Auckland to Singapore (AKL-SIN) Raffles (Business) Class on SQ 747, again, continued

I arrive at the airport in good time and while the 2 Raffles and 1 First check in agent are all busy there is no queue. I see one of them is new so I decide to wait in front of my favourite agent. However the new one finishes up first and I am directed to her. Several moments of tapping (I don't remember it usually taking this long) later out spits a boarding pass. It is looking promising, for the agent spots straight away the PPS double dip isn't going to work. However she struggles to get my FFP number in, even after getting assistance from a colleague. Eventually I end up with a boarding pass for the first flight that is correct, a boarding pass for the second flight that is incorrect (I'll sort it out in Singapore) and I don't even bother asking for the boarding pass for subsequent flights.

At the elite immigration desk I also encounter a new immigration officer - kiwi flyer do you know how the pre-clearance works, have you used it before? Yes just a few (dozen) times, thank you. Upstairs there is no queue at immigration but the security check has bad queue at all 4 WTMDs open at the moment, so that the small area between security and immigration is jammed full of people. I'm not sure what the issue was.

After a brief stop to get something from one of the shops I enter the lounge and get the usual friendly welcome. I have enough time to catch up on email and FT before my flight is called.

By the time I reach the gate boarding has already started but I'm quickly settling in my seat - yup got my favourite (other than first of course) once again, upper deck exit row window.

We push back on time and take off into the murk. Due to the cloud cover there is no view of Auckland and the coast which we'd normally get on this flight.

I noticed the hot towel has changed slightly, more rectangular and slightly coarser than before. Maybe I fly too much to have noticed such a trivial thing? Nah, no such thing as flying too much I reckon.

Since it is a month since my last flight on Singapore Airlines there are many new movies and tv shows on the Kris World entertainment system. So I spend the flight lazily mixing reading some overdue papers and watching some more movies.

I don't recall doing so, but at some point I must have dozed off since I found I'd been missed in the meal orders for dinner (the 2nd meal) and nearly didn't get my choice of mains.

With a flight time of 10 hours 20 minutes, this is much longer than rejuvenated's recent flight. There is considerable variation I find depending on winds, position of jet stream, and of course traffic/routing into Singapore.

For a change we pull up, not at the F50-60 pier but instead at E12.