I said my good byes to my colleagues at around 20:30 and went via the Marriott to collect my luggage and then onto the airport.
Checkin was a breeze, with at least 6 agents waiting to serve, and a short walk to the Passport exit control.
I wandered through the shops at T3, not really finding anything inspiring, so I headed to the Lounge. I have not been to SIN T3 before on a departure, so I was n't sure which lounge to use. As a *Gold, I did try to use the first lounge on the right, but was firmly directed elsewhere. The woman on the desk did n't want to listen to my question why it has a *Gold sign and she was turning me away.
So I carried on, and found after a bit of zigging and zagging, another lounge, where I was in quite quickly. Finding a spare seat that was n't intruding on other passengers was a bit of a task, so I settled down surf a bit. The WiFi is free, but very slow and disconnected a lot. I did hear a baby crying from a distance, and a pair of business men getting cross, because it was a Business Lounge after all, how dare they take a baby in.
I did n't check out the food, as I was n't hungry as I ate at a German bar at 313 Somerset, washed down with some good German Beer. The bill was the not so good bit.
There did n't appear to be boarding calls happening, and it got to just gone 11pm, when I realised I ought to head down to the gate, so I dashed off, and found security to be pretty empty, and had to remove the laptops & iPad, but no shoes or liquids.
They were already boarding the plane, and I found myself behind someone who had tried to take a very sharp pair of scissors through security, and the SA rep was saying, that they would tag them and they could be collected in London !!
Was on board quickly, and settled into 15K. The usual glass of champagne before take off, and we pushed back around 15 minutes late. Business was pretty much full, I think the only two seats they had free are the crew ones in business.
The food choice I selected was a Ceasar salad, Beef Singapore Noodles and a Chocolate Truffle desert.
It was very good, and washed down with Apple Juice, as I needed to get some sleep, and alcohol has recently stopped me from sleeping.
I was watching Shutter Island, but I must have dozed off, as I woke up a bit and got a bit confused due to a plot twist.
The flight was 12 hours and 15 minutes, and I woke with 2 and a half hours to go, after a 7 hour sleep. I had dreamt I had gone to sleep in Business and woken up in Economy, grabbed my stuff and stomped up front. Wierd or what !
Breakfast was a Continental choice, and we were predicting a 5.10am landing, 45 minutes ahead of schedule.
We touched down on time, and were quickly on stand, as soon as the seatbelt light was off, I wanted to know what the Election situation was. As I knew I was away, I had elected to vote by Proxy.
It was a very long walk from the SA air bridge, I think it rivaled Virgin's one. Immigration was quiet, but it was still 5.25.
The IRIS machine worked fine, even with it's Symantec PC Anywhere error message.
The bags were on belt 6, and took another 15 minutes or so to come off, and mine was pretty much in the first 5 minutes. Much better than my outward journey.
I was on my way with my friend who runs his own Airport Transfer business, and on the M4 at 5.55am, which was the time I should have been landing. I was home by 6.15am, which was good, but does n't match a Virgin record of within the hour.
Overall :
The Checkin was good, The lounge was OK, In flight food and service excellent and an early arrival.
A much better experience than the outbound journey, which was affected by an 8 hour delay.
My next flight is in 2 weeks to SFO on VS.
