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Hello and welcome to this flight report between Bali Denpasar and Singapore Changi Airport on Singapore Airlines
Flights information
Aircraft : Boeing 787X
Registration : 9V-SCM
Aircraft age by the time of travel : 4 years
Flight Number : SQ937
Flight Time : 02:22
Seat : 61K
Departure Gate : 4
The online check-in opens 24h hours before departure so I did it the day before flying. While doing this you also have to give the Singapore Arrival Card infos. This can be done from 3 days before departure, a must do before entering Singapore !
Everyone's who's been to Bali knows that the streets are VERY busy there. As we were staying near Seminyak we decided to take our time and leave our house 4 hours before departure. It took us 30/45 minutes to reach the airport so we arrived more than on time at the airport.
The airport is made somehow in a weird way. At the departure level you arrive in a first area with 4/5 shops (mostly selling the usual travel stuff and souvenirs) and before arriving to the checkin counter you have to go through a first security check where they scan your bags before entering the checkin area.
We make our way to the checkin counter and there again they check your luggages for explosives with the famous little white stick (it was apparently only for Singapore Airlines flights though). As we were more than 3 hours before departure time they didn't let us check our luggages in. So we left the checkin area went for a coffee in the first one and then came back.
For the check in there are 3 lines available : one for business, one for premium, one for economy. In total 12 counters available. Everything is very well organized and pretty fast. Not too many people at this time so it took us about 10 minutes to go through the process. While doing the checkin they ask you the usual questions, electronic devices in the luggage and so on. What I like is that they explicitly show you the luggage tag with the destination airport. Nothing too complicated for us since we were only going to Singapore. At the same time they also give you a reminder about batteries and e-cigarettes onboard Singapore Airlines.
After the checkin we made ourselves to the security screening (let me call it the real one compared to the first one). You scan your boarding pass and then choose a line. This is always the same poker game, usually you take the empty line and in the end this line takes longer than the busier one on side …
Some of the lines are equipped with body scanners some of them with the usual old gates, no really big matter here though as a passenger. The whole process is pretty fast, just a little negative point is that the boxes to put your stuff are pretty small to put all of your personal items.
(sorry for the bad quality of the pictures I had to be quick while taking them).
Afterwards we arrived at the immigration, no big waiting time here compared to arrival (we had to wait for like 45 minutes but it was late in the eveining), here it took us 10 minutes.
Don't expect any chat here, not even a "Hello". My officer had his airpods on, wrote some stuff on his computer, then put the stamp on my passport, gave it back and that's all, you're cleared to leave the country.
So after passing the immigration we arrived in the duty free area, which can't be avoided like in every airport now. And naturally you can forget about real duty free since the prices are more or less the same than the ones you would find online or the same as in Europe, even a bit more expensive.
The area is very nice though, and very clean. In the first part you find the normal souvenirs and parfume shops and then the second area is a more fancy one with designer brands as you can see on the pictures. Very occidental though.
After a short visit in the lounge we decide to make our way to the gate. The app says boarding at 11:10 and the Boarding pass says 11:30, so we decide to leave around 11 to be on the safe side.
To reach the gate we passed through another part of the airport, some kind of a food court. No more shops, only restaurants there.
In the end looking back at it, the airport pis pretty well organized. Normal duty free shops, designer brands, food court, and then boarding gates.
Our Plane has already arrived
I make a short stop at the smoking area which is outside the building directly in front of the field. Which makes it possible to have a great view on our plane
The boarding gate will be the number 4 today. Everything is already set up and there is a big waiting area with plenty of seats to wait for the boarding to start. The benches are equipped with power sockets and usb plugs to charge electronic devices.
I am quite impressed how many people from SQ are present to organize the boarding. I counted like 10 people. Never saw so much people for a boarding. Also there is nobody waiting in front of the gate and building up a queue before the boarding even starts. Something which you don't see anymore there days.
Nevertheless the boarding is delayed, no much info provided so we all wait for the boarding to start. Everything seems to be ready but we are still waiting. Five minutes after the original boarding time they announce that there is some delay (couldn't understand the reason to be honest) and that the boarding would start in 15 minutes.
So at 11:50 they finally start with the boarding per group, first the business class on one side and then the rest per group on the other side. And here as always with this boarding by group process, people don't look at their boarding pass so go with the first groups (or try to), but get rejected and so on. We are boarding group 5, the last one, so still some time to wait.
After a few minutes it's the time for our group to board the aircraft. No check of the size or the weight of the cabin luggages at the gate, always a bit stressful each time, will I be controlled, yes ? no ? Kind of the roulette game..
We board the aircraft via the second Jetbridge and the second door. the first one being dedicated to business class passengers. Just before entering the aircraft you can pick up the headphones for the entertainment system. Good that they offer this feature on a less than 3 hours flight !
We are welcomed by two smiling cabin crew members at the door and they point us at the corridor which will lead to our seats.
The cabin is very nice and i'm very impressed (okay yes we are talking about SQ here..), the lights are dimmed and pretty smooth, and the seats seem to be very comfortable. The windows are already a bit darkened which makes it an overall nice atmosphere (I am praying though that they didn't block them as the cabin crew can decide on the 787..). A pillow is waiting for each passengers at every seat (also a nice service on this rather short flight).
As you can see on the picture above, each seat is equipped with a usb power socket, a cup holder, and the double jacks to connect the headphones to the entertainment system.
I also like the fact that the usual buttons (crew bell, overhead light) are located on the seat. It makes it convient to reach them. But may be that results in too many calls of the cabin crew during flight ? From my opinion having the it in front my eyes makes me think about calling them (which i didn't do), something like the more you see it the more you'll find a reason to use it.
The legroom is very good and the seats are indeed very comfortable.
On this rather short flight I didn't check what kind of films they had on the screen, preferred to look out the window and at the HUD on the screen. But i'm sure you'll find some pretty good reviews of the entertaining system here. I find it just a pity that there aren't any outside cameras on the 787s as on the A350. This is a very nice feature. So i'll stay with the HUD video.
While unfolding the tray table and i discover this little nice feature : a mirror. Pretty hard to use, but nice to have ! And I actually also like the fact that you can fold it in half, just to put a phone on it for example or a glass. This spares some space compared to when the whole table is down. Anyway if it's only for a glass, there is already the cup holder of the seat in front.
At 12:20 we finally pushback from the gate while they play the safety demonstration video. Despite the fact that the plane is white, i don't know if the pilots forgot to turn on the packs or what so ever, but the temperature is rising up in the cabin. It's getting pretty hot and passengers start to complain to the cabin crew but nothing is said or done.
We start to taxi and the pilots announces that we are number five and we would take off in 5 to 10 minutes. Since DPS has only one runway and because there is a lot of traffic I don't quite trust what he says. The temperature is still rising up and it gets pretty unbareable if you ask me, many more passengers are complaining but they finally say that the temperature would get lower after we're airborne.
And finally after a 30 minutes wait, we are aligned on the runway and we take off towards the east direction Singapore at 12:55.
I am always amazed by this wingflex on the 787… Makes it a beautiful plane.
Just after passing 3000ft the temperature is already lower compared to taxi time but still pretty hot. And at this moment a few rows in front of me a passenger looses consciousness for a few minutes. Cabin crew and Purser run to him to try to wake him up with some claps. Eventually and fortunately he regains consciousness but they still take a very good care of him. The purser stays for a while with him and picks up an oxygen masks to help him since he still doesn't looks so well.. Nevertheless the aircraft is still climbing towards to cruising altitude. Stopping the climb would have been a sign for me indicating that we would return to DPS to get medical care.
If you ask me the passenger got sick due to the temperature in the cabin, I never experienced such a high temperature in an airplane. And that was the result of it. Quite a surprise for me for Singapore Airlines…
At 10,000 ft the pilots turns off the seatbelt sign and the wifi can be used, we are still climbing and they are still taking a very good and close care to the sick passenger.
We finally reach our cruising altitude of 40,000 ft and the cabin crew start to distribute the special meals to the passengers who ordered it. I like the way they put stickers on their seat to recognize them directly.
The windows are still dark and unfortunately blocked by the cabin crew.. Pretty annoying if you ask me, but still it was not completely dark so I was still able to look outside. But that's why all of my pics look blue-ish…
On the first pic below we turn towards the west flying over Bali with a very nice view over the volcano.
Flying over some kind of what seems to be a paradize island with white sand, clear water.. Not like in Bali …!
After the special meals are distributed the cabin crew start the general service. In today's menu : Beef Goulash with potato or chicken and rice. I'll go for the chicken and rice (and some vegetables) !
Each member of the crew has a smile sticked on their face, very nice but seems a bit too fake somehow though.. But they are very friendly ! They don't spent too much time at each row since the flight time is rather short and the service has to be done pretty fast.
The tray contains a desinfection wipe, a bottle of water, a butter box the box with the main meal, and the desert which is some coffe cake. Everything tastes very good and it's not as spicy as the flight we took towards Bali.
The only negative point form my point of view would be the bread in a plastic bag which because a bit too rough… It would have been perfect to have a "fresh" hot bread served together with the tray. But overall it's very very good.
Regarding the cutlery I was pretty afraid due to the fact that I absolutely HATE those new wooden made knifes and forks. It tastes always SO BAD. But on SQ it's made out of bamboo so no bad taste, and they are pretty hard too (the wooden ones are pretty soft). Very positive point ! I wish all of the companies would use those bamboo ones…
Regarding drinks they offer wine, beer, softs, sodas, coffee and tea.
Just before we start the descent I went to the toilets. Pretty clean. Well, for this kind of flight time it's pretty much always the case. Not the same after an 11 hours flight though..
And very good products there, even in economy. Mosturizing cream and even some tooth brushes.
Some outside view of this wingflex again… And yes the darkness level of the windows is unfortunately still blocked :(
Roughly 40 minutes before landing time we start the descent towards Singapore and leave the cruising altitude.
Spoilers are out in order to slow down the aircraft while we make some turns before aligning ourselves with the runway. Seems to be pretty cloudy down there.
Did I already spoke about the wingflex…? :D
After 2 hours 22 minutes of flight time and a bit behind schedule we land on Runway 20R at Changi Airport. Pretty smooth landing from the PIC.
Just after vacating the runway the temperature starts to rise again in the cabin, so i really wish that we won't taxi too long to reach our parking position.
Regarding the sick passenger he kept the oxygen mask on during the most part of the flight but he seemed to be feeling better towards the end.
After a rather short 10 minutes taxi time we reach our parking position which will be gate F60. The deboarding process starts smoothly and while leaving my seat it's time for me to take so last pictures of the cabin
Passing through the famous SQ Business Cabin which seems to be very nice !
After deboarding the plane we arrive in this big corridor which lead us too the immigration.
We pass the e-gates for the immigration pretty easily and we make our way towards the luggage carousel to pick up ours.
I am so amazed here on how the put extra carefully the luggages with the handle towards the passenger so that it's easier to pick them up. When I compare that to BER Airport (my home airport) where the luggages are so mishandled and they crash down on the carousel. I don't know what they thought while building that. Anyways..!
That's all for my report ! No review, comments or pics of the jewel, there is already a lot of it here :)
Thanks for reading me ! Safe flights !
An overall very good experience on this flight between DPS and SIN. Catering was very nice and cabin crew were very friendly.
Only (big) negative point was the very high temperature during the taxi and waiting time before take off. Another 15 minutes and it would have been very unbareable.
Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 32 avis concernant 8 compagnies sur la ligne Denpasar (DPS) → Singapore (SIN).
La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est Singapore Airlines avec 8.7/10.
La durée moyenne des vols est de 2 heures et 33 minutes.
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2 Comments
We're travelling next month on the same route(JFK-FRA-SIN-DPS). Didn't realize SIN still requires an e-arrival card with health declaration.
For the arrival card you definitly have to do it if you enter singapore. If you have to change terminals I guess you have to do it too. And then you can state that you‘re just here for transit. As far as I remember the health declaration is something else that is not mandatory anymore.
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