A380 service in J: disappointing relative to that on 747

[gMaster]

Hi

After try the A380 SYD <-> SIN a few times (3 times), I actually start to prefer the old 747 service. The 380 J service although the hardware is great no doubt about that, but the service just feel lack of individual attention. I got that feeling on my first A380 flight 2 month ago and thought it may be just the odd occurance, but now after 3 flights it seems like a norm for the A380.

Below is a few of my observations, some may be trivial and make me sound like a PITA, but I'm really not, and I don't mind most of the pts i pointed, and I won't expect those nice touches on any other airline other than SQ, (except for the cold garlic bread). Here I just try to point out some of the differences between the old 747 flight vs the new 380.

1) J class checkin queue is LONG ... due to larger J class

2) J side of the lounge is always packed. Now that no F class for QPP, I always resort to the Air NZ lounge instead while in Sydney.

3) Boarding is frequently late and hectic (un orderly). The last 2 flights The upper deck boards together regardlass of class (J/Y) and there are no premium lane boarding queue the signage is there but not enforced. The other 1 I board late so don't know what happened.

4) Once onboard time between I get to my seats and an FA come to take my suit bag away is uncomfortably long as I need to standup in the alley wait for it to be taken away (On 747 the suit bag normally will be taken care off on my way to my seats)

5) Address by name is non existent for the first 1-2 hr of the flight for some reason it happened for all 3 flights I took. Such as during offer drinks and taking meal orders, I was never dressed by name. But towards later half of the flight address name is back again.

6) Out of 3 flights, 2 flights the bread basket reach me row 13/15, the garlic bread I took is COLD, not luke warm but COLD, any colder the butter will be solidified.

7) This one may be a personal thing, I like to talk to the crew in the galley since for most of the flights i took i've seen all the movies and tvs on offer in krisworld, so the chatting with crew helps kill time. On 747 crews are always happy to chat, but on A380 the crews were trying to chat, but they are just too busy to chat most of the time and that is not their fault.


Please share your thoughts on the service difference between 747 and A380.

[G_G]

I agree with the points 1) 2) 3)

to 5)6) I add that it was never the same PNC : one takes meal or beverage order, another brings beverage, another brings meal and so on. It was four or five differents PNCs. At the end I've received two times the beverage I've asked for (one after 10 minutes, the other after 20 minutes).

Because of too many PNCs for the same passenger it could be difficult to be dressed by name and these PNCs (A380 and even 77W) seem not trained as good as those of the others airplanes (747, 773, 772 ...)

[Howard Long]

Hi
2) J side of the lounge is always packed. Now that no F class for QPP, I always resort to the Air NZ lounge instead while in Sydney.

3) Boarding is frequently late and hectic (un orderly). The last 2 flights The upper deck boards together regardlass of class (J/Y) and there are no premium lane boarding queue the signage is there but not enforced. The other 1 I board late so don't know what happened.

...

Please share your thoughts on the service difference between 747 and A380.

If it makes you feel any better, I was enjoying a toasted crumpet in the F lounge at SYD until a couple with their out-of-control kids arrived. After five minutes of screaming and shouting kids running amok I shut my laptop, slammed down my cup of tea, gave them a full on mean-eye and went next door to the realtively calm, but very full J lounge. They must've been in J with status as they didn't join me in R thank God. I mentioned to the lounge dragon why I was moving to which she apologised but said she couldn't do anything about it. I didn't expect her to, but perhaps SQ might want to consider not allowing kids under, say, eight years old into the F lounges. Or a big sign saying "If you can't control your kids, bugger off".

Boarding at SYD does seem a bit of a scrum. They do make an effort but to be fair the gate area in that corner is hardly designed for 500 people.

Howard

[Singapore_Air]

GMaster,

Regarding point 3, is that at SYD, SIN or both?

It's unfortunate that you seem to have received a service experience which is below your expectations. Maybe you could raise the concerns with Singapore Airlines in a brief email to SAA_Feedback@SingaporeAir.com.sg ?

As a possible explanation but not excuse, the crews on the Airbus A380 are getting quite tired apparently due to their rostering. This may have led to the instances in service failure that you experienced on your six flights.

[9V-SGA]

GMaster,

As a possible explanation but not excuse, the crews on the Airbus A380 are getting quite tired apparently due to their rostering. This may have led to the instances in service failure that you experienced on your six flights.

I had a chat with one of the flight attendents on my recent flight to SYD. Apparently they do not have any rest periods during the whole flight. Furthermore, they only have barely one night of rest before doing the return sector.

[SQflyergirl]

I had a chat with one of the flight attendents on my recent flight to SYD. Apparently they do not have any rest periods during the whole flight.

It's the same for the 744 flights. There are no rest periods

Furthermore, they only have barely one night of rest before doing the return sector.

Same goes for all the other turns, albeit at slightly different rest lengths.

[gMaster]

GMaster,

Regarding point 3, is that at SYD, SIN or both?

Thats in SYD because in the 747 days the boarding is quite orderly.

As for Singapore I haven't tried the A380 SIN -> SYD leg, as i just can't connect with my other flights. But will try this time when I return. But even for 747's never once the priority boarding lane/sequence is enforced at the security check point before you entre the glass room for the 747s I caught back to SYD.

[LHR]

Just got into London on the A380 in J. My two cents worth:

1. Check-in: A few J counters were closed but one of the check-in officers saw me queuing and opened one of the counters, which was really quite nice, so no queue at all.

2. Lounge: The J lounge is much bigger and about 70% full and it was quite noisy. It actually felt very impersonal as I prefer my lounges smaller and more exclusive. On the other hand, I didn't have any difficulty finding a seat. Food selection looked better but I only had the fruit platter as I had already had dinner. Also had no problems finding a free computer terminal to check my emails.

3. Boarding: This was ok. The priority queue was enforced. The economy queue was really long though.

4. Seat: The flight was full in business and economy. I chose 17A as I liked the bulkhead but agree with comments on a previous thread that it was a bit like a fishmarket although it calmed down after the supper service. Earplugs and eyeshades essential. Being bulkhead, the seat did feel more spacious and the leg-bench was the whole length of the seat instead of only a small area. Took a while to get used to the diagonal sleeping, and even though I am only average height, my feet could touch the wall in front. However, I did sleep 5 hours which was more than my normal spacebed sleeping hours.

5. Service: Agree with above comments that it felt less personal. I was only adressed by name maybe twice. Also, they didn't seem to "patrol" the aisles as much as they used to.

6. Food: This was quite nice as always. However, the new cups are too small. My chamomile tea basically came in a thimble. Also, I had to ask each time for my champagne to be topped up, it was never offered.

Apparently, today is the hottest day of the year up to now. Cold and rainy from tomorrow onwards!

[KeithMEL]

I had a chat with one of the flight attendents on my recent flight to SYD. Apparently they do not have any rest periods during the whole flight.

Too short a flight for any rest period. Like any other airline the FAs only have a rest period on longer flights like SIN-LHR.

[LionCity]

Too short a flight for any rest period. Like any other airline the FAs only have a rest period on longer flights like SIN-LHR.

On longer flights to LHR and FRA, some of the cabin crew look ready tired despite the break. According to one CSS, if you are unable to sleep during the break you are done. I have heard that one cabin crew disliking some the SIN-HKG runs as it is a turnaround flight and you have two meal to serve.

[nykelaz]

On longer flights to LHR and FRA, some of the cabin crew look ready tired despite the break. According to one CSS, if you are unable to sleep during the break you are done. I have heard that one cabin crew disliking some the SIN-HKG runs as it is a turnaround flight and you have two meal to serve.

IIRC, some flights to India are turnaround flights too.

[UMD]

IIRC, some flights to India are turnaround flights too.

And those flights are tough as well since most of the turnaround Indian flights are red-eyes.

Going back to the C service on 380 vs 744.....

From my personal experience, I actually don't feel any difference between the C service on 744 and 380. If anything, the product on 380 beats those on 744 hand down. At least for the SQ220 (which soon to be going back to 744), the lunch on the 380 is more elaborate and generous and than the pre-plated light lunch served on 744.

As for the boarding process, I have never experienced the congestion on the jetway. Once back in the first week of November, the queue in front of Gate 57 (at SYD) was indeed long but then I just decided to spend more time at the lounge and my problem has since been resolved.

On point no. 7), I have been able to strike a conversation with the crews all the times. Sometimes the crews especially the young ones can be quite shy to start a conversation. The crews however can sometimes be very busy as well. In one of my first few A380 flights ex-SYD, the crews had to wash all the dishes in C class so that all passengers will have enough new J class dishes to use for the 2nd meal. SQ actually provided them with dishwashing liquid in sachets. I was told by the crews that it was because the SYD station had not had enough new C class plates to go around yet and that the SIN station did not load enough plates.

[UMD]

Just got into London on the A380 in J. My two cents worth:

6. Food: This was quite nice as always. However, the new cups are too small. My chamomile tea basically came in a thimble. Also, I had to ask each time for my champagne to be topped up, it was never offered.

I agree with the cup being so small. Those cups are more for espresso than tea. With cups this small, it takes the crews more trips to fill up my tea cup. I wish SQ could offer the CX cups which are of the normal size.

[gMaster]

Just landed with my SIN -> SYD leg on A380

Security check at SIN has premium line available.

Boarding announcement was made with F/C/PPS passengers invited to board, but everyone really just boarded regardless.

Once on the plane the service is quite good, not much difference to the old 744s which is quite surprising, didn't do a count but feel like there are more FAs then normal, may be F class FA come up and help?

Landing time at SYD is a shocker, we were hold at waiting for 40+min and then landed among many other international flights. Lucky with my APEC card manage to breeze through immigration pretty fast, luggage time is reasonable, but the Quarantine in SYD is just plain bad and slow .... .... I don't think it leaves good first impression to first timers, as everyone is treated as guilty of something.

[hsf]

Just landed with my SIN -> SYD leg on A380

Security check at SIN has premium line available.

Boarding announcement was made with F/C/PPS passengers invited to board, but everyone really just boarded regardless.

Once on the plane the service is quite good, not much difference to the old 744s which is quite surprising, didn't do a count but feel like there are more FAs then normal, may be F class FA come up and help?

Landing time at SYD is a shocker, we were hold at waiting for 40+min and then landed among many other international flights. Lucky with my APEC card manage to breeze through immigration pretty fast, luggage time is reasonable, but the Quarantine in SYD is just plain bad and slow .... .... I don't think it leaves good first impression to first timers, as everyone is treated guilty.

ha ha... welcome to Sydney!
It is one of my pet hates when coming home. I never know which goodies may get confiscated.