Thinksamuel

Hi

I flew to Australia on Qantas with one leg on the way back on Emirates LHR-(SIN)-SYD, SYD-BNE-SIN, SIN-LHR, all in Y
It was my first time in an A380 so I was very excited.
Crew: The crew was nice (supercool uniforms!) although BA's crew is more welcoming I feel.
Seat: The seat was massive and sitting at the window seat, I had a lot of extra space. On the other hand, getting out of my seat was difficult with two neighbours.
Food and drink: Although a predrink was on the menu, the drink was to go with the main dinner. Drinking a gin-tonic with beef is not a nice combination so I settled for red wine. Food was ok, although, don't understand the small tray they use. It makes things more difficult to do. Also, plastic cutlery was not that nice.
On the SYD-BNE domestic sector, only non-alcoholic drinks were free, beer and wine were to be paid for. I think that looks like penny-pinching on Qantas part.
Amenity kit: small pouch with toothbrush and paste, eyeshades, and earplugs.
IFE: slow to respond. I don't understand why IFE systems are so cumbersome to use. Gamewise, I wonder why the games are so simple. I don't expect Playstation type games but something more exciting than minigolf should be possible.
Singapore refuelling: we had 45 minutes in Singapore, which I used to visit the cactus garden. Pretty nice. I could do with a two-hour stopover to make the trip more bearable. Security was at the gate and I don't understand why it cannot be centralized to get over with it and be free to roam. Now there was an extra element of stress to pass the security on time.
Singapore check-in on my way back to London I had a two-day stopover in Singapore so I had to check in again. This was with the automated kiosks. When dropping off my bag, the check-in lady offered me another seat (sadly no upgrade). Going through passport control was fast. I went to the Wellness spa for a shower (S$ 13) which was ok, nothing to write home about. I also went to T3 to visit the butterfly garden but as it was dark, the butterflies were asleep.

Emirates:
Crew: quite distant, almost like a machine. Nothing to remember
Seat: this was on a 777, smaller seat, it tapers off towards the top but I did not feel cramped. I also did not have a middle seat neighbour so it was more comfortable.
Food and drink: Nothing special, no predrinks either.
IFE: fantastic, so much choice and not just a handful of good things accompanied by filler content. I liked the channel numbers so you could switch easily between programs, rather than going through the menus. Again: games could be better
Amenity kit: none
Arrival in Singapore was smooth, although I forgot to fill in a landing card and had to go back in the queue. There is a shower facility in Terminal 3 arrivals which helped a lot after the long voyage. This shower was S$26 but better than the wellness spa one.

Overall: Qantas was nice to fly with except for the plastic cutlery and the Ryanair aspect regarding drinks on the domestic sector. Emirates, while the IFE was nice, the rest was underwhelming. I now have had the chance to try out two new airlines. Probably will look for other ones to try out. For now, BA stays my favourite (also because I am based in the UK)

SQTraveller

I believe they did think about this when the first put set up the terminals, and they found it easier for travellers to not have to pass through security after immigration as it creates a significant logjam (as can be seen at other airports).

Terminal 4 is the only terminal at Changi that has centralized screening, and this is partly be they use CT scans to speed up the process - no need to remove laptops from bags. And I have so far found this to be a fast method. This will likely be rolled out at the new Terminal 5, due to be complete sometime at the end of next decade