another satisified customer

[pilot]

I have to say how nice it is to fly SQ. Flights for our July departure were expensive because it's peak season which adds ~£200 compared to June (from LHR), and then the fuel price increases have added the same making it £930 LHR-SIN... We booked the flights only two days before departure, actually wanting to fly LHR-MES, but checking the Silk Air schedule flights from SIN-MES were full for the day of our arrival and the day after. The cheapest alternative flight was a red-eye long stopover in Beijing to KUL for £730.

I called the Singapore Airlines 24 hour call centre at about 11pm, requesting to add the first available flight to MES, two days later. "Sure no problem, you can add the SIN-MES segment at no charge, just the fees, but the ticket office is closed now."

So on arrival at SIN I paid the S$73, and on to Medan as planned.

After a couple of weeks we decided to add Bali to our trip. A call to the local SQ office: "Can I change my flight from MES-SIN-LON to DPS-SIN-LON". "Sure, no problem, there is no charge."

Unfortunately poor planning, and an argument with the hotel from hell (Jayakarta Hotel, Bali) saw me arrive at the checkin (wife and children left in Indonesia - I have to go back and work) at 8:40 for a 9:15 departure, stressed and panicking.

All desks closed, so I asked the nearby worker. "Sorry sir the flight is closed."

After a couple of minutes, I was told "You can catch the 13:05 flight from Bali, and then the 23:30 from Singapore, a seat is available."

As I sucked my third complimentary sweet my panic started to ease.

"Is that A380?" I said, quite pleased at the thought, having been unable to get seats on the new plane in England.

The Indonesian behind the counter looked blank. I repeated "A380?", to further incomprehension, "747?". "Yes, 747" he said.

Hmm, as I contemplated the situation I said "Can I choose the seat for Singapore-London now?" "Yes" "Do you have anu emergency exit seats?"

I saw him print the boarding pass, which was stamped with the magic words "Upper Deck". Ah ha, as I thought, A380, exit row seat, a nice result.

As I boarded my flight DPS-SIN, a proper SQ flight on a clean, bright 777, rather than the Silk Air service I would have caught from Medan, I headed back to my seat, 51C. As I approached the row, I saw the emergency exit seats in front of me, two seats, adjacent. "Is that mine, but mine is seat C, there are only two seats there", I thought. But it was. Oh joy.

I sat down and luxuriated with several metres of legroom, surprised that apparently no-one else had requested the exit seat, given that the extra legroom is to me, an upgrade, as the seat next to me was vacant for the duration of the two-hour flight. As I investigated the entertainment system, better than the frankly dated one featured on the 747 I had caught LHR-SIN (although SNES games are still not terribly 2008) a attendant came to my seat within 30 seconds or so, "How can I help you sir?" "Oh, I must have pressed that accidentally". "No problem sir".

It was nice to have a properly cooked Western meal (of beef stew and a smoked salmon salad with salmon that was bright and attractive, not dried-up as you often see) rather than the slightly cock-eyed attempts that seem to be common to restaurants in Indonesia, and real orange juice after three weeks of Indonesian orange juice.

On arrival in Singapore I tried to take the free city tour (on a previous trip having taken the free boat tour), but it was unfortunately fully booked. Not particularly seeing any point in leaving the airport at 4pm to head to the city alone, I am writing this from the nicely setup laptop area, with working power sockets (such a contrast with scrabbling about on the filthy floor in Heathrow finding that the sockets underneath the carpet, presumably for the cleaners were not working), ethernet ports, and free wi-fi throughout the airport.

I will shortly avail myself of one of the many delicious restaurants in the airport, perhaps a Hainan rice, or a chili crab, before boarding my hopefully pleasant first trip on the A380, having left the disordered chaos of Indonesia, where overtaking on a blind corner on a mountain road is par for the course, now sitting in the ordered alterworld of Singapore, soon to be heading back to the disorderly structure of England, regretting that my fellow citizens do not seem to share my love of food, given the general acceptance of bland, badly cooked food in buildings such as Heathrow in comparison to even the humblest warung ajoining Bali's airport.

In summary, let me say that it's a real pleasure to fly SQ, having flown most UK carriers, as well as most in SE Asia, it's nice not to be to treated like scum, as seems to be the trademark of many airlines these days, and that "Yes sir, that is no problem".

MH is a good carrier too, but the SQ cabin crew seem less arrogant, and the product is better overall, the airport better, the aircraft more advanced; indeed SQ is so far ahead of competitors for humble Y-class pax such as myself that you'd expect a price premium that frankly is not there, at least not ex LHR.