Carfield

Hi all,

This report perhaps is something exciting or I am reporting on some latest airlines’ development or new product, but I decide to write a report because I am very impressed with Singapore Airlines’ new Business class product onboard the Boeing777-300ERs. I have flown 77Ws a number of times, but I am blessed with being able to fly first class on that few occasions. Anyway, I am very impressed with SQ’s new Business Class, which is a comfortable chair to sit on, as well as providing a very nice bed to sleep on. Cathay Pacific’s new Business Class is just a disaster compared to SQ’s highly innovative business class seats. I don’t think I need to say more, but the photo album will show you all the details on the seats, the fully recline position, as well as the flat bed position. Not to mention the “enhanced” meal service is equally impressive. Good job, Singapore Airlines!

Photo link: (I spend a few hours at the observation deck the next day so there were a few pictures at the end of the album… mostly the CX flight heading back to HKG…)
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/w...8QbNHDNy5bqJno

November 19, 2007
SQ 326 SIN-FRA Lv1430 Arr2035 Boeing 777-300ER 9V-SWF

Check-in:
Well the day began with a very under-staffed premium check-in area for SQ, which did not happen too often. There were only two check-in agents, which both were dealing with complex itineraries and/or issues. Some of the waiting passengers (there were about two to three people on line) were impatient and the supervisor was comforting and immediately swung into actions by calling staffs. Within two minutes, two more agents arrived at the scene and a good rescue effort on SQ part.

Silver Kris Lounge:
Well not a particular good lounge for SQ’s own home base! The lounge was really dark (applied to F section as well) and I really like windows (personal preference) but I am sure most of you will agree on natural sunlight or at least a good view of the tarmac. I hope terminal three will feature a better lounge. Food services are the same as usual – soup of the day (Cream of carrots), some chicken main course dish with side dishes, fried noodles, chicken drumsticks, and various small items, as well as the usual array of beverages. I headed towards the business area and spend some time on my laptop.

Boarding:
Of course, we got the furthest gate possible, E28 (right next to the first gate on terminal one), and boarding started early at 1:50pm, and I am continued annoy by the inaccuracy of the flight monitors, which kept on saying “final call” at 2pm, and when the plane was actually still being refueled. Once on board, I was offered newspapers, menus, and magazines, as well as the usual array of pre-takeoff beverage including champagne, water, and a welcome drink (fruit juice mix). Socks and eyeshades were handed out after takeoff. I was at 11A in the beginning and soon the F/As asked if I was willing to move to the other side, 11K, which I agreed and the F/A helped me by carrying all my carryon items and stored them for me. They were very thankful, despite it was really not that big of a deal. A very good crew!

Flight information:
It was pouring at Singapore, as you could tell from my pictures, but doors were closed at 2:24pm and pushed back at 2:30pm. We took off from R/W20R at 2:50pm. Flying time was twelve hours and thirty-two minutes, and the routing first took us towards Malaysia and passing cities of Kuala Lumpur and Penang at 30,000feet, and then turning towards the Andaman Islands , and climbing to 32,000feet before entering India and passing cities of Bhopah, and into West of Multan, Pakistan. We then climbed to 35,000feet before entering Afghanistan and strangely back to 31,000feet before reaching Ashkhabad, Turkmenistan, and then returned to 34,000feet before reaching Baku, Azerbaijan, and then passing the cities of Tbilisi, Georgia (former USSR state) and Sewastopol, Russia. We climbed to 36,000feet, our final attitude, as we entered Romania, the city of Brno and Prague at Czech Republic, and into Germany. We began our descent at 7:48pm, and landed on R/W25L at 8:22pm, and parked at gate B48 twelve minutes later, which was next to an ANA’s Boeing 747-400 JA8095, heading back to Tokyo.

Beverage and meals:
There are two meals and snack on demand on this flight. A main meal (an abbreviated lunch service) was served after takeoff, and then around 6pm Frankfurt time, hot towels were passed out and dinner service began. Throughout the flight, a snack station with Ritz bits crackers, sandwiches, mixed nuts, Ferrero Rocher chocolate, Lays’ potato chips, and bananas, as well as stationary kits and playing cards. Three kinds of instant noodle soups were available throughout the night.

I have also noticed a few new items. First, for the first meal service, a bowl of mixed nuts (peanuts, almonds, and cashews) was served with beverage, instead of the usual package of mixed nuts. Second, the appetizer was served in a nicer china bowl/plate, and the F/As would come around with two choices of sauce and pour them on the side or over the appetizer, as requested. It was very fancy and first class! Third, the entrees were also a bit heartier.

Here is the wine list and menu transcript:
Business Class
Wine List
Champagne
Charles Heidsieck

White Wines
Weinhaus Ress Riesling Kabinett 2005 Rheingau
Montagny Premier Cru 2005 Laboure-Roi

Red Wines
Chateau Batailley 1998 Pauillac
Rive Barbera D’asti Il Cascinone 2003 Araldica, Piemonte

Port
Dow 2001 Late Bottled Vintage Port Portugal

Singapore to Frankfurt
A Savory Note
Duck foie gras with apple and mesclun
We got a choice of a lemon based vinaigrette or a balsamic dressing

The Main Event
Seafood Noodle Soup
Egg noodles in rich broth garnished with prawns, fish, scallops and vegetables
I had the noodle soup, which was very delicious.

Lamb shank braised in red wine with peperonata and gratin potatoes

Thai style chicken curry with pineapple, spiced eggplant and steamed rice

A Sweet note
Viennetta ice cream with mango coulis
It was a very nice dessert.

A Connoisseur’s Choice
Gourmet Coffee
Selection of tea

Light bites
Noodles
Fish Ball broth with kway teow or bee hoon noodles
Prawn Noodles with soup
Vegetarian and non-vegetarian instant noodles

Sandwiches
Smoked ham in focaccia bun
Smoked tuna in onion ciabatta
Oriental vegetarian ciabatta

Snacks
Roasted mixed nuts
Ferrero Rocher chocolate
Ritz bits
Potato chips
Kjeldsens cookies
Bananas

Dinner
To Nibble on…
Satay
With onion, cucumber and spicy peanut sauce
There was a choice of chicken or beef satays, and I like the new presentation!
A Savory Note
Sundried tomato-orzo salad with marinated scallops and greens
Balsamic herb dressing or Singapore dressing infused in shallot oil with sambal, lime and honey

The Main Event
*Pan roasted Muscovy duck breast with natural jus and shredded duck confit-risotto
Exclusively created by Gordon Ramsay, London

Tournedos of beef in roasted shallot jus, asparagus with Hollandaise sauce and mashed potatoes

Baked fish with sambal sauce wrapped in banana leaf, spiced vegetables and steamed rice

Stir fried prawns in preserved black bean sauce, sugar snap peas, cauliflower, carrots and rice vermicelli
I like prawns and this entrée was very nice.

A Sweet Note
Dark Chocolate crème brulee with mixed berries
Good dessert again… but can SQ serve some cake or pastries type dessert? I had a feeling that it was cheaper to serve pudding or mousse, than cake!

The Cheese Board
Gourmet Cheese with garnishes
Selection of emmenthal, caprice des dieux, and rambol walnut served with Carr’s crackers and grapes

Fruit
A selection of fresh fruit
Grapes, bananas, plums, pears, and apples

A Connoisseur’s Choice
Gourmet Coffee
Selection of tea
And Pralines

SQ 326QA SIN-FRA (LM/D) 115-1.2 10-12RC

Service:
The F/As were extremely kind on this flight, and this particular F/A kept on offering me various items, such as making me a nice cup of Chamomile tea to help me go to bed, and all F/As were out there serving drinks and asked if you wanted a snack. Even for SQ standard, this flight was definitely above average.

Arrival service:
Well the flight arrived at the gate on time but the bags did not come out till thirty minutes after arrival. The original baggage claim seemed to suffer some technical problems and that was why the bags came out late. The premium bags still came out on the original baggage claim, while the economy bags came out on the baggage belt next door. However, no announcement was ever made by the SQ uniformed staff standing there during the whole time, and the technician just yelled out something on German (despite the majority of the passengers were Germans, some of us did not speak German!) So it was a rather sad end to a good flight.

Conclusion:
Congrats SQ on a really comfortable and innovative business class product! The new meal presentation is nice, but I actually wonder if it makes more sense to serve the full meal shortly after takeoff, rather than prior to arrival, when it was midnight at Singapore local time. The main meal was still very hearty with three full courses, but it was easier to serve prior to arrival. I also like the enhanced snack selections for these long flights.

Carfield

mad_atta

Nice report, Carfield. I'd be curious to hear a bit more about why you like the seats so much. I tried the A380 mockup that was touring Sydney recently, which had the (virtually identical) business class seats and I wasn't all that impressed from a comfort perspective. It didn't seem like there would be a huge amount of room for sleeping. The width is certainly impressive, but I'm not sure how you would put all that width to good use... It also didn't seem to offer as much privacy as (say) the Virgin/Air NZ suites, which are my personal favourite of the current generation of business class seats out there (though I haven't tried very many).

The amount of stowage space and the entertainment / PC system do look very impressive though

polo123

thanks for posting the trip report.

das

Thanks for this report! I agree with you that serving the larger meal after takeoff makes more sense, but both meals seem fairly complete. BTW one other difference I noticed in the 77W service is that the cheese course is carved on the trolley, instead of pre-plated.

I like the Business seats on the 77W, my only complaint is that the seats aren't especially comfortable for lounging. I found the legrest fairly useless because it can't extend, and just rested my feet on the footrest (which is the end of the bed). But I like the flat sleeping position and the privacy of the 1-2-1 configuration, and, of course, all the different nooks and crannies to store things.

Again thanks for posting. :-)

Carfield

Haha... I guess I really like SQ seats after flying the horrible new herringbone seats featured by CX and AC. Just kidding... I think it is really down to personal preference, and the main reason that I really dislike the herringbone seats are the angle of the seat and a window seat really does not mean much. Virgin's seats are okay (and I actually really like the flipping design because the bed side feature a very comfortable mattress type pad!) and VS also does not cramp as many seats as possible as CX.

I also thought of the same thing as you before flying it. You still need to sleep at an angle and there does not seem to have much headroom, but after flying the actual seat, there are actually more room for sleeping. I am around 5'10" and 190lbs, and my head is big... and I still feel very comfortable sleeping and got a nice three hours sleep on a daytime flight, which is a lot in my book.

It is a business class product, and I think there will be places where we will all need to compromise and different people have different things that he or she is willing to sacrifice. I think SQ seats, IMHO, fit my liking the best, and the lounge style chair is great and I can see clearly out the window, (not to mention the good amount of natural light), and the sleeping position is also very comfortable. On the other hand, CX seats offer a bit more privacy, but yet the seat partitions are just too high and the seats just compromise too much on the width or the open-air feeling. But some people don't mind! So it is up to you.

Also, the J class on the A380s, despite with the same design, actually supposedly give you more legroom. (a few inches extra).

Give it a try in reality and see how it goes! If you ask me, I like SQ's new generation business class seats the best now (but of course, I have yet to fly BA's NCW and also Jet Airways' Business class on the 77W, which suppose to feature a very nice design as well).

Carfield

violist

Thanks, Adrian!