Booking The Trip: A (slightly crazier) Southeast Asian Path to India
Review: P.F Changs LAX (Priority Pass Restaurant)
Review: EVA Air 777-300ER Premium Economy Class Los Angeles to Taipei
Review: Plaza Premium Lounge Taipei Terminal 2 Zone A
Review: UNI Air A321-200 Economy Class Taipei to Seoul Incheon
Review: The Millenium Seoul Hilton
Trip Photos: A Day and a Half in Seoul
Review: Korean Air First Class Lounge Seoul Incheon
Review: Korean Air 777-300ER Kosmos Suites First Class Seoul Incheon to Bangkok
Review: Le Meridien Suvarnabhumi Bangkok Golf Resort & Spa
Review: Cathay Pacific Lounge Bangkok
Review: Miracle Business Class Lounge Concourse G Bangkok
Review: Malaysia Airlines 737-800 Business Class Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur
Review: Malaysia Airlines Satellite Golden Business Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur
Review: Kuala Lumpur A330-300 Business Class Kuala Lumpur to Mumbai
Review: SpiceJet 737-900ER SpiceMax Pune to Goa
Review: Air India A321-200 Economy Class Goa to Mumbai
Review: Air India A320Neo Economy Class Mumbai to Bengaluru
Review: Air India A319-100 Economy Class Bengaluru to Mumbai
Review: GVK International Business Class Lounge West Wing Mumbai
Review: Singapore Airlines 777-300ER Business Class Mumbai to Singapore
Review: Crowne Plaza Hotel Singapore
Trip Photos: 8 hours in Singapore
Review: Singapore Airlines A380-800 NEW Business Class Singapore to Hong Kong
Review: Singapore Airlines SilverKris Business Class Lounge Hong Kong
Review: United Club Lounge Hong Kong
Review: Thai Airways Royal Orchid Lounge Hong Kong
Review: Hong Kong Airlines Club Bauhinia Lounge Hong Kong
Review: EVA Air A330-300 Premium Laurel Class Hong Kong to Taipei
Review: EVA Air 777-300ER Premium Economy Class Taipei to Los Angeles

YOUTUBE: EVA Air: Los Angeles to Taipei
YOUTUBE: UNI Air: Taipei to Seoul Incheon
YOUTUBE: Korean Air: Seoul Incheon to Bangkok
YOUTUBE: Malaysian Airlines: Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur
YOUTUBE: Malaysian Airlines: Kuala Lumpur to Mumbai
YOUTUBE: SpiceJet: Pune to Goa
YOUTUBE: Air India: Goa to Mumbai
YOUTUBE: Air India: Mumbai to Bengaluru
YOUTUBE: Air India: Bengaluru to Mumbai
YOUTUBE: Singapore Airlines: Mumbai to Singapore
YOUTUBE: Singapore Airlines: Singapore to Hong Kong
YOUTUBE: EVA Air: Hong Kong to Taipei
YOUTUBE: EVA Air: Taipei to Los Angeles

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After spending a few hours getting work done in and reviewing the GVK west wing business class lounge, it was time to fly!

The way the gate was designed, this was the best shot I could get of my plane prior to flying.

But now let’s get on board. Boarding started with First class passengers, followed by Business class and PPS Club members at which point I boarded.

BOM-SIN
Boeing 777-300ER
July 2nd, 2019

First and business class boarded through door 1 and we turned right into the first class cabin. We walked past one row of first class, the forward mini business class cabin which just has 3 rows, and then the main business class cabin pictured below.

My seat was 17K, the window seat on the right side of the plane in the 3rd row. The seat was very wide which is nice. However, the seat cushion was honestly quite hard for my liking and the back padding wasn’t much better. The legroom was good for me though.

Let’s have a look at the seats.

In front of the seat, closer to the aisle is a coat hook.

On the left side of the seat, there are three lights at three different angles and you can also control the intensity of each light depending on how many times you click the light button.

By your hip are the seat controls for the aircraft which were fairly intuitive.

Bu the TV was a little cover.

Using the handle, when you lift up the cover, there’s a nice little mirror there for usage.

Next to that was a glass holder.

Next to that was another door with a handle.

Opening this reveals another storage area and the light inside turns on when you open the cover.

And now this is the foot cubby. In this seat, you don’t sleep straight and in line with the seat in front of you. You sleep and a bit of an angle with your legs going into that narrow area. It may feel uncomfortable but with the seat itself being so wide, putting yourself at an angle doesn’t really obstruct your space.

On the side of you you have more storage, the remote, and the tray table.

Inside the storage there was a water bottle which is always nice to have and there were headphones inside as well.

One major issue I felt throughout the flight was that if you choose to rest your elbow/arm on the side of the seat where the tray tables and storage compartments are, as a normal person does, you will have to be careful because so much of that space is taken by the tray table that you could inadvertently release the tray table, as I did many times during the flight and had to push it back again. This could’ve been a little better placed in my mind.

There was some more storage by the window along with a power port, a USB, and even an HDMI cable port which I didn’t try but it would be cool if you could plug in your laptop and project it onto the screen.

There were three crew members I interacted with. One was awesome (let’s call him A), another was warm and kind (let’s call him B), and the third was well-intentioned but borderline rude (let’s call her C).

Person C came around with pre-departure beverages choice of orange juice, orange juice with tonic water, and tonic water. wow, what a diversity of choices….. Anyways If those were the choices, might as well get a bit of both so I went with orange juice with tonic water and it was quite decent and tasty.

This next part was interesting. So when we first arrived at our seat, no sleeping amenities like blankets were there which is fine, as some airlines hand it out as the flight starts. But here, as boarding was ongoing, some ground staff came around giving thick blankets to passengers just ripping them out of plastic bags and giving them out as is. While the guy giving it out had a genuine smile on his face to each passenger, me included, it was still a bit sloppy and I could immediately see the look of disgust on B’s face and he immediately took the rest of the blankets from the ground staff so he could properly present them.

 

There was already a pillow at each seat and it was good for a night’s sleep, though it could’ve been a little softer.

Also at each seat was already some slippers, socks, and an eyemask.

As I had shown earlier, inside the storage waiting was a sizeable water bottle and headphones.

Another minute later, A came around with hot towels for everyone in the cabin.

Most people like hot towels, but I actually prefer them cool. So I’ll always open them and wave them for a few seconds to let all the heat escape. It’s actually quite satisfying to see all the heat and steam just escape at once.

A few minutes later, A came back around and collected my glass, hot towel, the blanket plastic wrapping that was remaining from when the ground staff brought blankets around, and he apologized for that. Ultimately, that wasn’t a big deal at all, but it was nice to see that touch from the crew.

Here are some views from the window. Remember, Mumbai is a very humid city, so a lot of condensation accumulated on the window.

Now the fun started. The previous two days had been the most insane rains Mumbai had seen in 15 years and I could definitely feel the start of that during my landing into Mumbai on my previous flight two nights earlier when we had a go-around.  And then as I was in Mumbai the last two days, getting around was impossible as parts of the city were underwater. Because of the rain, a SpiceJet plane skidded off the runway and damaged the main Runway 9/27 that Mumbai Airport uses. So all flights were departing off Runway 14/32 and because of the limited taxiway length leading to this runway, delays were piling up for days.

We were hit with a 1.5-hour delay and many took the opportunity to sleep while we were stuck at the gate.

As the night went on, the humidity became less obstructive due to rain so the condensation lessened and we could see more of the wing. During the wait, A kept coming around at a reasonable rate to check-in if anyone needed anything. He was attentive, but also kept a balance of not being overbearing.

Finally, after our way, we were given our slot for departure and we pushed back and began our taxi as soon as our engines were up.

Look at this Etihad plane that should’ve left 2 hours ago and is still here.

We taxiied by some of my Star Alliance buddies from the Lufthansa group. An LH A350-900 from Munich and a SWISS A330-300 from Zurich.

Finally we reached our runway and began our roll. Because this runway we were using is actually shorter than the main runway, what the pilots did was they applied the full takeoff power to use, then they held the brakes hard for a second or two, so as soon as they release, there would be a burst of speed from the plane.

 

We were almost passing the runway threshold when we lifted off which is a

The views of Mumbai were nice upon departure though.

 

Now when we had already boarded, the menu was already at our seat. But now that meal service is coming, let’s take a look at what’s on board our flight.

 

My goodness the beverage selection was so extensive which is great.

Because this was a 5-hour flight, getting the meal service done quickly was of paramount importance so that people could get right to sleep and the crew did that so flawlessly. As soon as the seatbelt signs were switched off, the crew got to work.

The first thing they did was that they made the beds of anyone who wanted to go to sleep right away or eat while in flatbed mode. So they would basically be sitting up in bed and eating. And they also helped set up for those who wanted to eat fully and not be in bed mode yet (me!). They took out my tray table and set my table and turned on the appropriate lights for me which was a nice touch.

The crew served a glass of water, an empty plate, and butter on my table initially and asked for my choice of drink. Usually, I’d say sparkling water, but this is Singapore Airlines and I had to have my favorite drink. A very simply, but tasty fruit spritzer, or apple bliss as it’s called now.

My appetizer was served shortly after. But it was interesting. For my main course, I ordered the Shimla Kukkad, assuming I could get whatever I wanted for my appetizer. When I was brought this, I asked C as she was walking around that I was actually going to get the smoked salmon appetizer. She slightly rudely told me, no that I ordered the Shimla Kukkad main course which was a part of the Ruchi Thali menu experience so I had to have the appetizer that went with it.

So this appetizer is called the palak ricotta martabak. Palak is spinach in Hindi/Marathi. The palak wraps were warm and tasty and the chutney that went with it was tasty as well. I enjoyed this and it was a good start to the meal.

The white stuff in the clay pot is dahi which is indian style yogurt and it was delicious. I eat dahi regularly at home and this is just as good as that.

Here were the water and apple bliss that I really enjoyed.

As soon as I was done with the appetizer, the crew cleared my plate and brought my main course served with a side of pappad and chapati (Indian style whole wheat flour tortilla).

The pappad was decent, and the chapati was good too.

The lentils were hot and tasty and spicy just the way I like it. The peas were also seasoned and well cooked the way I like it. The chicken was nice and light but had the least flavor in the whole dish. That’s not to say it was bad, it’s just that the lentils and peas were that flavorful that the chicken. But it was cooked nicely and the curry went well with the chicken.

A collected my main course as soon as I was done and kindly asked if I wanted mango ice cream or chocolate yogurt for dessert. I love mango but I wanted to try the chocolate yogurt to see how it was.

That was a great decision. It was sinfully delicious and I enjoyed every bite of it. It was so delicious.

The entire meal service was done in just over 30 minutes which is extremely impressive. With the exception of C, A and B were exceptional, incredibly friendly, and very efficient throughout the meal service. The food was also excellent across the board, and I enjoyed every course. Job well done in my books on this overnight flight.

C offered to turn down my bed while I went to use the bathroom.

There were proper towels in the bathroom too which was nice.

There were also some useful toiletries.

After leaving the bathroom, A  asked me if I enjoyed the meal if I wanted any fruits before I went to sleep, tea or coffee, hot chocolate, and even some mints. Yes, he asked about all of those if I wanted any of them. Nice! I did take some mints back to my seat with me.

Here is my bed that I would be sleeping in. Now one thing to note about Singapore Airline’s business class beds. The seats aren’t like those on other airlines where you can just sit in the seat as it reclines into flatbed mode. The seat for Singapore Airlines actually flips over to become a bed. So you have to get up out of your seat to make it into a bed. Rest assured, the fabulous crew can do it for you!

And this was the mint that A gave me prior to me sleeping.

Good night!

Good Morning, from somewhere where I couldn’t even see anything beyond clouds.

I was woken up by my mother 40 minutes before landing to a busy cabin full of people walking around everywhere, crew helping people turn over beds, etc. I got a solid 3 hours of sleep which I would consider excellent on this 5-hour flight and the bed was fairly comfortable. I would’ve easily slept more if I wasn’t woken up.

I was offered tea and coffee by A and I asked for hot water which he got ready for me immediately. At the same time, the crew were also efficient in turning people’s beds back into seats.

Soon enough we began our descent into Singapore.

 

B offered us candies, the same as what A offered me before sleeping, prior to arrival and I took a few.

The views of clouds during descent was just fabulous. Only in Southeast Asia will you find this.

 

We had a smooth touchdown on runway 20R and a brief taxi to our gate.

We taxiied right by a Singapore A330-300 among other planes.

We parked right next to one of Singapore’s ULR A350s probably heading to Los Angeles.

Overall, this was a fantastic flight and I have pretty much all good things. The seat was well equipped with a few shortcomings like the seat hardness and the inconvenient tray table design, but everything else was great. Most of the crew were great, all were incredibly efficient which is super important on an overnight flight of this length, the food was excellent across the board, and can’t beat sitting in front of a GE-90 for all of that.