Europe on SQ and Easyjet
Jul 25, 2005, 8:58 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: singapore
Posts: 166
Europe on SQ and Easyjet
This trip was planned well ahead in advance. I was to visit a friend who is studying in UK at that time and we were to visit Amsterdam and Brussels as well. Being on a non-revenue ticket, my return ticket to London costs me only S$100 for the taxes (the fuel charge was also waived for balloted tickets).
30/06/2005
SQ 318
Singapore – London Heathrow
B747-400 9V-SMY
STD: 0900 ATD: 0920
STA: 1530 ATA: 1515
Flight Time: 13H
Departure Gate: F58
Arrival Gate: (Not sure but it was very near immigration)
Had checked in for the flight 2 days before and obtained a window seat at 55A. At that time, the 55B was still empty and I was praying for it to stay empty but it was not to be. Arrived at the airport on the day of departure at 0730 for an immediate check-in at the staff counter. Cleared immigration swiftly and I performed my ritual of going to the sunflower garden to take some photos. At that time, it was busy as usual in terminal 2 with the morning wave of SQ flights. As I was nursing a back injury, I was dreading the 13 hours flight cramped in the B744 economy seat, which is not as comfortable as that of the 777s.
Proceeded to the gate 45 minutes before departure time as the gate is right at the end of the terminal. There was a huge queue for security checks. Also noticed that for the London flight, there are personals conducting random interviews with passengers. Luckily I was not choosen. Waited in the boarding gate lounge for boarding to commence. Boarding commenced exactly half an hour before departure timing with families with children and personnels needing assistance first, followed by economy from the back of the plane. First and raffles passengers can board at their own leisure.
Boarded, greeted (not by name) and shown to my seat. A stewardess then led me to my seat. There was already someone in 55C. I was secretly hoping that 55B will remain empty but this was not to be as a lady eventually took up the seat. The crew was surprisingly chirpy this morning. The malay leading stewardess in my section was constantly interacting with passengers during the boarding process, asking kids for their names, making small talk with other passengers etc. On the seat isa pillow and a blanket. This aircraft is equipped with Connexxion by Boeing and an instruction pamphlet is offered in the seatback. This is going to be a very full flight (I only saw less than 5 empty seats) and some stewardesses also mentioned about it.
Soon, the standard SQ departure procedures began with hot towels offered. Doors were closed and armed slightly after 9am and push back occurred very soon. Safety demonstrations were played and we began our taxi to runway 20C for takeoff. I have noticed from recent SQ flights that the crew will go to their takeoff positions quite early during the taxi, unlike previous times when the captain will ask them to go to their take-off positions just before departure. Maybe it is a change of safety regulations as on one SQ flight 3 years ago, the crew was still standing around during the takeoff run as the pilot forgot to announce to the crew to prepare for takeoff.
Takeoff roll was quite long due to the almost full load. The climb out was very slow as we gradually gained altitude. As soon as the seatbelt signs were off, the crew sprang into action and handed out amenity kits, headsets and menus. On this flight, breakfast and lunch will be served and a snack just before landing. On the London flights, Singapore Sling is featured as one of the economy class cocktails. Orange juice was then offered on trays. I also do not expect them to conduct a full beverage service so early in the morning. Following this, special meals were handed out and children were also served first. Then, the meal cart rumbled down the aisle. The choices today were
Fruit Appetiser
(1 slice of papaya, 2 silces of pineapple and 2 grapes)
Cereal
(No cereal but strawberry yogurt appeared)
Kway teow with soya chicken
Rice noodles with braised soya chicken and Chinese black mushrooms
Or
Breakfast frittata with veal sausage, sautéed mushrooms with tomato and potatoes
Breakfast roll
Butter-Fruit preserve (where is the fruit preserve)
Coffee-Tea
I had the western choice and it was quite alright. As for the disappearance of the jam, I did not question the crew because my seatmates also did not have it on their trays. Must be a catering problem. Coffee, tea and other drinks were offered twice before the trays were collected. I then settled down into my seat to watch movies. As I had seen most of the blockbusters movies offered, I chose to watch more asian movies. The AVOD function is really a bliss. Throughout the whole flight, I watched 4 movies as well as listened to a few cd albums and also tried out some of the new game offerings. Throughout the long flight, there were frequent drinks patrols done by the crew.
Our flight path took us up the western coast of peninsula Malaysia, pass phuket and across the Andaman sea to India, overflying India into Afghanistan, Southern Russia and some east European countries, tracking towards Holland, pass Rotterdam and crossing the English channel before descending towards London. During the flight, there appeared to be a small medical emergency during the breakfast service as trained medical personals were requested through the intercoms. The crew acted very professional to deal with the medical problem. I saw first aid boxes being passed to the rear of the cabin and a passenger was also led there by the crew. The toilet area at the rear was also temporary cordoned off to allow the crew to attend to the passenger. However it seems that the emergency is not serious enough to warrant a diversion as out flight proceeded on its way as usual.
In the middle of the flight, a few kids seated around me started to get restless and began making a din. Luckily a stewardess “came to the rescue” by pacifying the kids. She even brought the kids on a tour of the economy cabin and the galleys. Kudos here to the stewardess. On this flight, lunch was served mid-flight, about 5 hours before landing. Before lunch was served, a full beverage service was conducted using bar carts with packets of snackbites thrown in. I had the Singapore sling and it was really quite nice. Then, lunch was served with the following choices:
Prawns and green seaweed with sesame soya vinaigrette
Salmon fillet with crushed green peas and pea veloute, carrot and new potatoes
(exclusively created by Gordon Ramsay, London)
Or
Imperial Oriental chicken with selected vegetables and fragrant rice
Cheese and crackers
Ice-cream ( chocolate ice-cream )
Roll and butter
Coffee-tea
I had the chicken as I do not really like salmon. It was quite nice but still miles away from the chicken rice I had on my previous Shanghai to Singapore flight. Additional drinks were offered twice with the meal. I also noticed that the crew were more generous in giving out cans of beer than coke as they will always give you the whole can if you request for beer but will only offer a cup for other drinks. After the meal, it was back to the movies. I also took a few photos from my window seat of the scenery outside, but nothing spectacular could be seen. As we neared Western Europe, the skies became clouded and nothing could be seen on the ground.
About 1 hour before landing, the crew came around with a snack service. Apples, ham or vegetarian sandwiches and packets of potato chips were offered from baskets, followed by a round of water or juices. Soon descent started and headphones were collected. The cabin was prepared for landing. On the approach, we had a hold of about 15 minutes, circling northern London before overflying central London for our approach into runway 27L. Touchdown was quite smooth followed by heavy breaking without the use of thrust reversers so as to exit by the last high-speed exit. We then taxied to the opposite side of Terminal 3 and parked at a gate just beside immigration (Gate 23, I think). Disembarked and only had a short walk to immigration. There was only a short wait at immigration even with full passenger load as there were many counters opened and our flight is the only one that has just arrived. However my impression of Heathrow fell drastically immediately after immigration as the areas from baggage reclaim onwards left much to be desired of a main international airport. Even Stansted airport, which caters mainly to LCCs, scored much better. Hope Heathrow T3 comes up with some upgrades/improvements in the future.
Overall, this flight is lived up to the standards of SQ’s reputation. The wonderful entertainment made the hours fly by effortlessly. The crew were still able to present consistently good service even with the full passenger load. However, I think there is a problem with the intercom system as all the announcements were barely audible. Also, the seats of the B744s, as mentioned by many, is adequate for short/medium haul flights but seat pitch needs to be improve to that of the B777s on the long-hauls. Hope that the A380s have better seat pitch in economy.
30/06/2005
SQ 318
Singapore – London Heathrow
B747-400 9V-SMY
STD: 0900 ATD: 0920
STA: 1530 ATA: 1515
Flight Time: 13H
Departure Gate: F58
Arrival Gate: (Not sure but it was very near immigration)
Had checked in for the flight 2 days before and obtained a window seat at 55A. At that time, the 55B was still empty and I was praying for it to stay empty but it was not to be. Arrived at the airport on the day of departure at 0730 for an immediate check-in at the staff counter. Cleared immigration swiftly and I performed my ritual of going to the sunflower garden to take some photos. At that time, it was busy as usual in terminal 2 with the morning wave of SQ flights. As I was nursing a back injury, I was dreading the 13 hours flight cramped in the B744 economy seat, which is not as comfortable as that of the 777s.
Proceeded to the gate 45 minutes before departure time as the gate is right at the end of the terminal. There was a huge queue for security checks. Also noticed that for the London flight, there are personals conducting random interviews with passengers. Luckily I was not choosen. Waited in the boarding gate lounge for boarding to commence. Boarding commenced exactly half an hour before departure timing with families with children and personnels needing assistance first, followed by economy from the back of the plane. First and raffles passengers can board at their own leisure.
Boarded, greeted (not by name) and shown to my seat. A stewardess then led me to my seat. There was already someone in 55C. I was secretly hoping that 55B will remain empty but this was not to be as a lady eventually took up the seat. The crew was surprisingly chirpy this morning. The malay leading stewardess in my section was constantly interacting with passengers during the boarding process, asking kids for their names, making small talk with other passengers etc. On the seat isa pillow and a blanket. This aircraft is equipped with Connexxion by Boeing and an instruction pamphlet is offered in the seatback. This is going to be a very full flight (I only saw less than 5 empty seats) and some stewardesses also mentioned about it.
Soon, the standard SQ departure procedures began with hot towels offered. Doors were closed and armed slightly after 9am and push back occurred very soon. Safety demonstrations were played and we began our taxi to runway 20C for takeoff. I have noticed from recent SQ flights that the crew will go to their takeoff positions quite early during the taxi, unlike previous times when the captain will ask them to go to their take-off positions just before departure. Maybe it is a change of safety regulations as on one SQ flight 3 years ago, the crew was still standing around during the takeoff run as the pilot forgot to announce to the crew to prepare for takeoff.
Takeoff roll was quite long due to the almost full load. The climb out was very slow as we gradually gained altitude. As soon as the seatbelt signs were off, the crew sprang into action and handed out amenity kits, headsets and menus. On this flight, breakfast and lunch will be served and a snack just before landing. On the London flights, Singapore Sling is featured as one of the economy class cocktails. Orange juice was then offered on trays. I also do not expect them to conduct a full beverage service so early in the morning. Following this, special meals were handed out and children were also served first. Then, the meal cart rumbled down the aisle. The choices today were
Fruit Appetiser
(1 slice of papaya, 2 silces of pineapple and 2 grapes)
Cereal
(No cereal but strawberry yogurt appeared)
Kway teow with soya chicken
Rice noodles with braised soya chicken and Chinese black mushrooms
Or
Breakfast frittata with veal sausage, sautéed mushrooms with tomato and potatoes
Breakfast roll
Butter-Fruit preserve (where is the fruit preserve)
Coffee-Tea
I had the western choice and it was quite alright. As for the disappearance of the jam, I did not question the crew because my seatmates also did not have it on their trays. Must be a catering problem. Coffee, tea and other drinks were offered twice before the trays were collected. I then settled down into my seat to watch movies. As I had seen most of the blockbusters movies offered, I chose to watch more asian movies. The AVOD function is really a bliss. Throughout the whole flight, I watched 4 movies as well as listened to a few cd albums and also tried out some of the new game offerings. Throughout the long flight, there were frequent drinks patrols done by the crew.
Our flight path took us up the western coast of peninsula Malaysia, pass phuket and across the Andaman sea to India, overflying India into Afghanistan, Southern Russia and some east European countries, tracking towards Holland, pass Rotterdam and crossing the English channel before descending towards London. During the flight, there appeared to be a small medical emergency during the breakfast service as trained medical personals were requested through the intercoms. The crew acted very professional to deal with the medical problem. I saw first aid boxes being passed to the rear of the cabin and a passenger was also led there by the crew. The toilet area at the rear was also temporary cordoned off to allow the crew to attend to the passenger. However it seems that the emergency is not serious enough to warrant a diversion as out flight proceeded on its way as usual.
In the middle of the flight, a few kids seated around me started to get restless and began making a din. Luckily a stewardess “came to the rescue” by pacifying the kids. She even brought the kids on a tour of the economy cabin and the galleys. Kudos here to the stewardess. On this flight, lunch was served mid-flight, about 5 hours before landing. Before lunch was served, a full beverage service was conducted using bar carts with packets of snackbites thrown in. I had the Singapore sling and it was really quite nice. Then, lunch was served with the following choices:
Prawns and green seaweed with sesame soya vinaigrette
Salmon fillet with crushed green peas and pea veloute, carrot and new potatoes
(exclusively created by Gordon Ramsay, London)
Or
Imperial Oriental chicken with selected vegetables and fragrant rice
Cheese and crackers
Ice-cream ( chocolate ice-cream )
Roll and butter
Coffee-tea
I had the chicken as I do not really like salmon. It was quite nice but still miles away from the chicken rice I had on my previous Shanghai to Singapore flight. Additional drinks were offered twice with the meal. I also noticed that the crew were more generous in giving out cans of beer than coke as they will always give you the whole can if you request for beer but will only offer a cup for other drinks. After the meal, it was back to the movies. I also took a few photos from my window seat of the scenery outside, but nothing spectacular could be seen. As we neared Western Europe, the skies became clouded and nothing could be seen on the ground.
About 1 hour before landing, the crew came around with a snack service. Apples, ham or vegetarian sandwiches and packets of potato chips were offered from baskets, followed by a round of water or juices. Soon descent started and headphones were collected. The cabin was prepared for landing. On the approach, we had a hold of about 15 minutes, circling northern London before overflying central London for our approach into runway 27L. Touchdown was quite smooth followed by heavy breaking without the use of thrust reversers so as to exit by the last high-speed exit. We then taxied to the opposite side of Terminal 3 and parked at a gate just beside immigration (Gate 23, I think). Disembarked and only had a short walk to immigration. There was only a short wait at immigration even with full passenger load as there were many counters opened and our flight is the only one that has just arrived. However my impression of Heathrow fell drastically immediately after immigration as the areas from baggage reclaim onwards left much to be desired of a main international airport. Even Stansted airport, which caters mainly to LCCs, scored much better. Hope Heathrow T3 comes up with some upgrades/improvements in the future.
Overall, this flight is lived up to the standards of SQ’s reputation. The wonderful entertainment made the hours fly by effortlessly. The crew were still able to present consistently good service even with the full passenger load. However, I think there is a problem with the intercom system as all the announcements were barely audible. Also, the seats of the B744s, as mentioned by many, is adequate for short/medium haul flights but seat pitch needs to be improve to that of the B777s on the long-hauls. Hope that the A380s have better seat pitch in economy.
Jul 25, 2005, 8:58 am
#2
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: singapore
Posts: 166
After 4 days in London, I continued my trip to Amsterdam. It will be my virgin flight on a LCC, in this case, Easyjet. We booked the trip more than 2 months in advance and so the return flight costs us only 33 pounds each including taxes. We decided to overnight at Stansted (also my first time overnighting at an airport) as our flight is quite early in the morning. I had to go to the airport myself as my friend had to go back home to settle some stuff before meeting me at the airport. The bus ride to Stansted from Victoria took about 1 hour.
04/07/2005
EZY 3881
London Stansted – Amsterdam
A319 G-EZIH
STD: 0700 ATD: 0815
STA: 0905 ATA: 1000
Flight Time: 35min
Departure Gate: Gate 1
Arrival Gate: (Not sure but long walk from immigration)
Woke up on the terminal floors at about 0430 and got washed up at the toilet. There were also many travelers who overnighted at Stansted. After grabbing a bite and a caffeine fix at the café, we went to check in for the flight. There were designated counters for each Easyjet flight. We got checked in very quickly and was number 12 and 13, thus having boarding group A. We even had a boarding pass!! (Unlike some asian LCCs where one is only given a boarding receipt). Went through immigration to the duty free area and had to take a train to the gates area (something like Kuala Lumpur international airport). The whole airport is very grand for a LCC airport and there are even aerobridges (but not used by any of the LCC carriers). Most flights are dominated by Ryanair at Stansted, with Easyjet being the second biggest carrier.
Waited at the holding area till our flight is called. I also took some photos. At 0650, out flight was finally called for boarding. I was telling my friend that we will not be able to depart on time with such a late boarding and my prediction is correct (as u will see later). Boarding group A was called but almost everyone surged to board. Luckily the attendant enforced the boarding by groups rule and did not allow the un’A’ passengers to pass. After tearing the boarding pass, we had to go down an escalator, through the aerobridge, down the stairs of the aerobridge and walk towards the aircraft parked on the tarmac. It has been a long time since I board an aircraft this way!!
Was greeted by a crew member upon boarding and as I was the third person to board, I had the whole cabin to choose from. I decided to go for an ordinary seat after the wings so as to be able to see the flaps action as well as to thoroughly have the LCC experience of minute seatpitch. But on first thought, it was not that bad. Sure, it is not SQ, but at least my knees are not touching the seats in front. The seats are also fairly comfortable with decent recline. Easyjet also provides inflight magazines and sickbags to its passengers in the seat pockets. There inflight magazine proved to be an entertaining read.
On this flight, I counted 3 cabin crew members (1 male, 2 females. The male is a Spanish guy as he made all announcements with a Spanish accent). On this A319, there is also 2 middle emergency exits on each side of the aircraft compared with the normal 1 on other cariers. I think this is a safety requirement due to Easyjet’s use of the A319 to very high capacity seating (156 seats, I think). After boarding was done, the pilot came on and told us the bad news that Amsterdam airport was currently closed due to bad weather and we would have to wait about an hour for it to reopen before we could get onto our way. Sighs could be heard from the whole cabin. All other announcements by the cabin crew were done in English with a Dutch recording. During the waiting, safety demonstrations was performed by the crew, first with just the Dutch briefing and then following by the English briefing and demonstrations by the crew.
After half an hour of waiting, we were finally pushed back and engines started. However, after another 5 minutes of waiting, the engines were shut down again. It was some time later that we finally get clearance again and engines were fired up. We taxied to runway 5 and took off. As the pilot expected the flight to be quite turbulent, he suspended all cabin service for the whole flight and cabin crew have to stay in their seats. Seatbelt signs were also not switched off. We were flying in the clouds for the entire flight but the turbulence was not that bad, but better to be safe than sorry. After about 20 minutes of cruising, we started our descent into Amsterdam. Nothing much could be seen outside except clouds when suddenly the clouds cleared when we neared Amsterdam. We landed smoothly from the north on runway 18R (Polderbaan) with no thrust reversers as our small aircraft have to whole runway to slow down. Then, it was a 20 minutes taxi to the gate. Amsterdam flight schedules must certainly be well padded to take into account the taxiing time!! Docked at the gate and exited by an aerobridge. Was bade goodbye by the crew when we disembarked and then it was a long trek to immigration. Schipol is similar to Changi airport where departures and arrivals are on the same level. Immigration is very smooth and we got our luggage within minutes of clearing immigration. No wonder Schipol is also voted one of the best airports in the world. It is easy to find your way around and the atmosphere is also very Changi-like.
So how’s my first ever LCC flight? Well, could not comment much as we were delayed (no fault of the airline) and cabin serviced was suspended. But the crew were friendly and actually welcomed passengers and bade everyone goodbye on disembarkation. Information was relayed from the cockpit regularly to keep passengers. Well, not much different from a full-service carrier other than the seatpitch and the frills (hot-towels, meals, coffee or tea sir?) J. But then SQ also do not offer anything on their SIN-KUL flights of the similar length, giving only a cup of hot drink or juice. See what happens on my return flight so I can give a better judgment. More to come.
Photos can be seen at http://community.webshots.com/user/b777er
04/07/2005
EZY 3881
London Stansted – Amsterdam
A319 G-EZIH
STD: 0700 ATD: 0815
STA: 0905 ATA: 1000
Flight Time: 35min
Departure Gate: Gate 1
Arrival Gate: (Not sure but long walk from immigration)
Woke up on the terminal floors at about 0430 and got washed up at the toilet. There were also many travelers who overnighted at Stansted. After grabbing a bite and a caffeine fix at the café, we went to check in for the flight. There were designated counters for each Easyjet flight. We got checked in very quickly and was number 12 and 13, thus having boarding group A. We even had a boarding pass!! (Unlike some asian LCCs where one is only given a boarding receipt). Went through immigration to the duty free area and had to take a train to the gates area (something like Kuala Lumpur international airport). The whole airport is very grand for a LCC airport and there are even aerobridges (but not used by any of the LCC carriers). Most flights are dominated by Ryanair at Stansted, with Easyjet being the second biggest carrier.
Waited at the holding area till our flight is called. I also took some photos. At 0650, out flight was finally called for boarding. I was telling my friend that we will not be able to depart on time with such a late boarding and my prediction is correct (as u will see later). Boarding group A was called but almost everyone surged to board. Luckily the attendant enforced the boarding by groups rule and did not allow the un’A’ passengers to pass. After tearing the boarding pass, we had to go down an escalator, through the aerobridge, down the stairs of the aerobridge and walk towards the aircraft parked on the tarmac. It has been a long time since I board an aircraft this way!!
Was greeted by a crew member upon boarding and as I was the third person to board, I had the whole cabin to choose from. I decided to go for an ordinary seat after the wings so as to be able to see the flaps action as well as to thoroughly have the LCC experience of minute seatpitch. But on first thought, it was not that bad. Sure, it is not SQ, but at least my knees are not touching the seats in front. The seats are also fairly comfortable with decent recline. Easyjet also provides inflight magazines and sickbags to its passengers in the seat pockets. There inflight magazine proved to be an entertaining read.
On this flight, I counted 3 cabin crew members (1 male, 2 females. The male is a Spanish guy as he made all announcements with a Spanish accent). On this A319, there is also 2 middle emergency exits on each side of the aircraft compared with the normal 1 on other cariers. I think this is a safety requirement due to Easyjet’s use of the A319 to very high capacity seating (156 seats, I think). After boarding was done, the pilot came on and told us the bad news that Amsterdam airport was currently closed due to bad weather and we would have to wait about an hour for it to reopen before we could get onto our way. Sighs could be heard from the whole cabin. All other announcements by the cabin crew were done in English with a Dutch recording. During the waiting, safety demonstrations was performed by the crew, first with just the Dutch briefing and then following by the English briefing and demonstrations by the crew.
After half an hour of waiting, we were finally pushed back and engines started. However, after another 5 minutes of waiting, the engines were shut down again. It was some time later that we finally get clearance again and engines were fired up. We taxied to runway 5 and took off. As the pilot expected the flight to be quite turbulent, he suspended all cabin service for the whole flight and cabin crew have to stay in their seats. Seatbelt signs were also not switched off. We were flying in the clouds for the entire flight but the turbulence was not that bad, but better to be safe than sorry. After about 20 minutes of cruising, we started our descent into Amsterdam. Nothing much could be seen outside except clouds when suddenly the clouds cleared when we neared Amsterdam. We landed smoothly from the north on runway 18R (Polderbaan) with no thrust reversers as our small aircraft have to whole runway to slow down. Then, it was a 20 minutes taxi to the gate. Amsterdam flight schedules must certainly be well padded to take into account the taxiing time!! Docked at the gate and exited by an aerobridge. Was bade goodbye by the crew when we disembarked and then it was a long trek to immigration. Schipol is similar to Changi airport where departures and arrivals are on the same level. Immigration is very smooth and we got our luggage within minutes of clearing immigration. No wonder Schipol is also voted one of the best airports in the world. It is easy to find your way around and the atmosphere is also very Changi-like.
So how’s my first ever LCC flight? Well, could not comment much as we were delayed (no fault of the airline) and cabin serviced was suspended. But the crew were friendly and actually welcomed passengers and bade everyone goodbye on disembarkation. Information was relayed from the cockpit regularly to keep passengers. Well, not much different from a full-service carrier other than the seatpitch and the frills (hot-towels, meals, coffee or tea sir?) J. But then SQ also do not offer anything on their SIN-KUL flights of the similar length, giving only a cup of hot drink or juice. See what happens on my return flight so I can give a better judgment. More to come.
Photos can be seen at http://community.webshots.com/user/b777er
