I love Changi airport

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TonyB

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Let me just say that I love Changi Airport, the efficiency is amazing. Last week I was in Singapore and had a seat on QF 71 back to Perth departing Changi at 1945hrs.

The problem was that I also had to fly to KL for a lunch meeting on the same day (side note: the Australian staff working at the Hilton in KL are fantastic) which meant that I was due to return to Changi at 1820hrs. This left me some time (but not a lot) to disembark, clear immigration, collect my bags that I had deposited at the baggage holding service, jump on the train and get across to terminal 1, race down the other end of the terminal to the QF check-in counter and check-in before it closed for the flight (another side note: I really thought that I would get questioned by the immigration staff when I re-entered Singapore given that I wasn't a transit passenger and my immigration card said Zero days for time spending in Singapore - I was going to write 30 minutes but decided against it - still, no questions).

Anyway, sitting at KL airport waiting for my flight having made a mad dash from the City to the airport (yet another side note: We had to grab a Limo from the city to the airport so that we would make it on time (I don't trust the reliability of the taxi's in KL) but if you haven't caught a limo in KL before don't expect too much - I think our limo was a 1980's datsun with leather seats and I suspect it was the leather seats which allowed them to call it a limo). Back to the story...Murphey's law, the plane was late arriving into KL and we departed 20 minutes behind schedule. We had F seats on the flight to KL but could only get Y seats on the flight back to Changi but thankfully we at least had row 9.

To cut a long story short, we were still on the aircraft waiting to disembark at Changi at 1835hrs (QF 71 due to depart at 1945hrs)...I honestly thought I would be spending another night in Singapore. However, at 1900hrs I was sitting at the departure gate for my flight home!! Notwithstanding a mad race through Changi airport I was incredibly impressed that it all went so smoothly (25 minutes to get off the plane, clear immigration, collect baggage, catch train to next terminal, check-in with QF, clear immigration again and get to gate 19).

Just to make it all that more perfect, the flight was half empty so I had a row of 4 seats to myself and the AVOD worked perfectly for the entire flight!!:D:D
 
TonyB said:
... Just to make it all that more perfect, the flight was half empty so I had a row of 4 seats to myself and the AVOD worked perfectly for the entire flight!!:D:D
Good stuff; you could have watched 3 programs & skyshow at the same time ... :p
 
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I think you could've performed early check in for your QF flight to PER? At either rows 3 or 5 IIRC. You will then have your QF BP in hand and your bags will be left in the mysterious depths of Changi baggage hold. Saves the mad T2 to T1 dash and some time to relax in the very nice QF/BA lounge. ;)

Or you could really stun the check in staff and check your bags the following way: SIN-KUL-SIN-PER. :shock: Pretty confident there's interlining with SQ, not so sure about MH. You'll still need to visit the transfer desk in SIN for your QF BP though.
 
QF009 said:
Or you could really stun the check in staff and check your bags the following way: SIN-KUL-SIN-PER. :shock:
I didn't think it was possible. I tried to check in luggage BKK-SIN-BKK and was told that I had to collect luggage in SIN and checkin again.
 
JohnK said:
I didn't think it was possible. I tried to check in luggage BKK-SIN-BKK and was told that I had to collect luggage in SIN and checkin again.

I haven't done BKK-SIN-BKK but I've done it in the reverse direction and it was very much possible.
 
The average baggage handler at Changi gets paid less than a 1st year apprentice in Australia. The check in staff and immigration people are on similar pay to an eighteen year old working at a fast food joint in Australia. Pride is what drives Changi, in fact, pride is what drives Singapore!

The statements about Changi, I couldn't agree more - what a wonderful airport. I was in the FCL on Monday evening, I got waited on by food servers offering delicious Asian treats, even the ladies cleaning up were so friendly and just darn well proud to be there as the face of their small but powerful nation to the international visitors. Keep it up!

SACL, Melbourne and others - take a note from their books (Changi), not everything is about lining the shareholders pockets and it's about time that the airlines came down hard on the lot of you and started using people who wanted a job and are happy to take pride in what they do rather than the system we have in place at the moment - in fact, I would say that the Qantas first class lounges in Australia are a discrace and Qantas, you should be ashamed of yourself for allowing this situation!

As for luggage handlers - my bag got from Melbourne to Stockholm without a hitch - care less Melbourne handlers, Singapore pride in their work handlers and German efficiency handlers - yet just 2 weeks ago, my bag couldn't get from Sydney to Mt Gambia via Melbourne without getting lost - go figure...
 
One disclaimer about the whole Changi experience is that (and I understand that it is an airline thing and not an airport issue) I am in no hurry to visit the F lounge for Malaysia airlines at Changi airport again. Gotta say I was pretty excited about my first visit to an F lounge but just a little let down when I actually got inside - very ordinary indeed:( I would have had a more luxurious experience in any one of the cafe's throughout the terminal.
 
TonyB said:
One disclaimer about the whole Changi experience is that (and I understand that it is an airline thing and not an airport issue) I am in no hurry to visit the F lounge for Malaysia airlines at Changi airport again. Gotta say I was pretty excited about my first visit to an F lounge but just a little let down when I actually got inside - very ordinary indeed:( I would have had a more luxurious experience in any one of the cafe's throughout the terminal.
Ahh, but the MH FLounge at KUL is wonderful. At SIN, MH has just the one lounge (Golden Lounge) since they only offer 2-class flights from SIN.

By the way, generally the fastest way to KUL airport is on the KLIA Ekspress train from Sentral. You can check-in for MH, CX and BI flights at KL Sentral, but check-in closes 2 hours before scheduled flight time. Does make it a simple exercise though. And it only costs MYR35, while a taxi costs around MYR90 and a limo anything from MYR100 to MYR120.
 
TonyB said:
One disclaimer about the whole Changi experience is that (and I understand that it is an airline thing and not an airport issue) I am in no hurry to visit the F lounge for Malaysia airlines at Changi airport again. Gotta say I was pretty excited about my first visit to an F lounge but just a little let down when I actually got inside - very ordinary indeed:( I would have had a more luxurious experience in any one of the cafe's throughout the terminal.

You can say the same about the Cathay Pacific lounge.
 
Kiwi Flyer said:
You can say the same about the Cathay Pacific lounge.
I actually don't mind the SkyView lounge at Changi, certainly IME, the catering is better than that of the QF J lounge. (Better view too)
 
serfty said:
I actually don't mind the SkyView lounge at Changi, certainly IME, the catering is better than that of the QF J lounge. (Better view too)

Must have improved since I last used it. The view was the sole redeeming feature IMO.
 
Note that I was comparing with the J lounge, the QF Flounge is a lot better than the Skyview Lounge IMO.
 
I realise that. When I visited the food & drink offerings were worse than QF business lounge.
 
serfty said:
I actually don't mind the SkyView lounge at Changi, certainly IME, the catering is better than that of the QF J lounge. (Better view too)
Catering at SIN FLounge on Wednesday night was poor. Nothing hot except soup.
 
NM said:
Catering at SIN FLounge on Wednesday night was poor. Nothing hot except soup.
I've been there when trays with small plates of Asian tucker (e.g. Rendang and Rice), have been distributed to the Floungers. (Mind you, this was just after QF10 & QF6 had gone)
 
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My two visits to the skylounge has had nothing more than wrapped sandwiches and it is pretty small and pokey...
 
For crying out loud.... A lounge it just a lounge! Sometimes the atmosphere sitting in one of the bars in the terminal is much better.

For what it is worth the food in the Skyview lounge the last 4 or 5 times I have visited has been very adequate. Hot soup, dim sum, sushi, sandwiches and an assortments of desserts. Plenty of wine available, your usual array of spirits and if I remember correctly heineken and tiger beer.
 
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