SIA A359 to Brisbane (SQ255 SIN-BNE in Y), and the Sky Deck at The Star Brisbane

[yflyer]

Overall, an excellent flight on SQ 255 to Brisbane.



The economy hard product was state of the art, and the cabin crew were wonderful as well. It was great to be able to fly my favourite airline again.

I headed to the Airport train station...



...and caught the train to the city-- a quick and pleasant 20 min ride.

[yflyer]

A smooth landing, with a lot of crosswind on approach, and a short taxi to the gate.



As I deplaned, I noticed the pitot tube covers placed over the pitot tubes at the nose of the aircraft. This was because the wasps at Brisbane airport were known to build nests in the tubes, which would then cause problems with airspeed indications.



It was important to put the pitot tube covers on immediate after landing...



...and equally important to take them off before departing, hence the red streamers.

[yflyer]

Lights came on, and window shades were up.



It was bright sunshine outside.



20 minutes to go...with an arrival time of 9:58am, 20 minutes ahead of scheduled arrival at 10.20am.



Nice views of the coast as we made our final approach...



...with long sandy beaches clearly visible out the left side windows...

[yflyer]

Breakfast was served 2 hours prior to landing...



There was a choice of Asian-style vermicelli (i.e. Bee Hoon) with chicken, or Western-style eggs, with sausage and potatoes. I went with the vermicelli.



This was very tasty, although I think the presentation of the chicken could have been improved. Was it too much to ask for a little garnish, say a little spring onion/parsley/coriander (Apologies to the coriander haters) and a slice of red chilli maybe?

Still it tasted very satisfying, and it was nice to have fruit, yogurt and a bun too

[yflyer]

A smooth take-off into the night sky. Very short flight time of 6 hours and 40 minutes to Brisbane today.



After take-off, a hot refreshment: A choice of either Margherita or Pesto pizza...



The pizza slice came piping hot, and was quite tasty...



I asked for a G&T with a lemon slice...



Then drifted off to sleep...

[yflyer]

A wonderful selection of IFE programmes on Krisworld.



Music selections were great too, with good audio quality as long as you used your own headphones, ideally with an airline adapter.



Both USB charging and A/C power sccket at your seat.



Hot towel service...



After many recent Scoot flights, I was revelling in the comparative luxury of SQ Economy.



I felt a shiver down my spine when they played the safety video...I had watched this so many times before on memorable SQ flights over the years...



There was complimentary wifi onboard for Krisflyer members.

[yflyer]

At the gate, SQ's medium haul configuration Airbus A350-900, registration 9V-SHC, a 6 year old aircraft first delivered in February 2019.



On time boarding, starting with Business Class, then PPS and KF/Star Gold members.

Earbud headphones by the door for economy pax (I ignored those, as usual.). I miss the days when SQ had a selection of newspapers by the aircraft door.



Inside, the J cabin was configured with SQ's latest medium haul J product, arranged 1-2-1.



The Y cabin was configured in standard 3-3-3.



The row 55 emex row seats, and row 56A preferred seat (with no seat in front)...



My seat was in the last row of the plane, row 70.



These seats in the middle bank last row could recline, but subjectively, the recline felt slightly less that the regular seats. But at least there was no passenger behind you, so there was no need to put your seat upright during meal service if seated there.



This was a full flight, so I didn't have a lot of choice for seats. If I had a choice, I would have picked the 2nd last row and not the last.



No underseat obstructions, and no foot rests, on this aircraft.



This seat had easy access to the bathrooms in the rear of the plane.



Unlike the 787, the Airbus A359 flushes were also fairly quiet, and could not be heard from the last row (Whereas some 787 toilets flush really loud).

[yflyer]

SQ255 to Brisbane was an early Monday morning 12.45am departure, which meant I got to Changi Airport just after 11pm on Sunday evening, after spending time watching a memorable Arsenal vs Newcastle football friendly at Singapore's National Stadium (Arsenal beat Newcastle 3-2).

There was a beautiful SG60 floral display in the Changi T3 departure hall. It was nice to have something related to Singapore on display, rather than some corporate sponsored display, whether Star Wars, Avatar or Miffy.



As SQ255 served only a refreshment after take-off, and a full breakfast prior to landing, I popped by the Krisflyer Gold Lounge for a quick supper before heading to the gate.



The lounge was serene and peaceful at that hour of the evening, about 11pm...it was probably a lot busier earlier in the evening, when all the flights to Europe, UK, Japan and South Korea were departing, not to mention the evening flights to Australia.



I devoured a bowl of SQ's delicious signature laksa, and washed it down with a glass of G&T.



OK, now I was ready to fly. I headed to the gate...

[yflyer]

After a number of trips to Australia on Scoot in the last year or so, it was a real treat to fly Singapore Airlines to Brisbane last week. I flew SIN-BNE in Economy on SQ255 last Monday, and spent time in Brisbane before heading to a few other cities in Australia.

While in Brisbane, I stayed at Queen's Wharf Residences, which was part of The Star Brisbane, a new hotel, casino and entertainment complex, in the Queens Wharf precinct along the banks of the Brisbane River. The complex, and the new Neville Bonner Bridge across the the Brisbane River, were just opened in the 2nd half of 2024, and have transformed that part of the city.

While my schedule in Brisbane was pretty hectic, I did manage to squeeze in one run, as well as a couple of memorable meals.

From Brisbane, I went on to Melbourne, Adelaide and then Sydney, flying these sectors on Jetstar and Virgin Australia, with my return SYD-SIN flight on SQ coming up later this week.