b777er

I have just completed a shopping trip to Bangkok with my mum and this will be my first trip report in the forum.

(Outgoing Flight)
26/07/2003
Singapore Airlines SQ 62
B747-400 9V-SMI
Scheduled Flying Time : 2H 20M
Actual Flying Time : 1H 55M
STD : 0850 ATD: 0920
STA: 1010 ATA: 1015
Departure Gate : E28
Arrival Gate : Not sure but think it was 48

We reached Changi Airport T2 by public bus as we have very little luggage (shopping trip, remember?) at about 0715 and checked in immediately. As the check-in area was not too crowded, checking in took less then 5 minutes and soon we were through immigration which have no queues. Wow, the departure hall was extremely crowded with throngs of people waiting for their SQ flights or shopping in the duty-free shops. Looks like traffic has rebounded quickly after the SARS scare. SQ~{!/~}s heavy discounting is really a success. I went to the outdoor viewing gallery while mu mum browsed around the shops. The only planes seen were the SQ and MI planes, boring. We went to gate E28 which is the furthest gate in terminal 2 for boarding at about 0830. Boarding has already commenced and we entered the MEGATOP aircraft. Was shown to our seats 48B&C (just before the galley) by a pretty stewardess. On the seat was a pillow. Soon hot towels were given (yes, hot towels are back) followed by the clip-on-ears headsets. However no menus were presented. Pushback was delayed for about 20 minutes due to late arrival of passengers and awaiting clearance by ATC. There is no WISEMAN 3000 entertainment system on this aircraft, just the normal Krisworld entertainment system with no audio-video on demand (also not available in first and raffles). The entertainment and inflight magazine were also of the August edition even though there were still 5 days till August.
The safety video was the same old one (time for a change?). Also the flight was quite packed in economy, with only a few seats available here and there. Don~{!/~}t know about the premium cabins. Canin crew also handed out Snoopy soft toys to all the young children on board. After pushback, we had a short taxi to runway 20L and immediately started our takeoff roll. Takeoff was quite fast due to the light fuel load for the short flight. The flight route was up north along the eastern coast of Malaysia and straight to Bangkok. Service commenced soon after the seatbelt sign was turned off. Trays of orange juice were brought around by the crew before the brunch service. Initial cruising altitude was 39000ft as mentioned by the pilot. Since there was no menu, I will list the meal myself.

Appetizer
Fresh Fruits
1 piece of watermelon, 2 pieces of pineapple and 3 grapes. Fruits were fresh and juicy.

Main Course
Fish with pasta
Or
Stir-fried chicken and vegetables with rice
Had this. Tasted quite good and portion was generous.

Dessert
Almond pudding with longans
Good , healthy dessert.

Roll and butter
The standard wholemeal roll offered from Singapore.

Coffee-Tea, Juices, Red and White wines, Soft drinks
Had white wine and tea. White wine was good as usual.

All the cutlery were metal, including the butter knife. There was also a pack of moist, refreshing towel on the tray. The service ware was the new light blue type and the normal large meal tray was used. However, halfway through the meal service, some heavy turbulence was encountered and service was suspended for fifteen minutes while the plane climbed to 41000ft to avoid the turbulent weather. Due to the suspension of service, service was quite rushed after it was resumed. It is no mean feat to serve about 300 passengers a hot meal in slightly more than an hour. A second round of beverages was served after the meal service and then trays were collected. The duty-free trolley then came around but the plane was already descending. In fact, everything was so rushed when the crew had to prepare the cabin for landing that they have to forgo the collection of headsets. However, I have to commend the crew for keeping their smiles on always even with the limited time to accomplish the service and while tending to passengers~{!/~} requests. A fake smile is always better than no smile at all. Also I observed that there was a Caucasian (blonde hair and fair skin) flight steward. When did SQ start hiring Caucasians? This is not the first time as I also noticed a Caucasian chief stewardess serving on my flight from Paris to Singapore last year. Landing was on runway 21R and was quite smooth. Arrival was 5 minutes late due to the delay in Singapore. There is a time difference of 1 hour between Singapore and Bangkok. Thankfully clearing immigration was fast in Bangkok due there were no other flights arriving at the same time. This must be the fastest that I have cleared immigration in Bangkok. Luggage were retrieved quickly and we were out to the airport bus for our shopping tour in no time.


(Return Flight)
28/07/2003
Singapore Airlines SQ 879
B777-200 9V-SRH
Scheduled Flying Time : 2H 25M
Actual Flying Time : 1H 55M
STD : 1700 ATD: 1710
STA: 2025 ATA: 2005
Departure Gate : 51
Arrival Gate : E11
After 2 nights and 4 bags full of clothes, bags and food, it was time to return home. Reached the airport by the hotel taxi at about 1435. Checking in was underway for both SQ65 and SQ879. SQ65 departs for Singapore an hour earlier at 1600 while SQ879 is continuation of a flight from Seoul to Singapore and departs at 1700. After checking with the check-in agent, I found out that SQ65 was quite full while SQ879 still have plenty of seats available. Checking in took about 15 minutes and soon through the immigration we go. As usual I went for my plane spotting while my mum went browsing the shops again. The variety of aircraft in Bangkok was definitely more than Singapore. Some interesting ones are Lauda Air B767-200, El Al B767-200, Ethiopian Airlines B757-200, Royal Jordanian A340-200. Others spotted are 2 x EVA Air B747-400 (one in new colours), China Airlines A340-300, 2 x Cathay A330-300, Japan Airlines B747-400, SAS A340-300, Swiss MD-11, and many Thai planes. Our flight will be departing from gate 51while SQ65 will be departing from gate 53. SQ65 was operated by a B747-400 9V-SMZ. Our plane arrived from Seoul at about 1545 and docked at the gate. SQ65 was delayed for about 30 minutes which I presume was due to missing passengers as they were constantly paging for passengers on the flight even after 1600. Boarding for my flight began quite early at about 1635 and I saw that SQ65 has just taken off. There were a few transit passengers from Seoul to Singapore as seen by their transit stickers and passes. Boarding was relative orderly due to the light passenger load and upon entering the plane, I was guided right to my seat at the rightmost rear (64 A and C) by a leading stewardess. Good first impression. Also, noticed that the seat pitch on the B777 was definitely bigger (about 1 to 2 inches) than the B747 and the seat was also wider. However, disappointment sank in when I found out that the plane was not WISEMAN3000 equipped. I have not yet tried out the new entertainment system. However the entertainment was still the July edition. As this is a flight from Seoul, announcements were in both English and Korean , rather than English only on the inbound flight. Also, pillows and blankets were on the seats and menus were also given, together with hot towels and headsets. The menus have a new colorful cover, unlike the older dull pink cover I had last year. However I heard the crew saying that some special meals were not uploaded my the caterers in Bangkok ( I sat just in front of the rear galley) and they would have to explain to the affected passengers personally whether they mind as waiting for the meals will delay the departure time. All these were handled very professional and no complaints were heard. Some of the affected passengers were given instant noodles inflight instead. Push back started at 1700 and we took off at 1710. Shortly after takeoff , service started. Firstly, drinks ( orange juice, white wine and beer ) were handed out from trays. I realized that on shorter flights, drinks will be handed out from trays while on flights longer than 3 hours, there will be the full bar service where drinks are handed out from carts along with nuts. Special drink orders are also taken (cocktails etc) and prepared in the galley before serving to passengers personally. After the drink service, a light meal was served. The full menu is as follows:

Refreshing Beverages

Aperitifs
Gin Fizz
Screwdriver
Manhattan
Bloody Mary
Campari
Sweet or Dry Vermouth

Spirits
Cognac Otard VSOP
Johnnie Walker Red Label
Jim Beam Black Label Whiskey
Gordon~{!/~}s Dry Gin
Absolut Vodka
Bacardi Carta Blanca

Liqueurs
Cointreau
Drambuie

Wines
French Red Wine (A choice of two French Red Wines in available)
French White Wine

Beer
International Selection

Fruit Juices
Orange
Pineapple
Apple
Tomato

Non-alcoholic Cocktail
Fruit Spritzer

Soft Drinks
A range of regular or low-calorie drinks is available


Light Meal from Bangkok to Singapore

Appetizer
Not listed but it was four pieces of smoked chicken with carrot cubes and a huge lump of coleslaw. A very large appetizer it was, and very delicious.

Main courses
Wok fried fish with onion in
black peppercorn sauce
served with braised beancurd
and vegetables, fried rice
or
Ragout of chicken and
mushroom on linguine pasta
Had the pasta. The western and buttery taste doesn~{!/~}t suit my tastebuds but it was very filling. My mum had the fish and she commented that it was very delicious, one of the best airline meals she had ever tasted.

Dessert
Thai baked egg custard
with taro
Delicious!! Unique, tasteful and not very sweet

From the Bakery
Roll and Butter
Surprised to see that my roll was different from my mum. I had a wholemeal bun while my mum received a small baguette roll.

Hot Beverages
Coffee-Tea
Had tea and apple juice.

The whole meal was extremely filling and satisfying. It should be known as Heavy Meal instead of Light Meal. It seems that SQ has abolished the cutbacks in the quantity of meals. Metal cutlery were still used along with the new serviceware. For those of you interested in the meal for the Seoul-Bangkok sector, it is as follows:

Lunch from Seoul to Bangkok

Appetizer
Not listed

Main courses
Chicken picatta
Pan fried parmesan mixture coated
chicken served with mixed
vegetables, beans and potato stew
or
Kalbi gui
Korean style beef short rib, spiced
mixed vegetables and steamed rice

Cheese
Cheese and crackers

Dessert
Ice cream

From the Bakery
Roll and Butter

Hot Beverages
Coffee-Tea
Chinese tea

A second round of beverages were offered after the meal service. I ordered a Fruit Spritzer. For those of you who do not know, Fruit Spritzer is just a combination of either one of the fruit juices with 7-up or Sprite. It seems that full beverage service is only offered on the Seoul and Osaka flights through Bangkok and not on the Bangkok turnaround flights (SQ6X). Or maybe it is offered on the turnaround flights but passengers do not know about the beverages since no menus are offered on the flights. Thus, you should always go for the transit flights to experience the full service (menus, blankets, Korean or Japanese babes~{!-~} i mean stewardesses, 777s instead of 747s). The cabin crew kept working endlessly throughout the two hour flight and they should be exhausted as they had also worked the Seoul to Bangkok sector. However they could remain in their wonderful composure and smiles (Incredible!!). No complaints for the inflight service for both legs. Had a very smooth landing on runway 20R with idle reverse thrust, norm for B777s. ~{!0~}Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Singapore. The current time is 8:05pm and temperature at ~{!-!-~}.~{!1~}. Landed 20 min early but had a lengthy taxi (about 10 min) to the gate E11. Cleared immigration quickly (as usual in Changi ) and claimed our luggage almost without delay before heading for the taxi stand for home. Hope you have enjoyed reading my maiden but lengthy trip report.

RevvedUp

This was the meal on a morning flight ??

Great report!

daniellam

Perhaps she grew up in Singapore?