f4free & airoli's First Class extravaganza - SQ/LH/KL/BA - Part I
May 3, 2003, 8:27 am
#17
Join Date: Dec 2001
Posts: 3,181
Airoli thanks for the report. MS/Egyptair fly to both Zurich and Geneva.
I am laughing about the Lobster Thermidor. About 20 years ago I flew on Pan Am in First from Honolulu to New York and we had a choice of Lobster Thermidor! I chose something else and regretted it. Sorry to sound like a peasant but what actually is Lobster Thermidor? Is it lobster with cheese???
I prefer BA Y than LX Y on long haul routes. The food in my opinion is better and though the legroom is tight, I like the headsrests that you can control.
Thanks.
I am laughing about the Lobster Thermidor. About 20 years ago I flew on Pan Am in First from Honolulu to New York and we had a choice of Lobster Thermidor! I chose something else and regretted it. Sorry to sound like a peasant but what actually is Lobster Thermidor? Is it lobster with cheese???
I prefer BA Y than LX Y on long haul routes. The food in my opinion is better and though the legroom is tight, I like the headsrests that you can control.
Thanks.
May 3, 2003, 9:18 am
#19
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Austria (Vbg)
Programs: LX SEN, BA Gfl/GGL, IC Dia, HH Dia, Hyatt LT GLOB
Posts: 1,585
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Bretteee:
MS/Egyptair fly to both Zurich and Geneva.</font>
MS/Egyptair fly to both Zurich and Geneva.</font>
May 3, 2003, 5:50 pm
#20
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Chicago
Programs: UA 1K, AA Gold
Posts: 3,640
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by airoli:
One negative aspect: I like to listen to music while at the same time watching the airshow. The only IFE system I know that allows for this is the one of LX. On the BA, LH and SQ systems, whenever I chose the airshow mode, the music would interrupt...
</font>
One negative aspect: I like to listen to music while at the same time watching the airshow. The only IFE system I know that allows for this is the one of LX. On the BA, LH and SQ systems, whenever I chose the airshow mode, the music would interrupt...
</font>
May 4, 2003, 2:40 am
#21
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: BNE/FRA
Posts: 720
Thanks for the advice. I was thinking about getting a hotel or do some sightseeing but I arrive at 7 at night and leave at 3 in the morning.
Also, I'm quite young and blonde and a bit worried about venturing out by myself. I wouldn't think twice about it in let's say Kuala Lumpur but a (blonde) friend of my parents nearly got abducted a few years ago in Cairo and a (half-Egyptian) friend of mine said I should probably skip going out on my own.
Also, I'm quite young and blonde and a bit worried about venturing out by myself. I wouldn't think twice about it in let's say Kuala Lumpur but a (blonde) friend of my parents nearly got abducted a few years ago in Cairo and a (half-Egyptian) friend of mine said I should probably skip going out on my own.
May 4, 2003, 12:20 pm
#23
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: CH, D, USA
Posts: 1,729
This is part two - featuring my additional comments on our LH and SQ flights from CAI to SIN as well as our ventures in Singapore itself. The third and final part, covering our LH flights from SIN to CAI and my KL flights back to ZRH, will follow soon ...
LH685 CAI-FRA 18/APR A320 3E Business (additional comments)
3E is a middle seat. On a shorthaul A320, with the same pitch as their dreadful Y.
!!! Needless to say that we definitely did miss that A340 F seat which was supposed to be the fabulous start our LH/SQ extravaganza... To make things even worse, my beef was rather dry and the meal generally below the standard KL had set on my inbound. Nevertheless, I don't regret our decision to take the earlier plane - the additional sleeping time at the Kempinski Gravenbruch really made up for it. I know those old Swissair A330s, and I am sure I didn't miss much by passing on C-class on the 4:15 departure from CAI.
While I have nothing to add in regards to the Kempinski, I will make a few comments on the lounges in FRA. Thanks to FlyerTalk, I wasn't expecting a lot. But I never thought the Senator Lounge halfway to the B4X gates would be this small, this crowded and this smokey. The air was already bad even though it was early in the morning. The only thing nice about it was the choice of sandwiches. I would prefer the round Business Class Lounges over this Senator and First Class Lounge anytime, even though the food selection is even more unremarkable. (I do like those coffee machines and beer tap machines, which are fun even though the coffee isn't that tremendous).
LH9762 (SQ) FRA-SIN 18/APR B747-400 2D First (additional comments)
More than two weeks after our first class extravaganza both the CAI-FRA and FRA-SIN segments haven't posted to my Mexicana Gold account yet. (SIN-FRA and FRA-CAI posted only 48 hours after boarding!) Considering the chaos and lack of professionalism encountered at Cairo, I really didn't expect this segment to post at all. But the FRA-SIN segment should be on there. I guess the gate reader problem (displaying "boarding denied") would be the cause of this. I do, however, wonder what set this off, since this had never happened to me before.
Since our SQ flight was excellently covered in detail by AirOli, I'll limit myself to a few remarks.
IMOP the SkySuite is very close to beeing the best seat in the sky. It definitely is the best-looking airplane seat I have ever seen. The nice beige leather with wood finishing reminded my of a nice Mercedes - and the seats were spotless! No stains, no scratches. The seems were perfect, and the table glided back all the way without a single noise. It was comfortable in all positions. On the downside, the seat could be a little bit wider (shoulder room for sleeping is rather small). I also missed a larger table and the option of eating dinner with somebody vis-a-vis (on an ottoman).
The catering quality was very good, extremely good even, but still not excellent. I enjoyed every part of my meal very much, and was really excited by the aroma and tenderness of the "Lobster Thermidor" (ordered through "book the cook"). In addition, I had opted to sample the "Lobster with Scallops" offered as a main meal choice. I was disappointed by this. While everything else was really good, the lobster was dry and almost tasteless, and the scallops tough. Should I ever have the priveledge of flying SQ first again, I will surely use the "book the cook" service once more.
To complement the goose liver, I ordered the Dr. Loosen Riesling Spätlese. It was a dream. With my maincourse I had the Chablis Domaine Laroche, which was also excellent. Later on, with the cheese, I sampled the Pommard Premier Cru - also a very good wine IMOP. I did like the white ones better, though. Oh, I almost forgot the champagnes. Both Krug and Dom Perignon are excellent, of course - but I did like the Krug a bit better. In a way, it seemed the Dom was a little too bubbly and slightly on the sweet side, for my taste.
I really came to love the Singapore Girls' service attitude. Always smiling, with a touch of american open-heartedness and humor, but as distinguished, elegant and forthcoming as can be. I found the service to be perfect.
For breakfast, I had two eggs sunny side up with mushrooms and bacon, as well as Bircher Muesli, fruit and yoghurt. The eggs were baked and not fried, therefore slightly dry. The mushrooms were delicious, but the bacon was also not as nice as on the ground. I did like the fruit very much, and unfortunately cannot remember the muesli and yoghurt ;-. I was very consistent on making sure that I got the Jamaican Blue Mountain Espresso, after dinner as well as for breakfast
. AirOli, you're right about the Krug for breakfast. We really shouldn't have missed out on that 
...
Singapore
After a wonderful shower in the very impressive and surprisingly large SilverKris First Class Lounge, a nice cappuccino and some samples from the warm breakfast buffet (bacon, sausages, soup, omelette, muesli, yoghurt, etc.), I greatly enjoyed the free wireless lan service for an obligatory check of FlyerTalk as well as my e-mails. The friendly gentleman from 2A was also in the lounge, waiting for his connecting flight to India, as we soon foung out. While the lounge is certainly nicely appointed, it does lack a nice view of the tarmac. In fact, the missing windows are the one negative point I noticed. I must say that the drink selection available at the bar (from what I saw strolling by) and the food selection are really well above standard. The only thing that could beat it would be a real sit-down restaurant. The showers are also excellent: clean, nice and practical. Soon after AirOli had received his belongings back, we were on our way to explore the city of Singapore.
What struck me first was the impressive cleanliness and luxurious architecture of the Singapore subway system. I really had the impression that I could (almost) eat from the floor. Luckily, we were able to stay inside airconditioned areas when we made our way from the City Hall subway stop to the Swissotel AirOli had booked for us. While accessing the hotel from the shopping mall in Raffles city was slightly complicated, the hotel lobby seemed recently renovated and was very spacy and elegant. Check-in was flawless, and we were upgraded to the "Raffles Inc." floor of the Raffles "The Plaza", clearly superior to the Swissotel room we had booked. Adjacent to the Swissotel, also inside the Raffles City complex, the "Plaza" seemed to be bran-new. After a slight mix-up with the room type, which was quickly resolved (we had explicitely repeated our request for two separte beds at check-in
), we freshened up for our first shopping spree.
Just in case you're interested in the room furnishings, I'll give you a quick description. The room was OK in size, and offered a desk with a high-speed lan hook-up for 30 SGD a day. The electric curtains and all the lights could be operated from each night table with a central operating unit, causing some confusion until we had the details figured out. A nice toy, but it needs getting used to. A really nice touch was the Lavazza espresso machine. The real highlight, though, was the bathroom. Except for the toilet and the bathtub, everything was glass. The shower featured a very large, fixed shower head mounted to the ceiling in addition to the usual removable one. The shower was excellent. Unfortunatly it was almost impossible to not make a mess. The club room of the "Raffles Inc." executive floor offered a rather small variety of drinks (we had Prosecco), and a small selection of very tasty Hors d'Oevres. The breakfast selection was also rather small, but we were satisfied. The pool was outdoor and shared with the Swissotel. There was a very nice Spa I unfortunatly didn't try out.
Our first shopping destination was Orchard Road, surely the most prominent shopping strip Singapore has to offer. We strolled through the large shopping malls and ended up in Lucky Plaza, where we started to check out digital cameras and cell phone accessories. In the afternoon I headed towards the Orchard Gardens while AirOli went to grab some sleep. I picked up some Sushi on the ground floor of Tepanyaki's and went outside to catch the bus. Just after I had taken my seat, a heavy rain shower started. I gave up my plan and saved the Orchard Garden's for my next trip, stayed right on the bus and went back to the hotel in Raffles City. I spent the rest of the afternoon getting some work up, until we made our way to Sakae Running Sushi for dinner. Before we called it a day, we enjoyed some ice cream watching locals stroll by us on Orchard Road. I must say, it is astounding how well people of different origin, race, religion and skin color live together in the melting pot Singapore.
The political system seems to be a "Dictocracy" - a democratic system showing many similarities with "non-violent" dictatorships. I'm sure there are many downsides to the strict and extremely punitive legal system; as a tourist without deep insight I mainly saw the positive sides of it, witnessing the positive effects (clean streets, no crime, etc.) this brings to the city.
The next day we continued our shopping tour. Since AirOli had already seen most of Singapore's tourist attractions, we also opted to check out the Tiger Balm Gardens. As AirOli has stated above, it was disappointing. Kitsch, Kitsch, Kitsch. The hot and humid weather didn't really add to our well-being, either. The bus ride on an air-conditioned double-decker city bus back to our hotel was very nice, though, and allowed a quick overview of the city. We ended our afternoon by finalizing our shopping. I ended up buying some cell phone accessories (a charger and an FM radio for my SonyEricsson P800) and two digital cameras (one for my girlfried and one for myself). So far, I am very happy with the camera, it is a Casio Exilim EX-Z3 - featuring 3.2 megapixels and 3x optical zoom in an extremely compact size. Oh, I also got a nice pearl neclace at an incredibly low price. f4free's girlfriend is very happy with it! I was really surprised when I an expert told me it was real a few days ago. Whew!
Since our 6 pm late check-out was not going to be extended further, we rushed back to the Plaza and packed up as quickly as possible. AirOli, who proved to be the quicker packer, had the great idea of gifting a chocolate easter bunny to the receptionist. Graciously, she extended lounge privileges and access to the hospitality room even after check-out. The hospitality room was a large room with sofas and desks as well as a bathroom, which allowed guests with a late flight out to change clothes or shower after a day downtown. I made use of this nice offering and put on a new shirt before we headed back to Changi airport. Wait - I almost forgot the most important part: Our Singapore Sling at the Raffles Hotel! Of course, this was a must for us, as well. After checking out and using the lounge, we strolled across the street to the Bar at the Raffles Hotel. While the drinks were good and expensive, and the peanuts addictive, the service was simply horrible. Pushy, unfriendly and with a big attitude problem. For my part, I didn't let this spoil my frist Singapore Sling experience ...
Edited for typos.
[This message has been edited by f4free (edited 05-04-2003).]
LH685 CAI-FRA 18/APR A320 3E Business (additional comments)
3E is a middle seat. On a shorthaul A320, with the same pitch as their dreadful Y.
!!! Needless to say that we definitely did miss that A340 F seat which was supposed to be the fabulous start our LH/SQ extravaganza... To make things even worse, my beef was rather dry and the meal generally below the standard KL had set on my inbound. Nevertheless, I don't regret our decision to take the earlier plane - the additional sleeping time at the Kempinski Gravenbruch really made up for it. I know those old Swissair A330s, and I am sure I didn't miss much by passing on C-class on the 4:15 departure from CAI. While I have nothing to add in regards to the Kempinski, I will make a few comments on the lounges in FRA. Thanks to FlyerTalk, I wasn't expecting a lot. But I never thought the Senator Lounge halfway to the B4X gates would be this small, this crowded and this smokey. The air was already bad even though it was early in the morning. The only thing nice about it was the choice of sandwiches. I would prefer the round Business Class Lounges over this Senator and First Class Lounge anytime, even though the food selection is even more unremarkable. (I do like those coffee machines and beer tap machines, which are fun even though the coffee isn't that tremendous).
LH9762 (SQ) FRA-SIN 18/APR B747-400 2D First (additional comments)
More than two weeks after our first class extravaganza both the CAI-FRA and FRA-SIN segments haven't posted to my Mexicana Gold account yet. (SIN-FRA and FRA-CAI posted only 48 hours after boarding!) Considering the chaos and lack of professionalism encountered at Cairo, I really didn't expect this segment to post at all. But the FRA-SIN segment should be on there. I guess the gate reader problem (displaying "boarding denied") would be the cause of this. I do, however, wonder what set this off, since this had never happened to me before.
Since our SQ flight was excellently covered in detail by AirOli, I'll limit myself to a few remarks.
IMOP the SkySuite is very close to beeing the best seat in the sky. It definitely is the best-looking airplane seat I have ever seen. The nice beige leather with wood finishing reminded my of a nice Mercedes - and the seats were spotless! No stains, no scratches. The seems were perfect, and the table glided back all the way without a single noise. It was comfortable in all positions. On the downside, the seat could be a little bit wider (shoulder room for sleeping is rather small). I also missed a larger table and the option of eating dinner with somebody vis-a-vis (on an ottoman).
The catering quality was very good, extremely good even, but still not excellent. I enjoyed every part of my meal very much, and was really excited by the aroma and tenderness of the "Lobster Thermidor" (ordered through "book the cook"). In addition, I had opted to sample the "Lobster with Scallops" offered as a main meal choice. I was disappointed by this. While everything else was really good, the lobster was dry and almost tasteless, and the scallops tough. Should I ever have the priveledge of flying SQ first again, I will surely use the "book the cook" service once more.
To complement the goose liver, I ordered the Dr. Loosen Riesling Spätlese. It was a dream. With my maincourse I had the Chablis Domaine Laroche, which was also excellent. Later on, with the cheese, I sampled the Pommard Premier Cru - also a very good wine IMOP. I did like the white ones better, though. Oh, I almost forgot the champagnes. Both Krug and Dom Perignon are excellent, of course - but I did like the Krug a bit better. In a way, it seemed the Dom was a little too bubbly and slightly on the sweet side, for my taste.
I really came to love the Singapore Girls' service attitude. Always smiling, with a touch of american open-heartedness and humor, but as distinguished, elegant and forthcoming as can be. I found the service to be perfect.
For breakfast, I had two eggs sunny side up with mushrooms and bacon, as well as Bircher Muesli, fruit and yoghurt. The eggs were baked and not fried, therefore slightly dry. The mushrooms were delicious, but the bacon was also not as nice as on the ground. I did like the fruit very much, and unfortunately cannot remember the muesli and yoghurt ;-. I was very consistent on making sure that I got the Jamaican Blue Mountain Espresso, after dinner as well as for breakfast
. AirOli, you're right about the Krug for breakfast. We really shouldn't have missed out on that ...Singapore
After a wonderful shower in the very impressive and surprisingly large SilverKris First Class Lounge, a nice cappuccino and some samples from the warm breakfast buffet (bacon, sausages, soup, omelette, muesli, yoghurt, etc.), I greatly enjoyed the free wireless lan service for an obligatory check of FlyerTalk as well as my e-mails. The friendly gentleman from 2A was also in the lounge, waiting for his connecting flight to India, as we soon foung out. While the lounge is certainly nicely appointed, it does lack a nice view of the tarmac. In fact, the missing windows are the one negative point I noticed. I must say that the drink selection available at the bar (from what I saw strolling by) and the food selection are really well above standard. The only thing that could beat it would be a real sit-down restaurant. The showers are also excellent: clean, nice and practical. Soon after AirOli had received his belongings back, we were on our way to explore the city of Singapore.
What struck me first was the impressive cleanliness and luxurious architecture of the Singapore subway system. I really had the impression that I could (almost) eat from the floor. Luckily, we were able to stay inside airconditioned areas when we made our way from the City Hall subway stop to the Swissotel AirOli had booked for us. While accessing the hotel from the shopping mall in Raffles city was slightly complicated, the hotel lobby seemed recently renovated and was very spacy and elegant. Check-in was flawless, and we were upgraded to the "Raffles Inc." floor of the Raffles "The Plaza", clearly superior to the Swissotel room we had booked. Adjacent to the Swissotel, also inside the Raffles City complex, the "Plaza" seemed to be bran-new. After a slight mix-up with the room type, which was quickly resolved (we had explicitely repeated our request for two separte beds at check-in
), we freshened up for our first shopping spree. Just in case you're interested in the room furnishings, I'll give you a quick description. The room was OK in size, and offered a desk with a high-speed lan hook-up for 30 SGD a day. The electric curtains and all the lights could be operated from each night table with a central operating unit, causing some confusion until we had the details figured out. A nice toy, but it needs getting used to. A really nice touch was the Lavazza espresso machine. The real highlight, though, was the bathroom. Except for the toilet and the bathtub, everything was glass. The shower featured a very large, fixed shower head mounted to the ceiling in addition to the usual removable one. The shower was excellent. Unfortunatly it was almost impossible to not make a mess. The club room of the "Raffles Inc." executive floor offered a rather small variety of drinks (we had Prosecco), and a small selection of very tasty Hors d'Oevres. The breakfast selection was also rather small, but we were satisfied. The pool was outdoor and shared with the Swissotel. There was a very nice Spa I unfortunatly didn't try out.
Our first shopping destination was Orchard Road, surely the most prominent shopping strip Singapore has to offer. We strolled through the large shopping malls and ended up in Lucky Plaza, where we started to check out digital cameras and cell phone accessories. In the afternoon I headed towards the Orchard Gardens while AirOli went to grab some sleep. I picked up some Sushi on the ground floor of Tepanyaki's and went outside to catch the bus. Just after I had taken my seat, a heavy rain shower started. I gave up my plan and saved the Orchard Garden's for my next trip, stayed right on the bus and went back to the hotel in Raffles City. I spent the rest of the afternoon getting some work up, until we made our way to Sakae Running Sushi for dinner. Before we called it a day, we enjoyed some ice cream watching locals stroll by us on Orchard Road. I must say, it is astounding how well people of different origin, race, religion and skin color live together in the melting pot Singapore.
The political system seems to be a "Dictocracy" - a democratic system showing many similarities with "non-violent" dictatorships. I'm sure there are many downsides to the strict and extremely punitive legal system; as a tourist without deep insight I mainly saw the positive sides of it, witnessing the positive effects (clean streets, no crime, etc.) this brings to the city.
The next day we continued our shopping tour. Since AirOli had already seen most of Singapore's tourist attractions, we also opted to check out the Tiger Balm Gardens. As AirOli has stated above, it was disappointing. Kitsch, Kitsch, Kitsch. The hot and humid weather didn't really add to our well-being, either. The bus ride on an air-conditioned double-decker city bus back to our hotel was very nice, though, and allowed a quick overview of the city. We ended our afternoon by finalizing our shopping. I ended up buying some cell phone accessories (a charger and an FM radio for my SonyEricsson P800) and two digital cameras (one for my girlfried and one for myself). So far, I am very happy with the camera, it is a Casio Exilim EX-Z3 - featuring 3.2 megapixels and 3x optical zoom in an extremely compact size. Oh, I also got a nice pearl neclace at an incredibly low price. f4free's girlfriend is very happy with it
! I was really surprised when I an expert told me it was real a few days ago. Whew! Since our 6 pm late check-out was not going to be extended further, we rushed back to the Plaza and packed up as quickly as possible. AirOli, who proved to be the quicker packer, had the great idea of gifting a chocolate easter bunny to the receptionist. Graciously, she extended lounge privileges and access to the hospitality room even after check-out. The hospitality room was a large room with sofas and desks as well as a bathroom, which allowed guests with a late flight out to change clothes or shower after a day downtown. I made use of this nice offering and put on a new shirt before we headed back to Changi airport. Wait - I almost forgot the most important part: Our Singapore Sling at the Raffles Hotel! Of course, this was a must for us, as well. After checking out and using the lounge, we strolled across the street to the Bar at the Raffles Hotel. While the drinks were good and expensive, and the peanuts addictive, the service was simply horrible. Pushy, unfriendly and with a big attitude problem. For my part, I didn't let this spoil my frist Singapore Sling experience ...
Edited for typos.
[This message has been edited by f4free (edited 05-04-2003).]
May 4, 2003, 2:23 pm
#24
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2000
Posts: 16,093
Thank you for the detailed and well written report. It almost looks as though trip reports aren't as popular as before based on the decreased number of replies in most reports these days. As a fellow FTer who writes trip reports, I can understand very well an acknowledgement of the effort is always appreciated.
As to the attitude of certain FAs in the air, I am not surprised. Myself is under 25 and I dress very nicely as well and always look mature and polite but times to times you are going to get some kind of 'strange' stares. I notice some male FAs on SQ have had that whereas the females seem o.k. Just ignore it is my advice.
As to the attitude of certain FAs in the air, I am not surprised. Myself is under 25 and I dress very nicely as well and always look mature and polite but times to times you are going to get some kind of 'strange' stares. I notice some male FAs on SQ have had that whereas the females seem o.k. Just ignore it is my advice.