Thursday, November 2, 2017

Singapore Airlines beds, Economy's saved music playlists, free airport butterfly garden, bus stour, and stopover packages


Singapore Airlines 380 with their familiar flying bird logo. Photo from Singapore Airlines.
Problem
The new A380 plane rolls out Dec 18. How do I get to see the new seats in business class? They are not scheduled until Dec 18 2017. I was thinking of waiting until Dec 18 to mention them, but then I thought, if you were considering booking a seat on the 17th, and you could have delayed until the 18th, you'd be really glad to have received the information. Then you could enjoy the status and novelty of being one of the first to try the new seats, as well as enjoying the upgrade.

The seats can be separated, not just the length of your elbow, like in Economy class, but all the way down, for 'privacy'. My first thought was, who needs privacy? If I wanted to be alone I'd have stayed home!

Madonna was just photographed travelling in Economy and she is worth millions. The whole point of travel is to go to new places and meet new people.

 I just received a promotional video from Judy Carter, saying she'd done thousands of pounds of business by networking with somebody she sat next to on a plane. If you are in business class, you should be meeting people who are successful and entrepreneurial and worth meeting.

Then I re-read the email from Singapore Airlines. (I was just about to send it to family overseas who are about to take or book flights when they sent it to me.)

It says you can divide a bed the whole length. Now that's handy. If one of you wants to sleep, but the other one wants to read or watch films.

New Suites - a private cabin. It's a hotel in the air.

In First class you can operate the window shades at the touch of a button.

Economy
How about the majority of us? Flying in economy.

The one thing which doesn't seem any better is those hard armrests, so narrow they seem designed for whichever person gets their arm on first.

However, everything else seems designed with the customer in mind. You can save your favourite play lists. (I would save my play list, if I could decipher the system which seems to require a degree in electronics. It sometimes baffles even the crew, who you would think would be experts. I spend the first hour of any flight trying to find the film I want. First you plus in your headphone, right side of your seat or left, horizontal or vertical. Adjust the headpiece. I forgot to find or buy noise cancelling headphones which give you the music without a dreadful background hiss.

But, hey, if I can master the system, they will save my music playlist, and re-start the film I half saw when I get on the next flight.

You can already book a stopover holiday. Depending on your package (3 levels, like airline seats) you can get accommodation, free transfer back to the airport in a minibus,  hop on and hop off bus, and the premium level gets you free breakfast and return to the airport in a car.

If you can't sty the night in Singapore, but have a few hours to spare, you can get a free tour of the city.

Free Airport Butterly Garden
If you have an hour or two, but not enough time to get to the city, tour it, and come back, a free novelty is the two-level butterfly garden. The tropical conservatory has giant butterflies and information panels, within the airport.

Gardens By The Bay Tickets
If you have a day in Singapore, the top attraction is the Gardens By the Bay. You need to book. It has two areas, one with a multi-storey waterfall and paths and slopes up the different levels. The other is a series of gardens from around the world, again with information panels and selfie points.


Free Waterfront Walk
 If it's too busy, or your time is too short to make it worthwhile to invest in the expensive tickets. a very pleasant and education time can be spent walking around the free outside paths on the waterfront, where plaques tell you stories and myths about the trees and plants from various lands.

Handy Websites
www.singaporeair.com
https://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

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