background
This flight is part of a trip to Cairns. This flight was booked for AU$773/$520, including the Singapore-Kolkata leg, not a great price but not too bad either. The flight did go down quite a bit later but there was nothing that could be done by then. The main other option for this part of the trip was Thai via BKK but that got into CCU too late.
This was the trip so far:
The flight from Cairns arrived on the evening of the 26th and the SQ flight was on the morning of the 27th, so there wasn't any time to do anything in Sydney other than go to an airport hotel and come back to the airport the next day. There was a great view of the airport from the hotel room though.
Flight routing
- 1
- 2
- 3SQ232 - Economy - Sydney-Singapore - Airbus A380-800
- 4SIN-CCU Singapore Airlines A350-900
Sydney Kingsford Smith International Airport
There was a fairly long line at check-in, SQ flies hundreds of passengers out of Sydney every day so this was to be expected.
(the picture was taken from near the front of the line but it was a lot longer than this)
Maybe someday…
International departures today. I was surprised at how many mainland China flight there were.
There were a lot of international planes at SYD.
I've never seen that Garuda livery before. Also, MH has a really nice livery!
Aircraft INFO & boarding
Today's aircraft is 9V-SKZ, a relatively young A380 at 6.5 years. It has only flown for SQ.
Boarding was a little chaotic because there were so many people, but they managed to keep it somewhat organized, it seemed like most people respected the boarding groups and although they stood in line they let people ahead if their group was boarding.
There was a basket of earphones placed right before the entry to the aircraft and you can take a pair if you need it.
seat
Each seat came with a pillow and a blanket…
…adjustable headrest…
…a screen…
…storage areas and charging points…
…and lights.
No personal air vents unfortunately.
The tray table had a mirror, something I've never seen before.
Look at the size of those wings!
(the SkyTeam liveried plane is Vietnam Airlines)
The contents of the seatback pocket were a safety card, a sickness bag, a guide to the inflight wif-fi, and a duty-free shopping magazine.
The crew came around and handed out warm towels to everyone which is always appreciated.
I did a bit more planespotting before we took off.
And then we were off.
lunch
Shortly after take-off, the crew distributed small packets of snacks.
They were pretty good. After that, they gave out drinks.
I got some sprite.
Eventually, lunch was served.
This is my preordered VJML:
The meal was very tasty. Definitely one of the better inflight meals I've had.
Finally, for desert, everyone was given mini Connoisseur ice creams, this was a great touch and quite tasty as well.
Soon the trays were cleared away.
ife & In-Flight
Let's have a look at the IFE.
A very good selection of movies, TV shows, music, and ebooks (although you have to go through almost 3 minutes of ads before being able to watch anything). My biggest issue with the IFE is the lack of games, you can only play games on your personal device and even then the selection is very poor. I'm not sure why they can't have games available on the seatback screens.
The other problem was the wi-fi. Singapore Airlines proudly advertises free wi-fi for KrisFlyer members but it didn't really work for me. I had to keep filling in my details several times until it finally worked - for a few minutes (maybe 10-15 minutes?). Then when I tried to reconnect, the only option they gave me was paid wi-fi which was pretty annoying.
Anyway, they had enough movies to entertain me on this flight.
A little over two hours into the flight and we were still just one state away, over Queensland.
After some time I went to ask for an amenity kit, I'd flown SQ Singapore-Perth in December but that flight was only around five hours long, and they don't give amenity kits on flights under seven hours. Now that I was an on 8+ hour flight I was determined to get one.
While the amenity kits aren't handed out or placed at the seat, you can request them for free.
It was a bit underwhelming to be honest, just socks, toothpaste, and a toothbrush. Eye-masks are available separately but I'd expected one to be in the amenity kit, sadly there wasn't one. To be fair to SQ, they do say that the kit just contains socks and a dental kit. And at least it was free.
Later, I got another ice cream.
The FAs came by a few times with water but not frequently. Honestly throughout the whole flight they weren't particularly friendly (other than one very nice man) which was a surprise considering how hospitable and nice SQ's FAs usually are. One my last flight with them in December this was definitely the case and for that matter, it was also true on my next flight from Singapore to Kolkata. For some reason, on this flight they were nothing like what I would have expected from Singapore Airlines crew. They weren't rude or anything but SQ is famous for their FAs and the ones on this flight didn't represent that.
The bathrooms on this flight were pretty dirty and weren't in great condition which was also strange for Singapore Airlines.
Anyway, just under four and a half hours after departing Sydney we finally crossed out of Australia.
Snack
Before landing, a "refreshment" was handed out.
Yeah… that was it. And it wasn't just the special meal, everyone got this kind of thing.
It was tasty, but usually on flights of this length one would expect a proper, if small, second meal. In April I flew Air Mauritius on a 6 hour flight and they gave two full meals. Obviously this is much better than average, but even on trans-Atlantic flights with European carriers and my January Perth-Hong Kong 7 hour flight on Cathay Pacific everyone was served a light second meal with at least one or two sides. Not the case on Singapore Airlines unfortunately.
Beverages were served after the meal and I got some more sprite.
Arrival in Singapore Changi
Almost there!
Welcome to Singapore!
We have arrived.
I'll end this review here and put my pictures of Changi, including the Jewel, in the next FR. Thanks for reading.
Airlines like CX and SQ have built such a premium brand and reputation that it's easy to have high expectations, which ultimately leads to disappointment compared to the reality of things...at least in Economy. I think the good reputations are still mostly deserved in premium cabins, but it's clear there's been cost-cutting in Economy since the Covid era. Reviews on SQ have consistently shown that the quality of service in Economy hasn't returned to pre-pandemic levels, which is a shame. The hot towel is definitely one of the premium features that they kept that most carriers don't do, but that pre-arrival snack pack is really unexpected on SQ. It's something that's become standard on short Transatlantic flights, and really feels cheap, but I would have never thought I'd see that on a premium Asian carrier!
Thanks for sharing!
I will say that I flew SQ in December and it was just as good as I was expecting, maybe even a little better. Even my connecting flight to Kolkata was pretty good. Not quite as nice as pre-pandemic but still better than most airlines. So I'm hoping that it was just this flight that didn't have the friendliest crew, the cleanest bathrooms, or the best wi-fi. The snack box, yeah, that was a big surprise, even longer trans Atlantic flights are better than that usually, and CX is definitely better.
One thing that I need to mention is that it's possible that I got spoiled by the SAA, Airlink and Air Mauritius crew on my trip to Africa, and I was expecting that level of service (or a higher level) from SQ, which certainly was not the case.
Thanks for reading!