Singapore Airlines operates 4 daily flights from Singapore to London Heathrow. There was a flurry of activity at the Business Class check in rows at Changi Terminal 3 due to the morning departures. However, as usual with Singapore Airlines, the average processing time per premium passenger is short, so the overall waiting time was minimal.
Upon receiving my boarding pass, I headed straight for the SilverKris Lounge for some light refreshments. There was a slight crowd once again due to the morning departures, but since I wasn’t intending to stay in the lounge for long, it didn’t bother me that much.
I headed straight for the gate as boarding had commenced for the flight. There was a dedicated path for Business Class passengers so the boarding process was smooth. I entered the aircraft via door 1L and found my way to seat 22A with ease.
It was a pretty full service on this flight to London, which was expected for such a popular route. Nothing new here, but Singapore Airlines has always opted to omit the overhead compartments over the centre aisle to create more space within the Business Class cabin in newer aircraft. After all each seat has ample storage space and compartments for regular carry on bags, so most passengers wouldn’t need to be concerned with the lack of storage space.
The menu was specially designed for the Lunar New Year. Breakfast and lunch would be served on this flight.
After all passengers were seated, the doors were closed and we were on our way.
The departure was on time, and we climbed to our cruising altitude through very smooth weather. Breakfast service commenced with some sliced fresh fruit and a croissant.
For the main course I chose Khao Thom, or Thai rice porridge, served with pork and minced pork balls. The presentation was not fantastic, but it sure tasted good. The sliced red chilli really added a kick to the dish.
As the cabin crew cleared the dishes after breakfast, the cabin lights were progressively dimmed to allow passengers to get some sleep.
The 2006 Business Class seat requires the seatback to be flipped over to reveal a large lie flat bed. This is no longer the case for the newest Business Class seats onboard the A380 where the seat can be deployed into a bed with the touch of a button. In any case, I had a few hours of uninterrupted sleep in spite of the occasional turbulence.
At around 3 hours prior to arrival, the cabin crew commenced the lunch service, beginning with some satay served with onion, cucumber, and topped with spicy peanut sauce.
This was followed by Fa Cai Yu Sheng, a prosperity New Year salad with salmon, to usher in the Lunar New Year.
To continue with the New Year theme, I had the prosperity chicken with braised abalone, happy reunion vegetable deluxe, and steamed rice, for my main course.
To round everything off, I chose the pistachio macaroon with raspberry, which was awesome.
The captain chimed in on the PA system to provide us with the latest arrival information, before the cabin crew performed the final cabin checks for landing. We touched down pretty much on schedule, and were able to disembark the aircraft pretty expeditiously.