The Airlines We Fly, the Air We Breathe: SQ A380 to India (BOM/DEL), St Regis, Oberoi

[yflyer]

With memories still fresh from the Singapore Airlines new cabin product launch in early November, I found myself on SQ’s A380 again last week. Of course this was the current generation A380 cabin product which I flew, to India on this occasion, which was a good opportunity to do a quick comparison of the current offering with the new products.

On this trip, I spent a day in Mumbai and a day in Gurgaon, India's modern cyber hub located close to New Delhi (For a good read on the growth and development of Gurgaon, click here.). I flew there and back on Singapore Airlines, heading to Mumbai in Premium Economy on the main deck, and returning in to Singapore from Delhi in a seat in the upper deck Economy mini-cabin.

I flew Jet Airways Economy on the 2 hour domestic leg between Mumbai and Delhi, and on this trip I stayed at two very impressive hotels, the St Regis Mumbai and the Oberoi Gurgaon.

One segment missing from this TR is a run report: the air pollution on the day I was there in Delhi/Gurgaon was off the scale, which meant I had to make do with the hotel treadmill. More on that later...

[yflyer]

My outbound flight was SQ424 SIN-BOM, a 6.55pm departure.

I booked a taxi to the airport and was pleasantly surprised to find the spotlessly clean taxi decorated like a miniature forest. My cabbie was a pleasant gentleman who obviously took great pride in his “office”.



SQ’s flights to India now depart from Changi Airport T3…



T3’s check-in area was serene and uncrowded, as always.



Queues at the automated passport clearance lanes were longer than usual though, as these lanes are now open to almost all passport holders, not just Singaporeans and PRs, and this led to frequent bottlenecks as passengers unfamiliar with the machines fumbled to get their passports scanned, and their thumb prints recognized. Just a couple of minutes longer than usual, so no big deal, but it was still a surprise to see queues at the automated lanes, where previously there were none.

9V-SKI at the gate today.



This was an 8+ year old aircraft, whose other claim to fame was as one of the 2 A380's painted in SG50 livery in 2015 (The other was 9V-SKJ). These days, it is back in regular livery.

[yflyer]

The PEY cabin, laid out 2-4-2





These seats are practically identical to the PEY seats in the new A380 cabin, however in the new aircraft PEY is right at the front of the main deck, whereas on the current generation A380 layout, PEY is behind Suites. One benefit of the new PEY cabin layout, right at the front of the main deck, is that it would no longer be necessary to walk past the Y cabin to get to the bathrooms. In the current PEY layout, in order to use the bathrooms, PEY pax have to cross a small Y cabin. Not a major inconvenience in practice, but definitely something I will not miss with the new PEY layout.

From my seat in the first bulkhead row of PEY, I could see SQ's current generation suites up ahead.



It crossed my mind that, having tried out the latest generation Suites at the launch event, that these current ones now looked a little small compared to the stunning new Suite product...all relative of course...

[yflyer]

The SQ PEY product is, by now, quite familiar to flyers.

Generous legroom in the bulkhead seats, both by the window...



...and in the middle bulkhead.



A view of the seat backs / seat pitch.



This is the seat fully reclined. Note that all rows in PEY have thigh rests and extendible footrests (Not just the front row).



In terms of hard product and seat comfort, compared to PEY on other airlines, this is about par for the course -- a competitive product, no better and no worse than other airlines' PEY offerings. That said, I prefer aesthetics of CX's A350 PEY seat.

[yflyer]

High end Phitek noise cancelling headphones in PEY. These sounded very good.



Seats have a reading light, and USB on the console (As shown) and A/C power (Not shown, below the seat).



The Krisworld IFE is still the classic "revolving icon" UI, controlled with the handheld controller. That said, this UI has stood the test of time well, and still works great: Easy to use and very responsive. The program selection was huge as well.



The documentary "Inside Singapore Airlines" is still available on the program list, and makes for interesting viewing if you are an aviation enthusiast.

[yflyer]

Hot towels prior to take-off...



A look at today's menu...





3 choices of main:

An international selection...



And a choice of either non-veg or veg Indian selections...



For completeness, this was the PEY menu for the return BOM-SIN sector...

[yflyer]

A very quiet and smooth take-off as experienced from the front of the PEY cabin. The take-off run also seemed to go on forever. Was this plane ever going to get off the ground?

We eventually did, and not long after, the seatbelt signs went off, and cabin service began with a full round of beverages, which included Champagne in the PEY cabin...



Nicolas Feuillatte champagne, served in a plastic goblet...



Large packet of mixed nuts...

[yflyer]

Since SQ's PEY catering is essentially Y catering (Perhaps with an extra choice of main on some sectors), it makes sense to BTC (Book the Cook) online before hand, as a large selection of mains is available out of Changi to select from.

I decided on the BTC roast chicken rice.

The tray as served...



...and with covers off...



An issue that some other pax have experienced in the past was that BTC meals were served without any beverage service, which only came later, however on this flight, I did ask for a glass of white wine with my meal, and not longer after, the cabin crew came round the cabin with both red and white wine, and served the BTC pax with wine, so at least on this flight I was happy to have my meal with my choice of beverage.



Another interesting service quirk I noticed, was that the BTC meal tray came with proper glassware , whereas the other PEY pax who ordered from the regular menu were served beverages in plastic cups just like in Y. They should really give all PEY pax real glasses -- as it is there is already too little differentiation between PEY and Y meals.

The starter...



The roast chicken rice was quite tasty...tender chicken and very fragrant rice.



It also came with chilli sauce and dark sauce.



A decent meal, although the chicken portion could have been more generous, and I wished that there was also ginger sauce provided.

Dessert was vanila ice cream...



I think PEY catering is where SQ lags a little behind the competition. Other airlines offer more differentiated PEY meals compared to Y. QF's PEY meal service concept is practically business-lite, and other airlines like LH offer premium starters or desserts for PEY. Even BA offers PEY customers a J main course for one meal service. While SQ's Y meals are very good, I don't really understand why PEY customers, who get an enhanced product in almost all other areas, are served essentially the same catering as Y pax.

[yflyer]

Wifi was available on this flight, athough it was based on MB downloaded rather than time based wifi (which is far preferable).



For data volume-based plans, it makes sense just to use it for applications like WhatsApp which don't use a lot of MB...



You've also got to watch your usage carefully, and turn off many background activities on your tablet or smartphone...

[yflyer]

After meal service, the cabin lights were dimmed to allow pax time to rest/sleep before arrival in Mumbai. Cabin ambience in the full PEY cabin was good...



I took a stroll around the Y cabin to stretch my legs...



It was a full flight today, although the huge main deck of the A380 meant the cabin still felt open and spacious.



The rear stairs leading up to the mini Y cabin on the upper deck.

[yflyer]

A fairly smooth flight to Mumbai, with the seatbelt sign hardly lit...



About 20+ minutes delay landing in BOM due to airspace congestion...



...and a fast but surprisingly smooth landing in BOM.



The new international terminal in Mumbai is a beautiful, modern facility, however there was a still a fair amount of walking from the gate to the immigration counters.

The extended walk to the immigration area was a great opportunity for me to speedwalk past the other pax. I got to the immigration queues during a lull period, and did not have to wait too long in the queue. By contrast, my colleague who arrived on a different flight later that evening queued for close to an hour.

The baggage claim...



...and arrival area...



I had arranged a car pickup to the St Regis Mumbai, and the driver was waiting for me at the arrival area. We headed through late night Mumbai traffic, which was quite light compared to daytime traffic, and were at the St Regis in 30+ minutes.

Overall, a very smooth flight to Mumbai on SQ, with excellent cabin crew and top notch cabin hard product (Seat, IFE etc). It is only in the catering department where SQ have a clear opportunity to differentiate their PEY offering, but have not yet done so. Come on, SQ, it is not too late to introduce an improved dining concept for premium economy customers!

To be continued!

[9V-SIA]

Choosing a flight to avoid immigration queues on arrival is important in certain cities (e.g. PVG )

[CarbonMan]

Excellent TR, yflyer!

The 3 slices of chicken looks wanting.

[yflyer]

Choosing a flight to avoid immigration queues on arrival is important in certain cities (e.g. PVG )

Easier said than done! Sometimes it all boils down to the sequence in which flights arrive i.e. just after morning curfew in places like LHR, MEL or SYD!

But agree for PVG certain flights are much worse than others...

Excellent TR, yflyer!

Thanks, CarbonMan!

The 3 slices of chicken looks wanting.

If you compare it with the chicken rice you can "da bao" from any hawker stall or food court for S$5 or less, yes it is a small portion by comparison!

[balajih67]

wondering when SQ will launch a better product for consumers to MAA. their MAA product is too outdated compared to the products it offers on its other india routes.

Considering SQ manages to run a full load in J and Y 75% of the week, wondering why the 77w is not serving MAA. the A330 is too old IMO