Hotel in the air (Singapore Airlines)

Member Name: Belfastgirl

Product:	Singapore Airlines
Date:	13/11/01 (1010 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Brilliant service

Disadvantages: Full flights

Absolutely 1st class pretty much sums up this hotel in the air service.

Recently I travelled to Australia, and coming from Northern Ireland this meant that I had to travel to Heathrow first, before getting my connecting flight. So I was obviously looking for the cheapest option, and to my great surprise Singapore Airlines fitted the bill (literally). I was previously not going to include the price because of me travelling from Dublin to London on another airline, but I have been asked to include it, so I will! In total, a return flight from Dublin to Sydney was £701! That's stopping off in Heathrow and in Singapore. To say I was pleasantly surprised with this was an understatement considering that on Aer Lingus it usually costs about £100 return flight to Heathrow!

I had always heard good things about Singapore Airlines, so I was not too worried about flying with them. Then September 11th happened, and not surprisingly, I was worried that first of all my plane would not fly out (on the 15th September) and then that the delays would be phenomenal.

By the time I arrived in Heathrow, collected my bags (because at this stage Heathrow were refusing to book bags through to their final destination) and arrived at the next check in desk I was a little annoyed and worried about missing my flight. The staff there were wonderfully helpful and understanding. At this stage Heathrow was a bit mad, going hectic, people missing connections left right and centre and I feel that the Singapore Airlines crew dealt with the whole situation very professionally. Big thumbs up on that score - their ground staff are amazing.

In all, I was really impressed by the whole flight.

When you sit down in the plane you are given a hot towel to freshen up, and there is already a pillow and blanket placed on your seat. Next headphones are passed around - all Dolby surround sound, and best of all - free! I’ll talk a little more about the ente
rtainment later on. On long haul flights over 7 hours, everyone is given a little pack including a toothbrush with toothpaste and a pair of socks.

Anyone that has young children or special flying needs is spoken to before the flight takes off, and everything is done to ensure that it is a comfortable and pleasant flight for all.

The emergency procedures are explained using a video, and I felt this was better than the old method, as everyone was able to see.

Each passenger, at the beginning of the flight is given a menu, detailing the choices of meals for the flight. I was really impressed by this, other flights I had been on before gave you two options on the food - take it or leave it! Most of the meals I had were lovely, though one breakfast consisted of noodles, which didn’t exactly thrill me! But remember this is an Asian company and they are doing things the Asian way.

Everything on Singapore airlines is free, no paying for drinks or anything - once you get on the plane there is no need for your purse or wallet unless you want to buy from their substantial range of duty free.

The staff are really great, nothing is too much trouble and they seem to know when to leave you alone and when to speak to you. They keep the plane in great condition throughout the flight. The toilets are always immaculately clean and well stocked up with various toiletries - everything from sanitary towels to mouth wash. It’s little touches like this that makes Singapore Airlines the great airlines that they are - and this is all in Economy class!

Now onto the in flight entertainment.

Each seat has it’s own little TV screen, and there is three choices of entertainment - audio, video and interactive. There are 19 audio channels, with music and short stories that suits all types of people. These are played constantly throughout the flight. Next there are 10 video channels showing 9 up to date movies and
1 classic movie. The next 3 channels are Asian movies, but these have subtitles in English if you are interested. There is also a kids channel, a discovery type channel, a comedy zone and various other channels which suit various tastes. The last channel is the flight indicator channel which shows a little map of where the plane is at that point in time, the local time over the place that you are flying, the time in the place you have left and the time in the place that you are going to. It also tells you various little facts that you might like to know about temperature outside etc.
The interactive station involves computer games. There is a wide selection of Nintendo games, PC games and brain teasers which are great for kids and those adults who never really grew up.

To control the entertainment, there is a little handset that is built into the seat, and that can be pulled out, reversed and used as a phone which is paid for using credit cards.

This brings me onto the design of the seats. The seat backs all have head rests which make it more comfortable, and every seat has a foot rest. I found the seats to be very comfortable (well as far as possible!) and that there was a lot more leg room than in other planes.

In all, I was extremely impressed with Singapore Airline, and I would go as far to say that I never intend to fly again with any other company.

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