SQ318 SIN-LHR in New Y (77WN), Terminal 2, The Shard, and Perfect Fish & Chips

[yflyer]

In a recent sci-fi movie, Edge of Tomorrow (“Live, Die, Repeat”), Tom Cruise plays a soldier destined to relive and repeat the same day over and over again until an alien invasion is defeated. (A superb movie, by the way…on Krisworld this month.). The plot is not unlike Bill Murray’s classic movie “Groundhog Day”, where Bill’s character also repeats the same day over and over...

In many ways, “Groundhog Day” also describes your typical frequent traveller in Y: An endless repeat of the same routine. And that goes for Y trip reports as well. SQ Y is great, but just how many pictures of a pack of peanuts can I post? (Quite a few…it turns out )

But here is yet another SQ Y TR (Perhaps one of the last I'll post until future SQ Y products are launched...) covering the new updated economy class product on SQ’s new 77WN’s i.e. 777-300ER’s, registraton 9V-SWU, 9V-SWV and 9V-SWW that now operate on selected flights to LHR and NRT.

And apart from the new Y product, there are a few other items of interest...

SQ has recently moved to Heathrow T2 – The Queen’s Terminal: a brand new terminal that I think enhances the on-the-ground experience at LHR for SQ (and other Star Alliance carriers, including LH and AC). I’ll be covering my impressions of arriving and departing from the new terminal.

There are superb eating options in Heathrow T2, and I’ll be highlighingt one of them: Heston Blumenthal’s Perfectionists’ Café, where you can feast on Heston’s creations, including his wonderful take on Fish & Chips.

And while London is a familiar destination to many Singaporeans, especially the frequent travellers on SQTalk, there is always something new in London. On this occasion, I visited The Shard, the tallest building in London, where I took in the view from the viewing gallery at the top of the tower, and dined on modern British cuisine at Aqua, one of several restaurants in the tower.

So, paraphrasing what our pilots usually say on the PA: sit back, relax and enjoy the TR...

[yflyer]

The Changi experience arguably begins even before you get to the airport…if you are travelling to the airport from the city, it is short drive along the MCE / ECP to the airport, and by the time you reach the East Coast / Bedok area, the traffic has usually thinned out, and you speed along a tree-lined expressway until the Changi control tower appears in the distance…



My flight, SQ318 SIN-LHR, was departing from T3. As this was a 12.50pm departure, I was looking forward to lunch onboard, and so skipped the airside eating options in the terminal, which now included a large, hawker-themed food court.



I headed straight to my gate, B2, which was in one of the large multi-gate holding rooms in T3.



I went up to the full length glass windows and peered out at the aircraft on the stand…the letters WV were painted on the nosegear.



Yes! This was 9V-SWV, one of the new config 77WN’s. Based on the advice of CarbonMan and SQ228, I picked the flight most likely to be operated by the 77WN’s and thankfully there were no equipment swaps or unusual scheduling changes that day.

[yflyer]

I was flying Y today, so I would not have a chance to sample any of the premium cabins, but I did snap a few pictures as I passed through the cabins (the F pics were taken when I deplaned in Heathrow in the evening, hence the darkness outside the windows).

The latest F product looks far more sophisticated and stylish than the previous 77W F product.

[yflyer]

The J cabin created a very positive impression:

A very stylish new seat, with very similar proportions overall to the current 77W J seat, but with a narrower seat cushion than before, with the additional space now used as a side table and storage.









The layout in J remains 1-2-1.





In the middle 2 seats, it looks possible to converse with your seat mate if you lean forward slightly.



As before, the first row in each J cabin (There is a front mini-cabin with 2 rows, and a larger 2nd J cabin with the remaining rows) has more legroom and space in front of the seat.



The overall J cabin ambience can be considered an incremental improvement over the previous layout as well.



While the previous J cabin product remains very comfortable, in the previous config, the rectangular cream-coloured partitions did give the J cabin a slight “office cubicle” feel if you were standing up and looking through the cabin.

The new cabin product, with more curves than right angles, with metallic accents, comes across as softer, more elegant and stylish.

[yflyer]

I didn’t get to fold down the bed into bed mode (Some of our SQTalkers have said the mattress is softer and more comfortable than before), but the short instructional video on Krisworld did show that it was a fold-down bed similar to the previous version.

[yflyer]

The Y cabin looked spacious and very inviting.

The layout remains a comfortable 3-3-3, with slimmer, more sculpted seats.





First row of Y, row 31, is a bulkhead and emergency exit row.



Row 43 in Y, last row in the first Y cabin…



Note that the last row window side in the first cabin, 43 A,C is a two-seater, whereas there is no 43 H,K on the other side... the last three seats on the other side are 42 H,J,K.



Recline is fine in both rows 42 and 43.

[yflyer]

The second Y cabin had light brown seat upholstery.



Note that the row 44 emex row door has a slight protrusion.



Legroom and seat pitch were fine. Seat width was great. In fact, in this day and age where carriers like Emirates jam 10 seats in each row on a 77W, SQ should be commended for sticking with a comfortable 3-3-3 layout.

There were no IFE boxes under the seats.



There was decent recline in the row 56 Y seats on the 77WN. The middle block, 56 D,E,G had decent recline, and this was in common with the 77W config as well.

The main difference between the 77WN and 77W in Y was that in the previous 77W, last row window seats 56 A,C and 56 H,K did not recline at all. Not “may have limited recline” as SeatGuru says, but totally immobile.

By contrast, last row window seats 56 A,C and 56 H,K appeared to have normal recline on the new 77WN, as the following pictures show:





I was at first mystified at how they were able to do this. After all, the plane was still the same length...

Then I noticed that the preceding rows 54 and 55 appeared to have less legroom, tapering such that there was slightly less legroom at the aisle seat 54 and 55 C/H, and noticeable less at the window seats in those rows.



I did not notice this on the 77W (but then I wasn’t actively looking out for it either, so I may be wrong on that count. Can anyone confirm if the 77W seats in rows 54/55 also have reduced, tapering legroom?), but I would now avoid the window seats in row 54 and 55, unless I was certain the flight was lightly loaded and that I would have empty seats next to me.

[yflyer]

More on the seats themselves...

The IFE is a large and sharp high definition widescreen. This is finally a touchscreen as well, which you can touch and swipe. In addition, there is also a handheld controller with both buttons and a touchscreen.

The headphone socket is now on the seat back itself (A much better position than the armrest), and there is not one but two USB ports available.





A/C power is available under your seat. This appears to be a univeral plug, that will fit most 2-pin and 3-pin (including UK and Australia) plugs.



The new armrests are slimline armrests…



…which can be raised upwards all the way between the seats.



The headrest is leather, with adjustable wings. The headrest can also be raised and lowered.

[yflyer]

Recline is quite good for Y.



Apart from the seat back reclining, the front of the seat also pivots slightly forward for a better resting angle.



There is a retractable footrest, with oval paddles. My feet still slip off them more than the rectangular footrests on the earlier 772’s and 773’s but I still prefer having footrests than nothing at all, as I do find that they help me find a better sleeping position with my feet raised.



So in terms of specs, so far so good. But how comfortable were they, subjectively speaking?

I sat down…the seat felt really comfortable! The foam, while not super soft, was softer and more comfortable than the 77W/A380/A330 Y seats, and overall the shape of the seat seemed to support the body very well too.

I’ve sat in a lot of different Y seats on SQ, and there are the best iteration of the Y seat I have tried yet. They also compare very favourably with new longhaul Y products on other carriers I have flown with recently, including EK, BA, JL, QF and CX.

In terms of seat comfort, are they as good as my current Y benchmarks: the QF A380 Marc Newson Y seat, and the 2nd gen Emirates A380 Y seat? Well, at least as good as these.

In other words, Y seating doesn’t get better than this. I can’t wait to see what SQ will come up with for Premium Y!

[yflyer]

I flew at the end of October, but the November KrisWorld programmes were already loaded.





A fresh set of movies to watch, on a daytime flight. Perfect! I would get to spend some quality time on the new KrisWorld inflight entertainment system.







The touchscreen controller...



Headphones have the same two-pin connector...



But more on the IFE later...we were getting ready to push back.

[yflyer]

Hot towels were distributed...



We pushed back from T3 and made our way around from the T3 apron...



...across the taxiway bridge...



...for take-off to the North on Runway 02C...







We were over the East Coast of Peninsula Malaysia a few moments later...



To be continued...

[9V-SIA]

Good start

I recently flew A380 upper deck in Y to HKG

It was fine accept for the leg rest that serves more to restrict my legroom than help in any way ( for balance, my wife likes it )

Fortunately upgraded on the return leg so no complaints there

Looking forward to the new premium economy in 2015!

[CarbonMan]

Nice, yflyer! Can't wait for the fish and chips part! Am heading to LHR next week!

[icn.sg]

Can't wait for the rest of the report. I can confirm that the 54 and 55 rows on the older 77Ws have less leg room, especially at aisle seats due to the tapering of the fuselage. I sat at those rows and was shocked by the limited knee room. However, the window seats in row 54 actually have more leg room (I could comfortably cross my legs while it isn't possible for me to do so in row 53).

I would like to point out that the seats in the last row of the first Y cabin DO recline. I had the K (window) seat before... no problem reclining, albeit probably less recline than normal,

Do the new seats still have the mirrors on the tray table? I don't find them useful at all, but just wondering if they have removed them.

[yflyer]

Y Amenity kits on this flight consisted of a toothbrush and sockettes.



Inflight service, delivered throughout this flight with all the grace and finesse you would expect from SQ, began with a round of beverages...





Am I the record holder for most Y peanut packets posted on SQTalk yet?