Singing the praises of Singapore Air
I flew to Korea yesterday, taking Singapore Air instead of my usual United. [I got on with United's frequent flyer program, and take them by habit now. But actually, Singapore is Star Alliance, so that works too! Singapore had a better return flight this time]. Even though Singapore is the cheapest airline in Korea, it is a notch better than United in every way.
First off, they do the very sensible thing of giving you the arrival card when you check in, rather than just after take-off. This means I was able to fill it out at my leisure while waiting to board the plane. Usually I have to dig out my pen, passport, and return flight number while on the plane, which means dragging out my carry-on bag. Here I just got those items out while seated comfortably in the lounge. How intelligent.
Also, the food is actually good, for an airplane. It's not business-class fare, but it's about halfway there. And enough Indians fly Singapore as part of their voyage to justify having an Indian "special meal"-- perhaps I'll try to get that on the way back.
And the movies! They were running 60 movies, many of them quite decent. You have a screen at your seat and just tune into the one you want. They run continuously, starting over as soon as they end. On United, they show everyone the same movies on common screens. I saw four excellent choices: "Ray" (biography of Ray Charles), "The Motorcycle Diaries" (Che Guevara and his friend take a voyage of self-discovery around the end of medical school), "Sideways" (a high school English teacher and his friend take a voyage of self-discovery just before the friend's wedding), and Harry Potter 3 (holy cow, those kids look older than they did in the first movie). I also saw a few bits of "Bride and Prejudice."
Other nice amenities include giving out socks to wear and a toothbrush/paste set.
See? Not all airlines have abandoned decent service (just the US carriers, apparently). It's not that I'm hung up on being treated like nobility, but a few little touches do make 12.5 hours sitting in one place seem more tolerable.
The night I arrived, and was supposed to be sleeping soundly, I was awakened by a powerful thunderstorm (quite atypical for Korea, actually). In my generally muzzy head, I wondered vaguely if North Korea was attacking. Thankfully no.
First off, they do the very sensible thing of giving you the arrival card when you check in, rather than just after take-off. This means I was able to fill it out at my leisure while waiting to board the plane. Usually I have to dig out my pen, passport, and return flight number while on the plane, which means dragging out my carry-on bag. Here I just got those items out while seated comfortably in the lounge. How intelligent.
Also, the food is actually good, for an airplane. It's not business-class fare, but it's about halfway there. And enough Indians fly Singapore as part of their voyage to justify having an Indian "special meal"-- perhaps I'll try to get that on the way back.
And the movies! They were running 60 movies, many of them quite decent. You have a screen at your seat and just tune into the one you want. They run continuously, starting over as soon as they end. On United, they show everyone the same movies on common screens. I saw four excellent choices: "Ray" (biography of Ray Charles), "The Motorcycle Diaries" (Che Guevara and his friend take a voyage of self-discovery around the end of medical school), "Sideways" (a high school English teacher and his friend take a voyage of self-discovery just before the friend's wedding), and Harry Potter 3 (holy cow, those kids look older than they did in the first movie). I also saw a few bits of "Bride and Prejudice."
Other nice amenities include giving out socks to wear and a toothbrush/paste set.
See? Not all airlines have abandoned decent service (just the US carriers, apparently). It's not that I'm hung up on being treated like nobility, but a few little touches do make 12.5 hours sitting in one place seem more tolerable.
The night I arrived, and was supposed to be sleeping soundly, I was awakened by a powerful thunderstorm (quite atypical for Korea, actually). In my generally muzzy head, I wondered vaguely if North Korea was attacking. Thankfully no.
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