Kiwi Flyer

Auckland to Singapore (AKL-SIN) on Singapore 777-300ER in business class

At the international terminal I was soon checked in to the next couple of flights. I double checked the boarding passes were showing the correct XX*G and PPS status to identify the correct mileage earning frequent flyer program (not NZ Airpoints and not SQ Krisflyer). You can't easily tell this from NZ-printed boarding passes and difficult to fix because Air NZ uses FQTV (frequent flyer program to credit mileage) and FQTS (frequent flyer program for status benefits) fields differently to Singapore Airlines. Generally this works well as the contract staff have been well trained over the years (there were some issues years ago when Singapore switched from their own check in staff to contract), but rarely you get a new staff member who is less familiar with the correct keystrokes.

Being a premium passenger on the daytime SQ flight I can use the pre-clearance immigration at the end of the check in hall nearest to domestic terminal. The redeye SQ flight does not provide this service. There is invariably no queue here and the Auckland airport staff who weigh carry on bags before immigration seem to leave pre-cleared passengers alone. So while the immigration process is not much quicker than the smartgate which I can also use, it is worthwhile. It also leads to shorter queues at security beyond immigration, unless you get stuck behind flight crews or airport shop staff. I avoided the "random" pat down and explosives swab and made my way to the lounge.

At this time of day the lounge is moderately full - full enough that there isn't much privacy but not so full that you can't easily find a seat to sit at or have to wait for a computer or shower room to become free. It is much fuller in the evenings and also first thing in the morning. Anyway I filled the time with some drinks, some FT and a quick freshen up before the flight. Ahead of boarding I left early to stretch my legs by walking the length of the main pier a couple of times before heading to gate 16 at the end of the "new" pier where boarding was now underway.

I had snagged my favourite seat - the bulkhead window seat in the forward mini cabin. This has more space since there is no seat in front (and the seat design normally tucks into the seat in front), meaning more leg room and screen is further away and at a better distance. The mini cabin (2 rows of 4) tends to be quiet - rarely is there much noise coming from first class ahead of the curtain and SQ cabin crew are always quiet in the galley behind the mini cabin.

Once again I had timed my flying to get the special SQ christmas menu. I've managed this a few years. As well as a special cover image there is a christmas-related main and dessert option for the main meal of the flight.

Otherwise the flight was typical SQ. I've flown several hundred thousand miles in SQ business class (and some more in first class) and I still enjoy every flight as much as my first. I'm not so enamoured as to suggest it is perfect, but it is very good and is very familiar to me - like a second home or the "local". On this route between Auckland and Singapore alone I've flown half a million miles on SQ!