Changi Airport
After a fun week in Singapore and the Disney Adventure, it was finally time to head back to Taiwan.
I wanted to get the most out of Changi Airport, so we got there very early.
China Airlines and EVA Air operates out of Terminal 3 in Singapore, while Starlux operates out of Terminal 2.
Since there was still plenty of time until check in opened, I decided to go explore Changi a bit, starting with a viewing deck in Terminal 1.
The viewing deck was overlooking the C and D gates, specifically gates around C11 and D13.
TC-LGR headed for MEL, on one of TK's fifth freedom flights.
9V-TNH headed for MDC as TR216
9V-NCB has just arrived from CRK.
9V-SKW headed for PVG operating as SQ830
After doing some more planespotting, I decided to go ahead and check out the Jewel, and it's famous waterfall.
After a while, check in opened and I headed back to Terminal 3.
After around 10 minutes, check in was complete and we had our boarding passes. My original seat was 47A, but I wanted a seat at the back of the wings, so the lady at the counter offered to change it to 51K, and I accepted it. But that meant I had to sit by myself, away from my parents.
My flight was CI754, with an STD of 1:45PM and a STA of 6:35PM
The immigration in Singapore decided not to work again, so the security people had to take me to a room where they checked me manually.
After a quick lunch at the food court, I decided to head to my gate, B3. (Later changed to B1).
As I arrived, I spotted out bird for today: B-18918. She is a 7 year old A359 delivered brand new to China Airlines in August 2018. She is also painted in the special carbon fiber Airbus livery.
B-18918 is configured in CI's J32W31Y243 configuration, along with B-18901-18917, coming to a total of 306 seats. B-18919 has 300 seats in a J40W32Y228 configuration. B-18920 has 331 seats in a J28Y303 configuration. All economy seats are in 3-3-3. Premium economy on the 306 seaters are in 2-3-2 and are in a 2-4-2 on the 300 seaters. All business class is in 1-2-1
Boarding was listed at 13:20, which is only 25 minutes before the 13:45 departure time.
At 13:26, boarding started.
With the seats come with 2 storage areas, a safety card, and a magazine.
In exchange for sitting by myself, I get this very nice wing view.
Singapore is shockingly efficient, as boarding started 6 minutes behind schedule, and we were able to push just 5 minutes late.
After a 10 minute taxi, we lifted off runway 20C, headed for TPE.
Around 15 minutes after departure, the crew handed out a small back of snacks and some drinks.
The bathroom was about average, with 1 thing I rarely ever see: you're able to choose between hot and cold water for the tap.
The entire cabin basically had their shades down, even though the flight attendants didn't ask for it. China Airlines chose not to go with dimmable windows on their A350s.
The food service didn't start until around 4:35PM, or 2 and a half hours into the flight.
For today, passengers had the choice between beef rice and chicken rice. I went for the beef rice. The meal came with some cheese, a piece of bread, some unknown salad, fruit, and a drink of choice.
The IFE has a wide selection of movies, games, and most importantly, an inflight map. I was on the inflight map the entire time. Literally.
At around 5:40PM, the pilot came onto the PA and said we would he descending soon, and as soon as he finished the announcement, we started descending. At 6:32 PM, we touched down on runway 23R, with a beautiful sunset as the background.
Overall, it was a good flight! Their hard product is relatively new but definitely could use an upgrade. Their flight attendants are extremely friendly and do small things that caught my attention. The lady next to me was sleeping, so instead of waking her up to give her snacks, the flight attendant just placed it in the storage area for when she woke up. I really think this is one of the most underrated experiences in Asia.
