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SQ865 HKG-SIN 20APR08 (Booked)
SQ873 HKG-SIN 20APR08 (Switched)

Headless chickens in a zoo…
While I was in the queue for the passport control, I managed to log onto the Singapore Airlines website on my iPod Touch using the free wireless and found out to my absolutely horror that the equipment had changed to 777-300 (non-ER). This was exactly what I had feared all along, as the 747 flights seemingly have a tendency to suddenly be swapped with a B777-300 which, while it is probably fine for a short run such as HKG-SIN, is really quite unacceptable for a longer run such as SIN-MEL. In any case, I knew that I would have to think about what I want to do about this development when I reached the check-in desk to have my boarding pass issued.

After clearing immigration and customs, I made my way to the departures level and found the SQ check-in desks quickly enough. There was one person in front of me so I expected to wait no more than 5 minutes – this was not to be, since this person ended up taking more than 10 minutes. There was an overall feeling of chaos around the check-in areas, with service agents running around, passengers waiting around, passengers visibly being agitated by the waiting time and service agents feeling flustered.

Once it was my turn at the First Class desk, I made the decision to take the later SQ873 flight and just spend more time in Hong Kong. I knew they would most likely not have a problem with me switching the flight especially as the equipment was, quite frankly, severely downgraded on my originally booked SQ865. What also convinced me to switch was the fact that there were only two other passengers booked on this flight whereas the SQ865 was almost full in the SkySuites so the flight had almost 12 passengers, and I thought the service would be better on the quieter flight.

The switch itself was not the problem, but I found out that the process of actually moving me to the next flight can be, in the overall atmosphere of general chaos. It took roughly 15 minutes for the check-in agent to establish that she will not be able to give me my boarding pass straight away, as she could not track down the correct people who will offload my luggage from (or avoid it going onto) the SQ865. What made the process worse was that she didn’t quite manage the “swan on water” poise (i.e. elegant and composed on the outside, swimming madly under water) and instead managed to convey every bit of her own confusion and impatience. After the 15 minutes, she then asked me whether I could perhaps go away for 20 minutes and wait for her to sort it out in the meantime – well, I knew I wanted to take the later flight, and the friend I was meeting in HK didn’t mind waiting, so I waited on the bench just next to the desks typing some more of my trip report while she tried to resolve the situation. After the suggested 20 minutes (in fact, more like 30) I went back to the desk where she was now no longer there – I found her sitting at the Oversized Luggage counter helping someone else. That’s fine, I thought, although I was beginning to be mindful of the delay to my lunch with my friend. After a while, she realised I was waiting and went back and forth to the F/C desk, and after involving two other check-in agents, she managed to sort out everything… or so I thought.

She pressed “Print BP” and every time, the BP came out blank. She went to the next desk, and the BP was blank again. After trying this a few times, they (now a team of 3) decided the boarding pass would have to be hand-written. Ugh. Another few minutes trying to locate the older BP stock which is easier to write on. Half way through writing the new BP, yet another one of the colleagues came back triumphantly with the boarding pass for 2A. Finally! But no boarding pass for tomorrow’s connecting flight to LHR. The whole process took an hour and 15 minutes, which was really an hour too long. And having experienced the “moved flight, no bag” incident on the SIN-ICN leg, I wanted to make sure my bag would be loaded – I was asked to check at the desk when I return for my flight later in the day, whether the bag had been loaded or not.

Brief break in Hong Kong
So I finally went into town on the Airport Express (probably one of the nicest airport shuttle trains I’ve found, perhaps except the Shanghai Maglev just for the sheer cool factor!) and met my friend. We had a fairly unremarkable lunch at the poolside restaurant at the Grand Hyatt, had a fantastic mango dessert at the IFC mall, had a drink in a bar also at IFC with a nice view, and it was already time to head back to the Airport Express station after talking more or less non-stop for 4 hours. Oh, and continuing my reliance on alcohol for the day, a glass of Chardonnay and Chianti respectively were consumed during the afternoon.

Making my way through the airport
Once back at Chep Lap Kok, I made my way to the SQ desks again and approached a Business Class desk (mostly because the agent there seemed nicer) and asked about my bag. She told me it was going to be loaded and told me not to worry. But she couldn’t get through to the catering department so she couldn’t tell me whether my BTC lobster will be available or not – it seemed that I was going to be without any lobster at this rate!

Immigration and security were both relatively quiet, and I made the choice yet again to visit an inferior lounge based purely on convenience of location. I could have gone to the Virgin Clubhouse (and with a couple of hours to spare, I would have done) but it was only an hour until boarding time when I reached the Silver Kris lounge so there just wasn’t enough time to go all the way on the SkyTrain and visit the CH. Next time, I guess!

The sorry excuse of a lounge that is the SKL HKG
The SKL at HKG has got to be the single most substandard Silver Kris lounge I have visited so far, although that’s really only from a small sample of LHR, SIN, ICN and NRT. I was actually quite surprised just how poor the lounge was considering there are 5-6 flights a day. There was no view of any sort, the seating area was very generic and boring, the food offering consisted of some small nibble snacks and a particularly appetizingly described “Fried Oily Vegetable Noodles” (!) and the state of the toilet was just inexcusable. Oh, and since the toilet acted as a connecting corridor between the Business and First sections with no-one to keep watch, more and more people seemed to drift into the First section over time. Good thing that the only two things I wanted to achieve from that lounge was charging my laptop briefly and getting a bottle of water, because I don’t think it could have coped with anything more challenging.

More drama (-lite) at the gate…
30 minutes to go until flight departure, I went to the gate which was no. 16 today. The gate was an absolute zoo and the pre-boarding seemed almost finished, so I was keen to avoid the rush but thought it might be a good idea to check whether the bag had in fact made the flight. Surprise surprise, no it had not. The gate agent told me to wait around if I want to make sure my bag was loaded, and also told me there were now a total of 6 passengers in F now. I waited for another 10 minutes while everyone boarded the aircraft, then checked again. This time, 3 different gate agents all seemed to know which bag I was talking about, and told me it was loaded now. So I made my way to the dreaded 777-200.