Introduction
Hello! This is the fourth and last report on my trip to Sweden and Finland.The itinerary is as shown below.
SIN → DOH | QR943 | A359 | Click Here |
DOH → ARN | QR171 | A359 | Click Here |
HEL → DOH | QR308 | A320 |Click Here |
DOH → SIN | QR944 | A35K | You are here|
Transit
After arriving from Helsinki, I had close to 3 hours before the flight to Singapore departs. This gives me significantly more time to explore HIA compared to the outbound journey. Security check was pretty efficient. There was a slight queue but it moved quick. The whole process took no more than 15-20 minutes.
Trying out the food court. It provides a nice view of the airport and the food was pretty nice. Unfortunately I could not get a window seat.
Heading to the gate. When I arrived there was still around an hour to departure but the gate was already packed with passengers. Most of them were Singaporeans so I guess this is a pretty good example of our 'kiasu' attitude (afraid to lose). Unfortunately B9 is one of the gates where you can't see the aircraft. I would have loved to get a nice picture of the A350-1000.
Boarding was pretty organised although for some reason the gate agent did not announce the boarding announcement using the PA but rather the staff had to yell out the boarding calls.
The A350-1000 was equipped with the new Qsuite along with this new economy class. The particular seat type was also installed on newer A350-900 (as I experienced on the flight to ARN). Pillow and blankets was already available on the seat. Amenity kits were also on the seat. I really like the beautiful design of the amenity kit. Inside there were socks, toothbrush set, eyeshade and ear plugs.
The IFE was much more responsive the the quality was a lot clearer than on the previous flight. The mood lighting was also very pretty. I must say the A350 feels really spacious and quite especially compared to the A320 I just arrived from.
Take Off
Timelapse of the departure.
Cruise
Menus and health advisory card was distributed by the crew after takeoff.
Contents of the seat pocket.
Some pretty nice view of the desert below.
For breakfast there was 3 options. I selected the scrambled egg with chicken sausage option. The main course itself was fine, nothing spectacular but I really liked the yogurt.
Checking out the toilet mid flight. It was kept clean throughout the flight. The wood flooring and mood lighting in the toilet does make the toilet look a lot nicer.
My IFE died halfway through a movie but after a while it reset by itself, fortunately my movie was unaffected and I could continue watching. I should also add that the call button on the screen was extremely sensitive and I accidentally pressed the button a few times. However I must commend the crew for responding very swiftly and politely every time.
Later on in the fight a snack service was conducted with the usual bread and muffin. The muffin was (as usual) sweet and delicious and although the bread lacked some flavouring it was pretty nice and filling. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of it.
Landing
Timelapse of the landing.
As usual immigration was very fast and I have to say that the arrival hall in T1 looks much more beautiful after the renovation.
Great report AXY2002, thanks for sharing it with us.
QR looks to have a very high quality Y experience, especially here on the A35K. Looks like a very pleasant cabin and seat and of course QR is known to have some of the best service in the industry.
Its high time for me to start planning a trip that involves trying QR for the first time I think.
And of course Changi is simply in a league of its own, by far the best airport in the World I believe. Singaporeans should be proud of their world class facility and also of the amazing first impression it makes for foreign travelers.
Thanks again for this very nice report!
Hi atco, thank you for your kind words!
QR is indeed one of the few airlines that provides a good experience across all it's classes and you definitely should include QR in your trips soon especially on their newer jets.
Hello Axy2002!
Thanks for this interesting look at longhaul QR Y as you head back to Singapore.
Nice to get the A350-1K for this route. I guess these new birds aren’t quite the rarity they were a few short months ago. Great wing view from the seat!
It’s always a nice touch to get a printed menu in the back of the plane.
Breakfast on a plane is breakfast on a plane. And I’m kind of surprised there’s no second meal service on a flight of this length, instead just a small snack. Perhaps eight hours is the cutoff for two meals?
Thanks again for sharing!
Hello hometoyyz
I was really fortunate to get to fly on the A350-1000 as back in December this route was still operated by a mix of -900 and -1000. But it is nice that more of them are being produced so we have a better chance of flying on this magnificent birds.
Having a printed menus does make a difference in the experience especially since it gives you time to decide what meal you want to select.
Breakfast on most airlines does seem very similar and I much prefer having lunch or dinner onboard as there is more variety. I think most airlines serve a meal and snack for flights up to 8-9 hours but more than that there will be two meals - but this still depends on the airlines.
Thanks for your comment!