FLYGVA

Thank you for the great trip report and the awesome pictures. ^^

matthandy

Thanks flyhen.

Thank you UA_Flyer, yes, I am very pleased with the photos of the hotel too, it's very well furnished.

Thanks lsed. Yes a few people mentioned that to me, but I didn't think about it at the time.

Thanks airbus320.

Well, it's a luxury hotel, I've paid more previously, and I was happy with my stay overall.

I hope that you had a good time!

Believe me, it's not something that I can afford to do all the time, but I felt that it was worth it for a quick break.

Thanks very much both. I use a Nikon D800 DSLR which was one of the best sensors currently available on the market.

Sorry to hear about the smog, yes, I was quite lucky to avoid it. Looking forward to seeing your TR.

I agree, the photo was rather naff, luckily I was able to skip it.

Thank you Seat 2A!

Thank you sdemw.

Must be quite a differnent lifestyle in Singapore compared to the UK!

Thank Jon_Heng.

Thanks Kagehitokiri, I don't really know what the tipping culture is in Asia. To be honest, tipping (well, expected/forced tipping) is not a concept that I am a fan of.

Thanks hassanal. I shoot with a Nikon D800.



Thanks Babykings, you need to get out an explore although maybe the F1 weekend isn't the best time to do that.

Thanks johnnie69.

Wishing you a great trip!

My previous camera before the D800 was a D300, it's quite a difference! I'm very pleased with it and have no regrets about giving up my D300.

Sorry to hear that LH4116. I hope that it didn't ruin your trip too much.

Thank you Digital01. I'm planning to put together the next part soon.

Thank you very much FLYGVA.

matthandy

Singapore Airport and the New Qantas Singapore Lounge

The taxi to the airport was reasonably quick, even for a weekday afternoon and I was soon in the main check in hall at T1. I'd heard stories previously about a special check in area for F and J passengers but hadn't really seen it before. As I made my way towards the BA check in area I saw a sign directing me to a small area towards to the back of the check in hall. I showed my itinerary to the chap who was at the desk in front and he then took me into the room and ushered me to one of the desks, explaining to the agent which flight I was on that evening.

The premium check in area is a small room with a row of check in desks providing a one on one check in experience. Passengers are seated at the check in desk and then the formalities are taken care of by the agent. Boarding passes are issued and bags checked in. In short, everything that you'd do at a normal check in desk but in private, and seated.

Qantas and BA check in desks


The view from my seat during premium check in

To be honest, I didn't really see the point of it and it was more of a novelty for me. Perhaps if you had a large number of bags or valued your privacy it might be worth it.

Note that this where the premium offering stops. There is no fast track/premium immigration and no fast track security either (a real bug bear of mine but we'll get to that later). I find this unusual as many other airports offer this to their premium passengers. At BKK for example you even have separate immigration and security for F and J passengers. Even at Nadi airport in Fiji (a tiny airport in comparison to SIN) this is available. I'm really not sure why SIN does not offer this.

Anyway, after going through immigration I stopped off at the duty free shop to pick up some Grey Goose which was then handed over to the airport staff where it would be delivered to me at the gate. I then made my way to the lounge, via the large windows overlooking the apron. I was able to see an aircraft that I've never seen before, a 737-900 as well as a surprising number of Qantas aircraft.

Lion Air 737-900ER


Finnair A340-300

As some of you may know, Qantas and BA used to share lounges at SIN but now they have fallen out the situation has changed. Whilst still maintaining the Oneworld access policies, BA have taken over the old First lounge and turned this into a joint First and Business lounge and Qantas have completely renovated and overhauled the old Business lounge for Business class passengers (Qantas no longer offers First to and from Singapore).

I was very keen to visit the new Qantas lounge as it had recently opened to rave reviews. I didn't bother visiting the BA lounge as I'd been there several times previously when it was the First lounge and apparently not much had changed.

I was in for quite a shock upon entering the Qantas lounge, wow, what a difference! My boarding pass was scanned by the slightly moody lounge agent and I was informed in an unfriendly manner that no announcements would be made for my flight. My guess is that Qantas isn't too keen on having to host all of the Oneworld passengers on other carrier's flights. Oh well, that's just tough.

The lounge has been completely opened up into reasonably well defined sections. Upon entering the new fully manned bar is on your right and the central area is now used for seating. Continuing forward the old food area still remains but has been opened out into a café style dining area. There are long shared tables, granite worktops and chefs freshly preparing dishes from the menu which is available on the tables. It really did have a great atmosphere about it.

Welcome to the Qantas Singapore Lounge


Seating and the bar


The bar


Bench top seating looking away from the bar


Chefs freshly preparing dishes


Bench top seating


Café style dining


Buffet


Buffet dishes


More seating


More seating and work benches


Wine bucket

matthandy

I found a seat in the large seating area towards the rear of the lounge. Conveniently, there were a number of single chairs with power points and a small side table that would make it easy to charge a phone or your laptop.

I didn't get a chance to the try the food but from what I saw it did look very good, as good as what you might expect to get in First Lounge in Sydney or Melbourne and similar in style, with the emphasis on keeping things simple but flavoursome.

The lounge was rather busy and noisy and with only one person serving at the bar it did take a while to get a drink, a vodka and diet coke. The bar man was lovely but rather overworked. There was an excellent selection of spirits and wines to choose from however I was disappointed to see that sparkling wine rather than Champagne was available.

I returned to my seat and spent about 45 minutes to an hour browsing the fast Wi-Fi before deciding to head off to the gate. I think it was C10 which required a reasonable walk from the lounge. I arrived at 6.20pm which is 55 minutes before the aircraft was due to depart, arguably a little early.

Belvedere and diet coke


Looking down from the lounge mezzanine level

Singapore airport has a terrible system when it comes to departure gates and security if you ask me. Due to the fact that technically the majority of the airport is landside, you have to go through security at each gate. Therefore, passengers are encouraged to get to the gate early, hence my decision to leave the lounge a lot earlier than I would have done had it been an airside lounge.

I arrived at the gate area to find a long queue. As I was travelling in First I had expected there to be a priority/fast track queue but there was nothing to be seen. It took a good 10 minutes or so to get through security, with the usual ditherers slowing everything down.

As I entered the gate area I noticed that the crew were just arriving, some 45 minutes prior to the scheduled departure time, meaning that there was a strong likelihood that we'd be delayed. I also struggled the find a seat as the gate area was packed. Another negative point regarding the presence of gate security in that I'd have stayed longer in the lounge if I'd known that I'd be packed into a crowded gate area for half an hour instead.

G-STBF flying us to Sydney tonight

At 6.55pm boarding started. Now, this was a little embarrassing if you ask me. The agent making the boarding calls made it extremely clear to the 200 or so people sitting the gate area that only First Class would board at the moment. This meant that as I stood up it felt like the entire gate lounge was staring at me, there were also a lot of gate lice that got in the way as I made my way towards the air bridge. Really not a premium or even simply good gate experience.

Up Next

A brilliant flight back to Sydney with the most amazing crew that I've ever had, a foggy landing and a quick visit to the cockpit too.

ellielovesem

Great report as always Matt, looking forward to the final part.

Moomba

Nice updates matthandy. I just had some of the freshly cooked Thai Beef stir fry on offer in the QF Singapore Lounge and it was delicious.

Have now decamped to the BA lounge where I can see they have done absolutely nothing since taking it over. It still looks the same as the old QF F lounge.

Surprise, surprise the hot food is a curry. How very English.

jackrussellterrier

I was in the Qantas lounge today for the first time on the way to HKG on CX. Totally agree its a fantastic lounge and kept having to remind myself it was a business lounge. It was a quiet time in mid afternoon but the staff were proactively inviting me to have a drink or have some food - really great. Better service than CX and BA in their F lounges at home ports for me. Agree with Moomba that the BA business lounge has not changed except the wines were awful last time I was in there in May! I suppose its only benefit maybe that its quiet as anyone who knows will go to the QF lounge at least to eat and drink and then go to the BA lounge to wait out until the flight is called!

jackrussellterrier

also agree Matt that the gate security in SIN really is living in the last century! I experienced exactly the same today with my CX flight. For a so called top airport its not good enough especially for premium passengers.

Looking forward to the last part.

Genius1

Nice update with more super pics, matthandy ^

I quite like the SATS Premier check-in area at SIN - it looks to have had a refurbishment since last time I went through. I seem to recall going through a separate immigration/boarding pass check directly after departing the premier check-in area last time (completely separate from the main bank of desks). Maybe that's changed now.

The new QF lounge looks very nice indeed. They've certainly taken many of their design cues from their F lounges in SYD/MEL it would seem. Very impressive for a J lounge.

Looking forward to the final part.

000

Great TR so far (as usual!). Looking forward to the rest.

I really don't get the hype about SIN at all... sure, it's very efficient, but the at-gate security without any fast track is a nightmare (especially to then be stuck in a gate pen whilst waiting to board). Why it wins so many awards escapes me...

matthandy

British Airways First Class – Singapore to Sydney

As I made my way down the air bridge I had no idea of what was awaiting me. This was to be a flight with the best crew that I've ever experienced, the most professional, hard-working, friendly, caring and simply relentless crew that I've had the pleasure of being served by.


Singapore to Sydney – British Airways First Class

Flight: BA15
Carrier: British Airways (BA)
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER – G-STBF
Scheduled Departure Time: 19:15
Scheduled Duration: 7h 55m
Scheduled Arrival Time: 05:10
Travel Class: First
Seat: 2K (seat plan)

At door one I was greeted by the First purser, by name and with a 'Welcome on board' I was directed to my seat. Like a carefully executed manoeuvre the purser returned to the door to greet the next passenger and not less than two seconds after she left my seat her colleague was offering me an amenity kit and pyjamas and asking me what I would like to drink as well as making polite small talk and getting to know me a little. Brilliant.

As I settled in and more passengers arrived in the cabin my Champagne was delivered as well as some water as I wanted to stay hydrated whilst still enjoying the service on offer.

Having a look around it was clear to me that 2K was a much better choice than 1K last time. It was further from the galley and staggering of the other seats in the cabin made it all very private.

The seat behind me, 3K


Next door neighbour, 3F


The BA Logo


My view


A calming glass of Laurent-Perrier Grand Sičcle


Socks! Matching the BA First colour palette

The crew member who had served my Champagne returned to offer a newspaper shortly followed by the purser who addressed me by name and presented the menu to me.

At this point the Captain made an announcement to explain the delay in boarding. As it turns out there were abnormally strong tail winds expected giving us a short flying time of 7 hours and due to the curfew at Sydney, we wouldn't be able to land as we would arrive too early. Therefore, we had to sit on the ground for about an hour and wait. No problem for me, more time for Champagne.

The male crew member was very active at keeping everyone's glasses topped as the purser made her way around the cabin to take dinner orders so that they could get straight into the service after take off.

Here is the menu:

The menu looked rather good. I ended up choosing the salmon to start and then the schnitzel. I realise that this was an odd choice and in hindsight, it was. It did however seem quite popular in the cabin. When taking my order the purser used my name which was great but more importantly, offered the salad and soup as well which some crews fail to do.

An hour after our scheduled departure time the Captain announced that we'd be pushing back very shortly. The hour delay wasn't really an issue for us in First as the wonderful crew kept the top ups flowing.

After take off, the crew jumped straight into the service by offering hot towels. The purser then came around to take drinks orders. I decided to have some water for now and then this was served with warm glazed nuts which were delicious.

Amazing glazed nuts

My table was laid about 40 minutes after take off. The purser asked me if I'd like something to drink and I asked her to make a suggestion. She put forward the forward the white Burgundy, which was lovely.

Dinner started with a rather generous amuse bouche of smoked salmon, which was followed ironically by more salmon.

Amouse bouche with a glass of white Burgundy


Smoked salmon starter

The starter was great although it was a bit odd that the amuse bouche was actually much larger than the starter serving.

matthandy

Mushroom consommé


Veal schnitzel


Warm sponge pudding with passion-fruit coulis

The mushroom consommé was served next and it was excellent. It was quite light but flavourful. The main was served next, the schnitzel. As expected, it was a bit of an odd choice. It was nice, but not exactly first class. I then followed this up with the warm sponge pudding with a passion-fruit coulis.

Absolutely stuffed I decided to try to get some sleep. As my table was cleared away I asked for my bed to be made up before slipping to the loo to get changed into the provided pyjamas. On my way back, the male crew member spotted me and asked if he could fold up my clothes for me which was very nice of him.

Just before I settled down the purser asked me if I would like to be woken up for breakfast, to which I said yes.

I settled down and was able to get a few hours sleep. The cabin was quite warm but I found that taking off my socks and rolling up the pyjama bottoms made things a bit more bearable.

I woke up as the cabin lights came on and almost immediately was approached by the purser with a nice hot towel to help me wake up. The purser offered breakfast and as I wasn't sure she was kind enough to run through the options. I decided to have some yoghurt, with some honey and a warm croissant. I followed this with some cornflakes.

Breakfast – yoghurt with honey

With about 40 minutes to landing the Captain made an announcement about the situation at Sydney. As some of you may know, Sydney has a problem with fog during the winter months. Unlike a number of other major international airports, Sydney does not have appropriate automated landing instrumentation to allow aircraft to land in fog. Therefore, diversions are common in foggy conditions.

The Captain told us that the airport was fog bound and at the moment, the weather was fluctuating between us being able to land and having to divert to Melbourne. The Captain said that we would continue our approach into Sydney and assess the situation when we were closer.

After clearing breakfast away I packed everything away for landing into Sydney. The seatbelt sign went on at about 10 minutes before landing.

The landing itself was fine although the cloud was very low. I suppose that we were lucky that we didn't need to divert.

As I got up to leave the aircraft I noticed that the First Officer was standing in the galley talking to one of the First crew members. I also noticed that the cockpit door was open so I asked if I could go in to take a photo. This was met with "no problem!" and I was escorted in to meet the Captain who relinquished the right hand seat for me which was nice!

A visit to the cockpit of this rather new 777-300ER

We had a little bit of a chat and then the Captain took my photo before I said thank you and headed back into the galley area. The purser was waiting there, saying good bye to the passengers and I thanked her for a fantastic flight before heading into the terminal.

Luckily, at 5.20am the airport was not busy at all. I was through immigration very quickly and with no bags to collect I headed straight to quarantine and was granted the privilege of 'lane 8' which meant that I sailed through with no x-ray required. A quick train ride home and then to bed for a few hours before getting up for work.

Verdict

My flight back to Sydney was rather good. I found 2K much more private than 1K and I would definitely choose that seat again. The food ranged from pretty good to ok but it's definitely not BA's strong point. The crew however were absolutely superb and made for a very memorable flight. They were easily the most friendly, professional and hard working crew that I have ever experienced and I sent in two gushing 'Well Done' notes the next day. I do hope that the crew members get to read them directly.

Despite the delay it was a very enjoyable flight and certainly a good way to spend some BA Avios.

Overall Verdict

This was a great little trip and just what I needed. I would have preferred to have had another night in Singapore but it didn't work out that way. Singapore has changed a lot since I last visited and it now seems to have a lot more attractions than it used to. I still believe that there is plenty more to explore though.

The hotel was excellent although not the best that I have stayed at. I do believe that the staff could have been more attentive and could have had more attention to detail such as clearing up the used towels around the pool.

The room was great, extremely comfortable and luxurious. I welcomed the balcony too. Overall, I had a good stay at the Fullerton Bay and would certainly consider staying there again.

Until next time, thanks for reading……

Previous Reports

If you liked this report, you might also like to browse my previous reports:

- April 2013: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...kend-fiji.html
- Jan 2013: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...y-via-hkg.html
- June 2012: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...-cx-ba-ez.html
- May 2012: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...ge-sydney.html
- Mar 2012: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...s-syd-akl.html
- Jan 2012: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...turn-a380.html
- Dec 2011: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...ia-qantas.html
- Sept 2011: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...w-zealand.html
- June 2011: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...d-bangkok.html – BA Forum Trip Report of the Year 2011
- January 2011: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...r-qf-a380.html
- December 2010: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...tas-767-a.html
- November 2010: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...el-qantas.html
- September 2010: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...747-400-a.html
- May 2010: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...-business.html
- March 2010: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...a-wedding.html
- February 2010: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...eb-2010-a.html – BA Forum Trip Report of the Year 2010
- Nov–Dec 2009: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...y-pacific.html
- Feb 2009: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...d-lhr-jfk.html
- Nov 2008: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...rld-777-a.html
- Oct 2008: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...747-400-a.html
- Sept 2008 - My first TR: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...lub-world.html

stu1985

Great end to a fantastic report matthandy!

Excellent crews in F make all the difference - glad you experienced one of them!

Genius1

Very nice conclusion! The menu looked quite promising for that sector, although I agree the main you chose wasn't presented very 'first class' (although not really sure how they could change the presentation of that particular dish).

Are you planning to write up you final sector HKG-SYD from your Christmas trip report?

ellielovesem

Great report conclusion, thanks for writing.

I was thinking the same thing