Tweet
I came to be involved in a multi-party meeting to be held in Rio de Janerio, Brazil, and began planning the flight. The shortest and fastest route from SIN would have been thru JNB, and then GRU and GIG. But with the meeting scheduled one day after the World Cup Finals, JNB was obviously still to be avoided if only for the crowds, if not my previous experience. The route eventually worked out was a 13 hr SIN-LHR, 3 hr transit, and then 11 hr LHR-GRU, 2 hr lay-over, and another 1 hr GRU-GIG, ie. a 30 hr, and in Y 
Having arrrived early from a 13 hr from SIN on SQ318, hitched onto a bus connection from LHR Terminal 3 to T1 to catch TAM JJ8085 connection.
SQ318 which i just came off from after 13 hrs from SIN
Reached TAM's Transfer Desk to find it manned by one [pretty sweet young] lady. Despite just having 2 pax ahead of me at the queue, there was mighty delay, and i only discovered why when i reached the counter lady [ie. pretty, sweet, young
] Apparently there was a fire at the catering warehouse and TAM [and i discovered later, bmi too] has lost its inflight catering. As a result [PSY] lady was manually writing out GBP10 meal vouchers in lieu of the dinner originally scheduled onboard.
I plonked myself at Bridge [next to *A's lounge] for a BLT and latte, catching up Oranje and Spain at 20+ min, 0:0 for time being. By the time I had to leave to catch the flight, the score remained at 50th min, and I none the wiser.
LHR-GRU
Date: 11 July
Flight: TAM JJ8085
Aircraft: B777
Class: Economy
Seat: 17F
Boarding began abt 21:20pm and was orderly. The flight was totally full though, and was not looking forward to be stucked in the centre of the centre column of 4 seats, in Y no less - sulk sulk sulk.
View of cabin (above), and
mandatory leg-shot (below) royalties due to SQFG Brazilian Real10 = SGD7.80
TAM's inflight mag, entertainment menu, and ear-phones...
close-up of ear-phones, yrs to keep
Push-back was delayed by a good 15 mins, at 22:20pm; heard from some translated Portugese that apparently some seats have been double-booked. Wondered what happened to those bumped-off the seats; to C?
Taxi was short and soon we were rolling down the runway, or maybe i was too fatigued, but i remember dozing off soon after we were airborne.
Found this amenity kit when i woke somewhere over the Atlantic later
apart from sockettes, from top right - dental set, plastic mesh bag, foldable comb, ear plugs.
IFE was a touch-screen, though it hanged after some time, prob cos i was too zealous in, er, touching it.
Here is where the service level was being called upon. I pressed the buzzer. No response. I waited for 1 min, pressed again, no response. This went off for 5 times, before i waved down an attendant bearing blankets between C and Y. She re-set it for me. Sometime later, while i was tracking Danzel Washington thru Deja vu, another stewardess came to me, pointed at the buzzer light and asked if I needed help,
Another indication of service - beside the drinks soon after taking off (NB. no dinner remember, cos catering warehouse burnt makan chao ta), we havent had a glimpse of the stewardesses at all. When i was pushed almost to the brink by my duo natural needs, I relearnt my primitive instincts to climb over my aisle, sleeping neighbour, headed to the head. When I went to the galley, lo and behold, i find those PSY ladies chatting among themselves behind drawn curtains. I asked for some water, and one of them - with a smile i must allow - pointed to the tray with her head.
Another aspect i have come to appreciate abt SQ - the crew cleans up the toilets. I had every intention to intro SQTalkers here on the ups and downs of TAM heads, but with the images that greeted me couple of times, think best we dispense with haunting your senses shd you choose to press on reading till now.
After luxuriating in C (and even F some) for a while prior to this, this stucked-in-centre Y was becoming bit tough to bear, and sleep was patchy and not altogether restful. Breakfast was bit of a welcome hence.
clockwise from top left - malted cheese chicken sandwich, salad, and a sealed pack, which turned out to include some pre-packed bread, choc-chip cookie, cheese and jam.
When we made approach into Sao Paolo, we had apparently gained more than 20 mins, despite setting off 15 min late. JJ8085 came to a stop at 05:20am; next another 1 hr to Rio
Having arrrived early from a 13 hr from SIN on SQ318, hitched onto a bus connection from LHR Terminal 3 to T1 to catch TAM JJ8085 connection.
SQ318 which i just came off from after 13 hrs from SIN
Reached TAM's Transfer Desk to find it manned by one [pretty sweet young] lady. Despite just having 2 pax ahead of me at the queue, there was mighty delay, and i only discovered why when i reached the counter lady [ie. pretty, sweet, young
] Apparently there was a fire at the catering warehouse and TAM [and i discovered later, bmi too] has lost its inflight catering. As a result [PSY] lady was manually writing out GBP10 meal vouchers in lieu of the dinner originally scheduled onboard. I plonked myself at Bridge [next to *A's lounge] for a BLT and latte, catching up Oranje and Spain at 20+ min, 0:0 for time being. By the time I had to leave to catch the flight, the score remained at 50th min, and I none the wiser.
LHR-GRU
Date: 11 July
Flight: TAM JJ8085
Aircraft: B777
Class: Economy
Seat: 17F
Boarding began abt 21:20pm and was orderly. The flight was totally full though, and was not looking forward to be stucked in the centre of the centre column of 4 seats, in Y no less - sulk sulk sulk.
View of cabin (above), and
mandatory leg-shot (below) royalties due to SQFG Brazilian Real10 = SGD7.80
TAM's inflight mag, entertainment menu, and ear-phones...
close-up of ear-phones, yrs to keep
Push-back was delayed by a good 15 mins, at 22:20pm; heard from some translated Portugese that apparently some seats have been double-booked. Wondered what happened to those bumped-off the seats; to C?
Taxi was short and soon we were rolling down the runway, or maybe i was too fatigued, but i remember dozing off soon after we were airborne.
Found this amenity kit when i woke somewhere over the Atlantic later
apart from sockettes, from top right - dental set, plastic mesh bag, foldable comb, ear plugs.
IFE was a touch-screen, though it hanged after some time, prob cos i was too zealous in, er, touching it.
Here is where the service level was being called upon. I pressed the buzzer. No response. I waited for 1 min, pressed again, no response. This went off for 5 times, before i waved down an attendant bearing blankets between C and Y. She re-set it for me. Sometime later, while i was tracking Danzel Washington thru Deja vu, another stewardess came to me, pointed at the buzzer light and asked if I needed help,
Another indication of service - beside the drinks soon after taking off (NB. no dinner remember, cos catering warehouse burnt makan chao ta), we havent had a glimpse of the stewardesses at all. When i was pushed almost to the brink by my duo natural needs, I relearnt my primitive instincts to climb over my aisle, sleeping neighbour, headed to the head. When I went to the galley, lo and behold, i find those PSY ladies chatting among themselves behind drawn curtains. I asked for some water, and one of them - with a smile i must allow - pointed to the tray with her head.
Another aspect i have come to appreciate abt SQ - the crew cleans up the toilets. I had every intention to intro SQTalkers here on the ups and downs of TAM heads, but with the images that greeted me couple of times, think best we dispense with haunting your senses shd you choose to press on reading till now.
After luxuriating in C (and even F some) for a while prior to this, this stucked-in-centre Y was becoming bit tough to bear, and sleep was patchy and not altogether restful. Breakfast was bit of a welcome hence.
clockwise from top left - malted cheese chicken sandwich, salad, and a sealed pack, which turned out to include some pre-packed bread, choc-chip cookie, cheese and jam.
When we made approach into Sao Paolo, we had apparently gained more than 20 mins, despite setting off 15 min late. JJ8085 came to a stop at 05:20am; next another 1 hr to Rio
all it was was: thanks for sharing 
Comment