Denpasar Ngurah Rai International

Savage25 and flamboyant1 were so kind to take me to the airport in their limousine form the Intercontinental Bali. It was only a short ride and we arrived in round about 15 minutes. One had to pass security before entering the terminal and some passengers were queuing there as savage25, flamboyant1 and I arrived there. Behind me was a French lady who had a huge amount of cases on her cart. She hit me several times, which was quite annoying and after the third time I told her to be more careful. This person managed it finally to crash into in my carry on while my passport and boarding pass was checked. I complained to her and ask to be more carefully but she pushed me away and I have to jump out of her way not to be hit by the cart. Fortunately, we were able to check in at the Raffles Class Counter, the lady was mixing up Economy Counter together with his husband and a small child. Nevertheless it was a long wait and flyertalker derpelikan who arrived a little bit later complained to me about why they only open to counters for Raffles and four for Economy. It seems, there were some problems during check-in, as it took a very long time for each passenger to get checked in. There is much room for an improvement and it was strange, that the agent explained, only Star Gold Numbers could be printed on the boarding passes in Denpasar.

Finally we got checked in and headed upstairs to pay the airport departure fee and clear immigration and then up to the lounge, where the rest of the group were sitting and trying not to mix up the lounge. Food selection was some rolls, pastries and cakes and beverage was the normal mixture of coffee, tea, soft drinks, beer and wine.

Chatting with the other Flyertalkers we settled for a group photo. One of the lounge attendants had to take more than eight cameras to take photos of us in the lounge. It was somewhat funny seeing this poor guy with all these different sort of digital cameras.

Before boarding started we left the lounge and were on our way to the gate. Another security check and we arrived at the boarding gate. The waiting area was crowded and boarding had not started yet. This took another ten minutes, because it seems, they upgraded several passengers from Economy to Business as this flight was overbooked in Economy. Business had four seats left, as TGFlyergirl had told me in the lounge.

Finally the boarding announcement was made. I can’t remember, if this was an announcement for passengers travelling in Raffles Class Star Gold or these with small children, everybody jumped up and second later the boarding area was a huge crowd of people.

The French Lady once again hit me and pushed me away while boarding yelling let me pass I have a small child. Well I let her pass and as I took the entrance to Raffles I was saying in her direction without addressing her personally “Sometimes I am more than happy not to sit in Economy”. I am a snob, I know.

28 May 2006
DPS – SIN
[Denpasar Ngura Rai – Singapore Changi]
SQ 147 (Singapore Airlines); Boeing 777 – 200
Gate 5
20:05 – 22:35 [effective 20:05 - 22:35]
Business Class
Seat 14 K

Entering the Raffles Class Cabin, I stored my luggage in the overhead bin and took my seat. The Flyertalker had nearly the whole left side of the plane, while derpelikan was in 11 B and in 15 B and in 15 C as I remember correctly. Unfortunately flamboyant1 and savage25 were not able to join us in the Raffles Cabin, there were sitting back in 50 G and H in the Economy Cabin. The flight was fully booked in both cabins and I think theyupgraded some passengers.

As predeparture drinks orange juice, champagne and water were served. Menus were distributed on the ground, where also newspapers and magazines were distributed. We were pushed back at 20.10 and took the taxi way to the runway. We finally were up in the air at 20:16.

A first beverage round took place while we were in the air and orders for the menu were taken. Approximately 30 minutes after take off the tables were laid with linen (one got used to it by the time).

Here is the menu and the wine list , which is the same)

I choose the lamb curry which was good. The lamb was soft and the presentation not that bad. The taste was spicy and I enjoyed this delicious meal. It was the best meal  I have had on all my flights on this trip, but Thai’s meal on the flight Bangkok to Hong Kong followed close up.

CGK had a special form of book the cook on this flight. He brought his own food he had for dinner instead of the main course. Crew was amazed as they were aware of this. Several pictures were taken during this flight and we hopefully disturbed the rest of the passengers not that much.

After meal service, there was a surprise for cawhite, she got two birthday cakes she shared with us.

Crew was very friendly and I was amazed to see, how they handled the group of Flyertalkers. Talking and toasting, one of the flight attendants could not continue to distribute the menus, so she headed to the other side and distributed magazines and papers. They were really friendly and were attentive.

The flight was very bumpy and the fasten seat belt signs were switched on quite often.

I walked back in Economy, where flamboyant1 and savage25 were sitting. They had an exit row fortunately, but the flight was full. I chatted with flamboyant1 but was told by one of the Economy flight attendants to return to my seat, though no fastens seat belt sign were turned on at this time.

We touched down at 22:25 and were at our gate 10 minutes later at 22:35. We headed to immigration and there we headed in different directions. I took a taxi to my hotel, again a night in the Le Meridien Changi.

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