24th Nov 2007 - My first flight on the A380-800 Super Jumbo!
25th Nov 2007 - My first post & trip report on A.net!

From: Sydney (YSSY) 16R
ETD: 0850hrs
ATD: 0905hrs

To: Singapore (WSSS) 02L
ETA: 1345hrs
ATA: 1337hrs

I was initially booked on SQ232 (B747-400 Sydney - Singapore) on the 3rd Dec 2007. Since my university final exams ended early on the 21st Nov 2007, I decided to try my luck to get seats on the SQ220 (A380-800 Sydney - Singapore) for my girlfriend and myself. It took several calls to the Singapore Airlines office in Sydney to secure the seats and I would say it was worth all the trouble.

I apologize for the tight crops of the photos. A Canon 20D with the 1.6x crop doesn't go very well with my 24-70L in small spaces.

24th Nov 2007

Arrived at the international terminal of Sydney airport at 0615hrs with my girlfriend. All the check-in counters at row J were opened and a steady queue was building up.

We were served by a snooty ground agent early in the. I was promised upper deck seats by the Singapore Airlines office in Sydney but was assigned separate seats on the lower deck during internet check-in. The ground agent was very unwilling to make the changes and kept insisting that was very difficult to make them. Bollocks! This is the first time I heard such an excuse, even the agents in LHR (London-Heathrow) were more helpful. Eventually, she managed to get us 78A & 78C on the upper deck. Hooray!

We cleared immigration and security checks and proceeded to Gloria Jeans Coffee for my daily dose of caffeine. We then proceeded to gate 57 to wait for boarding. When we got there, the aircrew and cabin crew were still waiting to board. Apparently, the inbound flight was slightly delayed. Boarding was supposed to commence at 0750hrs but was rescheduled to 0810hrs.

We were soon called for boarding. It was a new experience boarding the aircraft from the upper-deck aerobridge and one that had an upward-sloping gradient. Not my first time on the upper deck as I have flown Raffles(Business) Class on SIA several times on the B747-400 but it was my girlfriend's first.

On first sight, it's like boarding a B777/A330/A340 - twin aisles and some what similar seat configurations. As the upper deck has one aerobridge, we had to walk through the Business class cabin before reaching our seats in the Economy class cabin. The new Business class seats look very much bigger than on pictures and it seems more comfortable than the old space-beds.

There are several benefits to being on the upper deck Economy class cabin. It has less people and is very much quieter. Windows seats have a side storage bin which has ample space for a laptop bag or a handbag. The seats are generally more comfortable than the previous generation and a whole lot nicer to look at too! Despite the same pitch of 32” new design still provides adequate legroom.

Captain Chan welcomed us aboard the SQ220 with the usual foray of information citing the delayed departure due to the late arrival of the inbound flight. Push back soon commenced and pre-flight announcements were made by the leading stewardess. Safety video was played and to my dismay, they didn't make a brand new one for the A380 and just modified the evacuation part of it. We then made a quick taxi to 16R for take off.

Our Vacated Gate



Virgin A340-600 takes our place



Qantas A330-300



Air Tahiti Nui A340-300



Runway Hold



Take off was smooth and we passed several aircraft during the roll. Most importantly it was QUIET!!! No whining engines. No groans coming from the bird when compared to other aircraft. It just climbs gently without complaining! It's so much quieter than the A340 too!

Speedbird B777-200ER/B747-400 & Qantas B747-400



Qantas B747-400



We punched through dense cloud cover over Sydney in stages to reach our assigned altitude of FL400.

Overcast Day



Clear Skies



Once the seat belt signs were switched off, I took the chance to explore the aircraft. Unfortunately, Suite & Business classes were out of bounds but no worries for me as I will get a chance to fly in Business next time round. Couple of passengers shared the same sentiments as myself and were walking around with cameras.

Upper Deck Economy Class Cabin



Lower Deck Economy Class Cabin



Spiral Staircase linking both decks



The new Panasonic powered Krisworld system is a big leap over the previous generation one. Screen size has been increased with a new handset with better placement. Entertainment choices have also been increased. User interface has also been improved and loading times have been decreased. The lag times were horrible on the previous generation. Simply fantastic! One feature that I liked particularly was that you could pause your movie and the screen would show what was the remaining flight time – giving the option to fast forward to the ending if there isn't enough time for the whole movie!

Nice Big Screen



New Handset Position



Interactive Menus



Pause Feature



Nice Big Screen



Breakfast was soon served. This is by far one of the best meals in Economy class! Perhaps I was too hungry… The omelette was nice and warm with creamy cheese. Fruit salad was fresh and the muffin was tasty!

Menu



Breakfast Choice



Mains



Sides



After breakfast, I decided to visit the toilet. The queues were long! To make matters worst, people from the lower deck kept coming up to use the toilets when they were available downstairs! Sorry for the lack of pictures as it would seem odd walking into the toilet with a DSLR. The LED lighting in the toilet was cool!

During flight, Captain Chan announced that the aircraft would pass by Ayer's Rock. Everyone started clambering over to the left aisle hoping to catch a glimpse.

Ayer's Rock



Blue Sky over Australia



Lunch was served prior to landing. I chose the chicken while my girlfriend chose the lamb.

Lunch Choice



Lamb



Chicken



The flight passed pretty quickly and soon it was time to commence our descent 100nm out of Singapore. We flew in from the south over the Indonesian islands before positioning for the 02L approach. It's so gentle that you don't feel the aircraft banking unless you look out of the window. Touch down was very smooth and after a long roll we left the runway and taxied to Gate F31 at terminal 2. We passed runway 02C/20C which was temporary closed for construction works.

Immigration was quick and so was customs unlike other airports where the queues seem never ending. Baggage reclaim at Belt 35 took a long time with the priority bags coming out first followed by the aircrew and cabin crew leaving the economy class bags for the last.

Overall, it was a very good flight. Service was excellent. My request to visit the cockpit was denied after landing at the aircraft was going to depart after the cleaning crews did their jobs for a training flight.

Thanks for reading.

[Edited 2007-11-24 19:10:33]

[Edited 2007-11-24 19:12:20]