Review of Singapore Airlines flight Jakarta → Singapore in Economy

Note: I rotated the pictures and edited the report quite a bit, so here’s the updated version of my first report!

Hello Flight Report Community! Apa kabar? While I frequent this site, this will be my first flight report, so any comments will be welcome in the comments section.
Indonesia and Singapore are two neighboring countries. For us Indonesians, Singapore is a very “hot” tourist hotspot. People from all social classes, from all over Indonesia, hop on different airlines to visit Singapore. From CGK alone, 37 daily flights depart for Singapore. For holiday, work or any other reason, airlines would find this route very lucrative.
While we Indonesians frequent Singapore all year long, most families prefer to take their children on trips at this time of the year and prices are normally higher. That was when we managed to take 5 return tickets to Singapore for 500 000 rupiah a ticket. That’s approximately 37 USD/ 33 EUR. Considering the fact that flights cost approximately triple, this is a steal.
SQ 953 26 MARCH 2016 CGK-SIN YOU ARE HERE
SQ 960 29 MARCH 2016 SIN-CGK COMING SOON

This flight report begins at 5 30 am on a rainy Saturday morning. Traffic into CGK was nonexistent, and we were at the airport within 20 minutes of leaving our home.
Here’s a look of the airport's curved structure.

We're at the right place.

Envisioned in the 1970s, CGK was opened in 1985. It was designed by Paul Andreu, the same dude who also created Paris CDG. The airport isn’t your typical modern type. It infuses Javanese-style buildings into its design. Now over 30 years old, CGK serves 62 million passengers in a year. That’s almost double its 38 million capacity. Safety is not affected though. Now it is building Terminal 3 Ultimate, in an attempt to improve the experience of using CGK. In the process, T2 improves in efficiency, but not so much aesthetically.
Landside of the 8th busiest airport in the world. Unsurprisingly, its busiest international route is CGK-SIN.

A seemingly common trend in Indonesian airports, both international or domestic, is that the check-in area is off-limits to those not flying, and a security official verifies this.
Check-in for SQ is on the far left side of the terminal.
There was no line. Light load today? The smiling agent then welcomed us. Check-in was a breeze, with the agent reminding us to be at the gate on time, part of SQ protocol, I guess.
SQ Boarding Pass.

For immigration, there was a long line for Indonesians but no line for foreigners. Why the discrepancy? Well, many Indonesians depart for Saudi Arabia for Umroh and Hajj flights. CGK seems to be filled with them all year round. The immigration guy for foreigners refused to help and went on to enjoy his coffee. Very professional indeed!
After clearing immigration you see this giant TV screen. They play commercials on seemingly infinite loops. Let's all hope all the money they raised goes straight to improving T2.

Flights for the day departing from Terminal 2E
Boarding was called 40 minutes before departure. We then went towards the D gates.
There was yet another security checkpoint before entering the boarding area. Once you’re “sterile”, there’s not much to do as there were only a few seats and a charging station. This takes away part of the experience of using CGK.
View of the gate while boarding.
And that’s the best view of our plane I can get. Not very spotter friendly.

For avgeeks, the plane is 9V-SYF, a 14 year old Boeing 777-300.
Earbuds were offered alongside newspapers before enterring.

STD: 7 55
STA: 10 45 (+1 HOUR)
PUSHBACK: 8 01
TAKEOFF:8 16
TOUCHDOWN: 10 55 (+1 HOUR)
GATE: 11 01 (+1 HOUR)
Flight Padding: 1H 50 MIN
EFT: 1H 20 MIN
AFT: 1H 39 MIN
With a warm welcome onboard, we were told to turn right.
32 inch seat pitch, with 9 abreast seating. More than enough in short haul. It even looks comfortable for a transpacific crossing. SQ and GA still opts for 9 abreast seating, whereas other airlines are cramming more and more passengers into their planes like sardines. Of course, in J they give you more space than you need.
Unfortunately this is not my seat.

The seat itself is nicely presented.

Seat pitch is good.

Seatback content. Krisshop (On board sales catalog), SIlverKris (magazine), Safety information card, KrisWorld (IFE Guide) and an airsickness bag.

The safety information card

T
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The SQ fleet. Similar to EK, they operate only widebodies, even on their short routes like SIN-KUL. It really is interesting to see the A350 XWB as being their favourite plane, despite being the A380's launch customer. Favourites change, don't they?

Old school IFE.

The earbuds. They are two pronged and reflect the age of this plane

Oshibori, standard SQ protocol, were distributed.

The captain then came on the PA, explaining that there will be turbulence and that the flight time will be 80 minutes.
Spotting is slightly hindered by a scratched window

9K A320

A CZ B738


Another SQ B773

And we’ll take-off following two GA B738s

Concluding this spotting session is a GA B738 "Retrojet"

We take off and make a right turn, overflying the Tangerang community, for a northbound flight.

Because of turbulence the seatbelt sign was turned off near cruising altitude.
IFE at climb

Once the seatbelt sign was turned off the flight attendants sprang into action. Having maybe just under an hour to serve 250 passengers, you can feel that they will rush the service. The flight attendants served young children first, giving them extra time to finish their meal.The catering onboard was ‘Omelette or Fried Rice’. I opted for the Fried Rice.
The Omelette selection.

Instead of risking the FAs forgetting to say it while serving 250 people, the wrapping makes sure SOMEONE wishes you a good meal. 'Bon Appetit!' Perks of being in economy.

The food was catered in SIN. But the included drinks were loaded in CGK.

The meal was definitely less substantial than on SQ a few years back. I recall that the shell pudding was an integral part of my meals as a young boy. However, the fried rice served today was actually quite good! The satay was a nice and well received addition to what would be a lackluster breakfast, and the egg is well cooked.
Silverware and condiments. On the fried rice tray a packet of chili sauce was thrown in.

IFE when meal service started. We cruised at 34000 feet today.

Descent commenced as the last trays were collected. The FAs cleared the trays of those who were done and gave those who were not finished more time to eat. Kudos to SQ.
What is an FR without a toilet visit?

The toilets were clean and well stocked. This may be due to the few passengers visiting it during this short hop.


For Marathon, Southeast Asia (or at least SQ) has still made it clear that changing diapers is only for a particular gender.


We flew over Batam for a final approach on Runway 2L. The flaps were extended just as we were flying over Batam.

Speedbrakes were necessary

There were, as usual, a lot of ships using the Singapore Strait.

At 10 55 we had a smooth landing and gentle braking followed afterwards.


At 11 01 we arrived at our gate, E12.
Our Boeing 773


We had to go through security again on arrival, and this time, security was thorough. They asked you to remove everything with metal and also electronics from your bag. This is quite new and is perhaps a measure in the aftermath of the Brussels attacks.
Immigration was a long line as flights were coming in from all over Asia at this time. After 20 minutes in line, we took our luggage. Within 20 minutes we were in our hotel at the downtown area.
Thanks for reading! Please feel free to comment!
See you on my return flight!