This trip journal is taken during the winter when I had to settle some business in Shanghai and then I will fly to Japan to meet up with my friends for skiing in deep powder snow that Hokkaido is renowned for. It will consist of the following flights:
1) MU544 SIN-PVG -> Current Report
2) FM815 SHA-HND -> Read it here
3) MU540 HND-PVG -> Coming soon
4) MU543 PVG-SIN -> Coming soon
As always, readers could get the full report from my blog here: http://quirrow.wordpress.com
Entrance to the SATS Premier Lounge
Arriving via Garuda Indonesia on a separate ticket, I disembarked to terminal 3. What makes Changi airport great is the common departure and arrival hall, along with the ease of transfer and connecting to another flight on a separate itinerary. A visit to the transfer counter by showing the agent my connecting ticket and luggage stub, then he was able to make a call for someone to pick my luggage and issue my onward boarding pass. It was just that easy! Well done Changi!
Transfer and connections counter
Connecting flight boarding pass and lounge invite
China Eastern uses terminal 3 as well for flights to Shanghai and that made it all the more convenient as I was directed to the SATS premier lounge. The SATS Premier Lounge is located just beside the Krisflyer Gold Lounge and more readily accessible via the central atrium elevators as it is usually the lounge most passengers pass first on their way to the Krisflyer lounge.
Reception at the SATS lounge
The SATS lounge might not be comparable to Singapore Airlines Krisflyer lounge in terms of amenities or scale, but it was a nice space in itself. Since I already had dinner and had something to eat on my previous flight, I was not hungry. Thus I checked out the shower rooms and washrooms as I freshened up before the flight. There are a couple of shower rooms at the end of the lounge and it was a nice space for a third-party outsourced lounge.
Vanity counter
With Terminal 3 being the nicest terminal in Changi Airport, the SATS lounge here feels fresh and new. The shower here features both a handheld shower head along with a rainshower, so it was perfect for that quick refreshing shower for weary travellers.
Rainshower with handheld nozzle
For the lounge itself, there is a row of lone high-back leather armchairs by the partition that overlooks the main terminal. These armchairs are comfortable to lounge in and has good privacy due to the high back.
Business class lounge
As a note, from the ledge of the lounge, it is possible to see the movement of people around the terminal. One could also spot the empty space on the same floor where most guests that have long layovers tend to get some sleep at. Changi Airport does provide lots of amenities for connecting travellers after all.
View of the empty space for layover passengers
The main seating area though consists of armchairs that are more conventional for reading and socializing. These seats are also equipped with power outlets for guests seeking to get some work done or just to charge their mobile phones. It was also nice to see the outlets to be adaptable to international plugs.
Main lounge area
Situated between the rows of armchairs, there are magazine racks that are quite well stocked. Though do not expect something as wide variety here since they are mainly lifestyle magazines as I spotted the Marina Bay Sands magazine here.
Magazine racks in between rows of seats
Being a foodie nation, it is only right that the buffet counter is actually placed right by the entrance. In fact it was the first thing I spotted entering the lounge. There is a long communal table beside the buffet area for dining. Though it is also possible to bring food to the lounge area as there are side tables beside the armchairs to place the dishes.
Buffet counter and dining table
The buffet was actually half decent as there was several warm food options even so late at night (around 10:30pm). One of the options for that night includes a Japanese dish selection, which I guess are for Japanese guests. There are also fried noodles and fried rice.
Warm food options
Another corner of the counter, guests can grab some muffins or make their own toast.
Pastry corner with toast machine
There also seems to be a made-to-order noodle station but it was no longer operational this late at night.
Empty noodle station
On the beverage side of the counter, there are a couple of complimentary wines and liquors provided. The lounge is also equipped with 2 espresso machines so guests need not wait long to make their own cup of coffee. Soft drinks and canned juices are also available from the fridge as I got myself a can of orange juice while I sit down at the lounge for some reading.
Alcoholic beverages
Espresso machines
Since the airport has pretty good free wifi, there was no need for me to obtain the wifi from the lounge. For guests who do not have cell phone reception, I believe they can obtain a wifi access code from the reception. Changi Airport provides free wifi by getting a code from the information desk or requesting a code to be sent to your phone via SMS.
Orange juice at the lounge
For the short one hour and a bit more I was inside the lounge, it offered a nice place to read and get some beverages. During the day, this lounge would provide adequate food for a nice meal as well. Though, if you do not need access to this lounge, there is really no need to go all the way for access. Perhaps if it was in the day, I might just walk around Terminal 3 and spot the Singapore Airlines' A380s from the viewing area at the central atrium.
Magazine racks in the lounge
With the lounge being nothing special, I made my way to the boarding gates at the time indicated on the boarding pass. The flight was departing in one of those amalgamated boarding gates where flights on Singapore Airlines A380 usually depart from. Thus there are multiple security check lanes and no queues at all. That meant while I was through the security in no time, the flight was also boarding on time. It seems there was an early boarding as well, and what made it more interesting was that while the flight is tagged as an MU flight which indicates China Eastern as the operating carrier, the airplane was in Shanghai Airlines livery. Though it must be stated that the Shanghai Airlines is a subsidiary of China Eastern.
Shanghai Airlines A330 at Pudong
MU544 Singapore SIN - Shanghai PVG
STD-STA: 0055-0620
Actual: 0059-0529
Airbus A330-200 B-6545
Gate A16 Seat 8C to 6D
Boarding from these gates meant entering the cabin from the front for Business Class passengers. China Eastern uses the same Business Class seats as Air China on these A330s which feature forward facing lie flat seats in a 2-2-2 configuration. As I boarded, there was already someone occupying the seat 8A, so the crew asked if I might want to be seated at 6D instead which is the bulkhead row. I took her up on the offer since I wanted to sleep without being interrupted. When I got settled on the seat, the crew came around with a tray of orange juice and water, and I picked the latter. In addition, a hot towel was also served on a ceramic plate.
Welcome aboard China Eastern
The cabin is suitable for a red-eye flight as it does have a nice spacious seat that reclines into a bed. I had been on <a href="https://quirrow.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/from-mountains-to-beaches-air-china-business-class-lounge-and-a-flat-bed-to-singapore/">Air China's Business Class</a> which features the same seat so the hardware was actually quite good. These are also the same seats found on LOT Polish's 787.
Business Class cabin on China Eastern's Airbus A330
Aside from the welcome drink, there was also a pillow and a wrapped blanket on the seat. By the ottoman, there was a slipper in a re-usable shoe bag. I like the way these slippers are presented as I could have a use for these shoe bags since I like to bring along a running shoe or flip flops for those vacation.
Slippers amenity
While waiting for boarding to be completed, the cabin crew passed around the menus for this flight.
Inflight magazine and menu
What was unique here was that the purser for the flight would take your order and retrieve the menu as the menu lists out the various choices for all the Singapore to Shanghai flights. For this particular flight, only breakfast would be served prior to arrival and guests are asked if they would like to be woken up for service. I know some of the passengers declined this meal service. The menu also lists out the selections in 3 different sets, with colour coding to represent the sets. On the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th month, it was coded red, the 2nd, 5th, 8th, and 11th month it was coded orange and the 3rd, 6th, 9th and 12th month it would be coded blue. It made it quite confusing for first time passengers though I did eventually find the correct page to look at. For brevity, I would only post the menu for this particular flight and readers interested to know the full menu could find photos of them at my Flickr album for this flight. The menu for this flight was as follow:
There was also a separate beverage menu, and while it may look impressive, I was only drinking tea and water for this flight as I refrained from alcohol since I had some matters to attend to in Shanghai for the day. The beverage menu was as follow:
Boarding did not take any longer than it needed to be as we pulled back early and made a short taxi to the runway for take-off. The flight tonight would be an extremely short one according to the captain and that meant less time to sleep. After we reached cruising altitude, the crew came around with eye shades for passengers, though I was surprised they did not pass this around earlier as some passengers were already asleep at this time.
Eye shades
The crew also passed immigration and customs form for China during this time while I started to check out the entertainment selection.
Headphones and immigration form
Inflight entertainment
As I wanted to watch something before sleeping, I asked the crew for some tea and snacks. I was given a packet of nuts along with the tea. While not exactly premium, it was acceptable for me. On a side note, passengers should not really expect much snacks for the late departure out of Singapore as the crew expects passengers to just go to sleep immediately. The crew did come around the cabin with a bottle of water for every Business Class passenger.
Packet nuts and hot tea
Not long after that I started to feel sleepy and I reclined the seat all the way down. There are no amenity kit or pyjama or socks provided even on this overnight flight either. After all this is not First Class. That left me with just one pillow and a blanket to make myself comfortable.
Pillow on lie-flat seat
It was good to have at least 3 hours of sleep on the bed as the crew woke me up for the breakfast service. To refresh passengers, there was another hot towel service and I was asked if I would like tea or coffee. I went with more tea since on a Chinese carrier, tea is the safer choice.
Tea and towel service
While the amenities might be lacking, the breakfast served was substantial and nicely presented. There was a small yogurt on the side along with a fruit bowl. As I picked the Chinese entrée, it was a bowl of minced chicken noodle with soup. The bowl of noodle was warm and tasty so I did finish it all up. There was also a croissant that I got from the crew who offered it to passengers. Surprisingly the croissant was warm and flaky, and that made for a nice satisfying meal.
Noodle soup for breakfast
After the meal, I got another bottle of water from the crew as I finished the one provided. I also asked for a pen to fill in the customs form, before relaxing for the rest of the journey into Shanghai by continuing the inflight movie from where I left off.
Bottled water and pen
Continuing the inflight entertainment
The captain was not that far off when he said we would be arriving early into Shanghai. I expect that it was nice weather that allowed that to happen and we landed into Shanghai Pudong nearly an hour in advance of schedule. There was a bit of taxi time into the terminal but the early arrival was not bad since it put us ahead of the other flights.
Business class seat
After disembarking from the flight, I made my way to the immigration though not without taking another photo of the plane. Just after I joined the moderately long queue, there was another bunch of passengers coming to join the queue. Because not much of the lanes were staffed by the customs officers at this time of the day, the moderately long queue still took about half an hour to clear. In fact the Chinese nationals queue cleared up by the time I reached the front of the line. That meant by the time I reached the luggage claim area, it was nearly empty as I picked my luggage from the carousel.
Arrival luggage claim
