Alright. Like the blog's heading suggests, I am an economy class traveller. I have ridden airlines numerous times and 99% of them are in economy class. In this blog, I will rate them according to MY satisfaction and experience. This does not serve as a general reference to the public since: (1) the only airlines I'll rate here are the ones I've been on, (2) I do not know Skytraxx standards, (3) ratings come from personal experiences and (4) the satisfaction of one person from the other differs variably.
Rating, by the way x/5 where x can be any number from 1 to 5. 5 is the highest and 1 is the lowest.
SINGAPORE AIRLINES (SIA/SQ)
A Little History
Way back when, SIA was known as Malaysia-Singapore Airlines. It was at a certain point that Malaysia decided to put up its own airline (Malaysia Airlines), leaving Singapore with MSA. The management eventually changed its name, thus, Singapore Airlines.
Singapore Airlines has constantly been nominated as one of the best airlines in the world. At a certain point, it had won three Best Airline of Year award in a row. Furthermore, according to Skytraxx Standards, SQ is one of the six (6) Five-Start carriers in the world. Alongside with SQ's victories, Changi airport (SQ's home/hub) has been gaining prestigious awards itself; among which is being the World's Best Airport award for a handsome number of years now.
Just to be clear, I'm not a frequent flier of any airline. I travel on whichever airline offers the lowest fare to my destination.
I've been on Singapore Airlines on our flight from Manila-Los Angeles (MNL-SIN-TPE-LAX), from San Francisco-Manila (SFO-ICN-SIN-MNL), and our recent flight from Manila-Kuala Lumpur and Singapore-Manila. Here's how I rate the airline company.
SQ INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT
Since Singapore is a really small country (45km from East to West and 21km from North to South), I don't think SQ operates any domestic flights. SQ is one of, if not only, few airlines in the world that survives only on international routes. SQ flies to 61 cities in 34 countries across the globe (excluding 31 cities served by Silk Air, its subsidiary).
SEATS AND INFLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM (IFE)
The New Seats
SQ's new seats are found in their A330-300, B777-300ER and A380-800 aircrafts, as far as I know. On our way to Kuala Lumpur, just recently, we rode on their A330-300 (one of the newly added aircrafts in their fleet) and were pleased to find that we were going to use their new seats. The new seats were quite spacious with enough legroom to make a six-foot man sit comfortably and still have a breathing space.
Their new screens were a lot bigger than the old seats (10.6"), complete with a USB port, iPod connector and the armrest equipped with in-seat power supply (where you can plug your laptop). Charging of batteries is not allowed, though.
Aside from its work capabilities, Krisworld also let you enjoy a number (is 1,000 choices in the multimedia library enough for you?) of blockbuster films recently released around the world. I remember having seen Hollywood, Korean, Chinese, French and English movies in their pamphlet; yes, they have a separate pamphlet/booklet for their entertainment system. Further, Krisworld also offers episodes from popular series (Glee, 30 Rock, etc), cartoons for the young ones (movies and series), music (from oldies to techno to KPop to whatever pleases your ears), language crash courses and many more! The best part is... it's all ON-DEMAND*!!!
Too bad that the A330-300 leg of our trip only lasted about 40 minutes as a Singapore-Kuala Lumpur flight is very a short leg.
For this, I rate it a 5/5.
The Old Seats
SQ's old seats are, actually, not that old-looking. The old cabin makes you feel... "Asian" with is pink and purple motif.
As with the new seats, the old ones provide each passenger with his/her own entertainment system, also ON-DEMAND*. The legroom is almost, if not, exactly the same with the new ones as well as the seat pitch. The old seats, however, lack in-seat power, iPod connector, USB port and all other (new) things present in the new economy class seat.
By the way, not all B777-200/ERs are not fitted with On-Demand features. I think only the B777-200ERs have AVOD (Audio-video on-demand).
Even if all aircrafts don't have AVOD I'd still give it a 5/5 because of the choices of the shows/movies, etc...
For the B777-200 that didn't have AVOD a 4.9/5 for me. 5/5 for the rest.
*ON-DEMAND - meaning you watch/listen to whatever it is you want to watch/listen to when you want to. On-demand viewing gives you the power to fast-forward or rewind a clip without spoiling the viewing pleasure of other passengers. How cool is that?!
INFLIGHT SERVICES AND FLIGHT ATTENDANT COURTESY
Pre-flight/Post Boarding and After take-off, before meals
Ok, this you don't see too much in other economy class cabins in other airlines. Before the plane start taxiing to the runway, the cabin crew go about the cabin and give out hot--and I mean refreshingly hot--towels. (Insert your "No Way" here) Yes way!
After the take-off? They don't serve the meal just yet. They give off menu cards where the choices for drinks and main course are printed and where you can read what drinks you can abuse (haha.. kidding.. but really, you can [abuse]; just don't). After that, they give a bag of nuts you can munch on while you choose your media in their IFE. While they do that (serving of nuts), they start to hand out drinks--here's your first chance to ask them for something from the menu. I had Bailey's on the rocks. Then, they give out the headphones for you to hear what you're watching. Take note, these headphone produce much better sound quality (not to mention better durability) than the ones PR give our to their international economy class passengers or domestic business class passengers.
5/5 is and understatement but 5 is our limit so. 5/5 it is.
Food
SQ is a premier airline company (read 5 Star Airline) and it sees to it that its passengers get only the best; yes, even if they are in economy class. On the nine (9) flight legs that we had with them, no food offering was repeated. Everything on the menu was different and one of the selections was always themed after the country of destination.
The menu that I remembered most was on our San Francisco-Incheon (Korea) flight. The choices were: (1) Grilled Sea bass with ginger sauce on pasta or (2) Kimchi Beef on rice. The grilled fish was the USA side of the trip while the beef was, obviously, the Korean. I got to taste both 'cause one of my companions on the trip couldn't finish hers... So, there you go.
And on our recent Singapore trip, we had (1) Braised noodles with roasted pork with Chinese greens for the Singapore side and (2) Cardillo [Fish] for the Filipino one. Both were good, mind you.
Very well prepared, very delectable so 5/5 is very well deserved.
On SQ's Food
Singapore Airlines have this panel put up to inspect and prepare the dishes to be served during their flights. Might I say, they're doing an excellent job. One could tell that they really prepare for their flights and they pay attention to details.
The snacks? Man! Awesome! The Taipei-Los Angeles crew prepared Twix, sandwiches and apples (the yummy ones). They weren't prepared by the panel but it was great to chow on some classic snacks while viewing your movie/show/clip or playing on their Krisworld.
I give SQ a 5/5 on this one.
On SQ's Beverages
Is a choice of about 20 different cocktails, beers and spirits enough for you? From straight up alcohols to mixed cocktails or non-alcoholic margaritas to the world-famous Singapore Sling, take your pick; oh, that doesn't even include the juices and sodas available on board.
I had Bailey's on the rocks and Singapore Sling and both were awe-f^)
For putting a lot of choices--meaning they accomodate a lot of different preferrences--I think they deserve a 5/5, don't you?
On flight attendant (FA) courtesy and conduct
At some certain point in my life, I thought that Chinese-Singaporeans were very strict and had monsters for attitudes but boy, was I wrong. The FAs in SQ were the exact opposite. Come to think of it, they were more accommodating than do the PR FAs. They don't pout, they don't show ghetto attitude, they're very hospitable and they're very professional with their work.
Another 5/5 easily given to the crew who deserve more.
Overall rating? 4.99/5 but it can easily be made 5/5. It's no wonder why Singapore Airlines is included in the roster of 5 Star Airlines (there are only five airlines included worldwide: Singapore Airlines, Asiana Airlines, Emirates Airlines, Qatar Airways, Kingfisher Airlines and Malaysia Airlines). And even if they offer one of the more expensive airfares among other airlines, a lot of people still opt for SQ.
I think SQ has the most expensive first class roundtrip airfare from Manila to London. How much? It's around Php 750,000 for one guest. That's how expensive they can get.
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