Nick C

Ever since VS introduced the herringbone seating arrangement a couple of years ago and it has since been adopted by DL/AC/CX/NZ. I have always been fascinated by this seating arrangement and it was a desire to experience it. Being based in SIN/SYD, it was either a direct flight to HKG on CX or stopover in some airport in order to experience the “herringbone”. An opportunity surfaced in Q3 2008 when a “Good Deal” Premium Fare on AC was shared on FlyerTalk for a very reasonable price (Think of it as very heavily discounted). Being short on miles for Star Alliance Gold re-qualification it was a pretty good idea to take a short break and mileage run on AC (AC is the flag carrier of Canada and Star Alliance member). This meant positioning to HKG on SQ and since SEA was in YVR’s vicinity I decided to make a detour to visit Boeing as well. So stay tuned for more updates...

J
SQ866 SIN-HKG
AC8 HKG-YVR
AC7 YVR-HKG
SQ863 HKG-SIN

Y
AC8093 YVR-SEA
AC8090 SEA-YVR

Nick C

28 Jan 2009
Singapore (SIN) – Hong Kong (HKG)
Airline: Singapore Airlines
Flight: SQ866
Distance: 1594nm
Aircraft/Registration: B747-412/9V-SPN
STD/ATD: 1330/1337 (GMT+8)
STA/ATA: 1715/1711 (GMT+8)
Flight Time: 3.6 hrs
Seat: 17H (Business)

It was a smooth drive to Changi Terminal 3 on the 3rd day of Chinese New Year with many local businesses still yet to reopen after the festivities. Check-in was hassle free and I proceeded to the SQ Silver Kris Lounge after clearing immigration. The lounge was surprisingly empty! Perhaps it was due to the festivities or few morning departures or the current economic climate but I have never seen the lounge that empty before. Where is everyone? It’s normally like a market!









Today, SQ866 was departing from A15. This meant a long 10 min walk to the southern end of T3 or jumping on to the SkyTrain for a 2 min trip (No prizes for correct guesses). After leaving the SKL, I made my way to Station A for T3’s intra-terminal SkyTrain. It’s apparent that Changi invests a lot of money in setting the mood for the festive holiday. Look at all the “Chinese New Year” plants!

Immigration Hall


Chinese New Year Displays


The unique thing about Changi as compared to many other airports is carry-on baggage isn't screened right after/or before immigration but at the assigned boarding gates. While this system reduces the congestion at centralised screening, it means all the passengers are "prisoners" in the gate holdroom prior to boarding. If I'm not mistaken, Changi has 90+ boarding gates and this means lots of security screening equipment. So beginning with T3, only 6 gates are individual holdrooms, 8 gates are paired holdrooms and the rest are consolidated holdrooms. This consolidation of gates seems to create more problems when 4 flights are departing from the same holdroom but there are only 3 of 6 security counters are being manned. However, A15 falls into the individual holdroom category and this meant no delays here.

Boarding commenced rather orderly and through the first aerobridge that was connected to L1. Made my way to the Upper Deck of the 744 and was shown to my seat by FSS Grace (She looks like one of the girls I used to date). It’s been about a year since I last flew on board the 744. SQ’s former flagships are overworked and are soon to be part of history when they leave in 2011 (More WhaleJets!).

Good ol’ SpaceBeds


After settling into my seat, FSS Grace offered me my pre-takeoff Charles Heidsieck and selection of reading material plus the the menu for today’s flight. Not the usual Business Class menu cover but a special one printed for the festive period. FSS Grace then came round and took the orders for the after departure drink. Hot towels were given out after doors were closed.



Push back was slightly behind schedule and we taxied to 02C for departure. This was one of the shortest 747 takeoff runs I have experienced; probably passing Vee One just after E8 and Vee R before E7 (E7/8 are taxiways). After takeoff, headsets, flight socks and eyeshades were distributed and after departure drinks were served. Lunch orders were taken and service began promptly thereafter.

FSS Grace & FS ??? at work


Tray of cutlery & Fa Cai Yu Sheng


Fa Cai Yu Sheng


I had made a BTC meal request for a “6 oz. U.S. rib-eye steak with creamy green peppercorn sauce, roasted vegetables, and garlic-mashed potatoes” when I made the booking. The lamb loin was enticing enough and while it’s possible to decline the BTC meal and go for the menu option, FSS Grace hinted to me that the BTC steak was a better choice.

BTC Main


By then the effects of the all nighter mahjong session had fully kicked in and I could barely stay awake, the next thing I recalled was FSS Grace waking me up with a pre-arrival towel and preparing the cabin for arrival. Headsets were collected and seats returned to upright position. Approach to HKG was rather turbulent, touching down on 07L minutes ahead of schedule with quick taxi to gate 21. Immigration and baggage reclaim was fast and I was on the Airport Express to Kowloon by 1745.

Nick C

29 Jan 2009
Hong Kong (HKG) – Vancouver (YVR)
Airline: Air Canada
Flight: AC8
Distance: 6509nm
Aircraft/Registration: B777-333ER/C-FIUL
STD/ATD: 1255/1407 (GMT+8)
STA/ATA: 0655/0900 (GMT-8)
Flight Time: 10.9 hrs
Seat: 6G (Business “Executive First”)

Ticket purchase for this sector wasn’t as easy as thought to be. Locating the fare was one huge hassle; only the aircanada.ca portal had the special fare. Nonetheless, the transaction was seamless on AC’s no frills online portal and I could pre-assign my seat after payment. Check-in in HKG was smooth and pleasant without any hassle but I was informed that the flight was delayed by an hour. Cleared immigration and security without any problems and since AC doesn’t have a MLL (Maple Leaf Lounge) in HKG, premium passengers on AC are issued lounge invites to the TG lounge or UA RCC. Since the gate hadn’t been assigned, I decided to make a stop at the SQ SKL first. The SKL in HKG is a big disappointment considered it was renovated not too long ago and is one of SQ’s important stations, it was tired looking and very generic – it could pass off as any airline’s lounge.

Entrance to SKL HKG


SKL lounge J section


By which time, the gate for AC8 had been assigned and it was closer to the TG lounge (Gate 43). Made my move to the TG lounge that felt more refreshing and welcoming due to its use of natural light.

Entrance to TG lounge


TG lounge J section


View from lounge


Boarding was at 1305 and I made my way to gate 43. There were 2 lines for boarding, one for Executive First & AC Elite and one for Economy. Made my way down the aerobridge connected to L1 and entered the aircraft and was struck by the sight of the crew. They were still not prepared for boarding. No greeting from any of the flight attendants, I was just pointed to the aisle where my seat faced and that’s all. When I got to my seat, a bottle of Dasani was already placed in the cup holder, amenity kit and foamies were placed on the seat. Selection of newspapers and magazines were offered and I was given my pre-takeoff sparkling wine. Menus were also distributed.

My world for the next 11 hours


Pre-takeoff sparkling wine


View from 6G


Executive First is configured in 1-2-1 on the 77L/77W, 75" pitch and 20.35” width. 6G is probably one of the better seats on the AC 77L/77W. As it’s to the rear of the forward section of the Executive First cabin, there’s no one behind you and you have an additional triangular storage area for the pillow and blanket whereas in a normal seat, these had to go to the overhead compartment. From the previous image, one can look across the entire cabin when the seat is upright due to the low partitions but in recline there’s a decent amount of privacy. Seat was rather comfortable without signs of heavy wear.

Menu/Seat Guide/Safety Card


Seat controller


Amenity Kit




AC provides a rather comprehensive amenity kit – flight socks, eyeshades, refreshing towel, mouthwash, refreshing foot spray, mints, moisturizer, toothbrush & paste, shoe horn & lip balm.

Apparently it’s AC’s policy that all passengers had to be seated before they could close the doors. Seems like some passengers in the rear didn’t want to be seated. Once doors were closed, the safety demonstration began playing on the IFE. This is when the IFE gremlins struck once again, at least there’s audio but no video. Flight attendants ran up the aisles and promptly started a manual demonstration. There was some half-heartedness among the crew in the demonstration as if it were a chore to conduct a manual demonstration. Thumbs down to AC for this when safety is of utmost importance. Pushback was slightly behind schedule and the aircraft taxied 25L. The 77W isn’t the quietest of planes even upfront with the horrible whine of the GE90-115Bs.

Where’s the safety demo?


After takeoff, there was a wet towel service and it was by which a soaking and dripping wet towel. Another black mark for AC. Flight attendant X (didn’t catch her name but she looks like an older and more chubby version of the Gov. of Alaska, lets call her Sarah) came round taking orders for lunch. Instead of taking orders systematically, she seemed to be walking all over the cabin taking orders. She took everyone’s order in the forward section of Executive first completely missing me. Bravo. So when Sarah came back round I casually stopped her.

“Hi, I think you missed out my order.”
“Oh ..... This will affect my schedule. What do you want to eat?”
“Salmon for the appetizer and lamb for the main course.”
“Ok. No guarantees if your choices are still available.”

What the hell? It’s blatantly her fault she didn’t take the meal orders systematically and there’s no apology. After takeoff drinks and nuts were served, the nuts were horrible - tasteless and spongy! Even the 1 RM Kachang Puteh in Malaysia tasted much better.

Champagne & Nuts


Time to test out AC’s “legendary” IFE system. I had my macbook on standby with lots of movies in case the system was in-op. First impression was the system was full of bloatware making it rather unresponsive. Moving map feature was still not available despite the XM product being introduced in Q3 2006. Movie choices were rather limited as compared to SQ with many “B” grade movies and Canadian productions being shown. Where’s Hollywood? Also, it was a touch screen which was rather gimmicky as I had to stretch out to make my selections if I was recline slightly, I still prefer a remote.

IFE Selection Panel


“Moving” Map


Backup IFE


The flight attendants started serving lunch and came round to lay the tablecloths. I noticed that the “tablecloth” was just a napkin with the AC logo. It wasn’t very easy to access the tray table when the seat was at a lounging angle with footrest extended, had to retract it back slightly in order to open the tray table compartment.

Warm bread roll/ Smoked Halibut, smoke Salmon and Mediterranean Vegetables


Braised Lamb Shank with Jus, Saffron Risotto and assorted Vegetables


Cheese (Gruyere, Brie & Goat) with Crackers


Lemon Curd Tart


Towards the end of Lunch, the cockpit switched on the seat belt sign and requested everyone including the flight attendants to return to their seats. It was indeed very turbulent! The plane dropped slightly and you could hear the GE90-115Bs powering up. Things were dropping the galley behind; it was a pretty bumpy ride for a good 10 mins.

Spills!


After 20 mins, service resumed and trays were cleared and mood lighting was switched on. I would say the meal was pretty decent, not top notch but still much better than the stuff I have eaten in boarding school and in the army.

Mood lighting


The seat is surprisingly rather comfortable lie flat despite the contours and I managed a good 5 hours of rest. Being 5’8”, I didn’t have much room when completely stretched out on the supposedly 6’2” bed.

Seat in bed mode


View from bed mode


Feeling peckish midflight, I requested for some Dim Sum which was served promptly by the flight attendant on duty.

Dim Sum


Prior to arrival breakfast was served and mood lighting was progressively transitioned from night to day.







Breakfast – Spinach Omelette and Chicken Sausage


Touched down on 08L at 0900hrs and taxied to Gate 50. It was a long walk to US border security for my connection to SEA but otherwise rather uneventful.

grizu

Thank you Nick C,
your report reminds me on my expiriences with AC Exec First. They have a great seat for J and I probably had my best sleep in J on an AC flight.
I agree that the service often could be better and the IFE... well, everybody knows...

camsean

Thanks for an interesting read.

briantoronto

Thanks for the report! Just an FYI, food orders are taken by FF status, with AC FFs first, then (I believe) other *G's, then everyone else.

-Brian

Nick C

Thanks for reading.

Next time for the same price, I rather fly on SQ Y.

I seriously don't think the entire flight was full of AC Elite leaving me as the only *G. I had a peek at the J passenger manifest and I could count only a handful of Elite out of the 38 in J. She couldn't be bothered to do a second pass to check if she had taken everyone's order let alone apologize.

kokinos

Nick great trip report!!! Enjoyed the read and I am sorry on behalf of all Canadians you had to endure a crap experience in J. Iève been there before more then once

Not sure what it is with our FAs but it seems once they get seniority their job security increases and service decreases unlike how a regular business should work. They just announced a loss of around $1 billion dollars today so Ièm sure quite a few passengers have moved to other carriers over the last few years.

JAT74L

An enjoyable read with some great pics especially the transition of the "mood" lighting which is very VS!

Regards

JAT

Nick C

Please don't apologize for the Canadians (Plenty of them I know don't want to be associated with AC).

That's the problems with unions, the job becomes ironclad as they go up the ladder. Unions are good in a way that it ensures job security but they shouldn't neglect the safety aspect and service levels of the job.

Thanks for reading.

SFO777

Excellent report, with some great pictures. Thanks for posting!