The Creation: A blog of whatever I want to write.: Post #3: My SQ Love Story

Dear Blog,

A friend of mine asked me how I came to fall in love with Singapore Airlines (SQ). Well to tell you the truth SQ has always been the epitome of airline travel ever since I understood what flying in an airline meant. I've flown on many different airlines before SQ, yet nothing got me so attached to them until the day I've flown with SQ.

As I recall, I've never flown with SQ until that fateful day on March 25th 2007. Me and my dad traveled to the United States to begin my college education. The aircraft was a Boeing 777-200ER flight SQ028. The routing was SIN-TPE-LAX. I was seated on the right corner of the aircraft around the back. I think between rows 40 to 50 but not much else I can remember. I had lots of fun on that trip, because its my first time flying with SQ, and my first time earning mileage on their Frequent Flyer Program, Krisflyer.

Afterwards, on my next flight home, it was also on SQ. This time, its under SQ029 LAX-TPE-SIN in August 2007. Now there wasn't really much to tell because at this point, for me traveling with SQ was just like traveling with any other airlines. I think I flew on this route one more time come September, and once more come December.

If memory serves me right, they finally closed SQ028/029 in September of 2008. By this time I was switching to their SFO route via SQ001/002: SIN-HKG-SFO-HKG-SIN, and also SQ037/038: SIN-LAX-SIN when they still had their premium economy.

On one fateful trip in December 2008 (or 2007) I had gotten quite fond of SQ when I had the worst headache in my entire life (and caused me to hate coffee for close to two years afterwards), and they took care of me with due diligence. They gave me medicines, made sure I was comfortable, and I felt so comfortable with them. And it actually happened again one more time on SQ037, and I guess this was really the first time I had grown to love SQ.

As the year gone by and they introduced their new Business Class seats, including their all Business Class A340-500s, I was so mesmerized by all of it that I took my first ever Long Haul Business Class trip on SQ. Oh boy, I remembered the level of service they provide and their attentiveness. As the saying goes, when one travels in Business, its so hard to fly back in Coach.. Well, for me Business Class was everything. The food was divine, the drinks plentiful, the continuous attention to detail and service was sublime. I was introduced to Book The Cook (BTC) within these occasions as well, a truly wonderful service choice!

(*On a side note, the food on SQ flights are catered by their International Culinary Panel of Chefs which came from 11 different personalities and character. These culinarians really made SQ one of the best airlines for food quality.)

Of course, these service coupled by the global economic recession, made everything ever so sweeter with the lower fare costs.. *Ahem*

And of course later on I flew several times more on the non-stop ultra long-haul service to LAX, as usual SQ's crew provided great quality of service (It also helps having less than 60% of the flight full). But then.. there it was, as big as life, and it called me to come closer.. Yes, you guessed it, it was the mighty First Class!

June 2009, the fateful day when I flew for the first time, in First Class, on a Round The World (RTW) itinerary, also for the first time. The flight plan was simple: SFO-HKG-SIN-FRA-JFK on the Boeing 777-300ER (77W) on the first leg, and Boeing 747-400ER (744) on the second leg. This itinerary excluded the feeder flights from SEA-SFO and JFK-SFO-PDX. One might also say, that this trip made me even more in love with the Queen of the Skies, the Boeing 747-400ER.

My first impression at the time of their new First Class on the 77W (SQ001) was, "Meh, this seat's crappy". I didn't really enjoy the seat for sitting, and much less for sleeping. The diagonal sleeping position wasn't all that different from their Business Class with the difference only in width, and the amenities. I remembered sleeping for less than 7 hours from SFO to HKG. Yet as usual, the crew made all the difference.. And I was very happy in the end.

Returning back home in September, I finally got my chance to fly on the aircraft love of my life, the 747-400ER (SQ025/026). It was a rather lengthy trip, SIN-FRA for 12 hours, and then FRA-JFK for another 8. Yet the First Class Seats were sublime, even at their age. I slept for more than 10 hours on the first leg, and another 6 afterwards. Of note, this was also my first caviar service on the plane, and oh boy... The food, the champagne, and everything, it was the lifestyle of a jet setter!

But of course, all good things must come to an end.. With SQ011/012 reverts to the newer A380-800 (388), SQ started to retire these great swans of the skies. And finally in April 2012, their final flights, SQ747/748 closed a glorious chapter of more than 40 years of service with SQ, from their older sisters the 747-200s, 747-300s, and finally the 747-400ERs.

For this flyer, he was granted one last trip with them on December 7, 2010. Seated at 1B, SQ012 bound for Singapore via Tokyo Narita Airport. During transit in Narita, a japanese ground staff helped me with my carryons (due to bad back at the time), it was the cutest thing ever because my carryons must've been almost as heavy as she is. Yet she didn't allow me to help her all the way from the arrival gate, through security check, and back again. Now that, folks are attention to service and passengers!

When the plane was taxiing through to the runway, I remembered vividly sitting on that 1B seat, the captain said on the Passenger Announcer (PA), that there are at least 11 planes ahead of us and it could take around 1 and 1/2 hours before take off. I was so sleepy back then so I slept quite peacefully, but not before looking out at the four windows to my left and four windows to my right, all with different viewpoints on their own, and these were all mine.. The images of aircrafts taking off and landing from those windows were something.. I recalled at least 4 American Airlines (AA) flights, 5 United Airlines (UA) flights, and an SQ 744, presumably leaving for Los Angeles (LAX) departing before us. One of my fondest memories on SQ and the 744s was sitting on that nose, the most forward position in the aircraft, even the cockpit above, and I flew right before everyone else. It was indeed a wonderful feeling.

More to the point, what keeps me to fly continually with SQ is their crew's remarkable standards of service, their wonderful food and beverage, as well as everything else (save of course the call-centers, among other things).

It wasn't until December 17 2011 that I flew on the A380-800 (388), and it was a mammoth of an aircraft. Yet under SQ's masterful pilots, it was like floating in clouds. There was never a softer landing or take-offs than the ones done by SQ's pilots. Finally in June 16 2012, I was able to finally taste their vaunted Suites Class (R), and to tell you the truth, there wasn't anything better than that! The seat, the separate bed, the enclosed space, it was marvelous! And the food? well, its still SQ, so it has to be beyond expectations!

(*On a side note, SQ's The Private Room is a secluded part of the First Class Lounge in T3 in Singapore. There really isn't any set rules on how to go in with the exception that sometimes they'll allow passengers on First Class award redemptions in, or First Class passengers of their partner airlines. Its a nice room, quite large actually, and they have a mini restaurant to cater for you.)

I've flown several more times with SQ, and have tasted all of their current fleet:

B747-400 (744)
B777-200 (772)
B772-200ER (77E)
B777-300 (773)
B777-300ER (77W)
A330-300 (333)
A340-500 (345)
A380-800 (388)

In all these years of travel, on so many different airlines, there really isn't anything close to SQ, well with Cathay Pacific (CX) its very similar actually, and I love them so much for that. For all the wonderful memories, the happy smiles, and the gracious crews.

Now you know why I love them so much, and why I will continue to love them and fly with them for years to come!

Some pictures of SQ's wonderful foodstuffs (Some maybe blurry, my apologies), please enjoy!