Karan69 From India, joined Oct 2004, 2778 posts, RR: 19 Posted (6 years 10 months 1 week 3 days 2 hours ago) and read 13796 times:
I am sorry about the time it has taken to post this trip report as I have been very busy with my final year studies and graduation etc.. and also have a lot of pending trip reports like
CX 777-300 BOM-BKK-BOM for a killer deal of only 230 USD all inclusive. [45 pics] Dec 2005
And GF in First Class routing BOM-BAH-LHR-BAH-AUH-BAH-MNL-BAH-BOM [over 200 pics] May 2006
I will make sure that I upload all necessary pics on myaviation.net so that it is easy for all to see and like a true a.netter i will see to it that i finish writing all of these.
Anyways here is the SQ trip report., I hope yoll enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Background Information
The plan for this trip came upon in May of 2005 when i was at lunch with my friend, during which he mentioned that his sister had got a transfer to Singapore and he would be probably visiting her in December, and inquired if i would also be interested in joining him.I immediately agreed.
Time flew by, and by the end of Novemeber we decided to spend 4-5 days on our SIN trip with another 2-3 days at some other S.E.Asian location.
I decided upon HKG as it is a place both of us had never seen or experienced, and since i am the Aviation Nut all the scheduling of the flights and Hotel at HKG was left to me.
My options were [All Inclusive]
--Jet Airways for INR 21,000[460 USD] roundtrip between SIN and BOM and then a LCC like JQ or Tiger Airways from SIN-HKG-SIN for around 400 SGD[260 USD]
--Singapore Airlines for 25,500[555 USD] entire trip between BOM-SIN-HKG-SIN-BOM
--Cathay Pacific for INR 17,500[380 USD] entire trip but it would go via BKK and given CX awkward schedule in and out of BOM would make us very tired.
The routing would be BOM-BKK-SIN-HKG-BKK-BOM.
I was very tempted to choose CX over SQ as, if the schedules were made rightly they would give me the opportunity to fly every aircraft in Cathays fleet and not to mention the fact that it was 175 USD cheaper than SQ, but the weird timings and my friend's [Rohit] unfondness of flying made me choose SQ, which was a very comfortable choice.
It was obvious that i would choose the schedule from SIN-HKG which gave me the opportunity to fly the Megatop [744] and the Jubliee[772].
My SCHEDULED itenary was
SQ 421 BOM-SIN 777-300 Dec 14th
SQ 866 SIN-HKG 747-400 Dec 19th
SQ 859 HKG-SIN 777-200 Dec 22nd
SQ 424 SIN-BOM 777-300 Dec 22nd
I was very excited to try out SQ after 11 years and see their new much talked about product ---AVOD IFE, etc..
Also i would be flying all aircrafts in their fleet barring the Long haul 345.
14th Dec,2005
I got dropped off at the airport at around 9:00 am for the 11:30 am departure and after meeting up with Rohit at the entrance we proceeded to check in.
Check in went smoothly and we got a window seat confirmed on the right side of the aircraft.
On inquring about the Loads of the flight, the agent said that they were less than 75%.
After clearing Immigration which is a breeze at this time of the day at BOM, we proceeded to the waiting area.
After comfortably seating ourself in the waiting area and made our customary last calls to our families and relaxed and watched the Indian cricket team play well for a change against the Sri Lankan team.
We enterd our gate at 10:50 after clearing security check and i could see our SQ aircraft arrive at the gate, and surprisingly it looked way too small [lenght wise] to be a 777-300, my doubts were later clarified when i saw it up close and confirmed that it was a 777-200.
My aircraft a 777-200 instead of the scheduled 777-300
Aircraft:Boeing 777-212 ER
Registration:9V-SQK
Gate:15
Departure Airport:Chatrapati Shivaji International[BOM],terminal 2C
SDT:11:30am
ADT:11:43am
Airborn:11:55am
Arrival Airport:Singapore, Changi International Airport[SIN],terminal 2
SAT:19:15pm
AAT:19:10pm, Deboarding at 19:35pm
SEAT:50K
LOAD:Less than 75%
We entered the aircraft and made ourselves comfortable in our seats, after the hot towel service we began our short taxi to Mumbai's regular used runway 27/09.
These are some of the shorts i took during Taxi and Take off.
About 2 mins before the BA 772 landed from LHR, a 9W 343 arrived from LHR as well and 5 mins before that AI 772 landed from LHR too, not to mention that VS was scheduled to come in around about the same time too.
So in about 10 mins off each other we have 2 343s and 2 772s competing for the same route. not to mention the night flights operated by BA, AI and BMI.
Talk about excessive capacity on the route-----Is such capacity actually needed on BOM-LHR.?????
We took a left U turn over the Arabian Sea and being a day time flight i could get a clear picture of Mumbai City, including my college ground and Shivaji Park where i spent my entire school life practicing my Cricket. It was Nostalgic to describe the least.
About 25 mins into the flight the IFE was switched on, unfortunatley the KrisWorld on my PTV was defective and the screen would have this constant hazziness. As a result i shifted places to 50H.
There was first a drinks service with some chips, I had a Gingerale and tuned into the awesome AVOD Krisworld.
I saw two episodes of Every Body Loves Raymond that were hilarious, and very soon meal service began.
There were three choices of meal for today's flight service.
Indian Veg and Non-Veg, and International Selection.
I am sorry folks i was so hungry that i only remebered taking a photo of the meal after i was half way through with it. But not to worry as i have taken photos of the meals [me and my friends] of all the remaining 3 segments.
Enjoyed the meal, but Rohit was a bit dissapointed that the International Selection was over by the time the trolley came to him. I was also quite surprised by this as the loads on the flight were pretty light and there should have been atleast some options left., nevertheless he had to be satisfied with the Indian Non-Veg selection, which din't look too bad either.
After meal service we tuned into some more TV series---I saw "Two and a half men and ,Joey.” Absolutely love the AVOD.
Our route was at 39,000 feet from BOM over MAA and then the Bay of bengal at a speed of Mach 0.83.
The flight continuoed and i took the following pictures inflight as we began approaching SIN.
Went straight to one of the free Cyber stations as my head was itching with anticipation on what the Qantas order would be for. Not that surprised to see that it went to Boeing 787, but was surprised to see the size of the order.
Immigration was a breeze and our bags had already arrived when we came, Rohits Sister was there to pick us up and we went home after a nice flight.
Singapore
Singapore is a very nice,safe and clean city. This is what we did for the four days that were there.
---Centosa Island
---Bird Park and Night Safari
---Ferry and Merlion Walk
---Shopping ofcourse with all the Christmas sales going on
19th Dec, 2005
After having a comfortable and fun time in Singapore, it was time to go to our next destination city of HKG.
Rohit's sister dropped us at the airport at around 10:45am for the 13:30 departure, we thanked her for her hospitality and entered terminal 2.
The Check in lines were empty at this hour, and it took us just a few seconds to get checked in.
We browsed through some of the duty free shops and then I went to the viewing gallery where Rohit took this photo of me with SQ 772 9V-SRI.
We then browsed through some more shops and headed to immigration which went smoothly and after looking at some more duty free shops went towards the free internet stations where i could get to see good views of the tarmac and at the same time could browse through A.net.
This is the view from where the cyber stations are located.
Rohit also took this shot of me with our aircraft 9V-SMR
One thing i liked about SIN, is that they give you the immigration form of the arrival country as soon as you clear security, this is very good indeed as it avoids the hassales of having to write it during flight and bothering other people to remove your passports which is kept in the carry on bags in the overhead bins.
We entered the aircraft after the boarding call was made and after customary hot towels were handed out, the doors were shut.
I took a few shots as we began our taxi on time.
772 9V-SQJ which was parked at the side of our arcraft
We arrived at the runway and began our takeoff roll..............
Even 10 mins after takeoff the plane was shaking tremendously and the pilot came on the p.a. to request us to please be seated.
About 20 minutes later the vibrations stopped and the pilot informed us that they were having problems with the landing gear and may have had to go back to SIN, but now the problem has been sorted out.
Our route would take us straight over the S.China Sea to HKG.
Drinks and meal service began and i tuned into the AVOD system to watch "Dukes of Hazard" Jesicca Simpson looks stunning in the movie and the movie itself was not all that bad.
Drinks and Meal service began.
i had requested a specail Indian Vegeterian Meal for my SIN-HKG-SIN flights and as expected they were served before hand.
It consisted of Paneer [cottege cheese] masala, rice and Black Dal [lentils] along with yoghurt and salad.
The meal was simply amazing and satisfying with a glass of gingerale.
There were two choices on this flght which were the oriental selection and he international selection.
It consisted of "Sauteed seafood in creamy pernod sauce served with stewed tomato and vegetables, buttered potato." Cheese and crackers and smoked chicked salad.
Rohit was raving about the fish and really enjoyed it with his Red Label whisky.
After docking i requested one of the FAs if i could be allowed a visit to the cockpit, she asked the pilot and i was dejected to hear the response "Sorry sir, the captain has said NO"
We passed through customs and immigration and headed to our shuttle operators desk who for some odd reason made all of us wait for nearly 2 hours.
We then arrived late in the evening at our hotel--The Harbour Plaza Metropolis and checked in. I requested him for two single beds and a harbour facing room. He said they dint have one but would give us a complimentary upgrade to a basic Suite with a harbour facing view.
We were glad to say the least.
Hongkong
Hongkong city is a very bustling city and i am one of those people who prefers City/Industrial and Technological marvels to the nature and scenic beauty, so I enjoyed every moment in this bustling and vibrant city
We did the following for the 3 odd days that we were there.
---Hongkong city tour, Ladies market
---Victoria's Peak ,night tour and Knutsforth terraces.
22nd Dec,2005
After having a fantastic breakfast at our hotel, it was time to check out and a fantastic shuttle bus[with reclining seats] was waiting for us at around 10:10am to take us to HKG airport.
The ride to the airport was smooth and so was check in and immigration.
As we cleared the immigration counters i had the following view very close to me.
Rohit had some duty free shopping to do and i had some plane sightseeing to do so we parted ways deciding to meet at our check in gate.
Spotting at HKG airport is really a pleasure to the eye.I just sat by one of the glass walls facing the takeoff runway and began to enjoy myself and at the same time snapping away.
An impressive line up of CX and its subsidary Dragon Air
The meal consisted of Paneer Makhanwala [cottage cheese in butter gravy], Black Dal, Rice and Roti [indian bread]
It was an excellent meal even better than the previous one on the Megatop.
Rohit had a choice between international selection and oriental selection. He went for the international selction which consisted of Ragout of chicken with mushroom served with fresh pasta and tomato
Both our meals were good and i picked up an SQ 340-500, 1:400 scale model from their onboard duty free shopping for a killer price.
The rest of the flight was rather uneventful altough there was an annoying crying baby who went on crying non stop for the last 30 mins of the flight.
We had a smooth touchdown at Changi despite some patchy showers and a wet runway,
Deboarding took a rather long [25 mins] due to unknown reasons, i just wonder what is going to happen when the A380 comes online.
Changi Airport
After our customary phone calls to our respective families, and some internet surfing we went ahead to catch a bite at the food court
I chose a veg platter of an Indian restaurant and Rohit chose to have a 12 inch Subway sandwich, since I wanted to catch up with some of my mails on the free internet stations and Rohit had some duty free booze to buy we parted ways deciding to meet at our check in gate.
After roaming about I reached our gate and when boarding was announced I proceeded to the gate for security , where I was greeted by a friendly check inn lady who handed me my immigration card for Mumbai customs, I looked around for Rohit, but there was no sign of him, I filled up my card and waited patiently for Rohit to come as boarding commenced---but still no sign of him…….., I proceeded to the aircraft and was the last to board amongst the lot of people in the seating area, in my mind I knew there were still 25-30 mins to departure and he would come on board soon.
It was soon 20:00 hrs and the aircraft was getting preety filled up, with 10 mins to go for schedule departure, there was still no sign of Rohit, I went up to one of the FAs and told him that a passenger Mr Rohit Sakhwalkar has still not boarded the flight and to please make an anouncement,
They told me not to worry as they would be making final boarding calls soon naming the scheduled passengers. who had still not boarded the aircraft.
I went back to my seat and exactly after 2 mins I saw Rohit enter and out of relief I said loudly,” where the hell have you been man”--------I was perhaps a bit louder than normal out of anxiety and infact my sentence caused everyone in my cabin area to stop what they were doing and look in my direction ------now that I remember some of their faces I really have a good laugh about it.
Rohit shifted to the aisle seat and soon taxi began after the standard towel service and announcements were made.
Takeoff was as powerful as it can get and it was an awesome experience to sit on a 777-300 for the first time.
Immediately after the fasten seat belt sign was switched off, drink service began and as usual I chose a gingerale and Rohit went with his standard Whisky on the rocks.
I tuned into the fantastic AVOD system and began watching the movie “Four Brothers”, which turned out to be not as impressive as the trailer was.
Meal service began and I went for the vegetarian option which consisted of
Palak Rangeeli---cottage cheese with corn and mushroom with spinach sauce, spicy minced cauliflower and three capsicum pilaf.
He swept his meal clean and kept claiming how delicious it was.
I then tuned into the movie “40 year old Virgin” which was absolutely hilarious.
The rest of the flight was uneventful except for a bit of turbulence over the Bay of Bengal.
We finally approached the city of Mumbai, and had a smooth touchdown about 10 mins late.
After deboarding we proceeded through immigration without much difficulty and after waiting for an eternity for our bags to come cleared customs and went to greet and see our parents after almost 10 days.
Any comments/criticisisms/suggestions/opinions/questions are more than welcome.
LH459 From United States of America, joined Aug 2005, 886 posts, RR: 1 Reply 2, posted (6 years 10 months 1 week 2 days 21 hours ago) and read 13505 times:
Very nice report! I enjoyed the details, and those Indian Veg meals of yours have got me craving a curry.
I'm looking forward to your upcoming reports, especially the GF one!
"I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is temporary; the evil it does is permanent" - Ghandi
ZKSUJ From New Zealand, joined exactly 9 years ago today! , 6929 posts, RR: 10 Reply 3, posted (6 years 10 months 1 week 2 days 19 hours ago) and read 13406 times:
Very nice report. Thanks for making the pictures in a user friendly format. Much appreciated.
Tbear815 From United States of America, joined Jun 2003, 704 posts, RR: 5 Reply 4, posted (6 years 10 months 1 week 2 days 17 hours ago) and read 13313 times:
Very enjoyable trip report. You and Rohit are certainly different in your tastes and beverage choices! Great report - I'd love to know the flight times of each leg. With time changes enroute, the elapsed time is a contributing factor for any sort of inflight service!
HAWK21M From India, joined Jan 2001, 31201 posts, RR: 58 Reply 6, posted (6 years 10 months 1 week 2 days 14 hours ago) and read 13146 times:
Quoting Karan69 (Thread starter): I am sorry folks i was so hungry that i only remebered taking a photo of the meal after i was half way through with it.
Christao17 From Thailand, joined Apr 2005, 888 posts, RR: 9 Reply 7, posted (6 years 10 months 1 week 2 days 12 hours ago) and read 13036 times:
Very nice report; I always enjoy reading other people's impressions about flights/routes/airlines that I've also taken to see how the experiences compare.
Also, a big thank you for putting the pictures in such a user-friendly format. I've considered doing that but thought it would take a long time. How long did it take you? If it is easy enough, I'll do it on future reports, too.
AirIndiaOne From India, joined Mar 2005, 146 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (6 years 10 months 1 week 2 days 8 hours ago) and read 12841 times:
so finally u have this long long report on...very impressive. the food pics are great [ ] not to mention the pics with u and the 747 in the background lol.
"You don't have to be crazy to be in aviation, but it helps", JRD Tata
Quoting LH459 (Reply 2): Very nice report! I enjoyed the details, and those Indian Veg meals
Glad to hear that you read the entire report and it was worthwhile for me to write the details and for once the pictures taken by me actually had a mouth waterring effect
Quoting ZKSUJ (Reply 3): Very nice report. Thanks for making the pictures in a user friendly format. Much appreciated
Thanks for showing your appreciation and glad to make it user friendly
Quoting Tbear815 (Reply 4): I'd love to know the flight times of each leg. With time changes enroute, the elapsed time is a contributing factor for any sort of inflight service!
Thanks for your comments mate----the flight timings were for BOM-SIN 5hrs 10 mins , SIN-HKG was 3hrs 45 mins.
The time difference between BOM-SIN is 2 1/2 hrs whereas there is no time difference between SIN-HKG
Quoting Nimish (Reply 5): Excellent report - I must plan to visit HKG as well.
I'm going to be flying SQ in 2 weeks time (BLR-SFO-BLR), so I'll have a long time to spend on the IFE and the 772s
HKG is a fantastic bustling city mate,
You will enjoy every bit of SQ, but why dont you re route one of your 2 flights via HKG, it will give you a chance to fly on one of their Megatops as well as make a stopover at HKG.
Thank you as always mate, my trip reports must be getting better--no questions at all from you this time??????
Quoting Christao17 (Reply 7): Very nice report; I always enjoy reading other people's impressions about flights/routes/airlines that I've also taken to see how the experiences compare
Thank you very much really enjoy your report too, infact i have saved 2 of them on my computer. [The american trip and the Korean trip ones--those were simply excellent]
Quoting Christao17 (Reply 7): Also, a big thank you for putting the pictures in such a user-friendly format.
Quoting Christao17 (Reply 7): I've considered doing that but thought it would take a long time. How long did it take you? If it is easy enough, I'll do it on future reports, too.
Too be quite honest, i did it myself over a fairly long period of time given it was my final year of studies and i was very busy, but i tell you what i have started doing the same for my CX 773 trip report will tell you how much time i took for those.
Quoting Himmat01 (Reply 8): An excellent report as usual. Had been waiting for a very long time for the report. Looking forward to reading your other trip reports.
Thanks for your support and comments, sorry to keep you waiting for so long
Quoting AirIndiaOne (Reply 9): so finally u have this long long report on...very impressive. the food pics are great [ ] not to mention the pics with u and the 747 in the background lol.
Yup buddy, finally managed to complete it...thanks for your comments.
Karan69 From India, joined Oct 2004, 2778 posts, RR: 19 Reply 11, posted (6 years 9 months 3 weeks 13 hours ago) and read 11547 times:
Quoting Christao17 (Reply 7): How long did it take you? If it is easy enough, I'll do it on future reports, too
I uploaded my BKK trip photos on myaviation.net, 40 odd photos took me about 2 days [90 mins per day] and the a.net crew took anther 2-3 days to upload them.
Ronerone From Jordan, joined Aug 2004, 1541 posts, RR: 54 Reply 14, posted (6 years 8 months 3 weeks 7 hours ago) and read 10142 times:
EXCELLENT Trip report Karan! .. was reading your CX report again, and i realised i had not read this one yet. Fantastic!
Quoting Karan69 (Thread starter): And GF in First Class routing BOM-BAH-LHR-BAH-AUH-BAH-MNL-BAH-BOM [over 200 pics] May 2006
WOW! .. u gonna do a TR on this?? would love to read it.
Quoting Karan69 (Thread starter): and since i am the Aviation Nut all the scheduling of the flights and Hotel at HKG was left to me.
LOL .. They always have us do all their travel arrangements
Quoting Karan69 (Thread starter): Talk about excessive capacity on the route-----Is such capacity actually needed on BOM-LHR.?????
I would like to think India and probably BOM is one of the most popular destinations out of LHR. In addition to the large Indian population in the UK, the booming economy in India would also call for more demand.
I believe BA seems to hold the highest share on that market? I think i read it somewhere .. could be wrong though.
Quoting Karan69 (Thread starter): Spotting at HKG airport is really a pleasure to the eye.
It truly is! .. if i was there during the day time, i think i would have missed my flight
Do you know where that AC 343 came from? I was expecting their A345 from Toronto and was suprised to see this one (i saw it also when i was at HKG). I am assuming it came somewhere from the west coast.
EXCELLENT report man .. i really enjoyed it. Felt like i was traveling with you and Rohit.
I especially loved the Indian Veggie meals .. all of them! .. I love Veggie Indian food as it is, and they just made me hungry
CheerZ
Roni
A Stop Away From One-Stop, Is Non-Stop : Airbus A340-500
Luv2fly From United States of America, joined May 2003, 11957 posts, RR: 51 Reply 17, posted (6 years 8 months 2 weeks 3 days 22 hours ago) and read 9776 times:
Great report thanks for sharing! Now I want to go.
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From India, joined Oct 2004, 2778 posts, 
to do so we parted ways deciding to meet at our check in gate.
out of anxiety and infact my sentence caused everyone in my cabin area to stop what they were doing and look in my direction 
------now that I remember some of their faces I really have a good laugh about it. 
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