Three A350s and a Dreamliner: Regional Flights in Asia with SQ, TG and CX

[yflyer]

The breakfast buffet at the W Kuala Lumpur was impressive...



...with a wide variety of local and international dishes on offer...



At the egg station, you could sample the local kampung chicken eggs...



...in local-style omelettes...



This was an amazing hotel, with great rooms and staff. If you had business in or around the Twin Towers and/or KLCC, then the location was hard to beat as well.

[yflyer]

I spent the day in KL, a city which still has an amazing juxtaposition of the old and the new, with gleaming skyscrapers sprouting alongside colonial era bungalows and low-rise shophouses...



Although the Petronas Twin Towers were no longer the tallest skyscrapers in the world (A title the towers held between 1998 and 2004), the towers were still a wonder to look at...



Because of the tight schedule, I did not have time to head out for a sightseeing run, but on the other hand, all I had to do was to look up to see some amazing sights...



Neither did I have time to indulge in KL's incredible food scene, whether the nasi kandar at busy outlets all over the city, the bak kut teh at Jalan Imbi, or the amazing seafood and evening street dining at Jalan Alor. Those would have to wait for a future trip.

At the end of the day, I wedged myself into an LRT (Local Rapid Transit) train right in the middle of the evening rush hour for the short ride from KLCC to KL Sentral station, where I caught the KLIA Express train back to KUL for my flight home...

[yflyer]

At KLIA, I headed to the SQ check-in counters to pick up my boarding pass.



KLIA is an airport which I think has aged very gracefully over the years, and still looks modern, new and stunning.

I've not yet visited KLIA 2, where the LCC behemoth Air Asia operates, but the main and satellite terminals are still in wonderful shape.

This was still a fairly very pleasant airport to pass through, despite the place seeming to get busier and more crowded with passengers every time I come here, with impressive architecture, clean and well maintained surroundings, and many shops and eateries.



There were a couple of lounge options for SQ / Star Alliance passengers in the KLIA satellite terminal.

On previous occasions, I spent time in the TG Royal Silk Lounge before my SQ flights home...



But this time, I decided to revisit the SQ SilverKris Lounge in KUL...

[yflyer]

I entered the lounge, and immediately remembered why on most other trips I headed to the TG Lounge instead...

This lounge was woefully undersized and basic: this was a room with seats, tables, F&B and attached toilet, no more no less.



It was also packed.



Decor wise, this was one of the most mediocre lounges I had encountered in a while. A very utilitarian look. I try not to overuse the hospital/clinic waiting room analogy too much, but the ambience here certainly made me recall some of my recent experiences at local Singapore medical facilities...

Given the number of business travellers from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, many of whom might be making day trips to KL, this was definitely a missed opportunity to give these tired travellers a pleasant airport experience before their evening flight to Singapore. Considering the competition from LCC's on the SIN-KUL sector, shouldn't SQ be doing more to improve the passenger experience in order to justify their price premium?

[yflyer]

On the bright side, the F&B selection was quite satisfying...

One one side of the lounge, a buffet spread was laid out...



Self service wine and liquor...



White wine and juices in the fridge...



Tureens with a choice of Asian or Western soup, as well as a warm Asian dessert...



Delicious mains: baked fish with dill cream sauce, and green curry chicken...



Pasta with Cajun sauce, and potatoes. Steamed rice was also available.



There were also Cup Noodles available...



...and a small dessert selection comprising tarts and cake...



As I had not yet had dinner, and was quite hungry, I loaded up on pasta and baked fish, and washed it down with a glass of Altos Del Plata Chardonnay...this really hit the spot...

The F&B was, to me, really the only area where the SQ KUL SilverKris Lounge hit the mark. This was a good spread.

So even if the lounge decor was uninspiring, at least I knew where to go to grab a bite and a drink before my KUL-SIN flight.

Still, I couldn't help comparing SQ's outstation lounge in KUL to CX's wonderful outstation lounges in SIN and BKK. The difference in quality and experience across these outstation lounges was quite stark.

Come on, SQ, there is a big opportunity here to improve the passenger experience for your premium customers travelling through KUL. Do consider a major revamp and expansion of the SQ Lounge in KLIA. I think a strong lounge offering here will do wonders for customer loyalty and delight!

[yflyer]

My flight home was SQ119 KUL-SIN, operated by A330-300 Rego 9V-SSA, a 5 and a half year old aircraft first flown in 2014...



On time boarding, with a very gracious welcome at the aircraft door...



A bright, immaculate Y cabin, laid out 2-4-2...



These seats were the 2006 Y seats, the same hard product still in use on SQ's first gen A380's...



While not the newest SQ cabin product, these were still very comfortable seats...



With good seat width, and excellent recline...



No footrests, but also no underseat obstructions...



IFE was an earlier generation Krisworld AVOD on a hi-def widescreen. This was bright and clear, although it was not as sharp or bright as the very latest screens, neither was it a touchscreen. Still, this was still a user-friendly and responsive system, with a great program selection.



There was also a USB charging point on the seat back.

Raisable armrests, with airline headphone socket (Due to short flight duration, no headphones were supplied, but you could always use your own, with an airline adapter)...



A/C power under the seat...



Tray table with vanity mirror...





While not the very latest SQ Y seat, this was a great seat, which I would be comfortable flying on medium hall flights, even long 8 hour sectors like SIN-SYD.

To have a widebody aircraft equipped with this seat on a 55 minute sector like KUL-SIN was a luxury.

[yflyer]

Bathrooms done in a light shade of cream/white, with white mottled counter top...

[yflyer]

Flight time to Singapore today was listed as 45 minutes on the Airshow display...



Not a lot of time to do anything onboard, except a quick flip of the SilverKris magazine (A very attractive "2030 A Singapore Odyssey" cover in August)...



...and a quick browse of the IFE, using my own earphones...



I've always liked how SQ's Krisworld highlights local films, TV and artistes...this month, an album by the great Jazz pianist and musician Jeremy Monteiro was showcased...



Cabin ambience on this A330 was wonderful...a bright and spacious Y cabin...



The cabin crew (Top notch, as usual) came round with a whirlwind beverage service, comprising coffee, tea or fruit juice...



We never got higher than 21,000 feet before the pilot came on the PA and announced that we are descending for Singapore and for cabin crew to prepare for arrival...

We flew east over Johor...



...before making a right turn and final approach and landing on Runway 20R, on a bright and clear evening...



A short, but excellent, flight on SQ, with the A330 still being a very comfortable aircraft to fly...

It was also great to be back in Singapore, after a couple of weeks on the road, for the upcoming National Day week...

[yflyer]

Final reflections...

I hope this TR has provided a reasonable snapshot of the travel experience in Asia on some of the region's most well known airlines.



I began and ended the TR on Singapore Airlines: my first sector was SIN-JKT on a new regional A350-900, and I finished on an A330 on the KUL-SIN route. In the air, SQ remains unmatched. SQ has a superb Y hard product on the new regional A359, and the older A330 had a very comfortable cabin as well. Cabin crew were excellent overall. While the sectors flown were short sectors, the cabin products used would have been more than adequate for much longer sectors. Y Catering on the SIN-JKT sector was very good as well, considering this was a short 1 1/2 hour flight.



I also found TG very impressive. TG's A350-900 and 787-8 were both very good aircraft to fly in, from the perspective of cabin comfort. Between the A359 and the 787, I found the A359 marginally more comfortable on account of the greater cabin width.



TG catering was superb -- the most impressive Y meals on this trip were on TG. TG cabin crew were exceptionally warm and customer-oriented.



CX set very high standards both in the air, and in their lounge offerings. The quality and consistency of the CX lounges in their home base, HKG, as well as outstation lounges in SIN and BKK was quite remarkable. I think SQ has a lot to learn from CX's excellent lounge design.



The CX premium economy hard product on the A359 was superb. There was good consistency between CX and Cathay Dragon (KA), with similar cabin products and IFE. I found my flights on the CX and KA A330's to be good as well, with a comfortable Y seat and cabin ambience.



I flew both new types such as the A359 and 788 on this trip, as well as the older Airbus A330. At least as far as the Y cabin was concerned, while the shiny new A359's offered the best cabin experience, the A330's I flew on SQ, CX and KA were also very comfortable -- there wasn't a huge gulf in passenger experience between the two types. I would be quite happy to fly the A330 rather than the A359 or 787 on these short or medium haul sectors if the schedule for the A330 flights was more convenient.



In terms of airports, in Asia I think we are very fortunate to have large modern airport hubs like Changi, KLIA, Chek Lap Kok and Suvarnabhumi. All handle large numbers of pax fairly efficiently, even if there were some bottlenecks at immigration at some of these airports during peak periods. The airport terminals that impressed me most on this series of trips wer Changi T4, which seems to have gotten most things right, and Hong Kong's T1, which to me had a great combination of both beautiful architecture and operating efficiency, not to mention lots of great shopping, and Cathay's fabulous lounges.

The trip didn't all go according to plan, with weather always having the potential to cause disruption, so it would be important to build buffer time and cater for contingencies in any travel schedule.

Who would I travel with if I had to do this trip all over again? All of the above! SQ, TG and CX all impressed me in their own way. Of course, many travellers would have preferences, not least which global airline alliance the carrier belongs to. SQ and TG are Star Alliance, and CX is Oneworld. But as I hope to have illustrated, the grass is green on both sides!

Thanks for reading!

[loldude333]

Another stunner of a trip report, yflyer. I must say that the W KL looks especially fun and snazzy to stay in, though i suspect older folks preferring a more sedate feel would probably steer clear of it.

[davidfusq]

Adjustable footrests...



Cup holder integrated into the seat back...

With good seat width, and excellent recline...



No footrests, but also no underseat obstructions...

I find the extra netting in economy class seat pocket is very useful. Can keep my stuffs organised and also perhaps put water bottle and don't need to mix up with the airline's literatures.

[yflyer]

Another stunner of a trip report, yflyer

Thanks very much, loldude333!

I must say that the W KL looks especially fun and snazzy to stay in, though i suspect older folks preferring a more sedate feel would probably steer clear of it.

Haha yes...a place with a very distinctive vibe...loved the place, although I agree it might not be to everyone's taste. The location is great, especially if you want to be near KLCC and the Twin Towers...

[yflyer]

I find the extra netting in economy class seat pocket is very useful. Can keep my stuffs organised and also perhaps put water bottle and don't need to mix up with the airline's literatures.

Good point. I normally just stuff my barang barang into the regular seat pocket...phone, iPad, reading material...everything...

Of course the key thing is to remember to clear it all out when leaving the plane...I have lost so many items in hotel rooms and planes over the years that now I adhere to a very strict drill when leaving hotel rooms or getting off planes: always check the in-room safe, under the bedsheets, wall sockets in hotels, when checking out, and on planes check the seat pocket thoroughly (No matter what disgusting stuff you find once in a while...)...