SYD-CCU-SYD with SQ

[RailFlyer]

Let me introduce myself. I am a long time reader but first time poster. However after enjoying many TRs, most recently the current edition by QF009, I though it only fair I give it a go. Why now? Well my route of Sydney - Kolkata (Calcutta) is the first trip I've made since reading this forum that isn't just Oz-Europe, Oz-BKK or SYD-MEL/BNE standard issue affairs.

As travelling on behalf of the marketing department the trip was of course in J class. Normally as a lowly engineer I am doomed to Y for all flights or Y+ if I lick lots of cough. Although I do get a fair number of opt ups in BA (despite no status).

I normally fly OneWorld on most international flights and as most of my travel is Oz – LHR/MAD I have a fair stash of QFF points, but no status. This was because I normally always fly BA to try and get WT+ (before QF offered it) and as I fly DJ on domestic flights I would always have enough status credits to get Silver or Gold QFF membership but never the 4 QF qualifying flights (normally 3 just to piss me off!). Of course I should have joined BA Executive Club, but was obedient when I tried to join and they said that due to my Aussie location I must join QFF even though flying BA. Anyway, I digress; just setting the scene… this flight would be on SQ as only SQ and Thai offer decent flights to KOL from Sydney. SQ were the only airline that could get me there in one day, so SQ it was despite being more expensive than Thai but with the benefit of saving me spending 20 hours in BKK airport (world’s most boring airport in my opinion!)

Flights were tentatively booked the week before travel and application with “Visa Link” was placed for Indian visa (in UK passport with Aus Permanent Resident Visa). Website stated that this could take 7-15 days but I was told it could be quicker. After hand delivering my passport to VisaLink on Monday and begging them to rush it through (they were very nice and said they would.) The Sydney office is no more than a student flat – not a great place to leave your passport! I was advised on Thursday that my visa had been issued and it arrived on my desk on Friday morning. Flights were confirmed for:

Outbound Mon 28-Jul:
SQ232 1130 SYD- SIN B744
SQ516 2105 SIN – CCU B772

Return Wed/Thursday 30/31-Jul:
SQ517 2350 CCU-SIN B772
SQ219 0930 SIN-SYD B744

I’ve flown SQ before to SYD-BKK and SIN-DPS but always in Y which I found to be by far the best Y I’ve experienced. Y seats in 744 certainly seem bigger than on QF/BA and level of service compared to BA/QF make it seem like business class. So I was looking forward to something rather special in J (or C!) on SQ.

[more to follow]

 

[RailFlyer]

Outbound

Amazingly managed to get from Northern beaches to SYD airport in 40 minutes leaving at 8:30am in the morning (miracle?…. no traffic at all!) so had lots of time in Kris Lounge. Bit disappointing, was expecting a big *A shared lounge but SQ lounge is like somebody’s front room with some easy chairs and a small bar. I guess it offered all the facilities of a bigger lounge but on a very small scale. Certainly not “top draw”.

Now time for a moan (#1!) – Why do all lounges that offer wireless internet hide the log-on/password details? In my experience they tend to hide them on a coughpy 10cm square photocopy printout that looked like my IT homework when I was 12 that is passed to you by the keeper of all things computery in the business room only after you beg for it. My point is…. it’s wireless, hence I want to use my laptop anywhere in the lounge, I don’t want to have to searching for a pieces of crinkled paper just to obtain the code word after I have set up my laptop etc. Why not a nice sign on the wall or tables with the details on? What’s the big secret? Lots of airlines seem to do this and SQ is no exception in any of their lounges.

What is good about their lounge is the view, straight onto the tarmac so good for general plane spotting.

Onto plane past cueing Y class passengers (I’ve flown J a few times now and it still feels good. I know people like to pretend they don’t enjoy the smugness factor, but I do believe everybody enjoys knowing they are getting a better ride, as much as they resent it when they are on the other side of the fence). All Y class passengers seemed to be WJD pilgrims so I was confident in the knowledge that flight would be safe unless God was VERY pissed off that day with the Catholic church.
I had request seat on upper deck as never been upstairs on a 747 before. Everything people advise about the cabin being smaller and the service better was true from what I experienced. I was placed in the exit row which has a small football pitch sized area of empty space in front of it.
Food was OK. Better than QF J but worse than BA J in my experience. Only being offered one main meal was nice as I find some airlines try to fit in two main meals in the short Aus/Asia hope (and I eat as it is free food) which results in me eating too much. Sorry no pics or menus as I only decided to write this upon my return.
Seat was good for working in with plenty of space, although power supply for laptop seemed to blow fuse and stop working about half way there so on battery rest of the way. Watched one film and then worked most of trip as daytime flight. Didn’t try to sleep so no full evaluation of seat, but it did seem a bit lumpy on some of the intermediate recline positions.

Nice attention from FAs all the way through, just right level of attention. I was sat next to Steven Seagal lookalike who decide that his cheese plate took too long to arrive so he verbally laid into FA. Total knob in my opinion, girl was just doing her job. How people like that ever manage to get jobs/money to fly at all amazes me, but I encounter more of them every time I fly. If he hadn’t looked ex delta force (!) I probably would have told him to calm down.

Transfer in SIN was uneventful, used lounge in departing terminal (T2) which was OK.

SIN to KOL again pretty uneventful. Food was tasty but spicy. Almost said no to desert, but glad I didn’t as it was wonderfully tasty. Arrived into KOL at almost midnight so very glad to be one of first of plane as typical of this kind of country/airport there was only one customs official who was taking an age to check everybody’s documents. Bag was one of first off.

 

[RailFlyer]

Kolkata

In summary, one of most posh hotels I have stayed at before (Oberoi Grand – 8000 INR per night) and one of the most neglected cities I’ve ever been to. EVERYTHING (apart from Hotel!) was unmaintained or dirty… without exception… EVERYTHING.

Return Flight

Arrived at KOL 2.5 hours before flight and joined massive cue (didn’t know what cue was for, but I’m British so I joined it for fun). Decided to look around corner to see if there was a business class cue but airport staff apprehended me for leaving cue and told me that no such thing existed. But less than 1 minute later a SQ staff member came and plucked me out of the line and frog marched me to the front (for hold luggage scanning (X-Ray machine had sticker on it which read “Do not leave children near the machine for extended period of time” … unless I assume you think your children would have an advantage in later life if they had 7 eyes and 16 toes)). Then marched to Business class desk where check in was done by some kid on a laptop who was sat next to the desk. They did manage to assign me a seat for second leg of journey as well so not too bad. Then marched back out of departure area (despite big scary sign saying that once your were checked in you must not leave the area) and across the concourse to a small shop sized room which was the SQ lounge. Food was cough, drinks no better. Lounge manager came to beg me to fill out customer survey form, which I said I would later. I then asked if they had wireless internet. She responded that no they didn’t but they were hoping to get it working again soon in the next couple of months. Upon her negative response I just tapped the customer survey card and looked at her ironically! You would have thought she was referring to re-building the World Trade Centre from the expression she gave which is total bull as from experience of India in general; IT is something they are getting quite good at!
Finally we got sent to plane, though no dedicated customs or security channel which was a pain as I got sent back though hand baggage security as they had forgotten to stamp my bag tag after screening it.

This journey was essentially the same trip but in reverse so not much to report. Slept 4 hours to SIN in 777 J class bed, which is not as flat as 744 seat but I had no problems sleeping in it except for the 4 hours limitation of the flight….wish they flew slower at night so I could sleep longer in cases like this!
Arrived in SIN terminal 3 so no transfer need this time and used new Kris Lounge there which was very nice and new.
Flight back to SYD saw me allocated same seat, but as nobody came to fill seat next to me I moved over to the window side to get the view and excellent cubby space next to seat. Did some work (made even easier by laptop power that worked for the whole flight and two tables). Tried to watch a film have way through flight but VOD crashed 20 after minutes for whole plane (as others suggest it always does with SQ!). It took them over an hour to reboot. If this does always happen, why haven’t they fixed it by now or got a replacement system? Surely they didn’t pay their supplier while the reliability was this bad.

Also got an hour knap with seat flat as bit tired from 4 hour night. Not as good as QF Skybed but still in my experience the angled bed will never come close to a flat bed (i.e. BA Clubworld).
Food better this time. Didn’t drink any booze as I don’t particular enjoy drinking on my own, which always seems a waste when I get the privilege of flying in a premium class.

Overall, a very nice trip. Wouldn’t say that SQ J offered anything more than oneworld carriers (where as stated before, in Y, I think they do).

Nearly 2000 words, so enough detail for now. Hope this might be of interest to some people! Might try to post of pics of hotel later. I know I missed out on A380 experience but really bad connections to India flight ruled them out. Besides I have already been on the A380 in Y (not bad… bigger TV than 744 J class!). Something for next time maybe…

 

[medhead]

Edit: (how rude to not say) Nice report, thanks.

Kolkata

(for hold luggage scanning (X-Ray machine had sticker on it which read “Do not leave children near the machine for extended period of time” … unless I assume you think your children would have an advantage in later life if they had 7 eyes and 16 toes)).

As opposed to leaving screening staff next to it for long periods of time?

Actually, I once forgot and let my radiation monitoring badge go through one of these things. I thought alarms bells would ring when the results were back. But nothing! It didn't even register above background.

You're not going to get 3 eyed fish from standing next to one of these machines.

 

[v8Statesman]

You're not going to get 3 eyed fish from standing next to one of these machines.

My understanding is it is an ionizing radiation, and as such it has an accumalative effect. Correct me if I am wrong.

 

[medhead]

My understanding is it is an ionizing radiation, and as such it has an accumalative effect. Correct me if I am wrong.

That is correct, x-rays are ionising radiation and the dose effect is supposed to be coughulative.

But in this case the dose measured by the badge was no more that what I normally got from my work at that time. My normal dose at that time was no more than about background level, maybe slightly more. That was from being inside the x-ray machine, so my conclusion is that dose next to the machine is even less and that people standing near there the machine will get no more radiation dose than what they get normally from natural radiation sources.

 

[JohnK]

Nice trip report.

 

[trooper]

Must agree about SQ generally.. flew with them for the first time this year.. started off with Y on the 380 which was excellent (and then a 772.. ho hum) then C on the 77W.. and if you want a BIG FLAT bed.. that's the one to go for...:mrgreen:

For future reference however.... at SYD go to the NZ lounge - not the SQ one... it's just better.

 

[browski]

this flight would be on SQ as only SQ and Thai offer decent flights to KOL from Sydney. SQ were the only airline that could get me there in one day
[more to follow]

FWIW, I have flown SYD-BOM-CCU (not KOL) in the one day on Qantas/Jet Airways. Depart Sydney 9.45AM, Arrive Kolkata 9.40PM.

Really tight connection in BOM and as the Qantas flight is nearly always late, I would not necessarily recommend this.

 

[RailFlyer]

SYD-BOM-CCU (not KOL) .

Thanks for spotting that. Don't know where I picked up the idea it was KOL!

Now... how to edit an existing post...?

 

[RailFlyer]

Must agree about SQ generally.. flew with them for the first time this year.. started off with Y on the 380 which was excellent (and then a 772.. ho hum) then C on the 77W.. and if you want a BIG FLAT bed.. that's the one to go for...:mrgreen:

For future reference however.... at SYD go to the NZ lounge - not the SQ one... it's just better.

I Actually found that Y on the 747 was better (seat size wise) than the A380.

In fact my first ever trip on a SQ 747 I asked for a exit row at the check in and was sent to the managers desk where I successfully made enough of a "I am a man and I have sniffles, so I'm ill and need attention" puppy dog look that I got allocated the isle seat on the exit row about half way down the Y cabin. There was nobody in the middle seat but there was another guy in the A seat. He was obviously a high ranking FF with SQ as he must have got indivdual attention (i.e. "is there anything we can do for you sir") about 5 times before we even left the tarmac. Joke was, he was 6ft tall, but had the huge infatable slide unit that is part of the exit door blocking nearly all his leg space, so had actually managed to land one of the worse seats in the house! Moral of the story... doesn't matter how much status you have.... you still need a little luck from time to time!

 

[JohnK]

Now... how to edit an existing post...?

Send a Private message to admin or one of the moderators. They may be able to change the post and thread title....

 

[NM]

Send a Private message to admin or one of the moderators. They may be able to change the post and thread title....

I have edited the thread title to reflect CCU instead of the original KOL.

 

[JohnK]

I have edited the thread title to reflect CCU instead of the original KOL.

Fantastic. Ask and you shall receive. :shock:

 

[RailFlyer]

I have edited the thread title to reflect CCU instead of the original KOL.

Thanks for that!

Now, question #2, can I edit the text in a previous post (mine of course!)or can only Mods do that?

 

[NM]

Thanks for that!

Now, question #2, can I edit the text in a previous post (mine of course!)or can only Mods do that?

It depends on how long ago you made the original post. You can edit for period of time. I am not certain what that time is (its a configurable parameter of the software). If you are unable to edit it (by selecting the "edit" button, then let me know what you want changed.

 

[serfty]

OT: It's 24 hours .. well I know this ...