Singapore Changi

We took a taxi to the airport from the Sheraton and arrived around 19:40 at the airport. Singapore's Changi Airport has three terminals and could handle 66 Million Passengers per year. In 2012 51,2 Million People traveled via Changi – unlike other airports the airport is not even close to maximum capacity. The airport authorities have a development policy of always building capacity ahead of demand to avoid congestion problems. The airport has two major runways with a length of 4000 metres (13123 ft). A third shorter runway with a length of 9022 ft is used by the Air Force of Singapore and eventually extended to be used as third runway.

Swiss operates from Terminal 2 like Lufthansa and other airlines and offers an early check in which is open from 16:00 to 20:00. The regular counters open at 20:30, which means there is a gap of 30 minutes between 20:00 and 20:30.

We arrived that early to be able to use the early check in, but the agent working there was very slow and very exact. On average it took her close to 10 minutes to check a passenger in. She was unable to check a passenger to the final destination if she or he used miles or e-vouchers to upgrade to Business Class. She was able to retrieve the boarding pass for the flight to Zurich but not for the onward flight. If luggage was checked it, it was not possible to check the luggage to the final destination. In the end we had to wait close to an hour and since Lufthansa needed the counters, we had to move over to the Swiss counters. Lufthansa seems to know about the problems as the Lufthansa agent called over the Swiss agent to solve the check in problem. There was finally someone called who could handle the system.

So I moved with some colleagues over to the dedicated Swiss check in counters to check in at the real desk. I had already used the online check in for the flight from Zurich to Düsseldorf, which was in Economy Class, but was as usual unable to print the boarding pass for Singapore to Zurich. This does also not help as the security agent want to see either a real boarding pass or a boarding pass with a stamp of the airline. Check in was not that difficult in my case, as I was traveling with hand luggage only …

Immigration was empty and only one other passenger was in front of me and soon we were on our way to the lounge. The lounge was busy, but it was not difficult to find a seat. Singapore Airlines has a lounge for the Star Alliance Gold Members flying in Economy Class, one lounge dedicated to those flying in Business Class and a separate lounge for those flying in First Class. Of course all Star Alliance frequent flyer benefits apply and one is able to for example invited one guest into the lounge, which is flying on the same flight but not necessarily in the same class, e.g. a passenger with Star Gold Status flying in Business Class can invite a guest flying in Economy Class. The lounge consists of a business center right at the entrance with computers and also printers. There are also working desks for those using their own laptops. To the left is the buffet area with cold and hot items and also tables and chairs. A wide range of beverages is available from water and soft drinks to Beer, wine and even Champagne and also coffee and tea. A selection of cold and hot dishes along with sushi, fresh fruit and other items are also available. In the rear part of the lounge are the restrooms. A number of showers are also available and in the early evening the waiting time is usually not very long.

The bigger part of the lounge is to the right of the entrance and there are armchairs, with tables and TV screens. This part can become busy in the evening when a number of flights are leaving from Terminal 1 to Europe (LH and LX) and also some flights of SQ to India and Indonesia are still operating from terminal 2.

Power outlets are available but some are a bit hidden and difficult to reach.

I paid a visit to the buffet and had also a few spring rolls and a glass of white wine but took a seat in the bigger part of the lounge rather than closer to the buffet. Our group took one of the tables closer to the buffet but later moved over to this part of the lounge as well.

Ten minutes prior to boarding time I left the lounge and walked to the gate. There were still a few people queuing at the security check point but boarding had already started and the gate area was already quite empty.

02 June 2013
SIN – ZRH
[Singapore Changi – Zurich Kloten]
LX 179 (Swiss); Airbus A 340-300 (HB-JM0)
Gate E 04
23:10 – 06:10 (+1) [effective 23:17 – 06:13 (+1)]
Business Class
Seat 05 K

Both jetbridges were attached to the plane but the one at the first door was only for First Class passengers, everybody else had to use the rear door. So I had to wait in the jetbridge before I was able to board the plane and turn left to my seat in the small front part of the Business Class Cabin, also called “Stübli” (Meaning small cozy room).

A few seats were already taken but the majority of the passengers in this part of the cabin had not boarded yet. I had enough space to store my belongings in the overhead compartment above my seat.

Pre Departure Drink

Duval Leroy Brut Champagne

Amenity kits, headphones, blanket and pillow were already placed on the seat. As soon as I had stored my belongings a flight attendant approached me and asked if I would like to have a pre departure drink. I could choose among water, orange juice and Champagne and of course it was the later one for me.

I had stored everything I needed during the flight in the small pocket under the monitor. The lack of storage space is a small disadvantage of the Business Class Seat of Swiss. You have plenty of space to the left, but during take-off and landing the items place there might shift and it is not a place to securely place items such as camera, laptop or even newspaper.

The flight attendant also asked me if I would like to have a newspaper but I declined. Instead I skipped to the June edition of the Swiss Inflight Magazine which features Tokyo, a city high on the list of those cities I wanted to visit next year. We will see, if it will happen.

I had already described the Business Class Cabin in the report about a flight on Swiss from Zurich to Hong Kong back in 2011, but I will give some details here as well.

Our Airbus A 340 was equipped with 47 staggered seats, so it is either 1-2-1 followed by 2-2-1. Seat “K” is always a single seat. The seat has a 79 inch seat pitch and reclines 180° and is fully flat. Some people have the impression the seats are narrow, but I could not share this impression. You have enough space and do not fell cramped. But the part under the seat in the row prior to the one, one is sitting, could be narrow and you might problems if you are tall. In this case, you should try to get a seat in the first rows of either the first or the second Business Class Cabin as these seats have slight more legroom.

Our Airbus was also equipped with 8 seats in First Class and 164 seats in Economy Class. The Airbus made its maiden flight on April 29, 1997 and therefore had recently passed its 16th anniversary. It was delivered to Air Canada on May 30, 1997 as C-FYLU. After a bit over 10 years it was withdrawn from service and Swiss leased it from Maple Leaf Leasing Ltd. in April 2008 and it went into service for Swiss as HB-JMO named after the city of “Delemont” on June 13, 2008.

Our Airbus A340-313X was equipped with 4 CFM56-5C4 engines by CFMI engines with a thrust of 34,000 lbf or 151 KN. Each of the four engines had a weight of 3,990 kg. This is the only engine type using for the A 340-300 and A 340-200. The Airbus A 340-500 and A 340-600 is using Rolls Royce Trent engines. The 13 in “313” is an indication for the used engines, the X for a higher take-off weight.

But back to our flight – we were still sitting in Singapore and the last passengers had boarded the plane and the number of passengers was counted.

The captain also welcomed us on board and informed us about the flight time of our flight to Zurich. He expected an on time arrival despite the fact that we had to wait for our slot at 23:30, which might cause a slightly delay in takeoff.

The safety video was shown while we were still at the gate. Later the crew collected the glass from the pre-departure drinks and distributed the menus and also took the orders for the main course during the wait for push back and during taxiing.

We had to taxi quite a bit before we finally took off at 23:33 and climbed into the sky above Singapore before we turned to the northwest and flew towards Kuala Lumpur.

Approximately ten minutes after we had left Singapore the Crew began to prepare the meal service. Unlike the colleagues from Lufthansa, Swiss does not offer a drink service first, it starts right with the the meal service. One can of course say, this is merely saving money, but given that we have past midnight, I and many other passengers prefer to get as much sleep as possible and it does not help to have a two hours dinner service.




Nevertheless I used the time after the seat belt signs were turned off and before the meal service started to start my laptop and continue the work I had begun in the Singapore Airlines Krisflyer Lounge in Singapore. But not much work was done, because the flight attendants began to lay the tray tables with linen.



Time to have a look at the menu (click on icon for menu, opens new window)

The first course was served from the cart with the tray including cutlery, napkin, salt and pepper. It also had the cheese selection on it. The sautéed prawns and smoked salmon were quite good and especially not as dry as I had feared. I opted for a glass a red wine, the Malanser Pinot Noir 2011 to be precise. I have had wine from this region quite often when being in Grisons in Switzerland and I always like it. Since this wine and wines from Switzerland in general are difficult to get in Germany, I always drink the Swiss wine on board Swiss. And this flight was no exception. Bread and rolls were also offer along with olive oil or butter.

First Course

Sautéed Prawns and smoked salmon
Green asparagus, basil mayonaise

Seasonal salad

Main Course

Grilled beef tenderloin, green peppercorn sauce
Mashed potato, broccoli and pumpkin

Dessert

Black Forest Mousse

The flight was a bit bumpy during meal service and the fasten seat belt signs were turned on. Nevertheless the crew continued the service and soon later the plates of the first course were cleared. I had opted for the grilled beef tenderloin as main course and it was brought individually by the flight attendant. At least in the front section of the Business Class the most passengers had chosen this option from the buffet. The beef was a bit dry, but I have had worse beef tenderloins on board an aircraft. The red wine accompanied the beef quite good.

We were passing Phuket as the main course was cleared and soon later the dessert was served. The Black Forest Mousse was tasty but small. But I was already quite full and accepted the offer for an Espresso by the flight attendant. Swiss has Nespresso machines on board their planes. Despite the fact that one could not choose from the quite large selection of different types of Espresso, I still think it is one of the best Espresso served in the air.

The linen were collected and I continued to work a bit and finish some reports before I closed my laptop and lowered my seat. A quick visit to the lavatory later and I was enjoying the fully flat seat in the Swiss Business Class.

The temperature in the cabin was okay, it was warm but not that warm that one could sleep in a T-shirt but also not that cold, that one needed a blanket or a sweater. In so far it was at least for me not the ideal temperature and I did not sleep as good as I had hoped. The advantage of the seat on Swiss is, that one can adjust the softness of the seat cushion and this helps a lot if one is sleeping in the side or on the stomach. Anyway, I was able to get an 7 hours sleep with some interruptions, which is pretty good for me.

I switched to a lounge position as the lights were turned on and decided to listen to music but the system was somehow frozen and did not react. With less than two hours to go, no problem as I had my MP3 player. I skipped breakfast and only had two mugs of coffee for breakfast. I noticed another plane slightly above us …

As the crew began to collect the items from the breakfast service, the captain came over the microphone and wished a good morning and gave us an update of the weather in Zurich, the arrival time and the remaining flight time.

As usual after breakfast, the most passengers were queuing for the lavatories and I think the number of lavatories is quite low given the number of passengers. Especially in the morning there are longer waiting times and this could be annoying.

The crew began to prepare the cabin and we already had begun our descend into Zurich. We approached Zurich from the North and passed the airport and flew towards the Alps and Lake Zurich. At the southern end of Zurich we made a 180 turn and approached the airport. This gave us a nice view of Zurich and especially Lake Zurich and also some quick views of the Alps. Unfortunately there were some clouds and one could not see much. Finally at 06:08 we touched down and taxied to Terminal E, where we arrived at 06:13, three minutes behind schedule.

Both aerobridges were attached. I left the plane to the rear door but I would not have been much slower if I had used the front door. Along with some colleagues flying in Business Class, we walked over towards the security checkpoint in Terminal E since we all had onward connections to destinations in Germany and not much time.

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