Mr H
Mar 6, 08, 12:20 pm
Part 1
EDI-LHR-SIN - 2 Jan 2008 BD Business Class and SQ First Class
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blackwych/sets/72157603637694275/
My first trip to south east Asia, and my first trip in F.
This had all been planned many months in advance using bmi redemption - my own personal stash of miles thanks to credit cards, diamond club bonuses and personal flights because I’m not allowed to use miles from business trips :( The itineraries had been changed (partly, at least, because my plans for Myanmar had fallen through) but I had reserved seats and all seemed to be going well. Two days before travel, though, I called up to order my lobster thermidor and things started to go wrong. The Singapore Airlines assistant told me that I was not booked on the flight – my reservation had been cancelled because bmi had never paid for the ticket. At eight in the evening on new year’s eve, this was not the news I wanted.
I spent most of New Year’s Day trying to resolve the situation, still not knowing whether I would even be flying the next day (very early). The call centre was initially less than helpful, but thanks to my pals at FlyerTalk, I was able (eventually) to press the right buttons with the call centre and at just about 1830, I was told that a ticket had been issued. I called up SQ, who confirmed I was back on the flight and restored me to my original 3A seat. I tried to order the lobster thermidor, but was told I didn’t have the necessary 24 hours notice. I didn’t really mind, though. Thanks to the missing lobster thermidor, I had been able to retrieve the situation rather than having a very nasty surprise at the airport.
I was very excited that night – not to mention still feeling the stress of the ticket incident, so I didn’t sleep that well. I had an early start to get the airport bus, and fortunately it was quite mild for a January morning. I had worried about the journey to the airport in summer clothes.
At the airport, I bowled up to the check in desk, but there was quite a line, even in the priority check in desk. But soon enough, I got to the front, slung my rucksack onto the conveyor belt and handed over my booking reference. The seats had been pre-booked, so out spat two boarding passes in bmi blue – the LHR to SIN pass had a big F on it – I’d only ever seen it with M and C before.
After security, I went round to the bmi Diamond Club lounge and had a coffee whilst waiting for the short hop to LHR. The flight was called, and I found my way to my seat for the familiar journey. I declined breakfast (something heated in a tin foil container and served in a cardboard box) as I really wasn’t hungry.
On arriving at LHR – hooray – the adventure began. Rather than going through to the baggage carousels and out, I went up the escalator to flight transfers. It was a new part of the airport I had never seen before. It was so exciting, and full of people going to far away places. It was all shiny with long marbled corridors – at the end of which was a security check. After this, I found my way onto a b us for Terminal 3. At Terminal 3, I followed the signs for the lounges – a wide corridor with lounge after lounge, each one looking slightly more tempting than the last. I found the SQ lounge, but decided to backtrack to the SAS London Lounge to check it out. I had three or so hours to fill. The London Lounge was light, breezy, and had enough activity to feel alive without feeling crowded. It also had free internet access (which we can only dream of in bmi lounges) so I checked into Facebook.
But after an hour, I decided to mosey on down to the SQ lounge, which I knew (!) would be even better because it was an F lounge. At the desk, the dragon took my blue bmi boarding pass and said she would give me a new one – a very smart SQ First Class pass in burgundy and white. I was pointed through to the First Class section of the lounge. To be honest, it was a disappointment. There were three other passengers, all of whom were quite silent. The bar was not open (not that I wanted a drink anyway), the food was limited to pre-wrapped sandwiches and the internet was broken. The room was full of row upon row of chairs in military straight lines, and the view was of odd lumpy bits of building. I took some sandwiches, coffee, and tried to calm down. This went to pot when I saw an SQ 747 – my SQ 747 – roll past looking huge and with the wheels in a cluster under the middle. So many wheels.
I didn’t know whether we would get called, and the boarding pass said the gate closed 20 minutes before departure. I lost my nerve with half an hour to go, and went off to find the gate. The screens were flashing red saying gate closing, but I wasn’t the last. I handed over my burgundy card and was shown the walkway for the premium cabins. At the end of the walkway, I showed my pass, was greeted by name and shown to my seat – presumably in case I got lost in the eight feet between 3A and the door. I settled down into my big seat and surveyed the cabin. A family, three or four lone passengers and me. Cabin crew kept coming up to introduce themselves, and a steward offered me a drink. I asked him whether Krug or Dom Perignon was the better champagne (I had done my homework, you see!), and he said that most passengers preferred the Krug. He suggested I tried a Krug before take off and a Dom afterwards. I thought that sounded sensible. I was then invited to read the menu – bound in leather – and select my fare for dinner. Gosh, it looked sumptuous. Anyway, there was quite a wait on stand before we could push back and that let me get a pretty good idea of the Krug whilst striking up a good conversation with one of the immaculately dressed female FAs. I mentioned that it was my first time in F – and my first ever long haul flight. She seemed to be really excited for me and was very happy to take a photo of me looking pleased.
Then the plane started rolling. It was pretty majestic, being on such a big beast. The pilot sounded totally laid back but still serious. I had an image of a small and distinguished man sitting up on high with this behemoth beneath him, obeying his every command.
And into the air. Followed by Dom (the steward was right, the Krug was better) and a procession of wonderful plates. The photos show it in glorious Technicolor. Each course was better than the last – from really spicy, nutty satay, through to an enormous amount of caviar, through to Mr Gordon Ramsay’s beef thing, puddings, cheese, vintage port. It was faultless, and all served on a proper tablecloth with proper cutlery and with proper china.
I have to say here that the FA told me that the lobster thermidor had been brought on board and asked me whether I would rather have it than the beef I had ordered. I said I’d stick with the beef but would have the lobster for breakfast. The FA thought this was a good idea – but alas the thermidor had been heated before she could get back with the news. But no harm done – and credit to SQ for even managing to load it at such short notice.
Soon after the meal, the FA put down the blinds and created night. I donned the rather stylish but understated SQ pyjamas (the only branding was the zip toggle, in an SQ logo shape) and popped a drowsiness pill. Meanwhile, the FA turned the seat into a bed. Unfortunately I really couldn’t sleep, but my fellow passengers were at least spared my snoring. Eventually I gave up pretending to sleep and watched some AVOD – which wasn’t terribly gripping but I tend not to watch much TV. The games didn’t work as the handset was too stiff and took too long to communicate a message to the screen.
In the “morning”, the FAs put the lights on and my fellow passengers started to come to life. The breakfasts were ordered (I went for grilled chicken) and just as with dinner, everything was perfect. My favourite FA then handed me a list she had written out of things to do and see in Singapore, which was a really nice and thoughtful thing to do. She also mentioned that I hadn’t seemed to sleep terribly well and was concerned to know whether I was OK.
With the aid of Jamaican blue mountain coffee I perked myself up a bit, and eventually we came through the clouds to see hundreds of ships lying around in the sea outside a city I took to be Singapore. We touched down, a little late, and the windows of the plane steamed up – on the outside. I’d not seen that happen before. We had to wait around on stand a bit for the airbridge to work, but eventually it was sorted, and I bade farewell to the cabin crew. They remembered my name as they said goodbye and wished me a very good holiday.
Through the airport – which smelt of steam and perfume – and onto the immigration desks. Speedily through them, collected my luggage (which didn’t have any priority tags but was still one of the first out) and out to the taxi rank. Whumpf – and I thought it was humid inside the airport…
To be continued…
EDI-LHR-SIN - 2 Jan 2008 BD Business Class and SQ First Class
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blackwych/sets/72157603637694275/
My first trip to south east Asia, and my first trip in F.
This had all been planned many months in advance using bmi redemption - my own personal stash of miles thanks to credit cards, diamond club bonuses and personal flights because I’m not allowed to use miles from business trips :( The itineraries had been changed (partly, at least, because my plans for Myanmar had fallen through) but I had reserved seats and all seemed to be going well. Two days before travel, though, I called up to order my lobster thermidor and things started to go wrong. The Singapore Airlines assistant told me that I was not booked on the flight – my reservation had been cancelled because bmi had never paid for the ticket. At eight in the evening on new year’s eve, this was not the news I wanted.
I spent most of New Year’s Day trying to resolve the situation, still not knowing whether I would even be flying the next day (very early). The call centre was initially less than helpful, but thanks to my pals at FlyerTalk, I was able (eventually) to press the right buttons with the call centre and at just about 1830, I was told that a ticket had been issued. I called up SQ, who confirmed I was back on the flight and restored me to my original 3A seat. I tried to order the lobster thermidor, but was told I didn’t have the necessary 24 hours notice. I didn’t really mind, though. Thanks to the missing lobster thermidor, I had been able to retrieve the situation rather than having a very nasty surprise at the airport.
I was very excited that night – not to mention still feeling the stress of the ticket incident, so I didn’t sleep that well. I had an early start to get the airport bus, and fortunately it was quite mild for a January morning. I had worried about the journey to the airport in summer clothes.
At the airport, I bowled up to the check in desk, but there was quite a line, even in the priority check in desk. But soon enough, I got to the front, slung my rucksack onto the conveyor belt and handed over my booking reference. The seats had been pre-booked, so out spat two boarding passes in bmi blue – the LHR to SIN pass had a big F on it – I’d only ever seen it with M and C before.
After security, I went round to the bmi Diamond Club lounge and had a coffee whilst waiting for the short hop to LHR. The flight was called, and I found my way to my seat for the familiar journey. I declined breakfast (something heated in a tin foil container and served in a cardboard box) as I really wasn’t hungry.
On arriving at LHR – hooray – the adventure began. Rather than going through to the baggage carousels and out, I went up the escalator to flight transfers. It was a new part of the airport I had never seen before. It was so exciting, and full of people going to far away places. It was all shiny with long marbled corridors – at the end of which was a security check. After this, I found my way onto a b us for Terminal 3. At Terminal 3, I followed the signs for the lounges – a wide corridor with lounge after lounge, each one looking slightly more tempting than the last. I found the SQ lounge, but decided to backtrack to the SAS London Lounge to check it out. I had three or so hours to fill. The London Lounge was light, breezy, and had enough activity to feel alive without feeling crowded. It also had free internet access (which we can only dream of in bmi lounges) so I checked into Facebook.
But after an hour, I decided to mosey on down to the SQ lounge, which I knew (!) would be even better because it was an F lounge. At the desk, the dragon took my blue bmi boarding pass and said she would give me a new one – a very smart SQ First Class pass in burgundy and white. I was pointed through to the First Class section of the lounge. To be honest, it was a disappointment. There were three other passengers, all of whom were quite silent. The bar was not open (not that I wanted a drink anyway), the food was limited to pre-wrapped sandwiches and the internet was broken. The room was full of row upon row of chairs in military straight lines, and the view was of odd lumpy bits of building. I took some sandwiches, coffee, and tried to calm down. This went to pot when I saw an SQ 747 – my SQ 747 – roll past looking huge and with the wheels in a cluster under the middle. So many wheels.
I didn’t know whether we would get called, and the boarding pass said the gate closed 20 minutes before departure. I lost my nerve with half an hour to go, and went off to find the gate. The screens were flashing red saying gate closing, but I wasn’t the last. I handed over my burgundy card and was shown the walkway for the premium cabins. At the end of the walkway, I showed my pass, was greeted by name and shown to my seat – presumably in case I got lost in the eight feet between 3A and the door. I settled down into my big seat and surveyed the cabin. A family, three or four lone passengers and me. Cabin crew kept coming up to introduce themselves, and a steward offered me a drink. I asked him whether Krug or Dom Perignon was the better champagne (I had done my homework, you see!), and he said that most passengers preferred the Krug. He suggested I tried a Krug before take off and a Dom afterwards. I thought that sounded sensible. I was then invited to read the menu – bound in leather – and select my fare for dinner. Gosh, it looked sumptuous. Anyway, there was quite a wait on stand before we could push back and that let me get a pretty good idea of the Krug whilst striking up a good conversation with one of the immaculately dressed female FAs. I mentioned that it was my first time in F – and my first ever long haul flight. She seemed to be really excited for me and was very happy to take a photo of me looking pleased.
Then the plane started rolling. It was pretty majestic, being on such a big beast. The pilot sounded totally laid back but still serious. I had an image of a small and distinguished man sitting up on high with this behemoth beneath him, obeying his every command.
And into the air. Followed by Dom (the steward was right, the Krug was better) and a procession of wonderful plates. The photos show it in glorious Technicolor. Each course was better than the last – from really spicy, nutty satay, through to an enormous amount of caviar, through to Mr Gordon Ramsay’s beef thing, puddings, cheese, vintage port. It was faultless, and all served on a proper tablecloth with proper cutlery and with proper china.
I have to say here that the FA told me that the lobster thermidor had been brought on board and asked me whether I would rather have it than the beef I had ordered. I said I’d stick with the beef but would have the lobster for breakfast. The FA thought this was a good idea – but alas the thermidor had been heated before she could get back with the news. But no harm done – and credit to SQ for even managing to load it at such short notice.
Soon after the meal, the FA put down the blinds and created night. I donned the rather stylish but understated SQ pyjamas (the only branding was the zip toggle, in an SQ logo shape) and popped a drowsiness pill. Meanwhile, the FA turned the seat into a bed. Unfortunately I really couldn’t sleep, but my fellow passengers were at least spared my snoring. Eventually I gave up pretending to sleep and watched some AVOD – which wasn’t terribly gripping but I tend not to watch much TV. The games didn’t work as the handset was too stiff and took too long to communicate a message to the screen.
In the “morning”, the FAs put the lights on and my fellow passengers started to come to life. The breakfasts were ordered (I went for grilled chicken) and just as with dinner, everything was perfect. My favourite FA then handed me a list she had written out of things to do and see in Singapore, which was a really nice and thoughtful thing to do. She also mentioned that I hadn’t seemed to sleep terribly well and was concerned to know whether I was OK.
With the aid of Jamaican blue mountain coffee I perked myself up a bit, and eventually we came through the clouds to see hundreds of ships lying around in the sea outside a city I took to be Singapore. We touched down, a little late, and the windows of the plane steamed up – on the outside. I’d not seen that happen before. We had to wait around on stand a bit for the airbridge to work, but eventually it was sorted, and I bade farewell to the cabin crew. They remembered my name as they said goodbye and wished me a very good holiday.
Through the airport – which smelt of steam and perfume – and onto the immigration desks. Speedily through them, collected my luggage (which didn’t have any priority tags but was still one of the first out) and out to the taxi rank. Whumpf – and I thought it was humid inside the airport…
To be continued…