Review of Singapore Airlines flight from Shanghai to Singapore in Economy

Night @ Shanghai

Day trip to Hangzhou's West Lake.

Meal at the famous Hangzhou chain restaurant, Grandma's Kitchen. Very affordable and delicious food!

It was a speedy taxi ride to Pudong T2 to catch our flight home. Check-in queues were not very long even though Economy was rather full. Premium cabins were almost empty though. Final load, 0F, 9J and about almost 100% full in Economy.

Boarding pass.

Really huge and spacious check-in hall. Reminds me of HKG, PEK etc though. Design seems rather generic.

Off through immigration and security, which were rather painless compared to PEK, and into the departure hall.
Spotted an Air NZ B772ER and an Etihad A330 in special livery parked at the remot stands.

Firstly, we went to the lounge to grab some bites. Used our Priority Passes to access the 69 VIP Lounge (as name because it is beside Gate 69). The lounge is also used by a number of airlines.

There are 2 sections of the lounge, First and Business. However, both sections were exactly similar with same seating and food offering. Also, the lounge attendants did not dictate which section you had to go to and so one can move freely between the 2 sections. There were also toilets and showers available in the lounge. As the First Class section was almost empty, we went into that section. Lounge was not too busy at this hour.

Buffet offering, which was a rather mediocre affair.

Some more of the buffet selection.

Our spread.

View of the gate areas from the lounge.

Our plane arriving early from Singapore.

After we had our fill, we left the lounge and wandered around the terminal. Not too interesting shops in the terminal.

They actually sell live hairy crabs for you to take home with!

AA in new livery.

FIDS display.

Emirates A380. They are everywhere!

We will be departing from Gate D73 today.

29 December 2013
Singapore Airlines
SQ 833
Shanghai Pudong (PVG) - Singapore (SIN)
B777-300ER
9V-SWP
Economy Class
Will be flying 9V-SWP today. We missed the new B773ER by a day as SWV made an unscheduled guest appearance on this exact flight just the day before!

Boarding was done orderly and we passed the empty premium cabins to our seats at row 55A/C right at the rear of the aircraft. Luckily, the middle seat remained empty, one of the few empty seats in Economy on this flight.

Emirates A380 beside.

With the headwinds along the way, it would be a lengthy 5+hrs to Singapore.

Hot towels and menus distributed. Again, headsets were already at the seats and Krisworld could be fired up immediately.
Just a normal menu for the return flight.

Aircraft out on the tarmac.

After all passengers had boarded.

Doors were closed 10min before our STD of 1620hrs. However, there was no sign of pushback, and the pilots then came on to announce that due to airspace congestion, we were not given a specific timeslot for departure by ATC, and they would try to negotiate for a departure time. A while later, pilot came on again and announced that departure would be delayed by an hour to 1720hrs! Apologies were also offered even it was not the fault of the airline. Luckily Krisworld was available and most pax settled into their entertainment. Crew also came through with a round of water.
Started watching a Singapore-made movie Ilo, Ilo on Singapore Airlines.

Finally we pushed back slightly after 1700hrs.

Had a very lengthy taxi to Rwy 35R.

Takeoff from Pudong an hour late.

We actually flew past The Bund during ascent!

Flying past Shanghai Hongqiao Airport as well.

Shortly after seatbelt signs were switched off, bar service was started. I had a Campari 7-up cocktail with my pack of mixed nuts.

Bar service in progress. Again, as the premium cabins were almost empty, a few crew came down to assist in economy. I counted 5 cabin crew working in the rear Economy section, making service rather fast and efficient on this flight.

Just after I had finished with my first movie, we were somewhere between Shanghai and Hong Kong. It was also time for dinner to be served.

Again, International and Oriental choices were offered, and we had both to try.
My International selection tray with cheese and crackers. Bread roll was served warm this time round.

The International tray consisted of an average smoked salmon pasta starter and rather delicious braised beef main.

While the Oriental tray consisted of great pork salad starter, but a less tasty salt-baked chicken main.

The not-so-Chinese Chinese snack on the Oriental tray.

No ice-cream for dessert, but we had an apple crumble instead. It was ok but I still preferred to have ice-cream!

Again, Chinese tea to end the meal.

Clearing up the cabin after dinner, before lights were dimmed.

Visit to the rear lavatory, with amenities still available.

For the rest of the flight, I settled on the movie Monsters University,

as well as browsing through some of the audio selection.

All too soon, descent was announced. Headsets were collected as usual, and cabin secured for landing. Again, IFE was not switched off and you are free to use your own headsets. However, I stuck to the flightmap during the descent.

Rather smooth landing on Rwy02L 37min late (not the fault of SQ though). It was also my first time aboard an SQ flight where cabin lights were not totally switched off for a night landing.

Taxied to and parked at Terminal 3 Gate A15.

Disembarking.

And this ends my last trip for the year of 2013. Thanks all for reading! All comments welcomed.