The next part of this report starts in a new year. It’s now 2013, and I’m returning to Melbourne for my final year of undergraduate studies. I generally fly down under about a week before school starts, to give me enough time to get things in order, buy textbooks etc. I’m once again booked in economy, seat 18A selected months beforehand.
No upgrade email arrives in the days leading up the flight, and I’m not exactly expecting one either. Flights to Melbourne during this period are generally full, again due to the flood of students heading back to school. I proceed with online check-in 24 hours before the flight, and everything is still showing as economy.
I’m busy with errands in the morning and early afternoon, and I check my flight details online at 5pm, and it now shows 7J – Business Class. Again, step one complete – Economy to Business. I certainly don’t expect another upgrade. I am fully aware of what is within the realm of possibility, and a double upgrade certainly isn’t. The thought doesn’t even cross my mind. I get my bags together, and leave for the airport with my family. I check libhomeradar and find out that the flight will be operated by A6-EBY, an older 77W which doesn’t have ICE Digital Widescreen, and I gripe about not being able to make my own playlist on the drive to the airport.
I get to the airport, check-in at the business class counters (owing to my Skywards Silver status), bags are priority tagged (it was nice of the agent to do so, op-ups normally do not get their bags priority tagged), and I am handed a boarding pass saying 7J with no lounge invitation (op-ups do not enjoy lounge access either). My family and I head upstairs to the Paradise Inn Restaurant to have a nice dinner before I fly off. After dinner, I pass through immigration and browse the duty free shops before heading to the gate. I’m looking forward to having a nice supper onboard, and then to sleep until the flight arrives in Melbourne.
Security at Changi Airport is done at the individual gates, and passengers from the earlier leg from DXB have formed a queue and it’s long… F and J passengers can use a premium lane to bypass the queue and that’s exactly what I did. Security is generally trouble-free, and now it’s to the gate agent to scan my BP. She takes my BP and scans it, and the scanner flashes red. I panic internally, thinking that I’ve been thrown to the back of the bus. The agent starts fiddling with the keyboard, and I glance over at the screen. The last line of text on the screen now shows ‘Shift to 2K’ or something along these lines. A short cabin breakdown: F is in rows 1 & 2, J is rows 6 – 11, and Y is row 17 onwards. I am doing mental fistpumps at this point, and the agent uses a pen to scratch off 7J and writes 2K below. Second step complete – Business to First. I’m pretty much over the moon at this point, wondering whether this luck would be better used in buying lottery tickets as opposed to cabin upgrades on 7 hour flights.
I call my older sister, who was .....ing during dinner about never getting upgraded before, and rub this new development in her face – let’s just say her response would give those screaming goats from the Taylor Swift videos on Youtube a good run for their money. She passes me over to my mother whilst screaming that life isn’t fair. My mother tells me to enjoy it while it lasts, wishes me a safe journey and tells me that her favourite TV show (Rizzoli and Isles) is on and that I’m disrupting her viewing pleasure. Gee thanks mum, great to know how high on your list of priorities I sit…
Boarding is soon called, and I’m among the first to get up and pass through the doors onto the aerobridge. Almost all gates at Changi have at least 2 aerobridges, and the first aerobridge is connected to the L1 door. It is ‘guarded’ by a Dnata agent to allow only F pax through, and he waves me on when I indicate that I intend to use this aerobridge. I have to explain that I have been moved before he relents. He probably fancies himself as Gandalf saying ‘you shall not pass!’
Date: 23/02/13
Route: SIN-MEL
Flight: EK404
Reg: A6-EBY (Boeing 777-36N/ER)
Seat: 2K
I reach the aircraft door, where I am welcomed onboard by the Filipino purser Jerome. He takes my bags and walks me to my seat, also introducing me to the 2 male flight attendants joining him in F, one from Germany and the other from Hong Kong.
A6-EBY is an older 77W than the one I flew on in the first part of this report. It was recently refurbished, hence the new electronic window shades, but it retains the older Panasonic S3000 ICE system, and lacks the newer cabin features such as the high ceiling in the F cabin. I was offered a welcome drink, and 2003 Dom Perignon is the drink of choice, Moet Chandon Brut Imperial was the other champagne option available.
Amenity kits, pyjamas and slippers are offered as well.
The cabin feels noticeably smaller, largely in part due to the lower ceiling on this older aircraft, but the mood lighting and starry sky effects mitigate this somewhat.
Soon, boarding was completed, all 3 classes at 100%, and we pushed back for departure. Hot towels were offered (I neglected to mention this in the earlier leg, but there were too many towel offerings to keep count)
AF257 to CDG at the next gate
It was a long taxi past Terminal 3, over the South Cross taxiway to runway 02C.
We departed towards the north, before making a right turn towards the southeast. The SOP was followed, with the purser announcing the languages spoken by the crew, and thereafter coming round to release the suites from their ground mode, and then serve some warm nuts and drinks. I requested to switch out the warm nuts, and my request was promptly dealt with, and a saucer of chips was served shortly after. I also consumed drinks from the minibar.
