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sri_bom · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 2365 Location: Singapore

Here is my trip report to Los Angeles.

Date of Departure & Time: September 8th 2008
Flight No – SQ 38 ETD: 16:15
Aircraft – Airbus – A340-500
Class – Premium Economy
Flying time: 16 hours 40 Minutes

The flight that I took to Los Angeles was a direct 16 hour flight and had a cabin option of First Class & Business class combination which is nothing unusual but this sector besides New York one was the only one where SQ had premium economy options on its entire fleet. Sadly from October 1 this aircraft (also the New York one) has now become an all business class option hence ending the direct flight options for economy souls & also ending the premium economy cabin on SQ.

One of the advantages of traveling by Premium Economy was that you could allocate your seat once you had issued the ticket by calling the reservation centre and choosing your seat of choice which in this case I had done 2 months in advance, which I think was a great option. However, now that SQ has phased out Premium Economy on all its sectors one has no choice but to block his seat 48 hours prior to departure by checking in the SQ website.

Since I was aware flights to the US are subject to stringent checks I arrived a good 2 hours prior to my departure (otherwise I typically arrive any where from 1 hour to 1 and half hour). As flights to LAX depart from T3, checking in as there were hardly any passengers and the whole terminal looked deserted. So it took less then 2 minutes to check in my bags.

Flight detail on Screen

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Deserted terminals at T3

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T3 has a direct access to Singapore’s only 5 star airport hotel, Crowne Plaza that was inaugurated recently in January 2008. Although the hotel has a unique façade and has great facilities my colleagues who stayed there have complained that they had great difficulty sleeping at night because of the constant rumbling noise from the trains that keep running between T2 & T3. He finally moved out of the hotel. It seems a lot of customers have complained of that problem so I assume the hotel has either fixed it or is in the process of getting it fixed.

Entrance of the hotel from T3

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Train tracks in close proximity to the hotel:

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Immigration was a breeze although my luggage was scanned before I could clear immigration. Scanning of luggage is not a regular affair before immigration at Changi and depending on the security issues they either scan all the luggage or pick passengers randomly.

Post immigration, I headed toward the lounge. The T3 star alliance gold lounge is much better in terms of space, food and aesthetics as compared to the shack that is at T2.

Some photos of the food spread at the lounge

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Sleek NEC computers for surfing the internet

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Alcohol on tap

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As it was about time to board the aircraft I headed towards the gate. One advantage of T3 is that they have a common security check for a few gates. During the security check, I was asked to remove my shoes and also asked to start my laptop. Once the laptop started with the windows loading page the officer’s was satisfied and allowed me to go. Although the shoe search was random, everyone was asked to start their laptops, I’m not sure whether this is part of an enhanced security measure for flights out to USA.

Our Bird to LAX:

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Once on board, you could feel enough space on the premium economy and I must say it does make a difference as compared to the regular economy class. Although I was jet lagged and a bit tired at the end of the flight, it was not as bad as when I have traveled in regular coach.

Seat pitch

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I was also quite impressed with the amount of storage compartments that was provided behind the seat and it was very convenient to keep my camera, laptop cord, eye drops etc which normally I would have had to keep in the overhead bin compartment.

Storage space at the back of seat

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Before take off the captain made an announcement that as per US regulations, not more then 5 people can assemble at a single point within the aircraft. I’m not sure how effective this rule is as would-be hijackers wouldn’t have an internal meeting on the plane before they launch their attack.

The aircraft took off on time although throughout the journey I found the A340-500 engines to be very noisy as compared to the ones on 777 and the 747. I’m not sure if this has to do with the fact that my seat was located just behind the engines, but I did feel the humming sound all across the journey.

Flight Path with day and night shadow

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Within 15 minutes after the seat belt sign was switched off, we were served drinks and some Nachos and sauce, which was quite tasty. Every time I asked for a drink or a refill, the stewardess used to give it to my colleague who was sitting beside me. A minor slip, but this still does not reflect well of a premium airline. However, what I did like was that they referred to everyone by their last name on the premium economy cabin. The other thing I noticed on this flight was that of all the products that were being served, most of it of them were sourced from USA.

Nachos & Salsa (Made in USA)

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After the drinks and Nachos were cleared the dinner service started. Now here is my grouse - Since this was a long flight, 16 hours to be precise, the dinner service could have been started at 7:00 P.M. but instead it landed at 17:45 on my tray. Although I was not very hungry, I had to eat as I did not want to be hungry later. I hope the airlines take into consideration the average dinner time from the point of origin of the aircraft. In this case, it was Singapore where the typical dinner time is 19:00 to 19:30. In any case, the food was quite tasty and no complaints on this front.

Dinner

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We had two rounds of coffee/tea/drinks during the course of our food, and then ice cream was served.

Ben & Jerry Ice Cream (Again a made in USA product)
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Now here is my concern: being a vegetarian, I was catered an Indian vegetarian meal which is perfectly fine and I am pretty OK if there are any egg or egg related products in biscuits, ice cream or cakes in my meal. The Ben & Jerry ice cream which I was served, listed egg as part of its ingredients. The crew was distributing the same ice cream to all passengers, including the ones who had ordered the vegetarian meal. Either the crew is not aware of the contents of the ice cream, or the vegetarian folks are not aware of what’s in the ice cream or they are like me and are OK if it contains eggs.

But I am sure if one is a strict vegetarian he would not even like to have any egg related products in his meal. Airlines need to be more aware of what constitutes a vegetarian diet. Otherwise, there is a possibility of them being sued one day.

Deviating a bit from the main subject….. I am not sure if the general consumer is aware of this, but a lot of people who assume a certain dish/food to be vegetarian will be in for a rude shock if they read the ingredients carefully and realize that it is not, especially those that are made overseas.

For example
1) Most of the Kraft Sliced Cheese contains calf rennet
2) Certain brands of Flavored Yoghurt contain rennet or egg.
3) Biscuits/Ice creams/cakes tend to have egg or egg products.
4) In Asia, although the soups served in restaurant may be listed as vegetarian, it is always good to check, as they tend use chicken stock as a base. The same goes for pasta which is cooked in chicken stock.
5) Thai restaurants use fish sauce instead of salt to add flavor to the food, hence once again buyer beware.
6) Jellies are typically made of animal gelatin.

Of course for majority of the consumers In India we now have the red and green label that distinguishes so that does help a bit.

Once the table was cleared the mood lighting was switched on and the duty free shopping started. I feel that the duty free could have started between drinks and dinner, thereby delaying the dinner service by an hour instead serving it at 17:45. All through the evening, the mood lighting kept changing its hue & intensity, but it did not help me much in putting me to sleep, although I did like the way it kept changing colors to finally going all dark.

Mood Lighting

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After the tables were cleared I went till the back of the cabin to stretch my legs and I chatted with some of the crew. They were also kind enough to show me the crew resting area. In the A340-500, there is a staircase that goes down in spiral fashion to a small make shift room with bunk beds which seemed quite comfortable for a snooze. Unfortunately I had left my camera at my seat and hence could not take any photos.

Throughout the flight, on the hour every hour, I used to see the crew carrying a tray laden with water, apple and orange juice. Although I was dozing off and on, every time my eyes opened a bit I saw the crew passing by with the tray and I believe this is the hallmark of SQ service. None of the other airlines that I have traveled before except for SQ has gone to such great lengths to make sure that their passengers are hydrated at all times, and not once did I ever have to press the call button for water or juice. There was also a snack menu that was being distributed at midnight incase any passengers were feeling hungry. It basically consisted of a choice of sandwiches, fruit, candy bars and wafers.

About 3 hours prior to landing, the cabin lights were turned on and hot towels were given out to refresh ourselves. Water and juice was served to all first and then the meals were served.

Pre-landing meal photo:

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Soon the captain announced that we would be descending over LAX shortly and the crew went about with their pre-arrival routine to make sure the cabin was prepared for landing.

Few shots of our approach to LAX:

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Air Tahiti Nui

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Eva Air

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Post landing, we were bussed into a terminal. Although I was dreading the US immigration procedure to be a hassle, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself breezing through. All they asked me was my reason for visiting the U.S. The entire LAX terminal is undergoing renovation, and it reminded me of the chaos and mess that is at Bombay airport. The overall look of the airport was shabby with dangling wires & construction materials all over the place.

Shot of the arrival lounge at LAX airport under construction.

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Date of Departure & Time: September 15th 2008
Flight No – SQ ETD: 00:55
Aircraft – Boeing 777ER
Class – Economy
Flying time: 19 hours 30 Minutes

Although I was to fly on the A340-500 on my return flight as well, I had to make a few last minute changes and had to re-schedule my flight. I eventually took SQ 777ER via Taipei. Incidentally from October 1st SQ has stopped the LAX service via Taipei with connections now available only via LHR or NRT. I am not sure how this move will affect the Indian traffic to LAX as now one has to fly only via NRT.

Front Façade of departure gate:
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SQ departs from Gate B at LAX airport. Although there was a long Q, thanks to my membership with SQ I could check in at the Star Alliance gold counter. Once I checked in, I was handed my bags back and asked to proceed towards TSA for screening.

Check in counters
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Although I had TSA locks on my bags I waited till the TSA agents scanned my luggage and sent it to the airline for loading. Luckily they did not open my luggage. In any case, I was not carrying anything controversial that would have made them want to open my luggage. The area where TSA scans your luggage is open and everyone can view it, and hence there was quite a crowd that had assembled to see this electronic baggage circus that was on.

Though the resource to scan the luggage was very limited, the person who was behind the screen checking was also hauling up the suitcase himself & going through its contents if he found anything suspicious on the screen, thereby slowing down the whole process. Although I did see a few TSA agents around, I’m not sure whether they were of much help. I also saw a Mexican couple pleading with TSA to load their luggage ahead of Q as they were afraid their luggage may not make it to the hold of the aircraft.

TSA luggage screening area.

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Most of the shopping is prior to immigration unlike other airports. Once you cross immigration, there are hardly any shops, as all roads either lead you to the gates or the lounges at the top floor. Since there was nothing much to do after I crossed the immigration gates, I headed to the lounge to clear some of my emails. The lounge was pretty much OK with lots of seating capacity although the choice of food was quite limited.

Since the return leg was all at night & since I was sleepy, I slept through most of the flight so I did not take any pictures of the aircraft or the meals, but there are a few incidents that I would like to highlight.

As the crew was sticking stickers on the seat for the passengers who had ordered a special meal, I realized the aircraft had a high number of Indians. I would have easily counted at least 25 Indian vegetarian meals request sticker being put up in my cabin alone, which was surprisingly high as people now have a quite a few airline options to fly out from LAX.

There were also quite a few elderly parents who were also flying back after having visited their sons/daughters. I happened to talk to two of them. One elderly lady who was flying alone told me that her final destination was Ahmadabad i.e. after a 19 hour flight via Taipei + 6 hour lay over in Singapore she had another 5 hours ahead. I told her that if she would have taken another carrier she could have easily saved the 6 hours lay over at Singapore and may have reached faster if she flew via Europe. She replied that she preferred flying only SQ as they take good care of her & the food is tastier and better. Besides, her previous experience with other carriers had not been so good. I am sure SQ would have felt really proud to have heard that and to have such strong brand equity amongst the older folks who travel regularly.

Mind you, she was not the business jet set type and she spoke only Gujarati. Luckily for me one of the advantages of being a Bombayite is that you tend to know multiple languages so I could understand what she was saying. She typically does the US-India route twice a year as she has 5 sons in the US & she was visiting India now for Dusherra and Deepavali celebrations. The other couple whom I talked to was on their way to Cochin.

The other disappointing incident that happened was when I was waiting in the Q to use the restroom. There were 3 of us - a Chinese guy who happened to be there first, followed by an Indian man in his 60s and then me. Just as someone came out of the rest room and before the Chinese guy could go in, the Indian man barged ahead. The Chinese guy told him that he was there first and so has the right to go to which the Indian man reacted to by rushing in quickly inside the toilet and bolting himself up. As an Indian, I was really ashamed standing there and the Chinese guy was muttering the choicest of explicit words, but who would not? If the Indian guy could not control himself he could have at least requested to be allowed to go first which most decent people would easily allow.

The rest of the journey was uneventful. After landing in Taipei, the aircraft was cleaned and we were given a new set of pillows and blankets. Overall a wonderful experience flying SQ long haul, with plenty of food, water and entertainment to keep one occupied. The crew was excellent in spite of the very minor service glitches on my first leg. I think if one flies long haul, then SQ is definitely worth the money.

Sri_Bom

avbuff · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 5031

Excellent TR, well that is SQ ; a brand that is way above all others.

I also personally know my travel agent head, who actually forces people to travel SQ , lol. but that is because the customers wont facew any hassles. SQ is worth every penny you spend.

rutvij · Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 9:51 am Post subject:

Nice Report! Hoping to fly SQ soon.

Regds.