btang

LX 196 today was operated by an A330, one of the newer aircrafts in the Swiss fleet. I was very lucky to secure one of the “throne seats”, usually reserved for Senator and Hon Circle members until during online check in. My seat, 10A, was perfect, not too close to the front where the bathroom was, and not too close to the back. Because this was a flight to Beijing, there were Chinese flight attendants to “assist” Chinese passengers who were not comfortable with English or German.

A few shots of the cabin before departure








The amenity kit was already placed in the seat, along with a pair of noise cancelling headphones branded as “Swiss Business”. The kit was fairly basic, content wise, very similar to the US Airways one. Soon after getting comfortable in my seat, one of the flight pursers came by to distribute the menu for the flight.







Menu
First Course
“Mostbrockli” Dried Meat with cheese mousse rolls, Appenzeller Biber bread
Apple and honey salad, dried fruit and sweet mustard dip

Lemongrass marinated king prawns
Glass noodle salad with passion fruit and mango vinaigrette

Main Course
Grilled beef tenderloin with jus
Rosemary potatoes, green asparagus, turned carrots

Chicken with black bean sauce
Jasmine rice, stir-fried vegetables

Fera trout fillet, orange sauce
Quinoa, lentil and vegetable medley, spinach with pine nuts

Potato gnocchi with saffron sauce
Green asparagus, datterini plum tomatoes

Cheese
Selection of cheese from the canton of Appenzell and Switzerland

Dessert
Appenzeller Biber mousse with pear compote and coulis
Fresh fruit salad

Swiss chocolate
Coffee
Espresso
Selections of teas by Sirocco

Dine and Recline
The quicker option
A cold composition of starter, cheese and dessert to be enjoyed promptly after take off, allowing you more time to sleep, work or simply relax and enjoy your flight

Movie Snack
Ice cream by Movenpick

Breakfast
A selection of hot and cold breakfast items would be served approximately 90 minutes before landing. If you prefer to sleep longer, a continental breakfast can be ordered from your Flight Attendant up to 40 minutes before landing.

I started off the flight with a glass of champagne before push back. Meanwhile, more connecting passengers boarded the plane, but by the time doors were closed, the business cabin was only half full, and the economy maybe 70% full. The wait for takeoff was quite long, because there were so many Swiss wide bodies lining up, probably to Tokyo, Shanghai etc.




After take off, a choice of almonds and nuts was offered, to which I chose the former. I also requested for a glass of French red wine, and professionally, the flight attendant asked if I would like to try it out first, before pouring more into the glass.




The shrimp starter was very delicious, with the sweet flavor of the mango complementing the freshness of the shrimp. Salad was okay, nothing surprising.



For the main course, I chose the beef tenderloin, again. This time, the beef was even better than the one I had on US Airways, quite seriously one of the best steaks I have had on a commercial plane. It was nice and juicy, and medium rare on the inside.



After collecting my main course, the FA came around and offered a selection of desserts. I chose to have some of Switzerland’s famous cheese and a fruit bowl. I was offered a refill to my glass of wine, to which I accepted the offer.

btang

When lunch was over, I reclined my seat in order to take advantage of the long flight and get some much needed sleep so I would be able to last for the entire day flying from Beijing to Singapore and to Hong Kong. I managed a couple hours worth, before waking up to see one of the Chinese flight attendants passing by with a tray of Movenpick ice cream. Seriously, I need to go to the gym a lot more next time in anticipation of so much food served on these flights.




Where can I buy this brand of water?



I worked a little bit on this trip report, and tried to see what the movie selection looked like. Unfortunately, nothing really excited me, Anchorman 2 I’ve watched in the cinema, and Hunger Games, not really my thing. As such, I just decided to listen will.i.am and to take another short nap before breakfast.



Breakfast was served with the presentation of hotel towels, followed by a choice of apple and orange juice. There were no choices for breakfast, and I was presented with a tray containing cheese and meat and yoghurt. The breadbasket came around soon after and I chose to have the croissant. I don’t really like the fact they ask you to use your hands to grab the bread, not very hygienic in my opinion, should have used tongs. There was also a fish dish offered, but seemingly none of the passengers were adventurous enough to try it.




One of the issues with flights to China, and I don’t know if it’s just my sheer bad luck, is that some Chinese passengers do not seem to realize that the cabin is a public space. For instance, right at the back of the business class cabin were four middle-aged women, who were constantly chatting, in a very loud manner, with each other. At one point, the pair of Swiss couple seated just in front of them could not stand for it anymore, and so kindly asked the flight attendants to let those ladies know to keep noise level at a minimum. The gentleman seated behind me was also very noisy, constantly laughing out loud and so the best I could do was give him an uncomfortable stare. Another funny thing was that there was a man seated a couple rows before me that asked the FA for hot water to eat his cup noodle for breakfast. Really? You’re paying thousands of dollars for this ticket and yet you don’t even want to try some of what Swiss has to offer? I was without words.



Around 40 minutes before landing, the captain came on the PA and announced that we were beginning our initial descent into Beijing. I decided to change out of my pajamas. The lavatories were actually well maintained and had a good selection of lotions and cologne.






Last look at the cabin before landing




Despite the captain’s report that Beijing had relatively good weather, the smog was quite apparent during landing. LX 196 arrived just after 5:05 a.m. and a relatively quick taxi led us to one of the farthest gates in Terminal 3.

btang

I have not been to Beijing Airport Terminal 3 for quite a few years, the last time being just shortly after the 2008 Olympics. As always, I find the architecture stunning, high ceilings and large windows that offered a good view of the tarmac.



Since my flight arrived quite early in the morning, and the transfer desk was not open until 5:30 am, I had to wait for a little bit before somebody came to help with issuing my Singapore Airlines boarding passes.



After that, I had to go through immigration, and luckily there were absolutely no lines. Security on the other hand was a complete zoo. I only had 4 people in front of me, but it took almost 20 minutes before I could get through. Why you may ask? It’s because the 4 people in front of me, seemingly of Eurasian complexity (not stereotyping) had trouble listening to the instructions of the security agent, even though they clearly spoke both Mandarin and English. Was it so hard for them to pull out their cigarette lighter from their coat? I had to wait for a fair bit because their trays had to be rescanned for a few times. They themselves were screened for a second round of inspection, and on my way to collect my personal items on the other side of the metal detector; I saw a lot of contrabands taken out of their carryon.




My first stop was the Air China First Class Lounge. I was welcomed into the lounge, but advised that there would be no boarding announcements. The main problem was that both shower rooms were out of service. I really wanted a shower, and so the agent called up her colleague in the Business Class lounge to reserve a shower room for me when I was ready to move from one lounge to another.








As I later found out, the First and Business Class lounges are almost exactly identical to each other. I would definitely not be happy if I were paying for First Class. There was an area that looked like a mini cinema, massage chairs and a dedicated dining area. Of course, there were plenty of seats to choose from, given that it was still quite early in the day. The décor of the lounge is distinctly Chinese, I don’t really know if I am a fan of it though.

View from the lounge



One interesting thing about Beijing Airport’s wifi is that it is free, in some sense. You need a phone number that works in China in order to get an authentication code, so foreigners you are out of luck. The lounge had a machine that scanned passports and in return provided a receipt with the access code on it. I don’t really know why it felt kind of sketchy to surrender my passport information to a machine just to get Wi-Fi, but I did it anyways because I was desperate to check my email.



Beautiful Chinese traditional pavilion



After doing a bit of work, I decided it was time for my shower, and walked over to the Business lounge, which was basically on the other side of the concourse. This lounge was noticeably more crowded, but there still were enough seating. An agent, perhaps because her colleague provided a description of my facial complexion, immediately recognized me as Mr. Tang and offered to take me to the shower room, where I was handed over to the shower attendants.




My first impression of the shower room: small. It was really small in a sense that if I were 6’1 or have a really wide body frame, I would not able to fit my carryon and myself into the shower room. It was also quite poorly serviced, with bits of hair left behind in the sink, which was pretty disgusting. The tiles were also showing their age, but luckily the hair product seemed like it was of good quality. I just wanted to get it over quickly, and so I could care less.



The food options were plentiful, but the presentation and appearance seems rather appalling. I tried a few shrimp dumplings, but found them to be quite bland in taste. Really, the only thing edible, for me, at least seemed to be the juice, but they were of a foreign brand so quality should not have been an issue.



Overall, I found the lounges to be very underwhelming. The shower room was small, poorly maintained and poorly cleaned. The lounge chairs were showing their age, despite the lounge opened for really a couple of years. The food selection was plentiful but rather inedible, and after this entire experience, I find myself unwilling to transit in Beijing in the future. Instead, I would rather choose Tokyo or Seoul simply because the entire transit experience is much more pleasant.

btang

The flight to Beijing was scheduled to be on a 777-200, which I’ve flown it before and found it to be extremely comfortable. The seat was exactly identical to the one used in A330, but because the fuselage is wider for the 777, the entire cabin just feels more spacious. The only downside really is that the 777 aircraft uses an older generation of inflight entertainment system, despite the monitor being new, whilst the A330 has the new generation one.









Welcomed onboard by one of the leading stewardess (I can always tell by the color of the sarong kebaya), I was led to my seat and asked “would you like anything to drink, Mr. Tang?” I was a bit surprised by such an offer because I thought this flight was going to be full after checking in online the night before, and usually they only take individual drink orders when the flight is empty. Turned out this flight was quite empty, and I had the seat next to me open as well. To start of the morning, I chose to have a glass of mimosa. Instead, what she came with was half a glass of champagne and a full glass of orange juice. That works as well!



Wow, I like how in the previous parts of this trip report, I used flight attendant or cabin crew, and now I’m using steward and stewardesses, perhaps a good indication of the prestige of the job nature of those serving in the air on Asian carriers as compared to those working on US carriers. Anyways, let’s not digress into a separate discussion.

The menu for this flight was distributed shortly after my pre-departure beverage was served. As this was a rather long flight, I was advised that brunch would be served around an hour and a half after take off, or if I so choose, right after take off.



Starter
Salad of smoked salmon and grilled vegetable
Herb vinaigrette

Main
Beef fillet with café de paris butter, green beans and fondant potatoes

Stir fried pork with Guizhou spicy black bean sauce, chinese vegetables and fried rice

Seafood rice noodle soup
Rice noodles in rich broth garnished with steamed seafood and vegetables

Brie cheese omelette with mushroom sauce, chicken sausage, grilled vegetable, and marinated tomato

Finale
Chocolate banan cake

Haagen Dazs mango ice cream with vanilla sauce

Selection of Cheddar, Boursin garlic cheese and sundried tomato cream cheese served with garnishes

A selection of fresh fruit

Beverages
Gourmet coffees & selection of fine teas with pralines

btang

I’ve reviewed Singapore Airline’s 777 seat for maybe a couple of times already on this site, so I’m not going to bore you with another one. For comparisons sake, I find this regional business class seat to be far superior to that of US Airways 767 long haul seat. Not only were the leather finishing and color tone much more pleasing, but the recline angle is also less steep. I find myself not having to use my legs to push against the foot pedestal in order to prevent myself from sliding towards the floor.

After take off I decided to recline my seat into lazy position, and check out the movie and TV selections on Krisworld. As always choices were absolutely phenomenal, and I decided to watch an episode of Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen, perhaps an appropriate prelude to brunch service. Meanwhile, I chose to continue with the mimosa and again two glasses, with orange juice and champagne respectively in each one of them.

The first course was the smoked salmon, which was quite good actually, but it’s nothing inspiring, but the bell peppers actually need a lot of work, not much flavor to it.



The best thing about Singapore Airlines, for me at least, is always the garlic bread. I’ve loved this stuff since I was young and I can’t turn back.



The main course with the beef and fried rice actually tasted bad. Now I’ve flown Singapore Airlines for many years and seriously one of the worst dishes I have had. I don’t know if it has to do with the catering out of Beijing, or the fact that the dish was just poorly thought out. The beef was really tough, as Ramsay would say, “like Gandhi’s flip flop”. The fried rice was also really bad, tasted like it was left out in the sun for a day or two and then reheated.



After the disappointing main, I finished off lunch with a plate of cheese and accompaniments. I’ve never had the tomato cream cheese, usually I just eat brie or cheddar, but it was quite divine, pairs very well with grapes.




A cup of hot early grey tea to end the meal.



I reclined my seat to watch a few more other TV episodes, before dozing off for a little nap, and waking up with just enough time to go to the lavatory and change into my tropical gear in preparation for my visit to the city. By the time I got back to my seat, a landing card was placed in my seat as well as a piece of candy. My seat was also adjusted back into the full upright position.



Last look at the cabin before landing.



Because of thunderstorm and heavy rain, the captain advised that we had to expect a 20 minute delay as our plane had to circle in an area to the north of Singapore, as there was a backlog of aircraft waiting to land. The good thing really was that even with our delay, we landed into Singapore on time as scheduled.

CMK10

Excellent report so far, you've put the perfect amount of detail into this with a good balance of pictures and text. Looking forward to the rest! ^

btang

I don’t know what’s worse, flying aimlessly for more than 24 hours already, or the unpleasantness from the heat and humidity of Singapore’s tropic climate experienced from the moment I stepped off the plane.



The plane landed in Terminal 2, and naturally this was where I wanted to go through immigration, before heading back to Terminal 3 and storing my carry on and heading into the city. What a mistake! The picture doesn’t really do it justice, because literally the lines were moving at a steady 1 feet per 5 minutes. I don’t really know why, but today Changi Airport was facing some serious issues, both getting in and getting out. Why I'm saying this? You’ll find out later on in this post.



After waiting for around 30 minutes, it was finally my turn to go through, and the immigration officer couldn’t have been more pleasant. He asked where I was going, and I said, “To get some satay”. He laughed so hard before handing back my passport.

Storing my bags in Terminal 3 costs 5 SGD, and in no time I was down at the station waiting for the train towards the city. I really love Singapore’s transit system, not just because it is as efficient as the one in my hometown, but also because it’s so clean. Trains are usually very punctual, and I need only wait a few minutes before a train arrived at the station.



The ride to Raffles Places was very pleasant. Luckily, the weather turned out fine, no rain at all. Thank you weather god! Along the ride, I was able to take a glimpse of the new shopping mall built just outside of Tanah Merah, perhaps as an attraction for transiting passengers at Changi. Of course, looking down from the train at the roads below with beautifully lined up flower patches and trees, it’s no wonder they call it the “garden city of Southeast Asia”.





From Raffles Place, I took a ten minutes walk towards Lau Pa Sat, a hawker centre in the middle of the financial centre. Now I know I might take some bullets for going to the centre in the CBD and not the east coast food centre or the one on Orchard Road, but I’ve been here before, so quality is not an issue.



I ordered six pieces of chicken satay and an iced coffee. Taste was absolutely divine and well worth the trouble. The hawker centre actually has a lot of other Asian options as well, and my other favorite ones include Singaporean Chicken Rice, Ice Kechang (dessert) and Beef Rendang. The hygiene of the hawker places is of very high standard, probably better than the Burger King place in Oakland, California that I visited last year.

I am sorry that I didn’t take any pictures of the food, because I was so hungry and the food was so tempting that I swallowed them all before realizing that I didn’t take a picture. After my delicious afternoon snack, I decided to walk around the Merlion area. When I visited here a few years ago, this was just an empty plaza by the bay. Now, it’s filled with restaurants and hotels. The views towards the other side of the bay were also very nice, and of course I had a good look at the Marina Bay Sands.




Right around the corner of one of the buildings in the CBD is one of the main stores of Bengawan Solo, a very good bakery that sells one of the best Kueh Lapis in Singapore. I didn’t want to carry the things around, and so decided to just buy it at the airport.




I then took the train towards Marina Bay Sands. I initially wanted to visit Gardens by the Bay, but just didn’t have enough time so I had a quick tour around the general area.



To head back to the airport, I chose to use Uber, because I was worried that the taxi line would be really long. For those who don’t know what Uber is, it’s basically an app to call drivers and ask them to take you to places. Usually the car is a luxury sedan, with a driver that will keep quiet for the entire journey, free bottles of water in the car and did I mention no tips. My driver, Abdul, met me at the entrance of the hotel with a Mercedes E-Class. He was very friendly and immediately got out of his car to open the door for me. He then asked me which terminal, to which I replied Terminal 3, and asked that he drop me off at the Singapore Airlines business counter.

The entire 20 minutes trip was very smooth, as we used the highways and there was absolutely no traffic jam. I was offered a bottle of water, but I declined, not that thirsty anyways.

As we pulled up to Terminal 3, I was wished a pleasant flight and sent on my way. No receipt, no tips necessary, quick and easy.




I collected my carryon, bought my layered cake at Bengawan Solo, and proceeded to go through immigration. Here came trouble. There were only 3 counters open. Meanwhile, the lines for immigration got longer and longer, as more passengers were preparing for the evening departures. The lines were so long that at one point, it stretched all the way out back to the departure hall. However, the staff in charge made no discernable attempt to open up counters, and I was quite disappointed, given that this was Singapore, one of the best airports in the world?

After the long wait, it was time for me to head to the Silver Kris Lounge for a shower and some food before flying out. My boarding pass was examined, and I was welcomed into the business class lounge. It was only a short wait for the shower, and it was certainly refreshing.




I also decided to check out what food offerings the lounge had. I’ve only been to this lounge in the morning, so was curious what they offered at night. There was a good selection of Asian and western hot options, some sushi and soba, cheese, bread, quite delicious actually. There was also a separate bar with champagne, white and red wine. Champagne was Bollinger I think, which was quite good.




I put together a little bit of everything from the buffet, and spent a good 20 minutes checking my email before heading down towards the gate A4, which surprisingly was just next to the escalator, so no long walk across the concourse, nice!

btang

I am not really a big fan of security right before boarding gates, it means that I usually have to plan ahead and allow extra time or else risk cutting it really short. However, it’s a good thing today security lines were almost non-existent, and I was able to breeze through in a short while. It was not long after that Business Class passengers and PPS Club member were called and invited to board. Naturally, I chose to board during this time, more time to get settled in and read some magazine, why not?



The same professionalism I see on every Singapore Airlines flight that I’ve taken is again experienced on this flight with no exception. The moment I stepped on the plane, the friendliness of the leading stewardesses greeting me made it feel like that I was returning home after a long day of work. “Would you like to start off with some orange juice, or perhaps some champagne sir?” No thanks, I'll just have some water.



Of course, I have always lamented the fact that Singapore Airline’s service attitude is very robotic, yes the routine is always done with precision, forks and other crockery placed exactly the right way, but it is consistent, meaning every flight is very much the same, and not like spinning a roulette and see whether service comes out good such as on a TG flight.

Just like the previous flight, the business class cabin was relatively empty, and despite the fact that I was seated in one of the pairs of seats by the window, I was able to have the seat next to me empty.

The flight to Hong Kong was slightly delayed due to some last minute passengers not showing up, and so the captain advised us that we had to offload their bags. Flight time was a quick 3 hour and 40 minutes, with a few occasional turbulences expected over the South China Sea.



The seat on the 777 was exactly the same as the one I took from Beijing to Singapore, so no surprises. The menu for tonight is listed as follow:

Dinner Menu
Starter
Tian of Alaskan king crab and mango with mesculin
Singapore dressing

Main
Halibut roll with “A La Forestiere” stuffing, crystallised tomatoes, saffron potatoes and lobster sauce

Oriental style barbecued duck and soya flavored chicken with fragrant steamed rice

Grilled Beef fillet with thyme jus, buttered seasoned vegetables and potatoes

Seafood hor fun
Chinese style stir fried rice noodles with seafood
A popular Singaporean dish

Finale
Choice of desserts
Movenpick Swiss chocolate ice cream or blueberry cheese cake with vanilla sauce

Selection of camembert, feta cheese and Monterey Jack served with garnishes

A selection of fresh fruit

Gourmet coffees and selection of fine teas, with pralines

After the plane leveled off at 37,000 feet, the crew immediately began preparing for dinner service. Curtains were drawn and carts were rolled out to serve a choice of pre-dinner drinks. I chose to have a glass of cabernet sauvignon, and I promise, this was the last glass of alcohol for this entire journey.



First course was an Alaskan King crab salad, which was quite refreshing and the tanginess of the mango made the crab meat even sweeter than it already is, which was delicious.




For the main course, I had booked the lobster thermidor. Last year, when I took the Singapore to Hong Kong flight, the thermidor had no shell, and I was very disappointed. Tonight, it came with a shell, which was great. See the difference? I am a slave to appearances.

Previous flight:



Tonight's flight:



And to finish off dinner, a nice cup of lemon tea as well as some cheese and condiments.




This was the last leg of a long five-segment journey, and I was certainly very glad that the end was soon in sight. As I reclined my seat to take a short nap, I couldn’t help but wonder just how much good food I have had over this past 36 hours, or the places I’ve been, and all of this thanks to a one-way ticket and of course US Airways non-existing routing rules.



After the nap, SQ 868 was already around 100 miles just out of Hong Kong, and the captain advised that we were beginning our initial descent. Seats were put back upright, and tray tables stowed. After a slightly bumpy landing, our plane taxied to the closest gate to immigration, and being a Hong Kong Permanent Resident, lines were non-existent. My bags came out just 10 minutes later, safe and sound after the long arduous trip of being thrown onto and off planes, and within just 25 minutes of landing, I was ready to head into the city.

This has truly been a great experience, to fly on some new carriers and to fly to a new city, hopefully I will get the chance to visit more places and for longer periods of time, and hopefully this was all be in business class, or who knows, maybe first class if it still exists in the future. Thanks for reading this very long trip report!

mattc2

Excellent report and I enjoyed every piece of it. I went through BKK-SIN-PEK route just a little while ago, and had the same King crab salad and lobster thermidor for the SIN-PEK leg. I found the salad to be one of the best salad I ever had, and in the end I shamelessly asked for a second one if they had left overs, the sin girl happily gave me a second one without any hesitation. Best service and food ever!

BlakeySFC

I hate to nit-pick at your amazing TR btang but Zürich isn't the capital of Switzerland.

btang

Oh sorry, it's Bern. It's one of those cities like Ottawa in Canada in which the capital is not the largest city. Thanks for spotting it out!

BlakeySFC

No problem

McSam18

Excellent trip report, thanks for sharing!

jeff191

Nice pics of Zurich. It is an amazing city and you're right, everyone there is in a suit. I used to work for UBS here in the US, but had to take clients there once in a while. Always looked forward to those trips.

btang

Haha you have a big appetite, but there's no harm in asking for seconds of course