I was planning to be in Jakarta for 2 days Troubleshooting Class delivery, flying on Emirates A380 at 14:15 on Monday 6th July.
The Tristar car arrived, and then promptly left, and I called him and he returned to tell me the flight has been delayed by around 5 hours. He said someone would pick me up later.
As I had not had an email or a call from Emirates, I decided to call and find out what was going on.
There had been some bad weather and all planes were delayed, and that my connecting flight would have been delayed as well.
I was called later in the day to be advised that my flight was indeed delayed, and this was around 13:30, which was the time I would probably have been boarding. I was told that someone would call me back about my connecting flight. This never happened.
I was picked up at 5pm, for an 8pm flight, and arrived at T3 around 5.40pm, to find a busy Economy area, but a fairly quiet Business one. I was presented with a problem, the flight would be leaving at 8.45pm, and that I would miss my connection and have an extra day in Dubai, leaving on Wednesday, arriving in Jakarta very late on Wednesday evening.
This would mean I would not be able to prepare or plan the class as expected the day before, and I felt going all that way for just 2 days was crazy, so I asked for some alternatives, which meant I had to go to the Emirates ticket counter.If they could n't get me to Jakarta by end of Tuesday, I was asking for a refund.
The agent tried all sorts of options, and in the end could only come up with Singapore Airlines, via Singapore all the way, leaving at 10pm and a 55 minute connection.
I was a little dissapointed at not being on the Emirates A380, but the fact that the Singapore flight was also on the big Airbus, I thought I had fared quite well.
I headed over to the Singapore checkin area, at around 18:20, to find it empty, and I was immediately assisted, by a friendly and knowledgeable agent who advised me that the connection was a valid one, and reminded me how efficient things ate at Changi.
I was soon through the Fast Track Security, but it's no UC line, so I had to queue. What a shock [}:)]
The lounge was quite average when you compare it to a VS one, but was OK, and soon filled up.
Boarding was delayed by 10 minutes, due to the crew getting stuck in traffic, and I was getting a little tetchy, as 10 minutes of my 55 minute connection had gone.
We soon boarded and I walked straight on board and found my seat at 25K. I had been warned about how large they were, and was still shocked, and soon settled down to working out how it all operated.
I lost track of time, because, we actually took ages to board, and we pushed back over an hour and 10 minutes late. I let the FA know that I had a connection and that I knew the next SA flight was full and I did n't want to get stuck in Singapore overnight.
The crew came round with hot towels so often I lost count, and a few glasses of the bubbly stuff. I played with the seat, so I could really slouch down. I actually think the Virgin one is more comfortable as a seat, although the width is certainly a novelty.
The Widescreen TV was fab, with a very clear picture, and modern graphics to navigate, however, I found the movie selection limited, and the control responsiveness was a bit laggy. The USB ports were useful, although I had an Apple power lead for the Air, and not a regular US style plug, so could n't use the laptop.
Dinner was soon served and I went for the chicken, which was very tasty, followed by some Rum and Raisen ice cream. In my opinion this food service was of a very high standard and eclipsed anything Virgin has ever served me, and probably the BA steak I raved about a few years back.
I could n't convert the bed, so before I could ask for help a very slight FA did it for me, despite me tugging at it, she clearly knew how to manipulate it easily, and I settled down to sleep around 3 hours iinto the flight.
Knowing that the flight time is around 12 hours and 15 minutes, I thought I would get some good sleep, however, there were a couple of issues, namely some parents who clearly don't plan or respond to their children when they fly. The children were bored, with nothing to do, and called Mummy / Daddy repreatedly, with the parents just ignoring them. Now, I always take something for my little darlings, and ensure that they know not to disturb the other inmates.
The other issue was the rock hard bed, I found it harder than sleaping on the ground when I camp, perhaps one day I will bring my thermarest with me......
I must have got 5 or 6 hours disturbed sleep before I decided enough was enough and I converted the bed back to a seat without my female equivalent of Kato jumping out to help me.
Breakfast was soon served, and the flight information indicated that we would be coming in only 25 minutes behind schedule, so I like to think that the FA I spoke to asked the Captain to put the hammer down and get me there on time. Actually I think the tailwinds helped a bit.
Breakfast consisted of some fruit and later cornflakes, with some juice.
As I had a connection and asked ever so nicely, I was allowed to move forward for landing, to the first section of Business, and into a seat that was in the middle with no view outside. I'll make sure i don't have that one again ! As there was nothing to see, I planned my run through the airport, by studying the terminal guide.
As soon as we landed, and a very long taxi to the stand I got up and stood by the door, where the senior members of the crew asked where I was flying to, and suggested one of them would accompany me to the handlers outside.
Not having done this before, I did n't know what to expect, and just in the main terminal were a number of SA staff shouting flight names and numbers, my new gate was F42, it was written on my card, and I thanked my escort, and ran for the Air Train, and as F42 was at the end of a spur, ran to that too.
I made my next flight, and learned that they were holding the flilght for the passengers and their luggage.
The next SA flight was uneventful and just as professional, and I got to the hotel only 4 hours after Emirates would have got me there, despite leaving a good 9 hours after I had originally planned.
In Summary :
o Emirates lack of communication about the delay was poor
o Emirates rebooking me on Singapore Airlines was good.
o Singapore Checkin/Flight/Food/Customer care was excecellent.
I write this while sitting in the Emirates lounge in Jakarta,.wondering if they are as good as people say.
Mark
