Jakarta to Singapore on SQ's Boeing 773 (Refitted) 9V-SYI with 2006 Y

[yflyer]

One of my favourite threads on SQTalk is the SQ Fleet thread, started and periodically updated by FSJZ. (FSJZ: Thanks for your efforts! A very useful thread.)

Reading some of the latest updates in that thread, I was intrigued to see that some of the few non-ER 773's were now being fitted with the 2006 Y product. I had flown refitted 773's in the past, but these had been aircraft with refurbed 2001 Y (Essentially the 2001 Y product with new seat covers and a larger 4:3 IFE screen. An acceptable Y product for shorter flights, but not one of my favourites).

9V-SYI is one of two 773's refitted with the 2006 Y product. I believe these are used 2006 Y seats removed from SQ's 77W's when they were refitted with 2013 Y. The seats look to have been refurbished, then installed on 9V-SYI.

I was in Jakarta recently and flew home in economy on 9V-SYI. I was expecting the refurb product, and not the newer 2006 Y, so this came as a pleasant surprise. This is a brief TR describing my experience on SQ for this short sector.

[yflyer]

To go straight to the flight segment of this TR, click here.

Before that flight, I spent a few days in Jakarta, mainly for work, but I also caught up with an old friend from Singapore who now lives in Jakarta. My friend brought me to a local seafood joint in Kelapa Gading in North Jakarta.

I normally spend most of my time in Central Jakarta, and this was my first time visiting Kelapa Gading in North Jakarta, which is between 30 and 90 minutes away from Central Jakarta depending on the traffic at that time of day (Yes, there is that much variation! 90 min is probably the worst case, at the rush hour peak.) There is a large Indonesian Chinese population there, and while there is still the usual bustle of Jakarta in that part of the city, I was struck by the number and variety of shopping and eating establishments there, including many very upmarket restaurant and retail outlets.

While there were many upscale eating establishments, we decided to eat local...and we headed to Pondok Pangandaran, a popular seafood restaurant in Kelapa Gading, and one of my friend's favourite seafood places.



This is a no-frills street-side restaurant with no air-conditioning: a sure-fire indication of superb tasting, ultra-fresh seafood! And inexpensive by Singapore standards!





The process flow here was simple: There were a bunch of cooler boxes out front, filled with fresh raw seafood on ice. You placed your order at the entrance, among the cooler boxes of seafood, by choosing the fish, crabs and prawns you wanted, and then informed the chef how you wanted them cooked.

My friend quizzed the restaurant staffer on what was good that day. Was the crab fresh? The waiter tapped his fingernail on the shell of the crab claw to listen for any tell-tale echo which would indicate shrivelled flesh...nope -- a dull thud, a good sign, which meant the crab claw was full of meat!

We picked out the fish, prawn and crab, which were weighed, and then headed to our table.

[yflyer]

The food was cooked in the open kitchen right next to the seating area. Cooks were at work at large woks.

Soon our food began to arrive...

Crabs in a sweet chilli gravy, not unlike Singapore Chilli Crab.



While the crab itself was not as large as the Sri Lankan crabs used in Singapore, the sweetness and tenderness of the crab meat here was outstanding...

The grilled fish was delicious...



...as were the beautifully seasoned and spiced prawns...



...and batter-fried squid...



A memorable dinner, showcasing some really fresh seafood, and fairly inexpensive by Singapore standards.

[yflyer]

My flight was SQ953, a 7.55am departure. This meant a fairly early 5am wake-up call in order to get to the airport on time, but on the flip side, at that hour traffic in Jakarta was very smooth.

Check in using the J / FF queues was quick, and the immigration queues were short as well. I spent some time in the Pura Indah Lounge in the airside area.

My ride for the morning, 9V-SYI arriving at the gate.



The Pura Indah lounge itself, the designated lounge for KF Gold in JKT, is a very basic lounge -- nothing really to write home about, but it did have one thing which I really loved: a very spicy chilli sauce...



That fresh chilli sauce is literally the only reason I go to that lounge. It is heat in liquid form...

A few teaspoons of this deadly chilli sauce over the noodles or vermicilli from the lounge buffet, and I was in noodle heaven...

[yflyer]

Boarding was announced on time.

9V-SYI is a non-ER Boeing 777-300 series aircraft. The plane is 14 years old, with a refreshed cabin product.

In its new refurbished configuration, she has two rows of 2006 F, the regional business class product in 2-2-2 layout, and the economy cabin fitted with 2006 Y seats, laid out in 9-abreast 3-3-3 layout.

These are the same 2006 Y seats as the original SQ 77W (The seats are also very similar to A380 Y and A330 Y).



Window-side seats...



While the seats are the same, the upholstery and colour scheme has been updated to match SQ's 2013 Y upholstery. This gives the cabin, and the seats, quite a different colour scheme from SQ's long haul 77W cabin.



Seat recline is good.



Seat pitch / legroom looked to be fairly generous.



They have removed the footrests on these seats. I like the footrests, and use them when sleeping when flying SQ long haul, but on these short flights, I don't mind the absence of footrests. The absence of the footrests also makes the seat pitch look even more huge.



Seat width is as good as it gets in an SQ economy cabin...



Some seat width comparisons:

The SQ A350 Y seat, with 2013 Y product...



The SQ A380 Y seat, with a similar 2006 Y product...



I leave the reader to draw his or own conclusions about seat width based on the visual evidence presented.

What is quite clear is that all of the above SQ Y seats are superior to 9-abreast 787's or 10-abreast 777's on other airlines...

[yflyer]

A/C power in the armrests. Note that this older version of the empower socket does not support UK 3-pin plugs.

[yflyer]

A great selection of movies and TV programmes available on Krisworld, which is essentially identical to the IFE on SQ's A380's and A330's.



Notable movies included "Apprentice" by local Singaporean director Boo Junfeng.

[yflyer]

The whole season of BBC's amazing series, Planet Earth II, is also available on Krisworld this month.



There are some amazing things to be seen in this show, narrated by David Attenborough.

It is worthwhile to watch the entire season, but for my the highlights of the series were the first and last episodes.

The first episode has an iconic chase scene between marine iguanas and snakes on the Galapagos. This scene has been widely parodied (See here and here.) and may one day become a parody staple like the bunker scene from Downfall...



The final episode, Episode 6, on cities features Singapore, which I found quite interesting to watch.

[yflyer]

On this 90 minute sector (Flying time that day 1 hr 15 min), a full hot meal was served. There were two choices, a western breakfast, comprising eggs and sausage, and an Asian meal described as nasi goreng (Fried rice).

I chose the nasi goreng, and was pleasantly surprised that my main came not just with fried rice, but with two sticks of juicy satay (Which tasted very similar to the satay starters in F/J.) and a hard boiled egg.



The satay and nasi goreng were delicious! One of the nicest Y meals I have had on this sector.



Essentially, this is almost as good as getting SQ's Business Class satay starter in Y...with two sticks (rather than 3) of satay in thick peanut sauce.

There is something to be said about serving satay on flights (In all classes, not just the premium classes.) The strong flavours of the satay and the peanut sauce work very well in an aircraft cabin and taste just as a good than satay on the ground, maybe even better. Hope to see more satay incorporated into SQ Y main courses, or maybe as a BTC option for PEY.

[yflyer]

Near ideal cabin ambience. Roomy and open, despite it being a completely full flight.

The first Y cabin...



...and the rear Y cabin...



The cabin crew on this flight were wonderful.

This was not an easy sector to operate: A full capacity 773 Y cabin, with 226 seats, had to be fed and cleared on a flight which spent 75 minutes in the air!

The SQ cabin crew made it look easy: multiple carts in the aisles serving a full hot meal to all pax on this full flight, and clearing trays just as decent began.

[yflyer]

Overall impressions?

A very good flight. For such a short sector, there really wasn't anything to complain about. Pax in Y were essentially getting a long haul wide body product, and a full hot meal. All this on a 90 minute sector.

I could not help comparing this SQ intra-Asia flight with some recent experiences flying domestically in the US, and within Europe. The SQ Y experience on a short sector like JKT-SIN is so far removed from Y flights on other airlines on domestic US and intra-Europe flights. In fact, this Y product even compares favourably with intra-Europe J on short sectors, which are typically operated by A320's / 737's with a "sold as J but is really Y" cabin config (i.e. 3-3 with empty middle seat).

Whoever had the idea of reusing these 2006 Y seats on the 773 deserves a big thumbs up. Although the seat frames and armrests themselves were clearly not new and showed some superficial wear and tear, the IFE was excellent, and seats themselves were still very comfortable. The new upholstery suited the seats well too.

I don't know what other sectors 9V-SYI operates, but this is an aircraft I would be very happy to encounter when flying SQ within Asia, and even on longer sectors, e.g. to China, Korea or Japan.

As for my stay in Indonesia, my first visit to the Kelapa Gading district in North Jakarta was a fruitful one, and I am keen to head back there again to explore more of the dining scene in that part of the city. Not the most convenient area to get to if you spend most of your time in Central Jakarta because of the traffic situation, but definitely worth checking out if you are in the area, or if you head there during non-rush hour periods!

Thanks for reading!

[wdranne]

Thanks for the great report yflyer! Flew SYI up to MNL last week and it sure was a pretty comfy ride in Y...something like a combination of the desirable aspects of each product into one.

Just look at those chunky armrests!

[yflyer]

Thanks for the great report yflyer! Flew SYI up to MNL last week and it sure was a pretty comfy ride in Y...something like a combination of the desirable aspects of each product into one.

Thanks, wdranne! Nice to know they fly 9V-SYI to MNL as well. Agree that the refit has resulted in an aircraft with a very appealing Y cabin for this type of mission!

Just look at those chunky armrests!

Yes, very solid armrests. SQ228 will love them!

[icn.sg]

Thumbs up again, yflyer.

Flew SYI to MNL last year and I really liked how the refurbished interior looks. Definitely miles ahead of the other 777s with the mismatched grey seat structure and 2006 upholstery!

[yflyer]

Thumbs up again, yflyer.

Flew SYI to MNL last year and I really liked how the refurbished interior looks. Definitely miles ahead of the other 777s with the mismatched grey seat structure and 2006 upholstery!

Thanks, icn.sg!

Yes, I was pretty impressed with the refurbished 2006 Y product too.

I also agree that the 2006 upholstery colours don't match the dark blue/grey plastic on the other refurbished 772's and 773's with the older seats. But at least they are 9-abreast that that counts for something these days.