A great way to fly - Singapore Airlines

Well mates, recently just came back from a trip from HK. Just intended this to be a short post on the SQ flight from SIN-HKG on SQ860, which is a upgraded and refurbished Boeing 777-200 in a two class configuration. This flight normally operates in the morning from SG to HK, and is a pretty pleasant flight as I noted overall.

I've not many photos mainly because I wanted to conserve my battery for my camera as I had forgotten to bring the charger to HK. So yeah, here's the only photo of the flight.



I've flown on many airlines before but SQ always has had this special place in my heart not because of the fact that its our national carrier, but because of the consistency of the product over the years I've flown with this airline. I first flew SQ all the way back in 2002. I was really impressed by the level of inflight service and I thus was pretty much spoiled by it - I compared every subsequent airline I flew with with it, and yes, as a result, till this day, I think that all inflight entertainment and free ice-cream and hot meals with pretty air stewards and stewardesses should come as standard on any self-respecting full-service carrier.

As you can see from the photo, this is SQ's new economy class, with warm colored cream carpeting covering everywhere, and a very decent 10.6" LCD screen with fully featured inflight entertainment. Perhaps I'm nitpicking, but they seemed to have reduced the number of good ol' style arcade games (only 1 pathetic one left) and my favourite racing game is now gone. I used to spend hours on that one. Sighs. But that being said, the movie and television offerings they had were very recent and updated, and is among the best of any other airline that I've flown with. Impressive and simple user interface too, although the remote responsiveness is a little on the slow side.

The seat itself is pretty great, with decent legroom and a nice footrest (not pictured). I love the fact that it has now added lumbar support for the back and with the pillow (not some flimsy thin thin one [ARE YOU HEARING THIS BA?!]) its pretty comfortable. Good lighting throughout the cabin as well. The cabin feels warm and cosy, unlike the coolness of some other comparable airlines (such as Korean Air) or the old SQ colors of blue and purple which made it look a little drab. Clean carpets too, and well stocked toilets top the list (one of the few airlines to stock free perfume and toothbrushes and shavers with shaving foam in the toilets).

Food was pretty decent - had this crepe with eggs and sausages and hash browns, with this berry compote cake with salad. The chardonnay I got was a little oxidised but still fruity with flavour. The salad and fruits were really fresh, and I was happy to have seen that the standards of food catering for SATS have certainly not dropped, despite numerous hearsay suggesting otherwise. The berry compote cake especially, was sweet and creamy and potentially addictive with its savoury tang. The rolls on the other hand, could have been softer and fluffier though. But at least they had jam and butter to go along with it, so it wasn't that bad. The main dish was decent, and it was pleasant for me as it struck the right amount of savoury without being too oily, which I appreciated. Otherwise, food was nothing to write home about.

In terms of the inflight service, it was pretty good, although I must say that SQ faces pretty tough competition nowadays. The cabin crew were very attentive throughout the flight, and never managed to forget the many demands the people around me kept making. Especially when you travel with my kind of parents. It is nevertheless comparable and can hold its own as one of the best amongst other carriers.

The flight arrived on time with minimal turbulence (compared to my return flight on Jetstar at least.). Then again, Jetstar uses a smaller single aisle Airbus A320 (noisy as hell), and it was a pretty good experience throughout.