Review of Singapore Airlines flight from Singapore to Paris in Economy

I made a working trip to Paris over the Chinese New Year period in 2011. Flew there on SQ, which was actually cheaper than Air France! After being disappointed with the meals on SQ on my previous trip to Cape Town, this will be the flight to see if SQ can redeem itself.
On the day of departure, I checked in at Terminal 3. I had initially booked a seat on the upper deck with an empty seat beside. Upon arrival to check-in my luggage, I asked the agent if the seat beside me is still empty but after he checked his system, he was apologetic that the seat beside my original selected seat had been taken. However he was kind enough to assign another 2 seater row to me with the seat beside empty! Kudos to the check-in agent! Also the load was only 150/399 in economy today (and barely a handful in Biz).
31 January 2011
Singapore Airlines
SQ 334
Singapore (SIN) - Paris CDG (CDG)
A380-800
9V-SKG
Economy Class
First some spotting to be done in T3. Boring stuff, all SQ planes.
B777-300 9V-SYB

A330-300 and more SQ planes behind.

Inside T3

Departure from Gate A4. SQ322 to London was almost near departure time with all pax boarded and the screens still showed Gate Open.

Boarding upper deck.

My first Upper Deck boarding pass stub.

View across. It was very empty in upper deck! I can see from my seat that Business was extremely empty too!

Side compartment which refuses to close.

Leg room was reasonable, but still not as good as the 772ERs.

At the gate.

Same procedures: Hot towels, safety video. Flight time announced to be 13hrs.
Pushed back on time and taxied to Rwy 02L.

Takeoff!

Menus, headphones and amenity kits distributed. Relaxing in my 2 seats shortly after takeoff.

Water, beer and juices were distributed with peanuts. No full bar service but ok for evening flight.

Supper was then served on this prestigious flight to Paris instead of a wrap. Service was fast due to the light load.
supper SINGAPORE TO PARIS
appetiser
Pasta and tuna salad
main Courses
Pan roasted chicken breast with mushroom sauce,
sauteed green beans and smashed olive potatoes
or
Stirfried fish fillet with celery in garlic sauce,
chinese vegetables and steamed rice
cheese
Cheese and crackers
dessert
Chocolate delight
from the bakery
Roll and butter
hot beverages
Coffee - Tea
Tray set-up.

Main course unveiled. I had the roasted chicken breast.

Pasta and tuna salad was ok.

Chicken was not bad. It even came in a large-sized casserole. Apparently SQ has 2 sizes of casseroles in economy.

Cheese and crackers.

Hard-rock bun and chocolate delight aka Snickers bar.

All in all, the meal was satisfying and definitely miles better than what was served on my flight to Cape Town. Service was quite robotic though on this flight even with the light load.
Visit to the loo after supper.

I basically crashed out after supper and missed the mid-flight snack service. Similar snacks were served as on the flight to Cape Town.
light bites SINGAPORE TO PARIS
Fancy a snack in between your meals?
Simply take your pick from our range of delectable snacks
when our cabin crew comes around during snack service.
Sandwiches
Savoury sandwich
Vegetarian sandwich
Snacks
Roasted peanuts
Granola cereal bar
Ferrero Rocher chocolate bar
Lay's potato chips
Fruit
Had almost 7hrs of sleep and about 2.5hrs before landing, lights were turned on, hot towels given and breakfast was served.
breakfast SINGAPORE TO PARIS
fruit
Fruit appetizer
light starter
Fruit yoghurt
wholesome beginnings
Fried noodles with char siew style roast pork,
vegetables and mushroom
or
Omelette with chicken sausage, glaced tomato
and hash brown
from the bakery
Assorted breakfast rolls
Butter - Fruit preserve
hot beverages
Coffee - Tea
As can be seen, the main courses were similar to the Cape Town flight but yoghurt and a muffin was included for breakfast too. What a difference in standards.
Meal tray.

Fruits, muffin and hard-rock bun.

Same char siew noodles as I had before. Still tasted as good.

Upper deck after breakfast.

Going down the stairs..

To lower deck economy cabin.

We arrived in the darkness about 30mins early. Used the whole runway to stop. Welcome to Paris! The temperature is -4 degrees celsius :5eek:

Taxi to the gate.

Crossing roads.

Video of taxi.

Parked at the gate after quite a long taxi.

Disembarkation was fast as there were not many J class pax ahead.
My seats after 13hrs.

Passing the unused Business class seats.

Business class again.

Last look at 9V-SKG.