A trip to Denmark & Sweden: To Copenhagen on SQ352/351 in Economy

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Some pictures of Stockholm...

Narrowest street in the city...



Prästgatan is one of the few streets without storefronts in Gamla Stan...



Viking inscription that remains...



Lovely vine has grown onto one of the buildings...



Salt-cured salmon with dill & potato...

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Riddarholmen Church...



Royal Palace...



Headed over to Södermalm which is a gentrified part of the city with quaint cafes and shops. Came across many of these party trucks...



And of course how can one come to Sweden without trying some Swedish meatballs at Meatballs for The People...


Many streets in Södermalm are cordoned off and cafes simply spill onto the roads...

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Stockholm Subway Art...

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An older C6 rolling stock from the 1970s...



View from the ferry back from the ABBA museum...



View from the restaurant at Fotografiska (Photography Museum)...



Views of the city from Mariaberget...

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Final morning in Stockholm...



Scansen is one of the world's oldest open air museums...



Enjoyed a concert in Stortorget, the main public square in the old quarter, after visiting the Nobel Prize museum...



I settled into a nice coffee at a nearby cafe. People around me were in full tea (or should I say Fika) mode ordering Princess Cakes and other sweet pastries. I checked the ARN website on my phone. I realised that security wait times were exceeding 45 minutes and no approximate wait times could be given. I started to panic a little. My plan had been to head to the airport 3 hours prior to departure. I decided not to risk it and elected to leave 5 hours before my flight.

For context, airports across Europe are experiencing staff shortages. In the case of Sweden, new recruits have to go through a background check and so the process of hiring fresh security staff is taking some time.

I got this email warning from D8 a few days prior...

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My journey begins at Stockholm Central Station where I catch the Arlanda Express. It costs me 299 SEK or (> 40 SGD). A cheaper alternative is to take a bus to the airport but I decide not to risk it given the delays at security.

By comparison, the train takes 5 hours to reach Copenhagen, so with all honesty, given the airport chaos, this might be a better alternative. The only problem is you are limited to a few departures per day.

My flight is D8 4171 departing at 1910hrs.

So far the poshest train I've been on during this trip...



The train whizzes past Stockholm suburbs at speeds of around 180 km/h. In 18 minutes, I am at ARN...



I make my way to the second floor where check-in counters are located. There are extremely long queues for TP next door. Luckily, there are no queues for D8. However, my check-in agent is rather clueless of the procedures. He asks me for my confirmation number even after handing him my passport. He is aided by a more senior staff. Soon I am checked in with my bag going to CPH...


I then head to security and initially think the line is much shorter. Little do I know that I still have to walk several hundred metres before I get to the end of the queue.



40 minutes later I am nearly at the gantries where I can scan my boarding pass. The line does shorten a bit as security staff direct people to move to another checkpoint in a different part of the terminal.

Discarded bottles just before you get to the gantry...

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It takes me slightly more than an hour to make it through security. I still have another 2.5 hours before my flight.

The aircraft is still not at the gate. Finally, at 1900hrs, SE-RRF appears from TLV. The flight is optimistically re-timed to 1935hrs. No reasons are given for the delay.

This Swedish-registered B738 was delivered in December 2010 and now belongs to Norwegian Air Sweden...



Boarding finally commences at 1935hrs, our newly scheduled departure time.



I am seated at seat 7F in the forward section of the aircraft. There is no business class or extra legroom section. It is an all economy configuration.

Setback contains buy-on-board (BOB) menu, safety card and air sickness bag. The BOB is your usual European LCC affair.



Seat pitch is between 29-31 inches. It is quite tight. I am quite tall myself so fortunately the flight is less than hour.


We finally leave our stand at 2005hrs. How I wish I had paid slightly more to fly SK. I would've arrived on time.

An SK A320neo as we pushback...

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A short taxi to runway 19R. We are airborne at 2015hrs.

Views from after take-off at ARN...


Flight attendants come around with snacks and drinks. Everything is for purchase so I decide not to have anything. We are also finally informed about the reason for the late arrival of the aircraft mid-flight. Soon, 30 minutes later, we begin our descent.

Cabin during descent...


Views as we descend into CPH...


As we landed in CPH, I spotted an Air Greenland A330. We make our way to the A-gates and park at gate A4. Passengers disembark both through the air bridge and through a set of air stairs at the rear of the plane.

At baggage claim the monitor says 15-20 minutes for our bags. This quickly shifts to 10-15 minutes and then 5-10 minutes such that 10 minutes later I am reunited with my suitcase.

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Final day in Copenhagen. I decide to visit Copenhill, a waste-to-energy power plant with a ski slope that opened in 2019.



There is a glass elevator that brings you to the top offering views of the interior of the power plant. Once on top you are treated to amazing views of the straits and Copenhagen.



Wind farms in the Oresund Straits...



During the winter, the roof turns into a ski slope with the snow. Now in summer, one can enjoy a nice hike down the roof...



Hike down to the bottom...

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Trek back to Singapore begins with a short metro ride to CPH...



Once at the airport, I check the screens for the assigned check-in rows for SQ. For some reason, there are no check-in counters assigned. So I walk towards the information desk, and all of a sudden I come across this...



I've arrived at the airport 3.5 hours before departure. My flight SQ 351 has been re-timed to leave at 1205hrs. I don't take chances given what happened at ARN. To be fair to SQ, they ask passengers with baggage to arrive 3 hours prior to the flight. Those without bags are advised to come 1.5 hours before. Frankly, I don't see how 1.5 hours will be enough time to get through the security lines that I am about to encounter. This is where I felt SQ fell a bit short in communicating the reality of both long security and immigration queues to passengers.

Back to check-in. There is already queue at 8.40am when I arrive. Check-in staff arrive and chat among themselves before opening the counters at 9.05am. Then I head up to security and again I am fooled by the length of the queue. It takes me a good hour to clear the queue. Next, I head over to immigration and there is another long line that takes me more than half-an-hour to clear. In between I spot the SAS lounge. For some reason, my boarding pass does not invite me to the lounge despite my KF Gold status. In any case, the queues are so long that I make it to the gate, C33, less than 30 minutes before boarding begins.

Our aircraft for today is 9V-SMT, delivered to SQ in December 2017.



Boarding begins at 11.30am and passengers are advised to wear masks. All of a sudden everyone goes from mask-less to wearing masks...



Cabin during boarding. I am shown to my seat, 56G...

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A flight time of 12 hours and 10 minutes is announced. There is slight delay because of unloaded cargo. Eventually, we pushback at 12.30pm and we take-off not long after.

SQ no longer does a round of drinks and nuts in economy. But it came as a pleasant surprise as amenity kits were handed out after the seatbelt signs were switched off.



Contents of the amenity kit included socks and toothbrush with toothpaste.



Not long afterwards, lunch is served. Again it is a choice between a local Asian dish and a Western dish.



I choose the Fillet with Sambal Sauce. The dish is excellent. The sambal is not too spicy and the fish is fleshy for its size.



Another pleasant surprise. The tray also comes with a towelette. What a nice substitute for the lack of hot towels!

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Then there is this Skarø ice-cream. What a delight! It comes in Singapore Airlines packaging, so I believe there is some sort of tie-up. Somebody needs to back me up on this.



After the meal, I settle in for some sleep. I go through this cycle of sleep and then waking up a number of times. Then we are over Iran.

The old routing would have us overfly Afghanistan. The air show is continuously adjusted throughout the flight as the aircraft takes a new routing. Here you can see the plane diverging from the old routing over Afghanistan as we head south over Pakistan.



The crew on this flight are very proactive. More proactive than the SIN-CPH sector on SQ352. They come around many times to hand out water and snacks, as well as to clear rubbish. I go to the galley as I am looking for something more filling and I am handed a pastrami sandwich by one of the crew.

2.5 hours before landing, the lights come on and we are served breakfast shortly. I think most passengers were quite happy by this as I noticed many seated around me were ordering cup noodles. It is 10pm in Copenhagen well past dinner time.


I choose the Omelette with Cream Cheese. Again, a lovely meal. The combination of egg and cream cheese was perfect. The meal also came with meatballs which went well with the tomato sauce they were smothered in.



Towelettes were also available on the tray...

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I was really impressed with this yoghurt. Much better than the Meiji yoghurt you get ex-SIN. It was quite liquid yet creamy and very fruity.



Cabin before arrival...



As I put on my shoes, I also realise that the footrests are gone...



We arrive 20 minutes behind schedule. Aircraft in SIN at T3 gate B6...



I have no difficulty going through immigration. I submitted my online SG Arrival Card, which is essentially a health declaration form, three days prior. My bag is one of the first to come out thanks to the orange priority tag.



My thoughts on SQ: The airline still delivers a high quality product despite recent cost-cutting. IFE and the rest of the hardware is of course top notch, and while the crew on SQ352 were a tad improvident, I think SIA crews are still one of the most caring out there. Catering-wise, I was quite impressed by the food out of CPH. Maybe there is just more access to higher quality food products produced locally. But in any case, the catering out of SIN was also high quality and I was more than satisfied with the food on board. However, I am personally not huge a fan of the Meiji yoghurts. I will be flying SQ again in a few months, this time in J to LAX, and I look forward to my next experience.

Thank you so much for reading this TR. This is the second time I have produced a report. The first was some years back. I appreciate any thoughts or comments you might have.

Cheers

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Some additional pictures I wasn't able to post in the main TR...

My selection at the Kris Flyer Gold Lounge...



The ferry to the ABBA museum...



Fotografiska...



A walk through Östermalm, the most expensive neighbourhood in Sweden...




Thanks

[yflyer]

Very nice TR, RedEyeflight! I enjoyed reading it. Brought back many memories of my previous trips to Stockholm! I haven't been to Copenhagen before, but it is definitely on my to-visit list!

By the way, I notice the pictures in your TR don't show up unless I am logged in to my SQTalk account. Just FYI (And in case anyone else is wondering as well.)