Well I didnt book this flight until six days before departure. A couple of months ago Id looked at doing an RTW for Easter including this segment a couple of months earlier to raise my rather paltry two tier points on VS this year back up to a respectable thirty to maintain my Gold. But there was no availability on the A380 in the new Suites, or R class. You can book R on a Star Alliance RTW but it attracts a significant surcharge. But I was also having difficulty finding the right availability for the other flights I wanted too. So I gave up.
Fast forward to a few weeks later, having one of those rather miserable times we all get from time to time, I needed some retail therapy, and looked again about a trip over Easter. And ExpertFlyer was showing availability in R on the flight! Well, I expected it to be crazy money, like 12k or something. And indeed it can be, but online the LHR-SIN-LHR trip was showing a lot, lot less. In fact, it took me a while as I was wondering if the fare I was seeing was a one way fare, but no, this was definitely return.
OK, well I didnt have any intention of staying in SIN, been there, done that, and I didnt really want to come straight back, so where to next? At this point I looked for availability to Tokyo, Sydney and Auckland as possible choices. I even looked for a routing to San Francisco but couldnt get a fare to be quoted on Singapore. There was no availability to Tokyo, so it was to be either Sydney or Auckland.
Well, I couldnt get anything online to book me with a connecting flight, so after about eight hours of pounding the keyboard I popped across the road from work to Trailfinders. Luckily Id done my homework: at first, they also said there was no availability, so I pointed out that really there was on the individual segments. And after a fair bit of jiggery pokery, and an hour or so of calling up all manner of folk, they managed to get me a decent fair, plus it was open jaw so I could do both Auckland and Sydney. It ended up only 1k more to go all the way to Australasia.
Now, until this point I wasnt aware that anyone I know was on the flight. Id been pretty quiet on v-flyer, so wasnt aware that some poor souls I knew would be accompanying me. So like an idiot, I gloated my itinerary on v-flyer, only to have a near fatal shock to discover Pete & Paul were in Y on the same flight. Thus began a week of almost constant taunt and abuse, and dare I suggest much of it self-abuse.
Not since the few Concorde flights Ive taken have I felt so excited. The adrenalin filled my bloodstream 24/7 for those few days before. As part of the lead up to the event, Id registered my seat with FirstToFly.net who promptly put the media in touch with me for some pre-flight sound bites.
Then on the eve of the flight I joined seven of the SQTalk guys for dinner at Hakkasan, a restaurant so up itself that the bouncers wouldnt let me park my push bike by a lamp post across the road so that their limos could be parked on the pavement. Tossers!
My TriStar car dropped me off just after the incoming A380 had landed, although interestingly unlike two years ago when the test flight landed, nowhere near as many folks were on the top of the car parks taking a look.
Although Id arrived at T3 at exactly four hours prior to the flight (the maximum check-in time at LHR for SIA), someone had already managed to check-in in person to their Suite before me. My solace was that I was the first Suite passenger to check-in on line, where Id seen that only three seats out of the twelve were free. And I felt sure that the media would be upgraded. I selected 1A because, well, on an inaugural flight thats got to be pole position, right? As well as a nice gold Suites boarding pass, I was presented with a special commemorative baggage tag. This trinket was to be the first of a great many special freebies given away on this flight.
I headed to the FarceTrack security which wasnt too bad today, taking about five minutes to clear, heading straight for the VS |Clubhouse. With a great deal of awe and admiration, the lounge keepers took great excitement at their first Suites customer. I booked a haircut and took a quick walk to the SQ F lounge to see what was going on there, which was zip. So, it was back up to the Clubhouse, and into the hot tub for one of my now infamous customary dips prior to my haircut. I bumped into Pete going for his haircut, and then Paul.
Paul and I had a haircut together which turned into a contest of overt mutual verbal mutilation in front of the Clubhouse cutting crew. A couple of drinks later and we popped over to the SQ J lounge where it was full. Had another glass of poo and headed for the gate party, where canap_s, Champagne and beer were on offer. It was here that the A380Bitches, the FirstToFlyers and the SQTalkers all met for the first time. After some short speeches, the boarding commenced.
There were two air bridges in use, and it was door A for Suites pax. I struggled to make my way through the crowd: how this is going to work in the future is beyond me. The gate areas are narrow, and inevitably people will congregate at the two air bridge entrances that are only a few feet from each other, whether or not theyve been called to board.
On the air bridge, a dozen or so of the last pre-boarders (kids etc) remained. What stank were the media crews barging their way in front of everyone without excuse me or anything. One tried to go back again through the gate to try to get another shot but was given the finger in no uncertain terms by the gate agent. As a tube traveller, usually when I encounter this kind of thing I have a very good method of making sure my elbows are well and truly used to their best advantage, with a few firm, sharp jabs if simple obstruction techniques fail.
Boarding was via door 2L, and once Id elbow jabbed a couple of the media, on board it took me about two seconds to find my seat and get a glass of Dom. The first impressions is of loads of space. And I mean loads. To give you and idea, under the companion seat, you can safely get two rollaboards. The table is enormous! My first thoughts were to compare with the suites on board Emirates A340-500s, and most definitely there is more space.
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Once Id congratulated myself with my maiden slug of Dom, I changed into my super duper iron-on v-flyer t-shirt and Givenchy pyjama bottoms the XL size was way over size on me, with the belt line somewhere north of my scapula. I spent half the flight tripping over the rather over-generous gusset. Still, this gave me the opportunity to discover the two very spacious loos in R, located behind 4A and 4F. Both are enormous by airline standards, certainly among the largest if not the largest that Ive ever encountered, and one of them is designed for wheelchair access (the one behind 4A as I remember).
Id been warned about seat 1A, which is often avoided because theres traffic, and on this occasion the media, some going up and down the stairs: its roped off with a magnetically attached rope at the bottom of the stairs, so it doesnt stop the noseys from Business wondering down for a gander.
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The Suite enclosure is very much reminiscent of an old train carriage, although it doesnt go all the way to the ceiling: indeed, its perhaps only about 55 or so high, much like the Emirates Suites, but this still prevents opportunistic prying eyes: you have to make a real effort to see over the top.
Unlike the Emirates Suites, Singapore Airlines have shunned electric motors for everything like doors and massage chairs. I did a quick motor count on Emirates and counted a total of thirteen. And thats thirteen things to go wrong. The doors often stick in Emirates. Instead, the doors on SIAs Suites are roller blinds on their sides. This also allows for two windows either side of the doors, again with blinds. With the window blinds shut, the upper 80% is opaque with the lower 20% a translucent fabric. Like the height of the Suites themselves, this prevents all but the most determined intrusion on privacy.
The seat itself is very wide, but totally unlike the new SIA F on their 777-300ER. It is much more like a conventional seat with more support at the side and behind the thigh. I found the new F seat a little like sitting on a shooting stick because the angle of the seat isnt quite right and the length of it doesnt support my thigh through to the knee. This R seat on the other hand is very comfortable, with proper side support as well. The companion seat is unlike any other companion seat Ive seen: this is far more than an ottoman, having full seat width.
There are plenty of cubby holes of varying shapes and sizes for the junk we all inevitably take on board: one was pointed out to me to be for me specs. The TV is a wide screen format and large by any standard, although it didnt feel as large as that on SIAs 777-300ER. This may be because theres so much width in the Suite that the TV doesnt fill up almost the entire width unlike on the 777-300ER. I hardly watched any TV: there was so much other stuff going on on this flight. We were handed our own set of Bose QC2s, and I had to ask if they really were complimentary as part of this inaugural flight.
Unlike F, you receive slippers in R. The amenity is slightly different to F, too.
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We also received a Mandarina Duck laptop bag chock full of distinctive goodies to mark the flight: Cerruti pens, pins, and diecast models to name but a few.
They were obviously having trouble getting people settled, and had to do an announcement to get everyone sat down. Whether this was the party mood, teething troubles, or just Heathrows two air bridges with a very narrow gate area I dont know, but if I had to put money on it its the last reason I suggested.
We pushed back, and outside on the tarmac it was truly amazing how many people were out on the tarmac.
Interestingly, only seven of the twelve seats were filled. But it was chock full in J and Y. My understanding is that press were upgraded to J from Y, and also that the usual upgrade procedures for frequent flyers, in particular award flights, is non-existent on the A-380. This is an interesting development, one that I believe also applied (or may still apply) to SIAs 777-300ER configuration that features similar J seats and improved F seats.
We waited on the tarmac for some time, and soon it became evident that a plane in front had developed a technical fault. As I read my Hello magazine (dare I admit I read such trash?) the only indication that wed taken off that consciously came to mind was when I heard the landing gear raising. Its quiet.
Soon afterward, the next round of Dom came out, together with satay canap_s.
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Then, after the media had had half an hour of play, I had the opportunity to have my picture taken with the captain. This was also videoed by two of the media crews on board. Now I wish Id used an XL t-shirt!
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I took the opportunity to send my buddies at the back a nice card, testing out the internal mail system on board any large aircraft.
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For some time during the flight, the greetings card went missing in action, and it was to my relief that it eventually reached the intended recipients.
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Back in 1A, and the menus were handed out, with a special cover for the flight even! So there are only seven genuine copies of this menu!
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The satay sticks were OK, certainly a generous portion for canap_s.
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I chose both appertisers (greedy git that I am), but at least I didnt have the salad course! The caviar was good, but I prefer blinis to melba toast. I switched to Krug for this course.
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A couple of minor changes from SIAs F to R that are apparent include the salt and pepper pots and the butter.
Bread selection was fairly limited. I stuck to garlic bread, a bit of a clich_ I know, but it was what I fancied.
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My second appetiser was duck liver and smoked duck terrine with pineapple carpaccio, and was really rather good, but was let down as there wasnt anything on the wine list that worked particularly well. The Cloudy Bay SB definitely didnt work, and I found the Mersault was a better choice. A pinot noir would have worked had there been such a thing on board. The glasses are still too small to properly enjoy the wine. The toast, as usual on airlines, was not good: this is annoying because pates and terrines work very well at 35,000.
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A really pleasant surprise was the soup, or, in Ramsay-speak, the onion veloute with truffle and duck ragout. Although I struggled to find much in the truffle department, it was very tasty. One slightly off-putting facet was that you could tell itd been in the microwave: the temperature was very uneven. Again I paired this with the Mersault. As you can see I thought all in all it was rather yummy!
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Then came the surprise course. Im not sure how to describe it but it was tomatoey with quite an earthy jelly base and crispy bacon on the side. But it was truly wonderful.
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For main I had the salmon fillet with crushed green peas and pea cream, carrot and new potatoes. I continued the pairing with the Mersault. This was a little disappointing in that the peas had lost a lot of their flavour. All in all a rather bland affair.
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Unusually I didnt go for the cheese and headed straight for dessert. I chose milk ice cream with mixed berries. Knowing dessert wines are a rarity on airlines these days, before boarding, Id picked up a half bottle of Peller oak aged icewine in the duty free. I asked the flight attendant if it would be alright for them to chill it on boarding, and unlike the usual ooh I dont know Ill have to ask, right away it was taken away and chilled for me. Hallelujah! Common sense clearly prevails on SIA!
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I was offered some rather over elaborate petit fours that I declined.
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Soon after meal service, a flight attendant informed me that someone was trying to send me a message via the IFE system. Well, this is all new to me, and it also turned out to be somewhat of a struggle for the crew too. The boys came down to see me as my first visitors and we continued the trips non-stop verbal tirade of vitriolic exchanges.
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After half a dozen or so visitors, the crew had a word I guess Id over indulged on that. Still, Id had quite a bit of time at the galley party down at Row 84 and been back and forward through the plane half a dozen times. Its a very long plane!
The crew opened the bed. I didnt see them do this, but as I understand unlike any other passenger bed in the air, this is completely separate to the seat itself, and it comes out from behind the seat. Certainly it is extremely comfortable. I had to do a few goes to get into the bed so that a couple of film crews could get their footage.
I nodded off in minutes, waking up about three or four hours later, in time for breakfast. I started with the pineapple and strawberries with ricotta cheese.
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To follow, I had scrambled eggs, smoked salmon, tomato and saut_ed mushrooms with toast. Again, the toast was not great I think youre probably better off with pastries.
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It was at about this point that my IFE crashed and had to be reset. Still, I remember the early days of the VS IFEs, when theyd need resetting the entire aircraft several times during a flight.
Once landed, deplaning was easy. We were greeted by a fanfare of music at the gate. There was no-one in front of me at immigration, but the baggage off loading was a different story. It took quite some time for the carousel to present anything at all, and then my bags seemed to take quite some time to come off. We were greeted by our driver to take us straight to the Mandarin Oriental.
At the MO I took the opportunity to take a look at the booty SIA had so generously given away as part of the inaugural flight, and its impressive to say the least.
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All in all, a unique experience. I look forward to taking the A380 all the way back to Blighty in a few days. Is it a class beyond first? In some ways, yes it is. Certainly it is pushing the boundaries substantially. But the wine is a fairly limited selection, and other than the Champagne it could be better stuff. Whether they can command the premium they are asking as other airlines catch up remains to be seen. Still I enjoyed myself enough to say I certainly wont be fretting on my return journey!
