I'll get to witness CGK flying in Y!

[jjpb3]

Okay... the latest news makes me think more aboout this.
Paging jjpb3!
Are you going to change your booking due to the latest development?

No, my booking isn't a flexible ticket, unfortunately. Besides, for long weekends in SIN, SQ is a nearly unbeatable option. It's particularly unbeatable for my trips back to the Philippines (otherwise, I'd have to do LHR-HKG-SIN-HKG-MNL-HKG-LHR; I don't have the time or energy!).

The changes to KrisFlyer just mean I'm more serene about going for my BD *G rather than Elite Gold, and once that threshold is reached, I'll also be more serene about trying to be on CX for the remainder of my trips to Asia. OneWorld is a more convenient alliance for someone based in London, anyway.

KrisWorld; service from the SQ Girls; Singapore Slings after takeoff; and breakfast spiced up with KrisChilli sauce will remain things that are dear to my heart. But, as MAN Flyer put it, I'll stop going out of my way to experience them and will be more willing to give my business to SQ's competitors.

[CGK]

Thank you for the answer! Someone had asked me about this matter. Yes, it seems I will do the long haul Y on SQ.

[nickbot]

This momentous occasion can't be far off now,...are you getting nervous CGK?!

[CGK]

I am at SKL now. They are expecting my arrival on Friday.

[CGK]

What do you think?

What do you think if I bail out from my Y trip?
Need those PPS sectors for my so-called-life.

[jjpb3]

Prioritize, CGK, prioritize: this friend is for life , but wasted sectors may mean no Life .

[Lobster]

So did CGK survive it has gone very quiet here.

[KeithMEL]

Well he's surfaced in another thread on SQTalk about his LPP run, so hopefully he'll supply an update soon.

[SQflyergirl]

I'm waiting more for pics of JJPb3 than anything

[CGK]

I survived the Y travel.
It was so comfortable, and I was sleeping almost the whole flight.
So, no picture of the sleeping beauty. (Well, the cabin was pretty dark)

[SQflyergirl]

So, no picture of the sleeping beauty.

Right... and how much did you get paid to not post those pics?

[jjpb3]

CGK in Y: Part I

Well, here's the first part of the highlights from the LHR-SIN leg (including pre-flight activities).

This trip began on the upswing for me. No dramas in packing, no dramas from work, and practically no delays going from home to LHR. Both Business Class counters were occupied, so I was gently guided to the First Class counter. There, I met a Pinay -- well, an ex-Filipina who immigrated when she was 6, who noticed my surname and asked me a question (correct polite forms too!) in Tagalog. All in all, a very pleasant checkin process, though it did include a mystifying request to attach a baggage tag to which she had affixed a PPS sticker. That was the first time I had encountered such a request.

The BAA security circus took less than 15 minutes, so even though I was starved for some breakfast, I had time to browse (and buy from ) the selection at Ferragamo. That's where I got the SMS from CGK that he had landed. He met me outside the store, where he told me that the SQ counter wasn't open yet and so he had no BP with which to enter the VS CH. He asked me to go ahead.

One hour later, still no sign of CGK. Hmmm... This was worrying. It turned out that the transfer desk didn't open until past 10.00 so CGK got to the lounge very late, so late that he could consume only ONE glass of champagne -- a rather inauspicious, even uncivilized, stat to his Y odyssey. But this being CGK, he was his unflappable self. He gamely posed for a picture in the lounge with his newly issued Y BP.

Then off he went to take a shower -- to "give a good impression of Solitaires in Y", in his words. Then the second whammy: none of the dryers were working. CGK came back from his shower with his hair flying around his head, a sight so incongruent with his usual well-groomed self that I couldn't contain my laughter. No, I didn't take a picture of CGK with flyaway hair.

Soon it was time to board so we headed off to the departure area. I got my BP looked over and was guided to the line to which they were funneling Busines and First Class passengers. CGK ogt his BP examined and was guided to ... [third whammy] the much longer Y line.

He takes a look at my much shorter line ... and then the metal barrier separating our two lines ... and finally asks, "Hey, why am I not in your line?"

"Did you show them your card?"
"Why? I have a Solitaire sticker!"
"You need to show them the card."
"But the sticker!"
"CGK, this is LHR. Show them your card."

With a mini-huff (this is CGK, so big tantrums don't really happen), he marched back to the checker; showed him the TPP card (smiling when doing so, of course); and was allowed to join the shorter line (with the admonition, "You needed to show me the card, sir").

We headed towards the gate, to be ready to be one of the first to board in Y so we could ensure that we had the space in the overheard lockers for our stuff. Only, we waited, and waited ... and finally heard an announcement asking Business and First Class passenger to go see the gate agent. Then the blue and red BP holders (sans a usual member) marched back through the entrance to the departure area. CGK investigated, and we learned that [whammy no. 4] there would be a delay of an unspecified duration due to the absence of equipment to take the plane out of its parking position (or something to that effect). Ah LHR .

So we went back to the SKL, where, courtesy of the same card that allowed CGK into the shorter line, we got to the side that made tall, refreshing Singapore Slings. The second good thing that came out of the delay was that CGK was able to get a bottle of water for his journey. I had forgotten to remind him that in Y, water came in small tumblers rather than your own private small bottle.

Soon the announcement to board came, and we trooped back to the departure area. They had just boarded the very back of the Y cabin. Flashing our *G cards, we went right through, and finally were warmly welcomed by angels clad in the equally welcome familiar kebayas.

So, pre-flight tally: 4 whammies, and lessons about the importance of flashing your card in LHR andtrying to get water to compensate for the less individualized service level in cattle class.

Stay tuned for the in-aircraft installment of CGK's adventure in long-haul Y (not Peter11's definition of a total Y experience, but plenty Y from the vantage point of someone with a travel profile like CGK's) ...

[KeithMEL]

ONLY 1 glass of bubbly!!!

Pics, pics, pics please!

[SQFAN]

CGK appears to be 'lost' in the world of travelling in economy , eh eh? Can't wait for the rest of the story.

[SQflyergirl]

Whammies Schmammies! Where are the pics?

All I hear are mouth watering descriptions of things I would give the right half of my PPS card to see........ only to be cruelly told that there ARE none....