SQ966 SIN-CGK
Boeing 777-200
December 25, 2013
Scheduled: 18:40-19:25
Actual: 18:57-19:21
Seat 1F
I made it to the boarding gate just about 40 minutes before departure, and the flight was not quite ready for boarding. I sat around for about another 10 minutes before boarding was called for First and Business Class passengers.
Once on board, I was greeted immediately by the lead attendant, a beautiful Singapore Girl who offered to help me with my luggage. I declined, and she brought over a massive stack of magazines, all of which I also declined. Then she offered me a choice of drink. I grinned lightly and asked for some Dom, which she brought over in a flash and also confirmed I had my BTC Lobster Thermidor waiting for me. While waiting for other passengers to board, we had a chat about my plans in Indonesia, and I told her that I would be scuba diving in Gili Trawangan and doing New Year’s in Bali during the trip. She never let my glass even be half empty, bringing the bottle of Dom over and topping it off when it was half-full.
To my surprise, she pulled out 2 scuba diving magazines from that massive stack and told me to enjoy my flight. Now, this truly felt like the legendary SQ First Class service I have been hearing about! The hard product was very outdated and looked like it was from the 80s, but it was still very well maintained. For such a short flight, it was still plenty comfortable. The cabin crew was very friendly, and the ISM also came by to introduce himself, making some small talk about my travel plans in Indonesia.
As boarding continued, 2 more passengers would join. Before the door was about to close, an apparently very important gentleman in a wheelchair was escorted onboard by no fewer than 7 domestic workers, who all in unison help him to get on the seat. For a moment, I was dreading the idea of the cabin having 10 out of 12 seats filled, but his helpers were actually seated in Y.
Like my previous flight, pushback and taxi were very efficient once the doors closed and we were off the ground in under 15 minutes into a beautiful sunset. Once the chime went off, the cabin crew sprang into action again. Drink orders were taken from other passengers, but with me there was no need. The graceful attendant could see by the look in my face that I was longing for more Dom, and she brought the glass and bottle over.
Suddenly, she said “are you sure you’re old enough to drink, Mr. tng11?" in a joking manner (I’ve learned to appreciate it when people underestimate my age these days - I’m in my mid 20s, but on days when I look less scruffy, I easily look like I’m in my teens.) After another hot towel, my table was set and the Lobster was brought out just about 15 minutes in the flight.
I think SQ’s BTC Lobster Thermidor has to be one of the most famous First Class meals out there. Even though I was bursting at the seams after the feast in the TPR, I was still excited to dig in.
Maybe I had built it up too much in my mind, but I found it disappointing. It was somewhat dry (not unlike the one in the TPR) and just tasted bland all around. The meat didn’t have much flavour, nor did the sauce. I will give credit for the portion being quite large though. The garlic bread was excellent however, and I opted for seconds and thirds. Maybe it was the Dom, but it was too hard to be disappointed as I kept pouring glass after glass down my throat, while getting refills within seconds.
Once the main was cleared, I opted for some fruit from the basket.
After finishing the fruit, I was beginning to feel a bit tipsy from all the Dom. As the attendant walked by, she asked if I would like more Dom. I said I was fine for now, and she said “It’s Christmas Day! I know you want some more!” I nodded and she continued to fill my glass up. She also brought over a bottle of Evian.
Meanwhile, I completed the Indonesian immigration card and went through the magazine that was offered to me earlier.
In what felt like minutes, we were already beginning our descent into CGK. I managed to polish off the entire bottle of Dom, as no one else in the cabin was drinking. Now, even though only one bottle of Dom pales in comparison to macabus’ 7 - keep in mind that I only had about 2 hours to drink the entire bottle, and I weigh just about 130 lbs!
As we landed in CGK, I was basically stumbling off the plane. The crew wished me a Merry Christmas again and wished me a pleasant stay in Indonesia. I was able to make it to the VOA counter quickly, dropping off my $25 USD and got to the immigration queue before it filled up. At first I thought my inebriated state might cause some problems with Indonesian immigration, but there were no problems. Only complaint I have is the visa sticker took up a full page of my passport (it was placed dead center on a brand new blank page.)
The wait at the baggage claim was a lot longer than I expected. Firstly, the ground handling at CGK was slow, and there were lots of passengers crowding around the belt. There were also lots of First Class tagged bags (lots of PPS Solitaires from what I could see on this flight.) and mine was the last before Business Class bags started coming out. Ignoring all the touts and “escorts”, I pushed my way through the customs line like the locals did. It was almost 8pm before I arrived at the curbside, which was longer than it normally takes for me to get through immigration/claim my baggage even when flying Y at HKG. Clearly, CGK is not a hub of efficiency in Asia!
Verdict: even though the hard product was disappointing, the rest of the flight was enjoyable. I booked this as a small taster of SQ F, as it is one of the few flights that are bookable outside of Krisflyer, and was glad I got to enjoy TPR access as well as the on-board service. However, this meant I had to do an overnight layover in CGK, and buy a separate domestic flight to my ultimate destination, which was Bali. In retrospect, I would have much preferred to fly direct to DPS in regional J than do this terribly convoluted routing.