Singapore Airlines 107- Kuala Lumpur to Singapore

Singapore Airlines – SQ 107– KUL – SIN

 

Airbus 330-300
Seat 32A
Flight time: 10:25– 11:30 (10:55-12:05)
Duration: 1 hours 05 minutes
27th June 2016

O V E R V I E W :

Time flies when you are having fun! After close to a month spending time with my friends and family, with a short trip back to Singapore for a visit to Universal Studios and also a relaxing time in Hong Kong (trip reports for this 2 trips on Air Asia are not documented but you can find pictures on my instagram: FlyKingsley), it was time to head back to the UK for my graduation ceremony. If you have read my previous trip reports back home from London, I mentioned that I got a return ticket on SQ for a good deal and for this sector from KUL to SIN,  I have chosen 1 of the 3 SQ operated flights daily as I wanted to experience this short haul on a wide body, having tried Silk Air previously.

Upon arriving at KLIA, I was greeted by the deserted check in counters for SQ (guessed it was gonna be a light loaded flight as I did not arrive very early), where I did not have to queue and got my baggage checked in all the way to London Heathrow. A very interesting discovery for me is that there were two person handling 1 counter, a check in agent who handles your boarding pass(es) and another person who will tag your baggage, I guess the segregation of duties come in handy during peak periods?

Decided to get my final fix of authentic Malaysian breakfast, Nasi Lemak at the cafe overlooking the arrival hall as I had some time to spare. Do take note of my pre chosen seat of 41A when I did my booking, which will change as you scroll down later.

Arrived at Gate C3 where my flight will depart and spotted a MH A330 in OneWorld livery bound for Shanghai. Everything seemed to be going on schedule as of this moment. However, after the pushback of the MAB flight to Shanghai, there is no sign of the A330 that will be bringing me to SIN even though it was almost time for boarding. Soon, with SQ’s ground staff buzzing around the gate with freshly printed flight re-time announcements, it was evident that my flight will be delayed and I became slightly worried on my connection as I only had a 1 hour transit time.  

It was only close to my actual STD that my aircraft arrived at the gate from SIN, having known about the reason behind the delay while scrolling through Twitter that there was a single runway operation at Changi due to a SQ flight that caught fire on the runway upon landing due to an engine fault, which was confirmed by the flight deck who apologized for the delay with the reason upon boarding.

Upon entering the boarding gate, there was a beep when the ground staff scanned my boarding pass and I was told to proceed to the counter nearby for a change of boarding pass. Traditionally it has to do with an upgrade but I was thinking too much  and quickly realized that it was just a seat swap to put me right in front of the economy class section (the second row to be precise) to allow for a quick exit for my connection. Glad to keep my window seat though. 😛

Soon it was time to board and it was done in the order as displayed, systematic indeed. Given that my flight was pretty empty, the sequence was announced rather swiftly.

Settled into my seat at 32A and very happy to find out that 32B will be empty throughout the flight. Well actually most of the seats were empty during this flight. 

Mandatory leg room shot on this Airbus 330.

Oh hey, its my twin!  🙂

And yea, those seats remained empty throughout the flight and the LS onboard actually went around to announce that everyone can seat where ever they like due to the empty flight. 

Safety demo was done via the PTV and soon it was time for take off, approximately 30 minutes behind STD. At this point in time, I was mentally prepared for a mis-connection onward to London. 

Lovely view of KLIA and KLIA2 following a 90 degrees left turn shortly after takeoff. 

As it is customary for KUL-SIN vice versa flights, food & beverage (in this case just beverage) are served immediately after the seat belt sign goes off. Option on SQ is either coffee, tea, juice or water which is rather limited considering its 5 star status. I read that MH has started to serve peanuts and ice cream not too long ago on these sectors?

Only plus is that the LS was eager on offering seconds in which I settled for a cup of  water.

Half way there when I was initially scheduled to land and make my 1 hour connection. Hmm..

Yeap, that is my connecting flight, the first on the list and it will be from T3. In my mind, I was imagining a buggy car which will be waiting for me upon arrival at T2 which will then ferry me across the terminals in no time.

A visit to the WC before the captain announced that we were almost approaching Changi.

A usual pre-landing scene at Changi, with tons of cargo boats welcoming you to Singapore.  

Docked next to a special livery Etihad at T2 around noon and it is only 35 minutes before my onward flight to LHR is scheduled to depart, can I make it? 

Greeted by the sign board with my connecting flight listed along with a ground staff who advised that there were 4 of us that are connecting to London from KL, no sign of any buggy car nearby though. 😦  Look at the time, will I make my 1235pm flight to LHR? Stay tuned to find out!

C O N C L U S I O N: 

Given that this is only a short hop which I have experienced on many occasions on narrow bodies of LCCs, this is a slightly difference experience on a wide body and I was expecting something different given that it will be on SQ. Overall, I appreciated the slightly better legroom on the A330 and the overall cabin space for this short haul. The professionalism and service was on par as what I am expecting and the IFE onboard was a plus though not really utilized. Only comment would be the F&B option and given that competitors on this route are offering better snacks, perhaps it is time for SQ to step up and consider rolling out similar or better offerings in the future?