SINGAPORE - Changi International Airport is routinely voted at or very near the top of world's best airports list every year by experienced world travelers, and you can see why. It took me all of 10 minutes this morning to whisk through check-in and security, ending in Singapore Airlines' Silverkris Lounge. Of course, it was only 5 a.m., but, still...this is an airport that works.
Changi, the home base of Singapore Airlines, recently opened a state of the art terminal 3; I flew into that terminal almost exactly a year ago when I traveled from my home in California to Singapore for an airline wine event hosted by the carrier's trio of wine consultants. I flew this year into and out of terminal 2 from my previous stopover in Auckland.
Terminal 2 is older but scrupulously maintained. It is graced by a marvelous indoor tropical garden, complete with a wooden walkway through the ferns, oversized flowers and other flora, and is enlivened by a sizable koi pond. Showers, a swimming pool and clusters of stand-up PCs for free Internet use are scattered through the smartly carpeted terminal.
In the Silverkris Lounge, where I waited for my flight to Mumbai on my first-ever passage to India, were dozens more free PCs, a good coffee-making machine, sumptuous Asian and Western food, and an array of free alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. Large video monitors blinked overhead with flight information, and muted television screens showed BBC and CNN news.
How tuned-in to customers is Singapore Airlines? When I arrived early this ay-em, before the airport check-in desks were formally open, rather than make me wait, a reservation agent opened her station 7 or 8 minutes early to check me in. I can't think of many airlines that would do that, or many airports where it would happen.
Now, onto Mumbai, next stop on my round the world journey with Star Alliance member airlines.
Showing posts with label Changi airport. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Changi airport. Show all posts
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Winging It to Singapore on Singapore
SINGAPORE - The 9-hour-plus flight from Auckland to Singapore went smoothly, typically so, on Singapore Airlines. It's one of the world's Tiffany carriers and has had a decided halo effect among experienced travelers for years.
Consider: The business class cabin on my flight boasted massive consoles in front of the seat that provide passenger privacy and offer features such as a vanity mirror, a socket for plugging in a laptop and other personal electronic devices, and a large video monitor. The seat folds out into a comfy bed, and if you need anything else to relax, the wine selections by Singapore Air's wine consultants - among them the eminent British wine guru Steven Spurrier - will help.
Raffles class - that's business class, in Singapore vernacular - also has one of the better interactive in-flight program menus in the sky. There are hundreds of CDs on demand, an extensive roster of Asian and Western movies and TV shows, video games and one of those interactive maps that help you track the progress of your flight; the map alternates big-picture looks at the flight path with focused looks at the terrain you happen to be flying over at the time - in my case, that meant the vast interior of Australia, with its mountains and deserts. I've always enjoyed this feature on long-haul flights, returning to it from time to time between building a sampler of tunes from music CDs and turning the pages of the book I'm reading. As I often do, I'm delving into my default author: Graham Greene, and his bittersweet novel "The End of the Affair.''
Singapore Air, as a Star Alliance member, shares a spacious and especially well-appointed lounge with fellow Star member Air New Zealand at Auckland International Airport. The Koru Lounge has two long tables, each table lined with 10 chairs and 10 sockets, for people to plug-in and work: 20 work stations all told. Didn't bring your laptop? There are four free PCs available. There's also a living-room-like space, where I saw people having afternoon tea on a china teaset. Miracle of miracles, the Koru Lounge also has a cell-phone-free zone. Braying mobile phone yakkers are among my prime travel beefs, so I count this quiet refuge as a definite plus.
The lounge food is varied and good. Forget the bags of nuts and cheese squares and crackers you get at many U.S. and some European airports; at Auckland there is soup, fresh green salads and international dishes such as Moroccan chickpea salad. Plus, a coffee machine - I made a "flat white,' the Kiwi term for a capp with an extra jolt of espresso - and a choice of half a dozen NZ wines (typically Sauvignon Blancs) and beers (typically light and refreshing lagers.) If you have some time to spend in this hub airport, New Zealand's largest, this is a nice place to do it.
I plucked a non-alcoholic ginger beer made by Wellington's Mac's Brewery out of the drinks case and out of curiosity began reading the copy on the label. It gave me a farewell taste of Kiwi wit:
"Ginger beer is a great New Zealand tradition. Unfortunately, that tradition frequently involves something that comes in large, fizzy drinks bottles, and has a propensity to explode because your auntie used too much sugar.''
Mac's ginger beer, I am happy to report, didn't blow up in my face. It had a nice balance of sweet and spicy and a lingering taste that stayed with me as I made the long walk across the airport terminal all the way to Gate 15, where a Singapore Airlines jetliner was waiting for the flight to Changi airport.
Consider: The business class cabin on my flight boasted massive consoles in front of the seat that provide passenger privacy and offer features such as a vanity mirror, a socket for plugging in a laptop and other personal electronic devices, and a large video monitor. The seat folds out into a comfy bed, and if you need anything else to relax, the wine selections by Singapore Air's wine consultants - among them the eminent British wine guru Steven Spurrier - will help.
Raffles class - that's business class, in Singapore vernacular - also has one of the better interactive in-flight program menus in the sky. There are hundreds of CDs on demand, an extensive roster of Asian and Western movies and TV shows, video games and one of those interactive maps that help you track the progress of your flight; the map alternates big-picture looks at the flight path with focused looks at the terrain you happen to be flying over at the time - in my case, that meant the vast interior of Australia, with its mountains and deserts. I've always enjoyed this feature on long-haul flights, returning to it from time to time between building a sampler of tunes from music CDs and turning the pages of the book I'm reading. As I often do, I'm delving into my default author: Graham Greene, and his bittersweet novel "The End of the Affair.''
Singapore Air, as a Star Alliance member, shares a spacious and especially well-appointed lounge with fellow Star member Air New Zealand at Auckland International Airport. The Koru Lounge has two long tables, each table lined with 10 chairs and 10 sockets, for people to plug-in and work: 20 work stations all told. Didn't bring your laptop? There are four free PCs available. There's also a living-room-like space, where I saw people having afternoon tea on a china teaset. Miracle of miracles, the Koru Lounge also has a cell-phone-free zone. Braying mobile phone yakkers are among my prime travel beefs, so I count this quiet refuge as a definite plus.
The lounge food is varied and good. Forget the bags of nuts and cheese squares and crackers you get at many U.S. and some European airports; at Auckland there is soup, fresh green salads and international dishes such as Moroccan chickpea salad. Plus, a coffee machine - I made a "flat white,' the Kiwi term for a capp with an extra jolt of espresso - and a choice of half a dozen NZ wines (typically Sauvignon Blancs) and beers (typically light and refreshing lagers.) If you have some time to spend in this hub airport, New Zealand's largest, this is a nice place to do it.
I plucked a non-alcoholic ginger beer made by Wellington's Mac's Brewery out of the drinks case and out of curiosity began reading the copy on the label. It gave me a farewell taste of Kiwi wit:
"Ginger beer is a great New Zealand tradition. Unfortunately, that tradition frequently involves something that comes in large, fizzy drinks bottles, and has a propensity to explode because your auntie used too much sugar.''
Mac's ginger beer, I am happy to report, didn't blow up in my face. It had a nice balance of sweet and spicy and a lingering taste that stayed with me as I made the long walk across the airport terminal all the way to Gate 15, where a Singapore Airlines jetliner was waiting for the flight to Changi airport.
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