Review of Singapore Airlines flight Singapore Bangkok in Economy

Airline Singapore Airlines
Flight SQ982
Class Economy
Seat 60K
Aircraft Boeing 777-200ER
Flight time 02:25
Take-off 24 Jan 18, 17:35
Arrival at 24 Jan 18, 19:00
SQ   #3 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 696 reviews
marathon
By GOLD 2395
Published on 4th February 2018
This was the second leg of TPE-BKK trip via SIN on SQ

CDG-TPE : BR88 (B777-300ER)
TPE-SIN : SQ877 (A330-300)
SIN- BKK : SQ982 (B777-200ER) you are there
BKK-TPE : BR76 (B777-300ER) to be posted later
TPE-CDG : BR87 (B777-300ER)

Like for the previous segment, it was impossible to select a seat before the OLCI because I had BR tickets on SQ flights. This was the cabin’s landscape at OLCI, where many seats were available. True to my habits, I did not keep pre-assigned Seat 40K (a window seat, but overwing), and selected 61K instead: as far from the wing as possible so that it would not be in the frame when taking picture outside, and also as far rear of the aircraft as possible, and therefore the least desirable for passengers who want to leave the aircraft as fast as possible, which meant conversely with the most chances of an empty middle seat. I did not choose one of the twin seats, precisely because they would not have an empty seat next to them if all aisle seats were occupied.

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SQ keeps being remarkably terse about the meal to be served on board.
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There were few passengers at the luggage drop, but also few open counters. I did not record the time spent, but I did not have the impression of a very fast service.
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SQ sets a 7kg in Economy but according to a frequent flyer on SQ, this LCC-like limit is never enforced.
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A Merlion (hybrid of a mermaid and a lion), the symbol de Singapore, at the other end of the check-in area.
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Going through immigration was very fast ; arrival airside
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A floral decoration
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There is a small pool and a glass-bottomed balcony which is obviously there for souvenir shots.
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Another floral decoration alongside a corridor
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You can’t go thirsty in SIN : there are many water fountains like these, where the lower one is accessible to wheelchair handicapped persons and kids alike.
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SIN is also an airport where each boarding gate has its own security check, like this one for my flight : this one opened 1h10’ before takeoff, and once you passed it, you are in a relatively limited space without any facilities. It is actually the same as LCC pre-boarding in Europe, and to a European traveler, it gives a distinct LCC ground experience to flying from SIN, be it with SQ or any other airline.
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In all airports in the world, taking pictures of security check facilities is forbidden, even though nothing is more standardized than security check facilities. Here, those which are unused because no flight is going to depart from the corresponding gates are ideal for completing your picture book.
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No flight was departing from that gate : this was a training session for security check staff
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This configuration with security check facilities dedicated to each gate has a major inconvenient for a Flight Reporter : the vast majority of the windows are inaccessible.
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And when there is an accessible window which does not require boarding a flight to reach it, there is often something in the way.
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This rest area providing a view to the outside could attract plane spotters
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Only that the designers seem to have a rule to hamper plane spotters, here with a row of potted plants in front of the window. The said windows are heavily tinted to reduce the power of the air-conditioning: it’s good for the environment, not for plane addicts. (Why did they not use a neutral grey tint ?)
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In such a challenging hunting ground, this is the meager result of my hunt. (In all fairness, I should mention that I once found a decent place for plane spotting last time I departed from SIN, but it was not in Terminals C and D.)

Scoot A320
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Scoot 787
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Singapore Airlines A330
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In the distance, blurred by the hot air, a British Airways A380 hiding a Jetstar A320
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Firefly ATR72
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Silk Air A319
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A large white aircraft emerged from behind these palisades
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An entirely white A380: no, this was not of the A380s that MH will dedicate to the transportation of Hajj pilgrims also wearing white clothes.
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This was 9V-SKB, the second oldest A380 operated by Singapore Airlines which does not own her: she has been returned to her owner after the expiration of the ten-year lease. Nobody is operating her as of now, hence the white livery.
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An aircraft which never flies degrades, so the crew will take her on a one hour flight disclosed later by Flightradar24
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GCL-Poly is a Chinese company specialized in renewable energy which their corporate A319CJ parked here.
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What can you do once you have exhausted the meager plane spotting after walking miles, when the boarding room is not opened yet ?
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I could for instance on one of these seats on the right and recharge my laptop. I note the presence of multistandard power ports: too many international airport managers forget that some passengers are connecting between two flights and do not have an adapter for the local plug standard. This is the case in HKG where the power ports are mercilessly Type G only, inherited like in Singapore from a British colonial past.
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SIN is one of these annoying airports where you must have a cell phone with roaming access to connect to the internet, because you must receive a code by SMS.
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After going quickly through the security check of my gate, and then a passport check (background, right)
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This was the boarding room. Note the steel circles on benches to stop homeless passengers from sleeping there.
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The seats next to power ports were monopolized by passengers not using them. Humph…
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This gate is compatible with an A380
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But there was no view on our aircraft : this A330 was at the next gate.
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You probably noticed the green tinge of these pictures : the windows in SIN are heavily tinted green and plane spotters have to do with that. I find this green rendition rather depressing; in this regard, SIN is not the best advertisement for its country.

Air Asia A320, bearing the logo of Charterprime, a brokerage company.
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Silk Air 737-800
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Bangladesh Airlines 737-800
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Singapore Airlines 777-300
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Singapore Airlines A350-900
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Scoot A320
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Scoot 787
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Batik Air A320
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Cathay Pacific 777
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Singapore Airlines A380
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The A380 lifts slowly : contrary to all other aircraft I saw there, I could just see it above this building in the foreground.
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Boarding through a jetbridge with carpeting with an elaborate design.
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For door addicts (I can barely provide their dose here, but they will have more later)
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Headphones placed to the disposal of the passengers
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The newspapers offered to the passengers
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Entering the second Economy cabin which is still empty
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The space in front of the bulkhead seats (picture taken while deplaning)
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View towards the rear
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And view towards the front
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Do these pictures give the impression that the cabin was empty ? It was. Apart from a group inexperienced Chinese travelers who were as noisy as their guide (they were fortunately far from me), there were few passengers in this cabin: I counted around 30 for 117 seats. A FA later told me that there were 150 passengers in Economy on this flight, but they were mostly packed in the first cabin. This was a good example of betting on seats in the rear and winning extra comfort.
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This FA helps the Chinese find their seats.
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This is Seat 61K
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The carpeting was quite worn and dirty, both in the corridor
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… and in the aisle
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Two controls of the seat back… which I did not try even though I had all freedom to do so in this empty cabin.
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The IFE’s remote control is on the side of the armrest : this is a poor design because you can activate it by mistake, especially while sleeping. A usual irritating case is when you are awaken by the light of the screen because you activated it in your sleep.
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This remote control was dangling this way when I arrived: this was untidy.
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Same comment for this leftover earphones plastic wrapping: it was not dirty, but untidy.
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This was not the only problem with aircraft cleaning. The weather had little to do with the greyish appearance of this ANA 787
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… and a lot more with the fact that the window was really dirty, as revealed by this handkerchief used to clean it.
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The IFE screen is small (6 inches diagonal), but the hardware quality does not matter much when the software is the problem.
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The seat’s upholstery did not let the armrest fold up all the way, but that did not hinder passage, or lying on the seats if they were empty.
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There is an IFE box at an aisle seat of each set of three : if you have an aisle seat in the center, better be on the right.
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The width of the seat between armrests is OK, no more.
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The seat pitch, measured from the edge of the seat to the back of the preceding seat, is rather good for a seat in Economy.
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But the comfort, ouch!
It does not show very well in this picture, but the padding had been crushed by years of usage and you actually sat on two structure beams separating the seat in three thirds.
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I did not take much time to decree that I would not stay in that seat during this flight, especially since the cabin was really very empty.
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I self-upgraded myself to Seat 60K which was much more comfortable.
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I had to disregard the dirty safety belt. Aircraft cleaning was definitely substandard, and well below that of the terminal.
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The carpet there too was both worn and dirty.
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On the other hand, just one row difference made the seat pitch leap from 27 to 33 cm
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… on the condition of sitting on the window seat, because the aisle seat had « only » 29 cm and this 4 cm difference was obvious to the naked eye.

The reason was that this was where the cabin starts narrowing. From Row 60 inclusive, the side three-seat sets are not strictly perpendicular to the plane’s axis: Row 60 is therefore not parallel to Row 59, hence the increased space for the window seat.
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SQ’s safety cards are especially verbose
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After this detailed cabin and seat check, after I had cleaned the window, I turned to plane spotting before take-off. A light drizzle began unfortunately just after I had cleaned my window, worsening lighting and shooting conditions.
Bangkok Air A319
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Singapore Airlines A330
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The same in her environment
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Tiger Air and Scoot merged recently, hence the apparition of Scoot liveries with a tiger tail.
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Scoot 787
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Malaysian Airlines 737
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Etihad 787
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Silk Air 737
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ATR72 Firefly, in a livery to which I could not do justice due to the lack of light
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Cebu Pacific A330
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Air Asia A320
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Takeoff under a sky which gave little impression that it was still over an hour to sunset (the advantage that day was that I did not sweat the minute I would set a foot outside).
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Arrival of a Scoot A32x with a tiger tail and a yellow nose (yet another livery variant)
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Takeoff : the construction area between the airport and the coast on the east side of Singapore
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The only program of an IFE that I am interested in is the moving map, and these are the instructions in the in-flight magazine
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Travel & Info : there we are
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And once there, no matter how many times I tried, when I click on it, I only have the Entertainment menu. It was an obvious software bug; since the flight was going to be nearly entirely over water and then at night, I did not call a FA for a possible reset.
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The in-flight magazine provides details well beyond my competencies on the various 777 of SQ’s fleet
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The route was successively over a portion of the Malay peninsula covered mostly with endless palm oil plantations which were masked by the clouds, and then over water.
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These pictures illustrate the resemblance between an SQ girl and a 21st century Economy seat : not very wide when seen from behind,
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… and thinned to the utmost limits when seen sideways, with a slight thickening in the upper part for the resting and visual comfort of the passengers.
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This was the meal as served
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After unwrapping
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Two choices for the hot meal : chicken or fish ; I chose the latter which was somewhat had, but OK.
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Seafood appetizer
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The water capsule was produced for SQ
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36g for 45 ml mean an overrun of 80% : not bad, IMO.
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Another ice cream which travelled a long way, or at least its ingredients did.
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I had of course plenty of space to get rid of my food tray after finishing my meal,
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… but I nevertheless indulged in my usual wrapping packing exercise.
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For doors and emergency exit fans
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Magazines at the disposal of the passengers
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There is a water fountain next to the toilets located between the two Economy cabins.
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The pictogram above remind passengers that changing a baby’s diapers is a female task, and the recommendation to no throw them (and tampons too) in the toilet is presumably directed at women only.
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The usual supplies in the toilets
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The SQ girls are used to play hide-and-seek with their colleagues during the flight, using the fact that they are both thin and supple enough to hide behind a trolley.
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They kill two birds with a stone by delivering or recovering the meal trays during the game.
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Taking so many pictures and measurements did not go unnoticed by a FA who came up to me after the end of the meal service and asked me if I was a Boeing employee, or a competitor’s staff ? He was very friendly in his approach (another Flight Reporter recently reported a very unpleasant experience on an American Airlines flight, where he was questioned at length, and his cell phone was confiscated during the flight and all airport and in plane pictures deleted).
No, I was neither, and I told him about Flight Report which interested him. (At this stage in flight, unveiling the fact that I would report this flight would not make a difference – I went so far as to refuse the offer for a drink which could have been offered to any other passenger anyway).

We had a very interesting conversation ; I incidentally mentioned that I always blurred the faces of FAs which happened to appear in my pictures.

But there is no problem in taking pictures of us ; do you want to take a picture of me and one of my colleagues?

We were nearly at the beginning of the descent, and I only cursorily checked my pictures on the spot. Why did this FA give such a stern look? He was every bit as smiling and friendly as his female colleagues during his interactions in the cabin and our chat in the galley!
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So we were descending toward BKK, and the cabin lighting was appropriately dimmed.
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Only after landing did I realize that we had been put on hold towards the end of the downwind leg.
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It was very cloudy
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The ground appeared at low altitude
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These may be the roads on both banks of the Saen Saep
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The successive interchanges north of BKK between expressway #7 and the roads serving BKK
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Kiss landing
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We are in Thai Airways territory, but the night precludes any plane spotting.
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The fully lit terminal
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Arrival at the terminal next to a China Southern Airlines A321
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It was a long walk in one of the branches of the terminal
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This exit was not for me this time
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Not only I am less than 100 years old, since I flew on SQ whose drop down check-in menu does not accept passengers born before 1918, but I am less than 70 years old, i.e. too young to have any priority. And no, I am not a Buddhist monk either.
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My only choice was the standard immigration access. I had terrible memories of spending a full hour there in the middle of the night; the waiting time this time would be “only” twenty minutes, partly because the processing of each passenger seemed exceedingly long, and it was also the case the previous time I landed here.
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Arrival in the luggage delivery room
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Last bag ? No, not quite
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… but I was going to wait only five minutes for my luggage which appeared 39 minutes after the plane had reached a complete stop at her gate: luggage delivery was not very fast.
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Going down the lower level to reach the taxi stand, after withdrawing some cash from an ATM.
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You must take a ticket from one of these machines, which tells you which taxi to take among some twenty waiting cars. It is considerably more efficient that having a single waiting line of passengers, but requires more walking.
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The taxi driver took a minute on the phone to check the destination before leaving.
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The arrival at the JW Marriott is part of the first bonus.

Thanks for reading me!

Bonus : Click here display

As a conclusion, I offer you a second bonus on BKK’s Airport Museum.

Bonus : Click here display
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Verdict

Singapore Airlines

8.1/10
Cabin7.0
Cabin crew10.0
Entertainment/wifi6.0
Meal/catering9.5

Singapore - SIN

9.1/10
Efficiency9.0
Access10.0
Services7.5
Cleanliness10.0

Bangkok - BKK

8.4/10
Efficiency7.0
Access8.0
Services8.5
Cleanliness10.0

Conclusion

The cabin of this 772 betrayed her age (I did not check, but she probably was among those which entered revenue service around 2002) : a badly worn and stained carpet, an uncomfortable seat because of crushed padding, with outdated IFE screen with bugged software. Poor cleaning of the aircraft did not help : the initial impression after boarding was that of a second tier airline operating vintage second hand aircraft with minimal budget for on-ground services.

SQ’s hard product was below standards on this flight, but on the other hand the soft product was top level. The meal was good and plentiful.
I wish to the FA with whom I chatted that his management will read this report and my satisfaction about his services (and that of his colleagues on this flight): the excellence of SQ’s FAs is no news, but is re-validated at each flight.

The taxi ride to SIN was fast and cheap; taking the MRT would have been taken more time, but would have been even cheaper yet comfortable : SIN’s accessibility is excellent.

The fluidity at immigration and at the security check were excellent, it was decent at check-in.
I penalize the obligation of receiving a SMS to have access to the internet, and indirectly the meager possibilities of plane spotting through heavily tinted windows.

I had very bad memories of BKK’s immigration ; the waiting time was tolerable with time, but nevertheless more than hoped for in a non-peak traffic time slot.
The taxi ride to a hotel located somewhat on the airport side of the city took a reasonable amount of time. The connection to the internet in the terminal was fast, and there was no need to receive a SMS.

Information on the route Singapore (SIN) Bangkok (BKK)

Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 67 avis concernant 8 compagnies sur la ligne Singapore (SIN) → Bangkok (BKK).


Useful

La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est Singapore Airlines avec 8.7/10.

La durée moyenne des vols est de 2 heures et 17 minutes.

  More information

4 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 431412 by
    theaathiqone 1 Comments
    Thank you for a detailed trip report. I personally find it difficult to do plane spotting at Terminal 2 too, mostly due to it's old architecture. The other terminals are far easier.

    On the other hand, your comments about the look of SQ stewardess are in poor taste, no need to comment on their sizes.
    • Comment 431415 by
      marathon GOLD AUTHOR 10106 Comments
      Next time I'll check the airport map in advance and remember to spend whatever time I have in better locations - I do not know SIN well and it shows.

      It took 1,500 views equally split between the French and English versions of this report to receive this first slap on the wrist about my description of the Singapore girls. Either readers are exceedingly shy about posting their opinion on this, or fewer than 0.1% share your views that you are no less welcome to post.

      Thanks for your comment !
  • Comment 432131 by
    Rl 777 802 Comments
    Thank you for sharing this FR with us!

    ”SQ keeps being remarkably terse about the meal”
    Wow, what a highly detailed description.

    ”GCL-Poly is a Chinese company specialized in renewable energy”
    - Hmm I wonder what kind of fuel they use for flights on their corporate aircraft (although uncommon, it’s of course not impossible to use fuel from sustainable sources).

    ”Bangladesh Airlines 737-800”
    - Nice catch!

    Great spotting shots at SIN (both from the terminal and the aircraft).

    ”Headphones placed to the disposal of the passengers”
    - Interesting.

    ”The in-flight magazine provides details well beyond my competencies on the various 777 of SQ’s fleet”
    - I may have interpreted the image incorrectly but did you happen to be onboard the only 777-200ER that had not been retrofitted?

    ”There is a water fountain next to the toilets”
    - Interesting to see.

    ”I did not try to pretend that I was in Paris at breakfast”
    - Did you try any? If yes, were they ”that good”?.

    Thank you for the stunning bonus. Have a good one and see you later!
    • Comment 432197 by
      marathon GOLD AUTHOR 10106 Comments
      “Wow, what a highly detailed description (of the meal)”
      - Maybe you could have a meal served in the airport, rather than in flight ? :)

      “”GCL-Poly is a Chinese company specialized in renewable energy.
      Hmm I wonder what kind of fuel they use for flights on their corporate aircraft “
      - Poly is short for polysilicon: they are a major Chinese producer of this raw material for solar cells. Despite the feat accomplished by Solar Impulse 2, a solar powered corporate aircraft is still a distant dream.

      ”Bangladesh Airlines 737-800: nice catch!’
      - I could only see her vertical stabilizer when she was parked at her gate - again this plane spotter unfriendliness of this terminal in SIN :(

      “Great spotting shots at SIN (both from the terminal and the aircraft).”
      - Less work for the FAs, no significant work for the passengers.

      “I may have interpreted the image incorrectly but did you happen to be on board the only 777-200ER that had not been retrofitted?”
      - I did not realize it then; I know aviation geeks who would try to fly in a such a cabin before it disappears.

      ”There is a water fountain next to the toilets. Interesting to see.”
      - In the Chinese culture world, nobody would leave home without a vacuum flask of water or tea.”

      ”I did not try to pretend that I was in Paris at breakfast -> Did you try any? If yes, were they ”that good”?.
      - I hardly ever eat Western food when I am in the Far-East. I prefer excellent local food to French food abroad, even if it is good.

      Thanks for your comments, see you later !

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