The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]

Singapore Airlines: Above The Rest …

I fly alot. A hell of a lot and I am lucky that in most cases, it’s with either Singapore Airlines or Virgin Atlantic.

I love these airlines … truly love them … because it doesn’t matter what class you fly in, they genuinely give a damn about your comfort.

Anyway, in the last week I was exposed to a massive contrast of customer experience – first flying in economy with Singapore Airlines on their new A380 and then business class with Qantas via a 747.

Now I must admit I was somewhat apprehensive flying in a brand new plane – especially one put together by the French, ha – however it was a fantastic experience, with alot of the credit going to Singapore Airlines new interior!

SIA were the first airline to introduce ‘ON DEMAND’ entertainment on their planes – and whilst some airlines still haven’t caught up – SIA have jumped ahead again by offering an economy entertainment package that rivals many airlines Business Class offering.

Have a look at this …

Wider screen television with an increased number of entertainment channels plus USB and Firewire inputs in every seat.

And why would you want these additional inputs?

Because that way you can write, create or finalise any work presentation [as you can see I was doing] without having to open up or even take your laptop along for the journey.

OK, so it’s not exactly perfect for doing major work [the keyboard is small plus the system doesn’t use MICROSOFT software] however it’s a nice touch and you could always use the USB/Firewire to watch a pre-loaded film of your choice rather than one of SIA’s offering.

[The micro keyboard is on the reverse of the entertainment controller. Makes far more sense given it used to be a phone. Seriously, how many times would that have probably been used eh? Probably as much time as the inflight Duty Free service, ha!]

The food tray also features a mirror so female passengers can doll themselves up before landing and men can see how much food they’ve got stuck in their teeth.

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When you take all this into account – alongside SIA’s fantastic customer service – you can see why so many people feel SIA is the greatest airline in the World as well as why it is the most profitable.

Seriously, if it was a person, I’d would SIA for Singaporean Prime Minister! Well that is if I could vote and the Singaporean political system wasn’t a dictatorship in disguise, ha!

Now compare this to Qantas.

I swear this is not me having a whinge about Australia … I think I’ve said enough times how much I love the country and how I call it home … however despite a massive investment in their cabin/inflight experience, the experience I had was very poor indeed.

Sure they had nice seats, good food and a fair entertainment system – the problem was the attitude of the staff.

The best way I can demonstrate what I mean is to tell you how SIA cabin staff behave.

It doesn’t matter what class you are flying in, when they interact with passengers [be it boarding, feeding or disembarking] their focus is entirely on the individual they are dealing with. All inter-personal conversation is kept to a minimum until they have fulfilled their passenger obligations and are in their own private area.

Now compare that to Qantas. [Who I only flew because all the other airlines was packed]

Throughout the flight, the staff spent more time talking to eachother than even acknowledging their passengers existence.

Even when they were serving the food, they continued their inane conversations …  only to slyly glance to their left/right to make sure the passenger had got their food.

If you slept through your meal it was “TOUGH LUCK” and if you asked for a drink, it would take an age till you got it … you really got the feeling you were being an annoyance to them which isn’t good, regardless what class of flight you’re in.

The slogan Qantas use is THE SPIRIT OF AUSTRALIA … if I didn’t know better, I’d think it meant Aussies are a bunch of rude, lazy bastards who think anyone from another country is ‘below them’.

Hmmmmmn …  🙂

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