SQ Tips, Trips and Tales

[Mr H]

What karma are you hoping for?.
That @Cruiser Elite gets a coughty SQ cabin crew? Or gets upstaged by @boomy and Co?

It's all set out in Father Arnall's Sermon in Chapter 3, Part 2 of James Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. It doesn't involve Singapore Girls.

 

[boomy]

We’re talking religion now? Lovely

Well I’m Jewish, to us if you don’t belong to our clan you’re all sinners and will end up in the same place no matter how hard you try. Might be some Krug there but without any bubbles

 

[dajop]

Arrival into MEL at 20:00 last night was just a nightmare.

217 was 47mins early but due to congestion was put on 20min delay - we did dock at 20:04 which was still 31mins early -

On Friday we got to gate at 19:58, and the whole airport was a sh##show or a fustercluck or whatever your preferred profanity is. I was in Y, and no express path for TPPS like we used to get (I did wonder if J pax got it, evidently not). But I dodged a bullet, it was only a 15 min wait, by the time I got to the customs point the line was 3x as long.

But SQ delivered their bags promptly, thankfully. Those coming off EK404 from SIN, which reached the gate 39 mins before us only started receiving their bags around the same time as us (actually a few mins later). Likewise as I was actually exiting customs they made an announcement for passengers on MH129 (which reached gate 25 mins before us) apologising for the delay and bags were now available on carousel ....

MEL is an embarrasment, it just can't cope with so many arrivals around the same time. I almost pulled the trigger on 207, but the earlier start put me off, but I think next time I will, it should avoid this mess as the airport is quieter then.

 

[kamchatsky]

Having flown SQ J for the first time since COVID, I have to say that the food quality in the air has dropped a bit overall. My wife did not like the chicken rice, as it was not cooked properly (surprising given it is a Singaporean stable dish). The FAs are still great, but cannot fix food quality issues as it is outside their control.

This is probably a reflection of overall industry post-covid, lack of resources + increased cost of materials/staff.

My transit at SIN was cut short to 1 hour as MXP-SIN was late, so I didn't manage to go to SKL J. Did go to MXP Lounge, but it is Meh as it is an average lounge used by most of the airlines. Food choices are very limited, but I did make myself Aperol Spritz to keep myself happy like most Italians.

 

[dajop]

Having flown SQ J for the first time since COVID, I have to say that the food quality in the air has dropped a bit overall. My wife did not like the chicken rice, as it was not cooked properly (surprising given it is a Singaporean stable dish).

Not cooked properly in which way? Flavours not hitting the mark?

I generally find the hawker food on SQ hit and miss, perhaps because I have my favourites and if it doesn't live up to that standard then its noticeable.

 

[kamchatsky]

On Friday we got to gate at 19:58, and the whole airport was a sh##show or a fustercluck or whatever your preferred profanity is. I was in Y, and no express path for TPPS like we used to get (I did wonder if J pax got it, evidently not). But I dodged a bullet, it was only a 15 min wait, by the time I got to the customs point the line was 3x as long.

But SQ delivered their bags promptly, thankfully. Those coming off EK404 from SIN, which reached the gate 39 mins before us only started receiving their bags around the same time as us (actually a few mins later). Likewise as I was actually exiting customs they made an announcement for passengers on MH129 (which reached gate 25 mins before us) apologising for the delay and bags were now available on carousel ....

MEL is an embarrasment, it just can't cope with so many arrivals around the same time. I almost pulled the trigger on 207, but the earlier start put me off, but I think next time I will, it should avoid this mess as the airport is quieter then.

I had a completely opposite experience in SYD. I arrived last Thursday night at 7pm on SQ211 (about 15 mins early). The place was dead quiet. There was no queue at immigration. 5 Immigration officers waited for us to come to them.

The bags came out in less than 5 minutes, I declared everything under the sun, and the officers asked us a few questions and waved us through. I was out of the Terminal in 15 minutes after going through customs check.

 

[kamchatsky]

Not cooked properly in which way? Flavours not hitting the mark?

I generally find the hawker food on SQ hit and miss, perhaps because I have my favourites and if it doesn't live up to that standard then its noticeable.

No, the chicken rice was just plain old steamed rice, not cooked with chicken at all.

I had BTC Soon heng bak chor mee soup, and the taste definitely not as good as I hoped. But definitely not as bad as the chicken rice. I posted the photos in a separate SQ J Food and Menu thread.

Maybe next time I will stick with Western options. Then again I need to rebuild my KF point balance after we blew all our points for our European trip for 4 so not sure when I will step in SQ plane.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

I had 4 flts in last 10 days - ALL crews were just fabulous except for 1 SS (Red Uniform Lady) on 238 Sat Jul 22 - she just did not warm and was quite terse on a couple of occasions - there was some sort of serious incident very early on flt in Y - don't know if that might have been contributing factor - but overal Crews were as FABULOUS as ever.

The food I am still not sure on - overall I still think it is a step down from pre Covid - I am not expecting Michelin starred quality but I just think it is off. Not complaining just observing - still bloody ridiculous that 830 serve breakfast with 09:30 dep rather than lunch as was always the case pre-Covid - still bloody ridiculous that v217 is 350 and not 777 or 380 - but I do require some matters to send feedback

 

[Ads22]

Will it be a window? I hope it's a window.

Maybe some Comtes?

 

[boomy]

New safety video will be released tomorrow.

Ready to journey across our island home? | What do lion dancers, silat practitioners, kolam artists and our cabin crew have in common? Find out more on 1 August 2023. | By Singapore Airlines - Facebook

What do lion dancers, silat practitioners, kolam artists and our cabin crew have in common? Find out more on 1 August 2023.

fb.watch

 

[dajop]

No, the chicken rice was just plain old steamed rice, not cooked with chicken at all.

So it was chicken with rice, not chicken rice. Disappointing! The flavoursome rice should be just as a much a highlight as the (silky) chicken.

 

[Quickstatus]

plain old steamed rice

In order to cook the steamed rice in Chicken rice, the water in which the rice is cook/steamed is actually chicken stock. But not any chicken stock especially the off the shelf artificial chicken stock

 

[kamchatsky]

So it was chicken with rice, not chicken rice. Disappointing! The flavoursome rice should be just as a much a highlight as the (silky) chicken.

In order to cook the steamed rice in Chicken rice, the water in which the rice is cook/steamed is actually chicken stock. But not any chicken stock especially the off the shelf artificial chicken stock

Exactly. The rice itself should be full of chicken flavour, but none whatsoever.

 

[mel-world]

Possibly the one advantage of 207 is the earlier arrival time into MEL. Far too early to be leaving SIN and a rush if transferring from some European arrivals (as others have mentioned) but does arrive into a sweet spot for MEL. Arrived down at Gate 18 so a bit of a trek to Immigration but still out collected luggage and of the terminal and into the Uber in 20 mins - that included a short detour to have a plant item checked on the way out.

 

[Quickstatus]

chicken rice

Did it come with the ginger+spring onion sauce and the red crushed chilli sauce and the soy sauce. Has to have the green,red and black sauce (light+dark+maybe oyster) otherwise not up to scratch

 

[dajop]

Possibly the one advantage of 207 is the earlier arrival time into MEL. Far too eraly to be leaving SIN

It's 07:45 departure. Plenty of people in Australia catch domestic flights earlier than that (and luggage cutoff is at T-40, so let's say it's equivalent to a 07:30 domestic departure).

Although for those originating in SIN, most people would probably want to be at the airport at around 05:00'ish for some strange reason. I'd be leaving home at 06:20ish to reach the airport about 06:45, so I'd have 30-40 mins in the lounge. So that's not too early.

 

[FlyingFiona]

Are there restrictions on how early you can enter the Singapore SKL J before a flight? I'm hoping to get in somewhere around the T-5hrs mark. Couldn't see any restrictions when looking at their T&Cs but thought I'd double check with the brains trust.

 

[Quickstatus]

Are there restrictions on how early you can enter the Singapore SKL J before a flight?

No, we were 14hrs between the 351 arrival and the 221 departure.

And it was 2 appearances - once to freshen up then went out to explore Sing then came back to wash up from the Sing humidity

 

[Cruiser Elite]

A sleuth of the buggers

 

[kamchatsky]

Did it come with the ginger+spring onion sauce and the red crushed chilli sauce and the soy sauce. Has to have the green,red and black sauce (light+dark+maybe oyster) otherwise not up to scratch

They came with the sauce separately but the rice itself is tasteless.