timangus11

Agree with comments about the disappointing SQ lounges in Singapore. The food in particular even in the First Class Lounge has hardly changed over the years and needs a revamp.
There is always Harkow and SiewMai, vegetarian ee-fu noodles, large cut oranges, pineapples and watermelon..same old things.
The hot to-order selection is slightly better but I always avoid sitting near the cooking area if there is prata or risk smelling of the cooking for the rest of my flight.
They need to look at Virgin, Cathay First, Lufthansa First/Hon Sen and Qatar first as the yardsticks to aspire to..

demue

Even inflight, just did intra-Asia flights to DPS and back in J. Over 2.5hrs flight time so not like CGK or similar. They started clearing glasses about 1hr 15mins prior to touch down. No "would you like a top up" for the champagne and even a half full glass of water was just removed without asking. Main goal, seemed the crew being able to sit down 45 mins prior to landing with cabin ready. Wasn't like that in the past. YMMV.

vsepr

Will SIA continue to be a great way to fly? « Business « Opinion « TR EMERITUS

Observer:
August 20, 2019 at 10:29 am (Quote)Overrated airline where the cabin crew are nicer to ang mo passengers. No wonder FTs are bullying locals.

Rabble-rouser:
August 20, 2019 at 11:13 pm (Quote)@ Realistically:
Thank you, mate! Glad you still remembered the SIA history from over 16 years ago during the SARS epidemic.

I always believe that Private Sector initiatives were critical for the health of an economy, not brutal State Intervention & physical threats from a tyrant to cower people into giving concessions for the State Enterprise’s profitability.

In early 2000s Tony Fernandes met with M’sian PM Mahathir to lay down the beginnings of Air Asia, the first budget Airline in Asia. The rest as they say was history! M’sia became the 1st mover in today’s Budget Airline operator in Asia while S’pore & SIA are following behind in it’s slipstream eversince.

SIA around 2003 not only extracted concessions from their flight crew including pilots; but also brutally laid off many ground staff including Cabin Service Quality ground staff permanently. Emirates Airlines at that time snapped up those laid off SIA redundant staff to upgrade their own cabin service quality. Since then, Emirates Airlines had won many accolades for their cabin service quality for many years while SIA own cabin service quality actually declined year-on-year.

Today, expatriates now prefer travelling on Gulf Airlines (Emirates, Etihad, Qatar airways) for their corporate travel instead of being on SIA for the long haul trips.

Singapore_Air

Will you likewise be taking this approach ?

vsepr

Of course, needless to say.

If it's Business Class, choose the World's Best Business Class - Qsuite on Qatar Airways from Europe to SIN. Lots of extras like arrival lounge & better Al Mourjan Business Lounge in DOH, amenity kit, pajamas, Dine on Demand, turn down service, amazing food & diningware, professional & polite service like IFM & crew will greet you after take off and before landing, choice of hot/cold towels served on a towel plate, wine-tasting service & cheaper than Singapore Airlines hence value for $.

If it's First Class from Europe to SIN, choose Emirates for chauffeur service, shower & onboard lounge on A380s or from selected cities with the world's first 'Fully Enclosed' First Class Suite with a long list of amazing features that you will not believe! Emirates also have 15 minutes free massage in the F lounge in DXB. Emirates has the best wine list in the air with vintage wines from 1998 and exclusive cognacs like Hennessy Paradis. Only SQ's F coffee & tea drink list is better than Emirates and both EK & SQ no mother of pearl spoon for caviar, serves hot towels with a pair of tongs.


If it's First Class from London LHR & Paris CDG, Etihad's A380 First Apartment with showers and Arrivals Lounge is also another good option & 15 mins free massage in the F lounge.

Choose Singapore Airlines from Europe to SIN only for 1 purpose: If there is no time for transits and really need a direct flight to SIN!

cmd320

I don't really agree here. First of all, I would never purposely build in a transfer unless the product were significantly different which I don't really feel like any of these are with they exception of EY which is IMO significantly worse than EK/QR/SQ. The apartments are nice, but the soft product has gone way downhill on EY and IMO is almost more like a J product. I would even say QR's J soft product may be better than EY F in many ways. Beyond that though, I would much rather settle in to one flight for 12-13 hours rather than having 7 on one and 6-7 on another. To me that sounds horrible having only a short flight to eat/sleep and then having to deal with a transfers somewhere in the ME before having only another short flight to eat/sleep.

lokijuh

This is exactly right, many passengers paying for business class out of Singapore to Europe, especially on an overnight flight, prefer to travel non-stop. You can get a good uninterrupted sleep, vs waking in the middle of the night to land in the ME and transfer to another plane. This is why not only SQ, but also BA, QF, KL, AF, LH, LX, LO, AY and to a lesser extent TK all compete well on the routes from SE Asia to Europe, likewise TG, MH, VN, GA and PR out of their home ports. Of course a different scenario where SQ doesn't have this advantage, eg Australia-Europe , SE Asia - East Coast US and SE Asia- Africa traffic.

For routes which require a connection to a port in Europe not served non-stopb from SIN, I know of many people who would prefer to do a single hop via FRA, ZRH etc on the hub carrier (or SQ + hub carrier) than do the middle of the night stop in ME. Even in economy, I prefer the longer overnights to the middle of the night touchdown in the ME.

chisquared

These are just comments made by random people online. Are these really worth sharing here? Does anyone other than the OP care about what these people have to say?

I mean, I suppose the OP could be trying to use these random comments as evidence to support their position. However, given that one can find pretty much anything said online, I think that random comments on the Internet serve as really poor support.

At this stage, OP, I think you've said your piece, and that this thread has pretty much run its course. Your additional posts add nothing to the discussion. It's time to let this thread die.

stargold

You actually have to fly yourself in order to notice the small things that aren't highlighted in bold letters by airline marketing and bloggers. A lot of talk about other people's comments and links to YouTube videos, but very little factual input based on the OP's own experience of flying these products.

Makes me wonder how much experience the OP actually has, and the reason behind this seemingly compulsive need to trash talk SQ so much. Well, it's the end of school holidays soon...

SQTraveller

I do enjoy reading TR Emeritus every so often - livens up my boring day in the office

vsepr

I have flown on major airlines in First & Business Class like SQ, MI, CX, KA, QR, BR, CI, NH, JL, TG, MH, OZ, KE, BA, LH, LX and most recently first time in EK in First Class but not in Etihad Airways. I never trash talk SQ. What I said are facts. What good do I get to trash talk my own national airline? SQ really does not all the extras Qatar Airways and Emirates have. I used to adore SQ in the past like anyone of you, thinking that it is the world's best airline.I find it ridiculous that SQ keep getting voted the world's best airline SQ does not deserve to be in the top 3, the most deserving rankings should be top 5, but top 10 is confirm because SQ is still a good airline, but not amazing with so many things missing and it's getting arrogant and misleading.

I can give you 1 little factual input based on the my own experience of flying these products:
The way the cabin crew talk on Qatar Airways is very polished. Like when I ordered a 2012 red wine, the Malaysian crew replied " Sir, that's great choice!" makes you feel really special. Not like other airlines reply "Ok, sure", after that walk way *roll eyes* or give a dirty look.

vsepr

Ok, point taken. But at least there is freedom of speech here not like in other forums.

SQ325

Most expatriates have no choice because there travel policies are forcing them into ME3. I haven't met many corporate travelers who prefer a connecting flight over a direct flight for "Lots of extras like arrival lounge & better Al Mourjan Business Lounge in DOH, amenity kit, pajamas, Dine on Demand, turn down service, amazing food & diningware, professional & polite service like IFM & crew will greet you after take off and before landing, choice of hot/cold towels served on a towel plate, wine-tasting service".
The corporate world is ticking differently, budget is top priority in a lot of industries and therefore most travelers are ending up flying with airlines which the companies are booking for them. The product offering is the least concern.

You should also consider that what you find appalling, others may not find important after all. To me for example airline food is still airline food, it is manufactured (an airline catering company is a factory after all) to meet airlines operational needs rather than providing a "dining experience". Most airlines promote their meals using Top Chefs names in their menus, after all that's good marketing which obviously a lot of people fall for, the meal itself is not getting any better if they tag a chefs name to it. Therefore I skip meals in favor of maximizing my sleep on most flights.

I think we all got your point in regards to SQ, its time to move on.

lokijuh

I don't know why we are going over this again and again and again, but this year SQ was NOT voted the worlds best airline, at least by Skytrax. Qatar was. Get your facts correct.

Regardless of this ... why is it not ridiculous .... SQ realise that 2/3 plane is flying economy, so in voting stakes, they try to keep the economy passengers happy too. I can't think of a single person in my office when flying economy for business travel, who does not at least try and get on SQ rather than the alternatives. Whilst QR is probably quite good in economy, EK is not in the running, in my books, as lots of its flights are on 10 across 777s. SQ has stuck to 9 across. Interestingly though JL seems to be getting a lot of accolades in economy, perhaps for sticking to 8 across in the 787? Keen to try them for this reason alone.

Financially, Qatar seems to operate differently to many airlines. On the other hand, Emirates seems to be much like SQ in that it aims high, but you can see where they've drawn "a line in the sand" on lots of things (such as maintaining 7 across in business class on their 777-300ER, and still keeping 6 across in the 777-200LRs) , in trying to manage costs so they can generate a profit.

vsepr

Thanks for your reply!! My apologies!! I made a mistake in that line and I will go correct it.

"I don't know why we are going over this again and again and again, but this year SQ was NOT voted the worlds best airline, at least by Skytrax. Qatar was. Get your facts correct."

It should be: SQ does not deserve to be in the top 3, the most deserving rankings should be top 5, but top 10 is confirm because SQ is still a good airline, but not amazing.

But tripadvisor ranked SQ first this year. https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/TravelersChoice-Airlines

Anyway, I seldom fly Economy, so cannot comment. Thanks for your input!!