The next morning, we took the 9am complimentary hotel shuttle to the airport. It was only a 10min ride to Kansai airport.
SQ's check-in counters are located at the far end of the terminal.
Other than the boarding pass, a Fast Lane pass and a Lounge/Restaurant voucher were issued to Business Class passengers.
Fast Lans entrance for security. The normal queues were not long as well.
As we were given the options to use either the JAL Sakura Lounge, which as a fairly far trek away and nothing too spectacular from reviews I read, or a 2000yen credit per pax to be used at selected restaurants/cafes, we decided to head to the Japanese eatery instead where we had our last dose of Japanese food.
Heaing to the gate after the meal and some Japanese tidbits shopping.
We had to board a shuttle train to the gate. Our A330 can be seed.
VN B789
A couple of GA A330s
The gate was rather crowded and flight was almost full in economy.
SQ's 2nd oldest A330, 9V-STB, will be performing the duty today.
18 October 2017
Singapore Airlines
SQ 619
Osaka Kansai (KIX) - Singapore (SIN)
A330-300
9V-STB
Business Class
Flight Time: 5H52M
KLM pushed back to departure.
Boarding commenced and Business Class/PPS were invited to board.
Welcomed by the crew. The Business Class seats were re-upholstered in dark brown leather. Pillow, blanket, socks and slippers were already pre-set on the eats. Guess we will see this 8yrs old aircraft spend more time in the SQ fleet.
Out the window.
Had a glass of bubbly for the welcome drink.
Noise-cancellation headphones.
Inflight magazines and menu.
Safety video played. We had a bit of delay awaiting pushback due to traffic congestion. However flight time was only a short 6hrs today.
Pushed back.
Taxi to the runway.
Takeoff from Rwy06R.
Kobe airport could be seen.
Started with "The Mummy".
My post takeoff beverage of TWG Silver Moon Tea was delivered, while my friend had a Colombian brew.
Menu selection for this flight.
Shortly after takeoff, canape service commenced with the famed SQ satays and warmed nuts. Lunch would be served about 1.5hrs later.
Great weather out there.
Visit to the well-stocked lavatory.
View of cabin and seats. It was 22/30 in Business today. We were served by a female Inflight Manager, 2 Leading Stewardesses and a steward.
Flying along the eastern coast of Taiwan.
Lunch service commenced. Our meal orders were taken and unfortunately our original choice of Hankoreiki were already not available. Apparently it was a very popular choice which quickly ran out after the first few meal orders were taken at the front cabin, adding that vey limited quantities were catered onboard,leaving the rest of the passengers disappointed. Crew can be observed apologising to many passengers for the lack of the Hanakoreiki choice. This is something which I don't understand, why promote a popular option in the menu with expected high orders, yet only load very limited quantities (around only a quarter of total meals I was told by the crew) and disappoint many passengers. Wrote a feedback to SQ, since it was the 3rd time I was not offered the Hanakoreiki this year on my Japan sectors, proposing that it could be a Book-the-cook option instead, and SQ responded that they are reviewing the option of having it in Book-the-cook.
Meal commenced with the starter and breads. Starter of parma ham was ok, but the breads were delicious!
I chose the Grilled Beef Fillet from the remaining 3 options. When the IFM delivered the main to me, it was presented very beautifully, but looked very dry. The IFM requested for me to take a bite and assess it it was too well-done as this particular cut was thinner than the rest and could be cooked quicker than usual. Expected, it was too tough and chewy, and the IFM apologised and promised to prepare another serving.
The very nicely presented but too well-done steak.
10min later, the IFM came back with another serving, which is time round, was a thicker cut of beef and prepared perfectly medium and some pink still in the middle! Now this was restaurant quality! The IFM also ensured that I was satisfied with the steak. Great service recovery here, especially when I knew how difficult it is to prepare a good steak at above 30,000ft.
Rum and raisin ice cream was excellent!
Cheeses and fruits
Ending with pralines and iced mocha.
Another view of the coast of Taiwan.
3hrs into the flight.
Bottled water was distributed. Watched "Baywatch" for the next film, which surprisingly was quite entertaining.
Less than an hour to arrival.
Another round of warm nuts was offered just before descend.
Descending into Singapre. During the descent, the IFM also came round to offer sweets and pralines.
Landing on Rwy20R 35min ahead of scheduled.
Rather lengthy taxi to Terminal 2.
Last look at my messy seat.
Disembarked.
Thank you for your report.
I have been hearing good reputations about SQ. It seems to be true.
I am also looking forward to SQ A380 next generation hard product.
Wonderful report! It is improper IMO for SQ to have Hanakoreiki available for only 1/4 of the J class pax. I assume that means that 3/4 of the pax need to choose the Western option -- in which case that option should be the default on the menu and not presented alongside the Hanakoreiki as if both were 50/50 allocated.