After slightly over 3 months of holidays in Singapore, it's 'finally' time to return to down under to start hitting the books all over again. Much as I was excited to be taking the A380 for my flight to Sydney, I'd rather the day came later rather than sooner. But anyway, beyond that excitement, I reminded myself not to hold too high expectations as I already knew that despite all the hype of the SQ A380 bringing air travel to a whole new level of comfort, the Economy Class is effectively the same as those which I've seen on their B777-300ERs. From what I understand, the main difference in the A380 lie in the SQ Suites and the Business Class which comes with slightly more legroom. Even though I've heard that the seat pitch in Economy Class in the A380 may be slightly higher, I chose to take it with a pinch of salt. For the average passenger like me, all those hoo-ha about the aircraft being more spacious is just marketing gimmick. Enough of the talk. Let the journey begin....
I was fortunate enough to get a window seat on the Upper Deck at the last minute via online check-in.
Notice how the 'curved' the aircraft is at the Upper Deck. I managed to get a glance at the registration of the aircraft to ascertain if it's going to be 9V-SKA or SKB. SKA is the First aircraft put into service while SKB was only delivered recently. Alas, turned out to be the aircraft which served the historic First Commercial Flight for the A380.
The side compartments beside the window seats were a pleasant surprise and this is only available on the Upper Deck.
There was ample room left even after putting my laptop bag inside and the side compartments also provides extra space for the passenger on the window seat and it sure does makes a world of difference.
Lights turned down after meal service. This is pretty much it for the Economy Class on the Upper Deck. The rest are all Business Class, which you could see from the green 'Mood-Lighting' behind the curtains.
A view of the stairs between Upper Deck and Main Deck right at the rear of the aircraft in the Galley. I'm sure the one at the front of the aircraft serving the Business Class passengers would look far more refined than this one.
It's no illusion. The windows are truly massive at the Main Deck, even bigger than the ones on the Upper Deck.
With that extra room courtesy of the side compartments, only a fraction of the table space was taken up by my laptop.
The idea is cool. Plug in your USB and you'll be able to view your photos on the screen. The problem is, after 15mins, the system is still 'loading' a single picture. Needless to say, I gave up.
Presenting to you, the Flight Deck of the A380-800. Cruising at 39,000ft and heading at a direction of 116degrees.
Captain Low at the helm of SQ221. (Alright, I didn't manage to get into the Flight Deck to take these stunning pictures. Many thanks to the Singapore Girls who offered to take the pictures with my camera on my behalf and this was done inflight.)
Pitiful breakfast by SQ's standards.....
Good Morning Australia... Sydney CBD.. The Harbour Bridge and Opera House in the distant.
My only decent shot of the 'WhaleJet', there's no other window where I can have a clear view of the A380.....Wow. The A380. Admittedly, the average passenger probably wouldn't notice any difference at all between the A380 and other aircrafts. But there's the kick of travelling in the World's Largest Commercial Airliner, not to mention being in the 1st aircraft put into revenue service. It's a pity I didn't get to tour the front end of the aircraft with the SIA Suites 'cos I was having too many hand-carry luggage, so didn't bother to ask for it. Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the 7hr 20min flight and I'm already looking forward to the return leg!
However, this is where the nightmare starts. We've always heard how airports have invested millions of dollars to be "A380-ready", extending runways... widening taxiways.. adding an additional aerobridge for the upper deck passengers...But have you wondered if they are in fact "A380-ready" in terms of handling the increased number of passengers? My flight carried almost 500 people including crew while a B747 could carry at most about 390. The extra 100-odd people was unfortunately evident in terms of the queue at the immigration. Honestly, I've never seen such a long queue before. To add to the problems, there was a couple of other flights which has also just arrived. -_-
Next up, baggage collection. Another nightmare. Same type of carousel. But with 100 more people waiting within the same area. Again, the wait for my luggages was far longer than what I had anticipated, not to mention the lack of space along the carousel.
And finally, the customs clearance. The queue hardly moves. Now, it's really testing my patience. But I'm too tired to be boiling...
By the time i managed to clear the restricted area, it's been 1hr 25mins since the plane touched down at Sydney. A personal record I have to say. I certainly would be expecting much better things from Changi when I return. =)
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