Newark Liberty International Airport
I took the shuttle from the hotel to Newark at 20:00. because I wanted to have enough time to pass security etc.
As I was dropped off just before the check-in counter and no one was queuing it took only
a few minutes to check in. I had reserved an aisle seat (I was told
by SQ in Germany, they do not prereserve the seats 46 / 47 DG). At
check in, I was told the plane was not full in economy and she would
try to block my neighbour seat as they were not many passengers with
Gold or Silver Status in Economy. This was a nice gesture and I hoped that it would remain empty.
I had a look at the terminal, but
as there was nothing of interest, I decided to pass security and
headed to the concourse.
Security took again some time. I had to
put my notebook out of my hand luggage, took off my shoes and took of
my belt. Later in the plane, I noticed that my nail case was in my
hand luggage and security had not noticed it ….
I waited in
the terminal for boarding which began at 22.40, as usual with Star
Gold and Raffles Class, followed 5 minutes later with Economy by
rows. As I again had a seat in the back of the plane I was within the
first Economy passenger boarding the plane, but before I could enter
the plane our passports was again checked by security.
17
October 2004
EWR – SIN
[New York /Newark Liberty
International Airport – Singapore]
SQ 21 (Singapore Airlines);
Airbus 340 – 500
23:00 – 5:35 (+ 2 days)
Executive Economy
Class
Seat 44 C
While passing the Raffles Class I noticed that the Raffles Class seems to
be nearly fully booked, so it was not as bad to sit “only” in
Economy.
I reached my seat and my first impression, that the more
of legroom was clearly visible. I stored my luggage in the overhead
bin after I put off my belongings which I need for the flight such as
notebook, glasses, handheld etc. The table is in the armrest instead
of the seat in front of you; this means that there is much place to
store your belongings. This is quite nice and a big advantage, so is
the bigger screen of the inflight entertainment system.
While the other passengers were boarding, I discovered the function of the
seat. The footrest is very comfortable and the seat reclines more
than usual which gives you much more room. In comparison to my last
flight in LH’s old Business Class, I tend to say, the legroom there
could be worse, depending on the seat than in Singapore’s Executive
Economy. The head set is adjustable as usual on SQ.
The armrest could not moved, which one could say is a disadvantage while
travelling alone in a row, but I think it is an advantage if you have
a seat mate. There is also a power outlet between every second seat which I could use without adapter which my German plugs; also it has
only 110 V. I was a little bit surprised about this, because I phoned SQ in Germany and asked about the outlets and they told me I need an
adapter.
A blanket was also placed on the seat. On the ground, the captain came over the micro and told us our routing and
flying time. I was lucky to hear that we flew the North Pole route –
so nearly a real RTW for me – and via Russia and China in direction
Hong Kong and then to Singapore. Unfortunately the airshow was out of
order. Krisworld could be used on the ground and during take off; I
had not seen this before or at least had not noticed this up to
now.
We took of in time and while the plane accelerated
on the runway I noticed how long it took before the wheels were up in
the air, the plane must be really heavy.
Once
airborne a hot towel service was offered followed by the distribution
of the headsets and the amenity kits and a little bit later the menu. Just after the towels were collected, the beverage service started, warm nuts were also offered. I ordered a Singapore Sling which was
served by another flight attendant some minutes later. My impression
was, there were a lot of flight attendants and therefore you had the
impression of a much personalised service, in fact it was not only an
impression.
While sipping at my Singapore Sling, I looked at the printed menu 
I
opted for the chicken, with tasted excellent. The salad however
was a very small portion and it could be nice, if the portion would have been bigger. The
cheese was only a small piece, packed in foil. But to be honest, I was really full after the main course and the ice, so there was no
need for more cheese. As the trays were cleared by the flight
attendant just after the passenger had finished, so again a more
personalised service and not trolley service to collect it. This was
really nice, so the passengers could prepare for the night or begin
to watch a movie. As I noticed, the most passengers prepare to sleep
as I did. But there are several passenger, who read and slept later.
As there are nearly 15 hours before the next meal service started,
you have a lot of time, so you could decided yourself for what is the
best to you, first sleep, then watch a movie oder first watch a movie
/ read and then sleep, sleep the whole flight…. The cabin light is
the whole time switched off, but nevertheless a sleeping mask could
be helpful if the reading lights are switched on.
Being really
tired at this time (about 01:00 New York time) after a busy day in New
York I felt asleep and woke up after nearly two hours of undistrubed sleep. This is to me a good sign as I normally could not
sleep onboard a plane very well. In the next time, I tried to get
some more sleep but also walked through the plane and in the back to
the social area to get some orange juice.
During the first
half of the flight, I tried to sleep and if I woke up, I walked in
the back to the social area to get some orange juice and return to my
seat some minutes later.
During my visits at the social area
– the most time there were at least one other passenger – I
chatted two times with one of them. It was quite interesting, because
once one flight attendant joined our talk as she heard I was German
and wanted to now why I flew this routing; she told me, there had
been only a few Germans on this service in the past. I told her about
this offer of SQ in Germany and that I wanted to try this longest
Non-Stop service. We also talked about the flight attendants and how
they feel during such a long flight. She told us, they had a special
training and also need a special qualification for this flight. They
will lose it, if they do not fly this non-stop a least twice a month
and they have three days off after every flight. So they had even spend more days in New York than me; they arrived in New York on
Thursday. They stay in hotels (or in a hotel) in downtown Manhattan
near Times Square, so they could see some places in New York. The
only problem is there is also no back-up crew and no back-up plane.
As I understand her correctly, they need all flight attendants for
this flight. Although they have some time off during the flight, they
are not really “off” during their free time as they think about
the next things they have to do and stay still in touch with work. We
talked also about some places to see in Europe and the States and she
gave me some travel tips for Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur. It was quite
an interesting time and the crew seems less robotic than the SQ crews
normally are. As you have direct contact to the crew in the social
area, you could easily talk to them and they are friendlier than on
other flights. They offer to bring you hot water for a soup and even
ask if you want to have one. The choice of food is some cracker,
nuts, biscuits, rolls, bananas, apples, oranges and as beverage water
and orange juice.
One point I asked myself in the time before
this flight was, what on earth should I do sitting 18 hours in a
plane? Okay, there were movies so show and music to listen to, but
nevertheless this could become boring. In fact, I the time did not
become boring, you have music to listen to, zapping through the
uncountable music CDs in the Wisemann system, watch a movie
(Terminal, what else) and I load the pictures from my digital
camera to my laptop and put them in the right folder and write some
notices for this trip report. With a little bit more than six hours
of sleep (with several breaks), the upload of my New York pictures
(which took some time) editing them, delete picture I took twice I “worked” nearly two hours,
watching the movie and listen to the music I had never the feeling,
this flight was too long.
The first part of the flight, the
most passengers were sleeping, only a few lights were switched on and
only few screens were not dark. But the longer the flight took, the
more lights were switched on. The light in the cabin was switched on
after a flight time of app, 15.30 hours and the second meal was
prepared, as we could smell in the cabin. But first we got another
hot towel service, which was quite refreshing.
2
½ hours prior to landing the second meal was finally served.
Again time for look in the menu .
The meal, I had the beef, was quite well. But I would have liked it more, if I could have another roll not only one. But again, the quality and quantity of the “Main Event” was very good. Again the tray was cleared individually not by using a tray. I am not sure, if they do this all the time or only on flights which are not fully booked?
So “my” 18 hours consisted of 2 hours eating first meal (incl. beverage and service before), 6 hours sleeping, 2 hours watching movie, 2 hours laptop, 3 hours music + reading
+ chatting, 1 ½ hour second meal with service before and after it.
I was a bit surprised, that no immigration cards for Singapore was handed out in the plane, you have to pick them just at immigration in Changi Airport. I just think you have plenty of time during the flight to fill it out ….
I stored my belongings
and put my passport and a biro in and easy to reach pocket of my hand luggage. We touched down at Changi just in time and had to taxi to a gate, which took nearly ten minutes. Deboarding took a few minutes and I head for immigration through a nearly empty terminal.
Singapore Changi Airport
There was only one other passenger at immigration, but three offices on duty so no wait after I filled out the immigration form. Passport stamped and I head for the belt, where I had to wait some minutes before my luggage arrived.
After I changed money I walked over to the MRT Station and took a train to my hotel onn this early morning of the 19th October; my watch told me it was just some minutes before 6:00. in
the morning
I was a long time unsure where to stay in Singapore. I tend to stay in the Holiday Inn, but this was quite some minutes to walk from the next MRT Station. During several visits on the page of asia-hotels.com I found a rate for the Sheraton for US$ 111 including breakfast and taxes which was the cost for the Holiday Inn but without taxes and breakfast. Asiahotels quoted you will get SPG Points for the stay (they unfortunately changed this some days after I booked) but as I have requalified for
Gold during this trip and will not reach Platinum this year (I will try it next year) this was okay. I reached the hotel after a 45 minutes ride with the MRT (which was quite full in this morning hour). I thought during my flight to take a taxi, but I like it, to get in contact to locals and usually did not take a taxi if there is a good connection to the city by public transportation and therefore I decided against it, especially as there are only 100 meters to walk from Newton Station to the Sheraton.