Singapore Airlines SQ 317 London to Singapore Upper Deck Economy SG50 Plane

This review is just for one flight - London Heathrow to Singapore Changi on SQ 317, in Upper Deck Economy. This was the end of our holiday in Europe. We were thrilled to be able to ride on this special Airbus A380 painted in SG50 livery. SQ has only 2 planes in her A380 fleet that are painted this way and it was quite fortuitous for us to ride in one, before they removed the SG50 livery.


What is SG50? This is the short form for Singapore 50. In 1965, we became an independent nation and in 2015, we celebrated our 50th birthday on 9th August. It was quite a blast. On a sadder note, our founding Prime Minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew passed away in March this year, which meant he never lived to witness our National Day Parade 2015.

His passing had a profound effect on many Singaporeans, especially the younger generation who had grown up in relative affluence, and never knew how tough life was back in the 60s and 70s. SG50 was also a good time to remind ourselves that our existence as a sovereign, independent nation cannot be taken for granted. Will there be SG100? Only God knows. Meanwhile, we cherish what we have, and contribute to make things even better.

As our SG50 year draws to a close, it was especially poignant for me and my family to be able to ride this special SG50 Airbus A380 back home, after a wonderful holiday in London and Europe. Imagine, if not for Lee Kuan Yew, would I be here writing this review today? Probably not. Let me proceed with the flight review. I made two videos, part 1 and 2.

In the first video, I show you the boarding, and getting seated.   

In the second part of the flight review, I show you the meals. It was a day flight, so it was rather difficult to get much sleep.

Thanks for watching!

Emirates A380 Singapore to Dubai to London

We were off on a holiday! This time, we are flying with Emirates for the first time, flying on the A380.  It was going to be a very good experience.  Our destination was London.  We would have to fly Singapore to Dubai, have a 2.5 hour layover, before an onward flight from Dubai to London.

Flight video - Singapore to Dubai


The flight from Singapore departed at 9pm local time.  We would arrive in Dubai at 0100hrs local time.  The flight to London was 0310hrs local time.  Flight time from Singapore to Dubai was about 7 hours.  We experienced some delays getting into Dubai because the airspace was congested.  Our plane was put on a holding pattern for 30 minutes.  Maybe Dubai needs a new runway too!

After we landed, during our layover at Dubai International, we had burger and fries at Shake Shack. The burger was freshly prepared and tasted good.  After the burger, we had to make our way to the departure gates for the flight to London.  We had to take a shuttle bus.  The journey was quite long but we had a great view of the airport and the many big planes. Check out this video I made.

Video - Shake Shack Dubai and Airport Bus Ride


This video was for the flight from Dubai to London. Another good flight on Emirates.  The Economy class experience is certainly a superior one.

Flight Video - Dubai to London Flight


Even though the flight departed from Dubai slightly late, our arrival in London was on time.

I am Singaporean and I am a big fan of Singapore Airlines, having flown with them many times. However, I must say that the Emirates Economy class is as good, and in some ways, even better than SQ.

One clear example is that the Emirates In-Flight Entertainment system is better and more user-friendly.  It is a touch-screen (SQ's KrisWorld is not) and the screen is even larger than SQ's.  They also have the airshow (cameras to watch outside) and I like that very much.

Thanks for watching!

Singapore Airlines - SQ 332 - Singapore to London, Economy Class (Sep 2014)

SQ 322 - Economy - Singapore to London

Airbus A380, window seat, lower deck.

On this flight, my Krisworld system did not work!  13 hour flight.  Well, thankfully this was a red-eye flight and I slept many more hours as a result.  The inflight supervisor tried his best to reboot the system but it just didn't work.  Ultimately, he gave me a $75 Kris-shop voucher as a service recovery. Better than nothing.

Flight video.

On this flight, I had a window seat.  See the A380 window seat is very spacious. 

This was one of the meals.

The dessert.

Breakfast (before landing)

Thanks for viewing!!

Singapore Airlines Flight SQ 305 London to Singapore

Singapore Airlines Flight SQ 305
London Heathrow to Singapore
June 2014 - Economy Class
Boeing 777-300

This is the flight review video:
We were returning home to Singapore after a wonderful family holiday in the UK, sailing out of Southampton on board the Royal Caribbean Adventure of the Seas. See my cruise blog here.

Today, we fly home, in SQ 305, London Heathrow Terminal 3.  I think SQ would be moving to London Heathrow Terminal 2 later this year (September 2014).  The check-in counters were not busy when we arrived.

After dropping off our bags (already checked in online), we headed to secrutiy.  It was 11:16 in the morning. The flight was 1325.  Security lines were short, by Heathrow's standards.   So the whole process took only about 15 minutes.

Terminal 3 waiting area.  Heathrow is busy, busy, busy.

Ah.. Hello Kitty!  Goodbye, UK.

In case you were wondering about the price.

Fellow travellers.  Wonder where everybody is going.

After walking around a bit, we decided to grab a bite at Pret A Manger before boarding the plane.

Prices.

This was a busy place.  They had 4-5 counters.

We opted to eat in, after finding a seat.  This was what we got to share, as well as a ham and cheese toasty which was being heated up for us.

There are the counters, busy.  Notice 3 coffee machines.

That was the hot Jalapeno chicken wrap.  Tasty.  Plenty of chicken.

This was the toasty, which my kids liked.

Looked like that.

Tasted pretty good too.

Thereafter, we went to get some water.

On the way to the SQ Gate, we passed the Emirates Lounge.  Looked very nice.

Snapped a picture of this Emirates A380.  Emirates Airlines operates the largest fleet of A380s in the world and they have many more on order.

Boarding time.   I believe this SQ flight departed from Gate 10, about a 10 minute walk from the shopping area.

Took a picture of this Delta plane which was parked at a nearby gate.

Waiting our turn to board.  Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.  As we board, we would walk past the Business Class cabin before reaching the Economy class cabin.

At my seat.  It was a full flight.

Push back.  That's the Delta plane and then the Emirates A380 behind.

Switched on the IFE and Bill Gates popped up.

Yeah, we were flying.  Ooops, sorry, still on the ground.

It took a while to get airborne. (See my video).  Heathrow is busy.  After we got into the air, it was time for the meal service.  I asked for a Singapore Sling when the before meal drinks were being served.

Kids meal.  They always serve the special meals first, even for adults.  So, if you want to eat early, order a special meal.

Chicken breast.

I decided to watch 'Gravity' starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. I recall this movie won many Academy Awards but for some reason, I hadn't caught it. Now is the time.

My lunch - SQ Prawns.

Starter - also prawns!  The melon balls were good.

Cheese, biscuits and red wine.

Tutti Fruiti ice cream.

That's the Boeing 777-300ER cabin.  This was a day flight, most passengers were awake. It would be very difficult to sleep anyway.

Gravity - continued.

Here was our location.  Still a long way to go.

The next meal service.

SQ Char Siew - watch my flight review video for all the details.  My photos were incidental.

Child's meal - came with a big cookie.

We landed about 10 minutes ahead of schedule.  Changi Airport Terminal 3.

This was the plane that flew us from London to Singapore.  The flight was about 12 hours.

Changi Airport Terminal 3.  We were home, but all feeling jet-lagged.  Didn't catch much sleep on the plane.

Immigration - Arrival Hall.

Trees.

Thanks for reading.

Go to this blog post for SQ 308 - Singapore to London