been onboard a flight (except perhaps red-eye sectors to Japan) where pax were all so quiet and well behaved. Wonderful.

Arriving at the hotel, I felt very refreshed and ready to see what Copenhagen had to offer. This was my first time in the city and I felt excited. This was Sunday, and work would not begin till the next day. It was now time for to look around!

Up next, Copenhagen!

[SQ777]

Ironically one of the nicest Star Alliance Gold lounges I have been to is the United Club at LHR T2. That must be the nicest UA Lounge I have ever visited. I've not been to any of their new Polaris Lounges either, and need to find some excuse to do so!

United is the nicest of the three star lounges in T2B from the decor -- probably the best booze selection of the three. Food is terrible, tho, at all lounges in T2, shows where OW is comparatively better for their equivalent of *Golds. Would it kill SQ to offer some SG fare in its SKL business lounge, given London is a key destination for the airline + barista as they have a manned bar alr?? lol

On a separate note, Polaris lounge, like in SFO, is where it is at if you care about decent F&B.

On your flight, you could have asked the crew for some chilli / hot sauce / similar to accompany your noodle dish (they usually have something or other knocking about).

Did you visit the Copenhagen meat packing district? Full of hipster eateries -- not bad at all.

[yflyer]

United is the nicest of the three star lounges in T2B from the decor -- probably the best booze selection of the three. Food is terrible, tho, at all lounges in T2, shows where OW is comparatively better for their equivalent of *Golds. Would it kill SQ to offer some SG fare in its SKL business lounge, given London is a key destination for the airline + barista as they have a manned bar alr?? lol

On a separate note, Polaris lounge, like in SFO, is where it is at if you care about decent F&B.

On your flight, you could have asked the crew for some chilli / hot sauce / similar to accompany your noodle dish (they usually have something or other knocking about).

Did you visit the Copenhagen meat packing district? Full of hipster eateries -- not bad at all.

Agree the bar at the United Club in LHR T2 is outstanding! I was there in the morning, and thought the breakfast spread there was pretty good. This was all pre-COVID of course.

I am really keen to check out any of the new Polaris Lounges, as well as the new United Polaris J. Not sure when I'll get the chance though. I do notice that sometimes there are some very good cash upgrade deals on United from Y or Premium Plus to J. I might be tempted to upgrade on my next trip to the US, if the price is right. Thought that I had an opportunity to try the new UA Premium Plus on UA2 SIN-SFO a couple of weeks back, but the inbound was delayed 11 hours! So I had to make a last minute switch to SQ Y on SQ32 SIN-SFO instead (PEY was full). Anyway that is my next TR after this one :-)

Yes, I should have asked if they had some chilli sauce... will try my luck next time!

No, did not manage to check out the Copenhagen meat packing district...so many things to do, so little time!