Departure – June 1st   10:10 AM

SIN-PVG

Airline – Singapore Airlines – SQ -806

Aircraft – Boeing 777-300

Class - Economy

Since I had a meeting to attend in Shanghai and had enough prior intimation, I decided to make sure to take snaps and write a trip report. This is my first ever trip report …..I hope you all enjoy it.

PS : I have tried my best to link the photos so that they are visible within the trip report as you read. Unfortunately my HTML skills are not sharp and as a result, you can’t see the photos within this report. I have uploaded all at our yahoo group site. So I suggest you open the yahoo anet-sa group site to view the photos while reading this trip report. http://ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/anet-sa/photos/browse/21a7

My SONY DSC T3 does not have anti shake hence some photos may look blurred.

I arrived at Changi Airport quite early at about 8:15 AM.  I had already checked via the internet and had even printed my boarding card. (Effective 1st June 2006, SQ allows you to print your own boarding card in the comfort of your home if you check in online.) After checking in my luggage I took some photos of the airport.

Photo 1 – Check in counters at Changi Airport.

Photo 2 – SQ 806 still too early hence no message regarding gate number

Football fever is in full swing in Singapore and Changi Airport has also cashed in on the event by placing 8 huge plasma screen TVs broadcasting live football matches (TV courtesy - Philips) & making the entire place look like a football stadium.

Photo 3 – Changi Football Fever

Photo 4 – Changi Football Fever

Finally decided to do some plane spotting and found the usual suspects….

Photo 5 – Cathay 777

Photo 6 – SQ 777 9V-SVM

Photo 7 – SQ Mega Top 747 on pushback

The problem of being in terminal 2 is you end up spotting too many SQ birds. Hence, I decided to move on and explore the airport a bit as I normally don’t get much time to do that.

Photo 8 – Shops in Changi

Photo 9 – Gardens in Changi

Photo 10 – Gardens in Changi

Back to some spotting….

Photo 11 -SQ 747 Megatop in Star Alliance colors on its way to SFO

Photo 12 – Malaysia Airlines

Finally I decided to move towards my departure gate. To my surprise I found no aircraft at the gate which was quite unusual. On enquiry, I was told that the incoming flight from Delhi was delayed hence our departure was rescheduled for 10:45 now.

After a long wait our bird arrived, but I could not take note of the registration.

Photo 13 – SQ 777 my flight to PVG

Post boarding, I had nicely settled into my seat which was just over looking the wing and the massive RR Trent engines. Those engines look huge from the window… no wonder 2 RR Trent engines give more power then the 4 put together on a 747.

Photo 14 – RR Trent engines 892

Hot towels & headphones were given, and the captain came on board announcing our flight plan, weather etc. Push back commenced at about 10:45 AM. Post push back it took about 6 minutes to an endless taxi way to reach at the other end of the airport for take off.  Take off was smooth and we rotated fairly quickly although the flight was full.

Photo 15  - Aligning for take off

Photo 16 – Again those massive Rolls Royce Trent Engines 892

I am always amazed by the huge wing span of the 777 .They look really huge and long.

Photo 17 – 777 Wingspan

After about 20 minutes into cruising, drinks and peanuts was served. Off late I have developed a fetish for Baileys Irish cream and that is what I asked for. But I find the serving of Baileys too little. (Felt like telling the stewardess to just the handover the bottle to me)

Being a vegetarian my special meals always comes first off the block. The advantage is that since your hungry you really enjoy it. But it is better to go to the wash room the moment the seat belt signs are off otherwise once the meals are served to everyone I find that it takes ages for the crew to clear the table and as a result you can’t get up to go the washroom. Besides, sitting in on a window seat getting in and out means doing gymnastics. The other problem I always faced is that the crew invariably forgets to offer you a drink as they assume the same were given with your food; hence you need to keep eye contact to ensure you get your drink when the others are being served their food.

Meal consisted of Pulao rice with Bhindi sabhji (Okra), salad, yoghurt, bread and butter (gulped the bread as was really hungry) and some crackers. One thing I like about flying on SQ is that they understand the needs of all their travelers from various parts of the world. Their list of special meals is quite exhaustive, and they do seem to understand what a typical Indian Vegetarian meal means, unlike the European carriers who end up serving you cold green salad in the name of   vegetarian food.

Photo 18 – Vegetarian meal

After the trays were cleared the crew started distributing Ice Cream choco sitck (Walls Brand) It was quite a funny site as I had never experienced something like this … Ice cream stick were being served in Economy! Besides it was fun to see the young and old alike relishing their sticks and creating a mess. I am sure if they had offered a second round, all the passengers would have gladly accepted it.

The IFE on SQ is great except that the screen size is pretty small as compared to some of the other airlines I hear and see in their adverts. Besides, the headphone on SQ is not all that great & my flight did not have the AVOD. The Hindi selection was Rang De Basanti but the audio was not synchronized with the movie hence stopped watching halfway….saw some reruns of Donald Trump’s Apprentice instead. I then tried to sleep but could not as I normally become insomniac on flights.

Photo – 19 – Destination information

Finally about 40 minutes before arrival the captain came on line and announced the descent so head phones were taken back and the cabin was prepared for landing.

Weather was quite cloudy and could not see anything for quite a while although the destination map was constantly showing our descent. It was only when we were over 1000 meter could I see the ground.

Photo 20 - Descent on PVG airport

Photo 21 - Reverse Thrust applied as the runway was quite wet.

Photo 22 - Shanghai Airport

Conclusion:

Overall it was a typical SQ flight, everything works like clock work precision, (even the artificial smiles by the crew are timed I guess). The cabin is clean, water is served after meals to ensure you don’t dehydrate, crew ensures that you have put your safety belt on during take off and landing & turbulence (they actually come and check each and every seat) and that they ensure your window shades are up. Any request by pressing the call button is served with a smile and even if they don’t have something in stock they make an effort to provide you with an alternative. This is where SQ scores way ahead of the European & American carriers where not only is the service is poor & cold but the whole attitude is take it or leave it.

But it is time that SQ starts raising its bar, for most of the airlines have now caught up with SQ (Emirates, Qantas, Malaysia, Thai,) and some of the things which were so unique to SQ are now quite common on other carriers including our own Indian carriers. Besides other airlines have taken a lead in providing live TV feed, broadband connection, take off cameras etc already which SQ has sill not started.

My return trip was more or less a similar experience, hence only uploaded key photographs from Shanghai.

Picture 23 – Shanghai Airport on departure

Picture 24 - Scandinavian Airlines

Picture 25 – Lufthansa in Star Alliance colors

Picture 26 – Lufthansa with the Football painted on the nose.

Hope you all enjoy reading the same.

 [Edit: by Aseem Johri]