We had a couple of hours to sample the delights of Changi Airport.

First we went to the SilverKris Lounge in T2. It's pretty dated now and fairly small. There was a good selection of hot food and it was tasty. The only beers available were Heineken in cans and Tiger on tap. There was plenty of soft drink and a small lonely tray of wine tucked in a corner. WiFi was good.

Interestingly lounge monitors did not display LX179 flight details, but terminal monitors (outside the lounge) did. I put this down to LX179 being a new flight as we were in about the second week of this flight recommencing.



We then went to SilverKris lounge in T3, jut to ensure a thorough TR for FlyerTalk. It's much bigger and more modern. The food was similar but with a much bigger selection and the same drinks as in T2. Whatever happened to the old bar, complete with bar tender who could whip up a Singapore Sling. This was a few years ago now and I think it was the old dark T2 lounge.

Arrived at gate T2 E22 just as boarding commenced. Priority boarding was available but didn't make a big difference. A quick headcount in the lounge area made me think this was a pretty full flight.

First impressions of the cabin are it is very light and bright, although not necessarily spacious. Everything is clean, neat and precise. The Swiss have a saying "tik tok". Just like a fine swiss watch, everything is precise. This flight was no exception.

Instead of sticking your boarding pass in your coat pocket, each seat has a timber coat hanger with your seat number on it.



Headphones (NOT noise cancelling), blanket, pillow, a refresher wipe and amenity kit were in place. This flight the amenity kit was a small tin that could later be used as a pencil case or similar.



Business Class 100% full. Champagne, orange juice and water offered. My TV screen which was much smaller than SQ had a vertical orange strip on it which later cleared up after take off when the system was rebooted.

Shortly before doors closed the purser asked over the PA if there was a doctor on board. No doctor volunteered themselves and from my seat I could see a passenger had had a fall before boarding and took a few minutes to decide to offload. The FA's provided comfort and some basic first aid.

Menus were then handed out and main course choice taken. Announcements were made in English, German and French then a Chinese pre-recorded announcement was played before the safety video in English was played. All before leaving the gate.

There was plenty of room on board, the staggered seat configuration worked very well, and later when laid 180 degrees flat the bed was extremely comfortable. I had read criticism that the seat was too firm and that the staggered layout created a small footwell when sleeping. I found the seat fine and there was plenty of room in the footwell for my size 15 plates of meat.





The seat also has a mood lighting option. Small lights illuminated the storage compartments making it easy to find things through the night without turning on the full reading light above you. A great idea!

Push back was about 10 mins late (maybe due to the offloading) and take off was at 23:30. It took 30 mins before the entertainment system came on and I found the flight info to be very good. Better than SQ. For example as you were approach a city information about that location would pop up on the screen.





The flight information would rotate between English, German, French and Chinese with lots of different graphics.

Meal service started from the rear of the cabin with 2 trolleys. 1 for food and the other for drink.















Entree was served on a plastic tray. Salmon and prawns which was really very tasty. It matched very well with the Swiss red (Pinot Noir) which was light but pleasant.



The polenta main dish was superb. I was worried because polenta can go gluggy and is not always nice when it's not fresh straight from the pot. What damage could a plane do to polenta? Well the answer in this case was not much. It was great and is recommended. (Sorry - no photo, it was looking too good not to eat straight away!)

Wine service was a little slow, but was more generous than on SQ.

Dessert was good and very well presented.



Meal service was done by 0100 (Singapore time) without being rushed. Bottled water handed out then I slept until 01:30 Zurich time (about 5 hours).

The tray table is a bit of a test first to find the button to eject it from the arm rest and second to get the angle right to fold it back in. But once you've been shown it all works well.

There was a small snack selection and even a hot meal available through the night and I had a good chat with an FA in the galley area.

On the IFE the choice of movies was good, but not as extensive as SQ.

There were only 2 toilets for business and I think first class. There was nearly always a queue. I don't know what these things are. I'm not a user of "product".



I do know what these things are:



Even after everything I ate on the SQ flight, in the lounges and for dinner on this flight I was hungry when breakfast service started about 2 hours prior to landing.

Plastic tray, no linen table cloth then a cold selection buffet of yoghurt, cheese, cold meats, bircher muesli, breads, bakery items plus coffee and a range of juices. Then a choice of an omelette or dim sum which were quite good and all together was more than sufficient to start the day.





It was all cleared away efficiently with about 70 minutes remaining. While eating breakfast the first rays of sun started to penetrate the cabin. Unfortunately forward and downward looking cameras were not working on this flight. Maybe somebody left the lens caps on.

Landed at 06:07 when it was a balmy 6 degrees (C) outside. Long taxi but at gate at 06:14.

In summary this was a very competitive product with SQ.

Seats : SQ's are definitely larger, but I can sleep very well in both
Cabin service : On SQ there are no trays - everything is brought out dish by dish, but the wine service was frugal. On LX they used plastic trays some of the time.
Food : LX takes this by a reasonable margin
Amenities : I still like an amenity kit, so this goes to LX
Metal : I do like the A380. Very quiet and smooth gives it to SQ

So for me, I'd be happy flying with either (until you read about my return trip on LX later in this thread).