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A Hong Kong Christmas with SQ Economy

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  • A Hong Kong Christmas with SQ Economy

    Over the Christmas weekend holidays, I made a trip to Hong Kong to experience some wintery weather for the holiday season. Tickets on SQ, booked rather early for this trip, was comparable to budget airlines prices.

    Checked in at Terminal 3 and received boarding pass.





    22 December 2017
    Singapore Airlines
    SQ 872
    Singapore (SIN) - Hong Kong (HKG)
    B777-200
    9V-SQN
    Economy Class
    Flight Time: 3H34M



    Boarding has was almost completed when I reached the gate and thus boarded immediately. Earphones were available at the door. This aircraft was retrofitted with the 2006 Y seats from the B77Ws. A pillow and blanket was placed on each seat. There was Christmas decorations in the cabin as well (pics from after arrival).






    View out the window at Gate A1.




    Inflight magazine, Krisworld and KrisShop guides.




    The new SQ economy earphones, which seemed to have better audio quality than the previous version. Also, I noticed that the IFE guide seemed thinner than usual, and realised that SQ had placed the wrong version of the IFE guide in all seats. Instead of the newer version of KrisWorld (similar to A330/A380 etc) which this aircraft is equipped with and offering more than 200 movies, the KrisWorld magazines stocked was for the older non-retrofitted aircraft IFE system with only 80 movies. Very unlike SQ to make this error.






    View of the seatback.




    Safety video played (the older version) and we started the taxi. It would be more than 3hrs to HKG.




    Taxied to the active runway.






    3 Firefly ATR72s lined on on the remote stand.

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  • #2
    Departure from Rwy02C.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-jmEgybSdc






    Flight map




    Water, beer and juices were offered along with a pack of mixed nuts. I just had a cup of water.




    Started with the light-hearted animation movie " The Emoji Movie".




    Menu was offered, which consisted of the selection on this flight as well as the returning SQ871 flight.










    Meal service started shortly after and the economy cabin was served from the front towards the rear.




    I chose the Oriental selection of Egg noodles with beef in black bean sauce.



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    • #3
      Starter of Marinated shrimps with assorted vegetables and warm roll. The starter tasted fine, though I am not a fan of shrimps.




      Egg noodles with beef in black bean sauce. Portion was big but the beef pieces were very tough, and the noodles tasted kinda funny..... Did not finish the dish.




      The international selection tray of Roasted chicken with potatoes. Portion of the chicken was rather small.




      Dessert was a Magnum mini, which was a miniaturized version of the full-sized Magnums offered previously. Cost-cutting in progress.






      Flying into the sunset.




      The economy lavatories continued to be well-stocked with amenities.




      View of the forward cabin.




      Approaching Hong Kong.




      It was a beautiful approach into Hong Kong, flying overhead the city lights in the rare clear skies.





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      • #4
        Landing in Hong Kong Rwy25R.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKJLeLkrvM0


        Parked at the gate.




        It was a pleasant flight on SQ with consistently good service. Minor cutbacks can be observed in the catering from SIN but generally, the SQ experience is still top-notch on the SIN-HKG sector.


        For this trip, I stayed at he Madera Hong Kong Hotel, which is very conveniently located beside Jordan MTR station. Rooms are huge by Hong Kong standards and very well-maintained.




        The is a bar at the top floor of the hotel offering spectacular views og the Hong Kong skyline during the evenings.






        As it was the Christmas holiday season, Christmas lights were everywhere to enhance the festive spirit.










        Buildings along Victoria Harbour.






        Peninsular Hotel Christmas decorations




        Tried a popular Chinese eatery "The Social Place", offering modern creations of chinese dishes and dimsum.

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        • #5
          Cute dimsum creations.




          The food was beautifully presented and rather tasty.










          Typical Hong Kong scene.




          Famout tomato noodles and toast at Sin Yuen Kee.






          Michilin guide recommended streetfood "dog noodles". It was thick noodles in a savoury broth, warming on a cool evening.






          Hand congee and wanton noodles at one of the recommended wanton noodles store in Hong Kon. This shop is located in Mongkok.



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          • #6
            A market within the residential area of Mongkok.




            Flower market




            Afternoon tea at Kam Wah cafe with its famous polo buns.




            Sumptious dinner at a chain restaurant Satay King, which interestingly o not have satay in its menu. This popular eatery offers more of asian fusion cuisine.






            Ending the short trip with Famous Dim Sum at Prince Edward as the One Dim Sum nearby was fully packed. The dimsum at this restaurant was not bad too. Quite difficult to find bad dimsums in Hong Kong I guess.






            Took the airport bus back to the airport and checked in at the empty SQ counter 1.5hrs prior to departure. Surprised at the lack of queues as the flight was totally full.






            FIDS at the busy HKIA.




            Our A359 was already at the gate and had an almost 2hrs layover.




            The smaller mindfield terminal serving narrowbodies.

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            • #7
              The rather new A359 which will be flying me back to Singapore.






              Boarding started early.







              25 December 2017
              Singapore Airlines
              SQ 861
              Hong Kong (HKG) - Singapore (SIN)
              A350-900
              9V-SMJ
              Economy Class
              Flight Time: 3H33M



              Down the aerobridge into the aircraft.






              Newspapers and earphones for economy pax were available on a trolley at the door.




              Passing the Business cabin.




              Into Premium Economy.




              And the economy cabin. Forward economy seats are in blue while the aft cabin economy seats are in a duller light brown. Pillows and blankets are placed on each seat.





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              • #8
                Across the aisle before the cabin filled up.




                Boarding in progress.




                Out the window.




                Legroom was decent and there were footrests on this longhaul aircraft, unlike the previous sector's B772 used on regional routes, where footrests were removed.




                The latest IFE interface.




                IFE guide for the newest 2 generations of Krisworld (A330/A380/A359/B77W/retrofitted B772 and B773). The previous sector on 9V-SQN should have this version too but was wrongly equipped with the guide for the older IFE system.




                Hot towels distributed, doors closed and the new safety video was played, unlike the previous sector on the B772 where the old safety video was shown.



                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftNcyzUuFWc


                The flight was fully packed, at least in Economy. Started the taxi to the runway.










                Next for departure.

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                • #9
                  Departure from Rwy07R, with splendid view of Hong Kong Island after takeoff.

                  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVIy0I_N1WQ














                  Above the cloudy skies, which stayed like this almost throughout the entire flight.






                  Time for some ntertainment. Chose to watch a chinese movie.






                  Mixed nuts and beverages from tray were offered soon after takeoff. I chose an orange juice.




                  Before meal service started, a notification was displayed on the IFE monitor.

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                  • #10
                    A sea of clouds below with some light turbulences.




                    Switched to a Singaporean comedy movie as the previous selection was a tad boring.




                    A look at the menu on this flight, as well as SQ856 on the SIN-HKG sector.We were offered a special Christmas menu on the flight today for the International selection.








                    Meal tray. I chose the Christmas international selection.






                    Shrimp with cucumber salad to start, which was tasty. A Christmas logcake was offered for dessert in lieu of the usual Haagen Daz ice-cream.




                    Roasted Christmas turkey with chestnut stuffing. This special Christmas selection was not bad and portion was quite substantial.




                    The oriental tray has a Smoke fish salad starter and Deep-fried Pork with rice as the main. Both starter and main were delicious with large portions! Surprisingly, the catering from HKG was way better than from SIN.






                    Festive logcake to end, though I would have preferred the Haagen Das ice-cream, which were distributed to passengers with special meal orders.

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                    • #11
                      Crew offering top-ups of beverages.




                      Moderate turbulence encountered as we were flying near typhoon weather.




                      Visit to the lavatory. For some reason, the mid-cabin center lavatory cabinet was in an ugly plasticy retro-blue colour.




                      View of the forward economy cabin.




                      Sunset.






                      Approaching Singapore.




                      It was raining rather heavily during the final approach.




                      Landing on Rwy02L.

                      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XwN7Ohm6nU


                      Parked at the gate in very wet weather.




                      Disembarked.




                      While walking towards immigration, I noted that Terminal 3's Gate B5 is designated as a Sanrio gate for EVA Air's Hello Kitty/Sanrio flights!




                      Due to stormy weather and lightning risks, unloading of baggage was delayed for almost an hour. Some refreshments were delivered by the Changi Airport staff at the baggage belts while we wait for the bags.




                      It was again a very pleasant flight on SQ, with a great economy product and service on this short sector.
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                      • #12
                        Happy New Year ycp81 and excellent TR. Excellent pics of SQN, which had the 2013 seat covers (First I thought they actually put the 2013 seat as well but that still must have made for a very comfortable ride to HKG) and the A350.

                        Definitely agree, SQ service is awesome from HKG to SIN or even SFO and vice versa. Looking forward to more TRs in the future

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by ycp81 View Post
                          The smaller mindfield terminal serving narrowbodies.

                          The terminal serving the narrow oldies should be the North Satelite Terminal. Midfield Terminal is the new terminal, mainly serving Hong Kong Airlines (HX) and Hong Kong Express (UO)

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