igel
Dec 27, 01, 2:27 am
This was a SIN-AKL trip taken in Raffles Class sometime in mid-Dec. I had not flown SQ since 1997 after a particularly cramped experience in Y from JFK-SIN. I remembered that the food was not particularly good and the FAs were not particularly friendly towards native Singaporeans. Was hoping that this trip would be better. I normally take Air NZ between SIN and NZ, and I am normally impressed with their service in both Y and C. Unfortunately I am flying off on a day when NZ is not operating SIN-AKL. Although NZ may not have the latest in entertainment systems or fully electronic seats, the food and the typical friendly slightly informal service from the FAs more than make up for it. Also NZ Y class has far more comfortable seats than SQ. If travelling Y, it would have been NZ on NZ metal all the way.
SQ 285 SIN-AKL seat 23H Gate F31 B744 9V-SMC
Sched Dep 2045 (actual 2115) Arr 1110+1
Arrived at the airport just after 7 pm. Went to Row 4 where all the Raffles class check-in counters are located. Lines are 1-2 pax deep at every counter. After check-in, went straight through immigration to the Silver Kris lounge. Found the lounge (business class section) way too crowded. Seats are set very close to each other, to the extent that I can hear conversations 2-3 tables away. If this is SQ's lounge in its homebase, it could have been better. The TG lounge in T1 is much quieter and the seating further spaced apart. Also the SATS Premier lounge in T2, although smaller than Silver Kris, is usually less crowded and more pleasant.
No boarding calls were made in the lounge, so I left for the gate at 2015. Boarding was already in progress. However, security line at the gate for X-rays was fairly long and moved quite slowly. I boarded the aircraft immediately after the X-ray. Boarded through a separate gateway through door 1L, walked through the back of the 1st class cabin into the Raffles class cabin on the main deck where my seat is. This aircraft is among one of the earliest B747-400 built, and the first class section is not equipped with the skysuites. Apparantly most of the time, SQ uses B747-400s that are not equipped with the skysuites on the SIN-AKL-SIN route. At 2045, some Y pax were still streaming in. Since they have already shut door 2L, these pax had to board through door 1L and walk through the C cabin on the main deck. C cabin on the main deck is fairly empty, 11 pax. My seat mate in 23K boarded fairly late. He is one gorgeous hunk ! More about him later http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif . Across the aisle from me were an Indian couple with a small kid, and at the middle bulkhead ailse seat is a Singaporean Chinese businessman type. Pre-dept drinks offered were champaign, OJ and beer. My seat mate wanted water. The sole FA in charge of our cabin had difficulty understanding his NZ accent, and this went on throughout the whole flight. She seemed less pleased that she had to make another trip back to the galley to get the water.
Doors closed and finally pushed off at 2115. The safety video was played during taxi. However, when it came on, it was already playing halfway through. Not a single FA seemed bothered about it, and it was not reset. The FAs went about clearing some stuff in the galley. No one stood at any of the designated stations to point out where the exits are, which did not seem professional at all. I chatted with my seat mate during taxi. Turned out that he is a professional cyclist based in Europe. Returning home to spend Christmas with his folks. He looks a little like Darren Hayes from the group Savage Garden.
After the aircraft leveled off, we were given our amenity kit and menus. After seeing the UA amenity kit and the NZ amenity kit on previous trip, I must say that the SQ amenity is a major disappointment. It consists of just simple a pair of sockettes and 1 eyeshade, not much better than what SQ dishes out for its Y cabin. At least the UA one still has other stuff like ear plugs, mouthwash, a package of tissue paper among other things. The NZ one is even better - with manuka honey lip balm, gel for the feet, and a hairbrush, and given out in an attractive bag.
Another round of drinks were served, and I took the opportunity to try the Singapore Sling. Now on UA we are usually given nuts in a small bowl with our pre-dinner drinks, and some flyertalkers on the UA board are complaining about the nuts being cold. But this is even more ridiculous on SQ, no nuts at all ! After about 30 mins, some satay was brought out. I could hear that the Y cabin was already being served their dinner at the back. Somehow service was rather slow on this flight. From take-off to after dinner in the C cabin took more than 2.5 hours. On Air NZ, the lights would have already gone off in the C cabin after dinner when the Y cabin is halfway through their dinner.
The appetisers and the salad were served first. Noticed the plastic knives, however, metal knives mysteriously made their appearance later for the cheese course. Actually there is no requirement for plastic knives between SIN and NZ, SQ could have used all metal cutlery. Salad dressing was thousand island (how boring!) or some soy based light dressing. The bread basket was offered only once and never brought out again.
The main courses for this dinner were
1. Chicken fondue in forestiere sauce. Looked all gooey with the cheese coagulated in the dish, unlike UA which serves the cheese sauce separately in a dipping bowl for a similar type dish
2. Lamb in rendang sauce - another peanut based sauce, with rice. With the satay already served with a peanut sauce, SQ could have come up with a different type of sauce to go with the lamb.
3. Grilled garoupa, no one chose this.
Portions for the main courses from the regular menu looked small.
I had a book-the-cook dish, since I was already warned before hand that the usual catering out of SIN is not particularly inspiring. I chose the mediterranean bar-b-qued lamb. This was served with couscous which was dried out in the reheating. I remember a particular nice lamb dish on Air NZ, they had wisely served it with polenta. The polenta soaked in the sauce very well, and survived the reheating process. My seat mate only want the main course - lamb rendang, but again the FA misunderstood him, and servied him the full trimmings, ie, salad and appetiser. Actually when I first called up SQ reservations in SIN to book-the-cook, the CSR tried very hard to push some of the local hawker centre dishes to me. I wonder if SQ is deliberately pushing Asian pax to order these hawker centre dishes instead, which would save them tonnes of money in catering. The Singapore Chinese businessman seated across the aisle forward had one of these dishes. As expected, he declined the salad, appetiser and dessert since the taste would clash with these local hawker centre style dishes. The Indian family pre-ordered vegetarian. However, right from take-off, the Indian man was drinking heavily from his bottle of duty-free whisky. None of the FAs made any effort to control him.
At this point, I also noticed that the wines boarded did not match the wines in the beverage list. There, we were promised 2 French red and 2 French whites. What was basically boarded was 1 NZ red, 1 French red, 1 NZ white, 1 French white. FA basically asked for our preference of "French, New Zealand, red, white ?" No effort was made to communicate to pax about the types of wines, vineyard, unlike on NZ which typically boards 2 NZ whites, and 1 NZ red, 1 Aus red even for Y cabin, and their FAs are far more knowledgeable about the wines. I asked to see the label of the NZ red and the FA showed the bottle to me, with the main label facing away from me, duh !
After the main course was cleared away, we were given new cutlery for the cheese course. This was when the usual metal knives used in Raffles Class made their appearance. Such inconsistencies! A bottle of port was placed on the trolley as the FA wheeled it through, but I was not offered it until I specifically asked for it. The dessert, coconut ice-cream was also not displayed on the cart. I had to ask for it. The pralines promised in the menu never appeared. I am beginning to suspect that SQ might have boarded less deserts than the full number of C pax. I asked for hot chocolate to round off the meal.
Lights were finally dimmed in the C cabin, long after the lights in Y were dimmed. SQ does not seem to get its sequence of service right. For overnight flights, C pax would like the first meal service served quickly, and they would like to be woken up as late as possible for the second meal prior to landing. Our first meal took a long time to serve till the cabin lights were dimmed, and we were woken up 2.5 hours prior to landing. Even on NZ as a Y pax, I was woken up 2 hours prior to landing. As a C pax on NZ, about 1 hour prior.
I surfed through the various channels on Krisworld. This aircraft is not equipped with the interactive wiseman. Most of the channels were boring. Actually, there were no snacks offered at all on this flight in between the meals, and the FA made a disappearing act after the lights were dimmed. I tried hard to settle to sleep but found the Ultimo seats hard and uncomfortable. The backcycler massage on the UA C seats is sorely missed. The legroom, couple with the structure of the Ultimo seats, does not seem too good. I could touch the seat in front of me with my toes. This does not happen on NZ or even on UA pre C+. Also noticed that the bulkhead C seats on the SQ main deck have very poor legroom, worse than row 6 on UA C+ (B744), and the recline of the last row C seats are limited. Bored with the entertainment, and not being able to settle into sleep, I watch my seat mate sleeping with some fascination. OK, he had been flying in from Europe to connect with this flight, so he was quite tired out. He was wearing spandex (?), that sort of short vest that cyclists wear. He was fully stretched out facing me as he snoozed off, and the vest lifted off around the navel region. So I had a full view of his abs and his navel button. Mmmmmm ! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif This certainly beats any inflight entertainment that Krisworld or Wiseman, or the SQ girls can offer. Well, the SQ girls are of the wrong sex, but now some observations about the SQ boys. Most of them are hideously ugly. One hears that SQ carefully regulates the appearance (from hair-style to toe-nail polish) of its female FAs, but yet allowing its male FAs to sport permed hair. Flyertalkers who have been to Singapore would have noticed that the only Chinese men sporting permed hair in front belong to the hawker, loan shark, construction worker type variety - think of the main character in the Singapore sitcom Phua Chu Kang ! Ugh !
Breakfast wasn't too inspiring. There was one hawker centre style dish which the FA tried to push me to take. I chose a dish with pancakes, but it turned out that even McDonalds hotcakes would be better than this. Now, we were not even provided with "Do not disturb" stickers on this flight, and the FA tried to wake my seat mate up for breakfast even though he wanted to sleep on. She did the same thing with some other pax in the cabin. I don't consider this "attentive" service at all. Had I been a passenger who wanted to sleep through breakfast, I would have been annoyed.
We touched down at Auckland coming in from the east. Basically, we flew over the city, right over to the Firth of Thames before making a big turn to land. During landing, I chatted with my seat mate again, got his contacts http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif . I wished him a Merry Christmas as I disembarked. Priority tagged baggage came out quickly. Complimentary tea and coffee in the baggage claims area.
All in all, I was not at all impressed with SQ's service. BTW, the same menu was used for SIN-AKL and the return AKL-SIN, so the FAs collected the menus back. It is pretty obvious that SQ is trying to cut cost in terms of staffing and the quality of food.
------------------
UA 1P
I like NZ,NG,NH,UA,SK,LH
I do not like SQ !
SQ 285 SIN-AKL seat 23H Gate F31 B744 9V-SMC
Sched Dep 2045 (actual 2115) Arr 1110+1
Arrived at the airport just after 7 pm. Went to Row 4 where all the Raffles class check-in counters are located. Lines are 1-2 pax deep at every counter. After check-in, went straight through immigration to the Silver Kris lounge. Found the lounge (business class section) way too crowded. Seats are set very close to each other, to the extent that I can hear conversations 2-3 tables away. If this is SQ's lounge in its homebase, it could have been better. The TG lounge in T1 is much quieter and the seating further spaced apart. Also the SATS Premier lounge in T2, although smaller than Silver Kris, is usually less crowded and more pleasant.
No boarding calls were made in the lounge, so I left for the gate at 2015. Boarding was already in progress. However, security line at the gate for X-rays was fairly long and moved quite slowly. I boarded the aircraft immediately after the X-ray. Boarded through a separate gateway through door 1L, walked through the back of the 1st class cabin into the Raffles class cabin on the main deck where my seat is. This aircraft is among one of the earliest B747-400 built, and the first class section is not equipped with the skysuites. Apparantly most of the time, SQ uses B747-400s that are not equipped with the skysuites on the SIN-AKL-SIN route. At 2045, some Y pax were still streaming in. Since they have already shut door 2L, these pax had to board through door 1L and walk through the C cabin on the main deck. C cabin on the main deck is fairly empty, 11 pax. My seat mate in 23K boarded fairly late. He is one gorgeous hunk ! More about him later http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif . Across the aisle from me were an Indian couple with a small kid, and at the middle bulkhead ailse seat is a Singaporean Chinese businessman type. Pre-dept drinks offered were champaign, OJ and beer. My seat mate wanted water. The sole FA in charge of our cabin had difficulty understanding his NZ accent, and this went on throughout the whole flight. She seemed less pleased that she had to make another trip back to the galley to get the water.
Doors closed and finally pushed off at 2115. The safety video was played during taxi. However, when it came on, it was already playing halfway through. Not a single FA seemed bothered about it, and it was not reset. The FAs went about clearing some stuff in the galley. No one stood at any of the designated stations to point out where the exits are, which did not seem professional at all. I chatted with my seat mate during taxi. Turned out that he is a professional cyclist based in Europe. Returning home to spend Christmas with his folks. He looks a little like Darren Hayes from the group Savage Garden.
After the aircraft leveled off, we were given our amenity kit and menus. After seeing the UA amenity kit and the NZ amenity kit on previous trip, I must say that the SQ amenity is a major disappointment. It consists of just simple a pair of sockettes and 1 eyeshade, not much better than what SQ dishes out for its Y cabin. At least the UA one still has other stuff like ear plugs, mouthwash, a package of tissue paper among other things. The NZ one is even better - with manuka honey lip balm, gel for the feet, and a hairbrush, and given out in an attractive bag.
Another round of drinks were served, and I took the opportunity to try the Singapore Sling. Now on UA we are usually given nuts in a small bowl with our pre-dinner drinks, and some flyertalkers on the UA board are complaining about the nuts being cold. But this is even more ridiculous on SQ, no nuts at all ! After about 30 mins, some satay was brought out. I could hear that the Y cabin was already being served their dinner at the back. Somehow service was rather slow on this flight. From take-off to after dinner in the C cabin took more than 2.5 hours. On Air NZ, the lights would have already gone off in the C cabin after dinner when the Y cabin is halfway through their dinner.
The appetisers and the salad were served first. Noticed the plastic knives, however, metal knives mysteriously made their appearance later for the cheese course. Actually there is no requirement for plastic knives between SIN and NZ, SQ could have used all metal cutlery. Salad dressing was thousand island (how boring!) or some soy based light dressing. The bread basket was offered only once and never brought out again.
The main courses for this dinner were
1. Chicken fondue in forestiere sauce. Looked all gooey with the cheese coagulated in the dish, unlike UA which serves the cheese sauce separately in a dipping bowl for a similar type dish
2. Lamb in rendang sauce - another peanut based sauce, with rice. With the satay already served with a peanut sauce, SQ could have come up with a different type of sauce to go with the lamb.
3. Grilled garoupa, no one chose this.
Portions for the main courses from the regular menu looked small.
I had a book-the-cook dish, since I was already warned before hand that the usual catering out of SIN is not particularly inspiring. I chose the mediterranean bar-b-qued lamb. This was served with couscous which was dried out in the reheating. I remember a particular nice lamb dish on Air NZ, they had wisely served it with polenta. The polenta soaked in the sauce very well, and survived the reheating process. My seat mate only want the main course - lamb rendang, but again the FA misunderstood him, and servied him the full trimmings, ie, salad and appetiser. Actually when I first called up SQ reservations in SIN to book-the-cook, the CSR tried very hard to push some of the local hawker centre dishes to me. I wonder if SQ is deliberately pushing Asian pax to order these hawker centre dishes instead, which would save them tonnes of money in catering. The Singapore Chinese businessman seated across the aisle forward had one of these dishes. As expected, he declined the salad, appetiser and dessert since the taste would clash with these local hawker centre style dishes. The Indian family pre-ordered vegetarian. However, right from take-off, the Indian man was drinking heavily from his bottle of duty-free whisky. None of the FAs made any effort to control him.
At this point, I also noticed that the wines boarded did not match the wines in the beverage list. There, we were promised 2 French red and 2 French whites. What was basically boarded was 1 NZ red, 1 French red, 1 NZ white, 1 French white. FA basically asked for our preference of "French, New Zealand, red, white ?" No effort was made to communicate to pax about the types of wines, vineyard, unlike on NZ which typically boards 2 NZ whites, and 1 NZ red, 1 Aus red even for Y cabin, and their FAs are far more knowledgeable about the wines. I asked to see the label of the NZ red and the FA showed the bottle to me, with the main label facing away from me, duh !
After the main course was cleared away, we were given new cutlery for the cheese course. This was when the usual metal knives used in Raffles Class made their appearance. Such inconsistencies! A bottle of port was placed on the trolley as the FA wheeled it through, but I was not offered it until I specifically asked for it. The dessert, coconut ice-cream was also not displayed on the cart. I had to ask for it. The pralines promised in the menu never appeared. I am beginning to suspect that SQ might have boarded less deserts than the full number of C pax. I asked for hot chocolate to round off the meal.
Lights were finally dimmed in the C cabin, long after the lights in Y were dimmed. SQ does not seem to get its sequence of service right. For overnight flights, C pax would like the first meal service served quickly, and they would like to be woken up as late as possible for the second meal prior to landing. Our first meal took a long time to serve till the cabin lights were dimmed, and we were woken up 2.5 hours prior to landing. Even on NZ as a Y pax, I was woken up 2 hours prior to landing. As a C pax on NZ, about 1 hour prior.
I surfed through the various channels on Krisworld. This aircraft is not equipped with the interactive wiseman. Most of the channels were boring. Actually, there were no snacks offered at all on this flight in between the meals, and the FA made a disappearing act after the lights were dimmed. I tried hard to settle to sleep but found the Ultimo seats hard and uncomfortable. The backcycler massage on the UA C seats is sorely missed. The legroom, couple with the structure of the Ultimo seats, does not seem too good. I could touch the seat in front of me with my toes. This does not happen on NZ or even on UA pre C+. Also noticed that the bulkhead C seats on the SQ main deck have very poor legroom, worse than row 6 on UA C+ (B744), and the recline of the last row C seats are limited. Bored with the entertainment, and not being able to settle into sleep, I watch my seat mate sleeping with some fascination. OK, he had been flying in from Europe to connect with this flight, so he was quite tired out. He was wearing spandex (?), that sort of short vest that cyclists wear. He was fully stretched out facing me as he snoozed off, and the vest lifted off around the navel region. So I had a full view of his abs and his navel button. Mmmmmm ! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif This certainly beats any inflight entertainment that Krisworld or Wiseman, or the SQ girls can offer. Well, the SQ girls are of the wrong sex, but now some observations about the SQ boys. Most of them are hideously ugly. One hears that SQ carefully regulates the appearance (from hair-style to toe-nail polish) of its female FAs, but yet allowing its male FAs to sport permed hair. Flyertalkers who have been to Singapore would have noticed that the only Chinese men sporting permed hair in front belong to the hawker, loan shark, construction worker type variety - think of the main character in the Singapore sitcom Phua Chu Kang ! Ugh !
Breakfast wasn't too inspiring. There was one hawker centre style dish which the FA tried to push me to take. I chose a dish with pancakes, but it turned out that even McDonalds hotcakes would be better than this. Now, we were not even provided with "Do not disturb" stickers on this flight, and the FA tried to wake my seat mate up for breakfast even though he wanted to sleep on. She did the same thing with some other pax in the cabin. I don't consider this "attentive" service at all. Had I been a passenger who wanted to sleep through breakfast, I would have been annoyed.
We touched down at Auckland coming in from the east. Basically, we flew over the city, right over to the Firth of Thames before making a big turn to land. During landing, I chatted with my seat mate again, got his contacts http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif . I wished him a Merry Christmas as I disembarked. Priority tagged baggage came out quickly. Complimentary tea and coffee in the baggage claims area.
All in all, I was not at all impressed with SQ's service. BTW, the same menu was used for SIN-AKL and the return AKL-SIN, so the FAs collected the menus back. It is pretty obvious that SQ is trying to cut cost in terms of staffing and the quality of food.
------------------
UA 1P
I like NZ,NG,NH,UA,SK,LH
I do not like SQ !