Hello all! Firstly, I would like to wish Happy 70th Anniversary to Singapore’s most loved airline, Singapore Airlines. As promised, I have made a Tripreport regarding my experience with Singapore Airlines’s new A350-900XWB which just entered service a year ago. Here are the summary for the tripreport.
- Singapore Changi Airport
- Check In
- Airside
- Spotting
- Boarding
- Mid-Flight
- After Takeoff
- Food
- Lavatory
- Approach
- Jakarta Soekarno Hatta Airport
- Taxi
- Disembarking and Immigration
I hope you can enjoy this Tripreport. I’m sorry for the bad quality images. And I’m sorry if my words are repetitive 😅
SQ962 is a flight from Singapore to Jakarta. Operated 2x weekly on Fridays and Sundays. From 04:30pm SGT to 05:26pm WIB. SGT is one hour ahead of WIB
Please Skip to the Summary below in case you are bored of this
#Aircraft
Registration : 9V-SMB
First Flight : April 2016
Age : 1 Year Old
MSN : 030
Operator : Singapore Airlines (#2)
Credits to Maurizio Riva
#Singapore Changi Airport
Check In
After 3 days of vacation in Singapore, it’s finally the time to get back to Jakarta to start my school on the next day. I took a taxi from my hotel, Carlton Hotel to the Changi Airport via East Coast Parkway. I arrived at Terminal 2 at around 1pm SGT. As I arrived earlier, I spend my time to gone for a Lunch in Terminal 2. And I found a restaurant named “Penang Culture”. It was really good and I recommend this restaurant if you are going to look for a restaurant in Terminal 2’s viccinity. After that, we immediately proceed to the FAST Check In Counter. But before that, I have to print out my ticket first from the Self Check In Machine
Unfortunately when checking in via the Self Service Machine, The Machine couldn’t detect my mother’s passport
- The same issue also happened with my mother’s passport back during my vacation in Bangkok where we used AirAsia’s Self Check In Machine and The Machine also couldn’t detect my mother’s password
This forced us to check in via Regular Check In Counters. But at that time, Business and First Counters were the only counters which were opened at that time. After asking an Airport’s agent, Me and My Family proceed to the Business and First Check In Counter instead. It’s really fortunate that they accepted our passports and printed our tickets
Airside
We proceed to immigration counter after we printed our tickets. Unlike on most major airports, the baggage check isn’t done on the Immigration (Custom) area. So we were only given a stamp for leaving Singapore’s teritory.
We appeared to come earlier before the schedule even after we spend some time in the restaurant 😂. So we decided to spend some time in looking for stuffs around the airport. While I took some shots of the arrival’s immigration haha
And I almost forgot to took a shot of this cute Pikachu!
After that, I decided to visit a Chocolate Shop as I still had SGD$50 dollars which will expire by end of December 2017. And I found Kinder’s Chocolate with Airbus models ❤
I wish I could find an airplane model. But almost all of the planes that were sold there are for kids and unrealistic 😂. So I decided to gone spotting instead and took these shots while walking to the gate
Air India Express Boeing 737-800
Singapore Airlines A330-300 and Tigerair A320-200
Spotted Malaysia Airlines B737-800 too
And a Silkair B737-800 too 😉
I found out that 9V-SMB was going to serve my flight after back from maintenence for a week.
I went to the gate and it appears that the gate hasn’t been opened yet 😂
I decided to wait for sometime until the gate opens. Around 25 minutes later, the gate finally opened for boarding and I realized that a heavy rainfall showered the apron. Here is my first impression of A350-900
Flight Details :
SQ962
SIN-CGK
04.10pm SGT (STD)
04.55pm WIB (STA)
Economy Class
49K
Boarding
Finally Boarding commenced at 1600 SGT. Business and PE were allowed to board first followed by Economy passengers. The rainfall gets worsen when we started boarding
This flight was around 85% full at that time. Most of the passengers sat in Economy Class. Business Class was below 50% at that time while PE was around 80% filled.
Here is my last shot of SMB before entering the plane
As usual, a Singapore Girl and a Singapore Boy welcomed us and directed us to our seat. Here is some quick shots of the cabin. Let’s start from Business Seat
And the Premium Economy 😉
And here’s the Economy Class Cabin Atmosphere. It was really packed at that time.
Finally arrived at my seat, 49K. This seat is using the new 2013 Economy Product with 18" width and 32" for legroom spaces. As expected, It was a really comfortable seat for this short flight ❤
The IFE screen is pretty huge for Economy Class (Around 11"). This seat generation is also equipped with a console which is really easy to use in order to explore more the Inflight Entertainment
Here is a closer look to the console
A more closer look to the console, You can find 2 buttons. The Button with a Person symbol has a function to call a crew to your seat, while the other one is to adjust the brightness of the IFE Screen
Here is a closer look to the Audio Jack Ports. Unlike the one in 77WR, The Audio Jack Port on the A350 located at the left side of the seat as the seat is slimmer.
Seat Pocket Contents. I read the SilverKris magazine during the flight. One of the most interesting magazines out there.
The legroom is pretty spacious for me (I’m around 180cm). There is also a footrest which will be helpful during Long Haul Flights with abit recline
The weather hasn’t changed yet even until the boarding has finished. Several minutes after boarding was complete, We received a PA from the Captain regarding the delay. The airport issued a Thunderstorm Warning. Which made all of the Ground Handlers should stop working outside while at the same time our luggages hasn’t been loaded 100%. So the flight was delayed until the weather has changed
I decided to surf the IFE’s Flight Map while waiting for the delay. At the same time I have to endure my hunger because of the delay. A glass of mineral water was offered though
45 minutes passed, The Captain gave us another update regarding our luggages as the rain turned better and the warning has been lifted. The Captain told us that all luggages have been fully loaded to the aircraft. However, The Tower can’t give any pushback as the weather was still pretty bad if I remember correctly. Making the delay gets worsen.
Finally after around 1hr 5mins passed, we got a clearance to pushback. But before we towed to pushback, as usual oshiboris were distributed first
When I looked to the outside Lufthansa’s A388 was parked next to my gate 😊
While waiting for taxi clearance. I spotted a plane took off. Not sure what aircraft was that
Then we received our taxi clearance several mins later. I decided to do some spotting with some aircrafts while on my way to taxi
Please Pardon me for bad quality images 😅
AirAsia A320-200 taxiing past by
Another Silkair A320-200 at gate
Singapore Airlines A330-300 at gate
Another Singapore Airlines A330-300 and a Silkair B737-800
Another Singapore Airlines A330-300 and a Singapore Tigerair A320-200
Qatar Airways A350-900
Scoot’s B787-8
And last but not least, Singapore Airlines A380-800 parked on remote stand next to Terminal 4
We soon reached Runway 02C to start our takeoff roll. I spotted an unknown aircraft (More like a Private Jet to me) on short final while holding short at 02C
Finally, we started our takeoff roll immediately as this jet left the runway. The takeoff was smooth and quiet. Sorry for no videos of take off. I believe the data has gone now from my old phone 😭
#Mid-Flight
After Takeoff
We climbed towards Singapore Strait to heading south for Jakarta. Once we were lifted to the skies, I decided to check the choices for movies on this flight and decided to watch Storks.
Here’s a video played before starting the IFE (This is January 2017’s edition. This video is true by January 2017)
Meal Service
Not long after, we reached the cruising altitude of FL390. Meal Service was commenced immediately as this was a short flight. Even though it’s rushed as this flight’s duration was really short. But the service was served professionally as always. It’s amazing how they can give meals to these 230 people professionally. Kudos to SQ
There were 2 options for the meal. One of them was Fish with potatoes or Rice with Beef Rendang. Both served with a Chocolate Cake as a dessert. I choose Fish with Potatoes as I couldn’t eat spicy meals at that time I finished my meal somewhere around BaBel (Bangka Belitung) Province which is located next to the equator.
Lavatory
Unfortunately, this flight ended really fast. The Captain soon announced that we would be descending towards Jakarta soon.
I immediately went to the lavatory to take some shots before the plane started to descending even though it wasn’t longer permitted 😂
The toilet was really new and well-maintained. It’s really unfortunate that this lavatory doesn’t have a window unlike the one on Cathay’s A359. Maybe I visited the wrong lavatory
Approach
I decided to leave as quick as possible before a FA saw me and I also haven’t finished watching Storks yet. Once back to my seat, I can feel that the plane started to descend. We were put into a holding pattern due to heavy inbounds to Jakarta.
The lights were dimmed for landing with a Let it Go Orchestra song as a background (I know I hate it 😂). This was taken several mins before the lights got dimmed
And here is after it’s dimmed. The transition was really smooth imho
My Last shot before I recorded the landing. I’m sorry that the video was lost alongside Takeoff’s and my old phone 😭
#Jakarta Soekarno Hatta
Taxi
Finally, we landed at Jakarta at Runway 07L. We were supposed to take D gates. But because we were delayed on Changi and at the same time, 5-7pm slots are always full during weekends. So if you are delayed, you will be parked on remote. So we did taxi to the remote parking next to Terminal 3
Disembarking and Immigration
Finally, the plane has stopped and passengers were allowed to disembark. Before I left, I managed to ask one of the FAs to have a visit to the cockpit. Unfortunately, she said that it’s not allowed 😭. I left the aircraft with upset and sad feelings. Here are some of my last shots of the aircraft. Let’s start from Economy Class
Then Premium Economy Cabin
And last but not least, is SIA’s Business Class seats ❤
9V-SMB looks very lovely from this side. I wish I can stay in here for several hours again. But our bus has waited for us so I had to go…
A zoom to the one of these Huge Trent XWB 1000 engines ❤
It’s hard to bid farewell to this beautiful aircraft
Goodbye 9 Victor - Sierra Mike Bravo ❤
Finally, I arrived at the gate for arrivals. Before entering the gate, I decided to took a photo of this Thai Airways’ B777-200ER
Finally as usual, we proceed to the Immigration counters and we saw some long lines of immigration in here. It’s a surprise that we were brought to Terminal 2F which is Garuda’s Homebase (Garuda has moved to Terminal 3 effective from today).
I noted so many changes on T2F since I came to here 4 years ago. There are some automated passport scanner now which only works for Indonesians. Unfortunately there were no signs of it and I saw an Australian attempted to scan his passport 5 times but no avail 😂. So he decided to join the long line of manual immigration. Here is my last photo of the self passport scanner several mins later. An officer caught me of capturing photos of the immigration as its not allowed so I decided to remove one of the photos. But I still retained this one haha
After waiting for my family, we went to the Baggage Claim to our baggage. And this is the last shot of this long TripReport. Thanks For Reading ❤
#Conclusion :
It was a nice and lovely treat from Singapore Airlines once again. I was really grateful enough that my flight was going to be served by an A350-900. Although I couldn’t stand the delay, but I still love Singapore Airlines much more than anything. I’m looking forward to fly with them on this particular flight in the future
Overall Rate : 9/10
Recommend : Yes, definitely!
#Seat
I love the seat alot! It might be the best Economy Seat out there. I didn’t have any problems with the In-Flight-Entertainment as it’s really easy to use and user friendly too. The console’s presence also helped me alot in surfing the IFE. The legroom is more than enough for this short flight. You can find an Universal Power Outlet below the seat next to the lifejackets. But I didn’t need that at that time so I didn’t give an explanation about that
Overall rate : 10/10
#Cabin Crew
They are actually pretty nice and pretty attentive to their passengers. Their speaking tone are very soft and warm. You can ask them and they would gladly answers your need (They gladly give you blankets, Singapore Slings, or Airline Cards!). I only hate them because they didn’t let me to go to the cockpit =P. But it’s okay actually
Overall rate : 9/10
#Food
Unfortunately, this is the most disapointing part of this flight. Maybe because I set high expectations on SQ but if I can be honest, this food is totally bland. It might be slightly better than my last flight with them but there are no significant change on catering at all on Short Haul flights. Sorry to say but, Garuda (On CGK-SIN leg) and Thai Airways can serve something better than this. At least the Chocolate dessert saved the meal as it was pretty good. I wish they can serve better caterings in the future
Overall rate : 5.5/10
#Flight Schedule
Actually the flight was on schedule at that time. But due to inclement weather outside, our flight got delayed so I can’t totally blame them. But actually it’s a pretty nice touch to give customers some free mineral waters as a compensation to the delay. Although I wish they can give us some biscuits or some snacks hehe =)
Overall rate : 9.5/10
#Interior
Not to mention this part as it’s obviously clear that A350 has a nice interior. Mostly because of the fact that the plane is still brand new (She was 9 months at that time) and of course, well maintained by Singapore Airlines. So without a doubt, I’ll give them a perfect score
Overall rate : 10/10
#In-Flight-Entertainment
I have mentioned some good things on the #seat section about this IFE. It’s indeed very updated with movies, songs and books compared to other East Asian Carriers. I also love the new Voyager3D Map’s User Interface. I could stay entertained during the delay because of this IFE actually. The console is really user friendly and easy to use. Unfortunately unlike in Cathay’s A359, You can’t use the console seperately from the IFE Screen. So what you see on console is what you see on the screen. But overall it’s more than good in my humble opinion!
Overall rate : 10/10
(Thanks @jdag2004 and @TonleSap for the inspiration)
That’s all. Thanks for reading this very long tripreport. I’m sorry for the wrong grammars as I’m abit tired while typing it hehe ;)
For those who wonder how long the delay is 😂
(All time in LMT, Both SGT and WIB). The delay did affect the inbound flight (SQ963) and the flight to Johannesburg at the midnight (SQ478)