Messing around with MEL

[nisse]

I flew back into MEL on SQ227 on the 20th of Jan, I am not sure of exact figures for First and Economy but the 50 Business seats were 100% occupied, as I am sure the rest of the plane was.

If you fly into/out of MEL can you please give us an idea of how full the plane was, I have never flown in/out of MEL when the plane hasn't been nearly bursting.

To prove the changes are not a load affected thing, rather just MEL being the unlucky city closest to SIN that SQ considers long haul for their biggest airplanes, I am willing to stick to my arguement that MEL will have two A380's once their order has been filled.

Seats in J-class in late Feb are barely 20% filled into MEL but over 50% filled out of MEL for my flight.

[SQ238]

Seats in J-class in late Feb are barely 20% filled into MEL but over 50% filled out of MEL for my flight.

Cheers nisse, please report back once you have taken your flights.

[9V-SIA]

I think from SQ's point of view, easiest route to substitute aircraft when short of aircraft.

At the moment they are short because they need to inspect their A380s.

When I checked in for my flight home, I was told LHR-SIN was all 77W on 29 January!

[SQ228]

Seats in J-class in late Feb are barely 20% filled into MEL but over 50% filled out of MEL for my flight.

I'm not sure if it works the same in J, but in Y, selecting one's seat doesn't give much indication about how full a flight is.

I have four sectors booked around Easter- three on 77Ws. In each 77W, the same seats are filled but on the SIN-MEL leg, far more than the other sectors are full. They seem to block out the same pattern on every 77W flight in Y.

Really hoping that clears when I check-in cos all my favourite seats are unavailable on every sector I've never had a problem selecting 51A on a 77W before! There's no way the flight from MUC-SIN can be that full if they are cutting it one day per week.

[zilchster]

I was on 9V-SPJ on SQ 218 departing Melbourne on 30 Jan.

Loads were pretty light.

[nisse]

I'm not sure if it works the same in J, but in Y, selecting one's seat doesn't give much indication about how full a flight is.

I have four sectors booked around Easter- three on 77Ws. In each 77W, the same seats are filled but on the SIN-MEL leg, far more than the other sectors are full. They seem to block out the same pattern on every 77W flight in Y.

Really hoping that clears when I check-in cos all my favourite seats are unavailable on every sector I've never had a problem selecting 51A on a 77W before! There's no way the flight from MUC-SIN can be that full if they are cutting it one day per week.

Yeah, I think they do block the seats in Y. It doesn't appear so in J at least on my flight as it is more than half empty for the SIN-MEL route.

Also, I suspect they block out some of the 'good' seats' such as row 31 and 44 for elite members, i.e. you are able to reserve these seats online if you are on PPS or EG.

[SQ228]

Yeah, I think they do block the seats in Y. It doesn't appear so in J at least on my flight as it is more than half empty for the SIN-MEL route.

Also, I suspect they block out some of the 'good' seats' such as row 31 and 44 for elite members, i.e. you are able to reserve these seats online if you are on PPS or EG.

Yeah, i've been told a lot of the blocking out is for those guys, but 51A is hardly prime real-estate for Elite Gold!

They block out the entire left side A-C of the full real cabin, so I'm wondering if it's so they can offer group bookings a full section without me upsetting the plan by picking right in the middle of it all.

I always sit down there because it's the last A seat (the shoulder I sleep on) before the fuselage curves and my pillow keeps falling into the gap. Also has a great view out the window unobstructed by the wing

[nisse]

Yeah, i've been told a lot of the blocking out is for those guys, but 51A is hardly prime real-estate for Elite Gold!

They block out the entire left side A-C of the full real cabin, so I'm wondering if it's so they can offer group bookings a full section without me upsetting the plan by picking right in the middle of it all.

I always sit down there because it's the last A seat (the shoulder I sleep on) before the fuselage curves and my pillow keeps falling into the gap. Also has a great view out the window unobstructed by the wing

You might want to try again 2-3 days before departure. They will release the empty seats for reservation.

[jammed]

just got a call frm Call Centre - my SQ218 on 6 Feb just switched from 77W to 744. Call Centre told me "Yr flat bed has become 8 degree incline"

and my SQ227 on 11 Feb wait-listed =( tho Seat Selection indicates ample seats ard the C cabins.

[jammed]

SQ218 grounded, 30 mins before gate. And rather poor handling I must say, for premium pax, pity the Y

[SQ228]

SQ218 grounded, 30 mins before gate. And rather poor handling I must say, for premium pax, pity the Y

Tullamarine Airport reports that SQ218 finally departed 14 hours late, not long
before SQ228 and well after SQ238. Hope they could find a few hundred hotel rooms at 1 a.m.

First we lose our new aircraft to other cities and cop yet more old planes, then said old planes break-down....

[MLflyer]

Tullamarine Airport reports that SQ218 finally departed 14 hours late, not long
before SQ228 and well after SQ238. Hope they could find a few hundred hotel rooms at 1 a.m.

First we lose our new aircraft to other cities and cop yet more old planes, then said old planes break-down....

So there were x3 SQ planes on the ground at the same time at MEL today? So x2 SQ 744 and x1 SQ 773? I think the SQ 74F was in today also? Add in the Tigers and Jetstar's and MEL would have looked like Changi!

We should always look at the positive aspects of problematic situations

[FlyBoy]

Slightly off-topic, but when do the next batch of 77W's start to arrive that SQ ordered last year...

[SilverChris]

Slightly off-topic, but when do the next batch of 77W's start to arrive that SQ ordered last year...

2013 I believe.

But honestly, I wouldn't get my hopes up with regards to the new 77Ws being sent to MEL

[jammed]

SQ218 Grounded

SQ218 grounded, 30 mins before gate. And rather poor handling I must say, for premium pax, pity the Y

sorry for the late update, finally have the time to fill in what exactly happened. SQ218 originally scheduled to depart 01:05am; boarding timed at 00:05am. I decided to leave the Biz Lounge slightly earlier at 23:25pm and was at the Lounge door when the SQ lady behind the counter stopped me with a cryptic message that there were some devts. I had thought at that time it would be a delay but never quite imagined what was to come.

Over the next few mins, SQ lady announced to the C and F lounges that the 744 had developed technical problems and will be grounded. Although she asked pax to remain seated in the lounge, the natural reaction was to crowd the counter.

By this time, the SQ Ops and asst station manager have come in. They announced that plane wld only fly the next day at 15:00pm and have made arrangements to transfer all of us to hotel. But most premium pax were on biz trips and cannot afford the delay. And while can understand that they were caught off-guard and had only received this news 10-15 mins before, i must say the handling was rather disorderly: there didnt appear - at least from my perspective - any attempt to organise connecting. Even the attempt to attend to the F was conducted rather ad hoc - whoever managed to get the staff's attention got their case heard, and presumably addressed.

As the situation unfolded, SQ station manager can be heard by all ard him shouting into the walkie-talkie to, presumably one of his staff. Not very nice in front of all yr customers I thought, and not very reassuring.

Several premium pax i was with thought that SQ handling was really bad.

Heard that Y were left to fend for themselves.

Anyway, to close my own case, i and several blokes, from our own smartphone surfing discovered an EK earliest flight out to KUL (and for me to DXB on the same EK bird). But when I arrived at DXB to transfer on a GF to BAH, discovered SQ's replacement flight was not electronically booked on the system. Spent another 1 hr in DXB, including phone calls to SQ station in DXB before this was settled.

Long day, not just for me, but prob for the SQ staff too. But i wonder whether SQ staff, like SGP, have become too condition to things working, so much so they are not responsive to crisis (well, whether Orchard Rd flash flood and train disruption count for 'crisis'). Several of the pax ard me, including several F, have declared they will not fly SQ anymore