The takeaway is like this, you start to appreciate Singapore Airlines after you get to take Air China.
Let me share with you what went wrong.
Punctuality
The flight was delayed by more than an hour. Punctuality is a big issue! There were a few in my flight who missed their connecting flights to USA and those poor guys will have to stay over for one more night.
Food
The air stewardess came up to me and instead of asking what i would like to eat, she said, sorry sir. We only have the vegetarian rice left. Would you like to havr it? I was thinking to myself.. "Are you kidding? This is business class and you tell me I only have vegetarian food left?"
I told the air stewardess, "err what do you expect me to say?" But without losing my temper, I just said "it's ok, I will go without lunch". Somehow miraculously, a plate of main course of sesame chicken was served eventually but this incident has already left a bad taste in my mouth.
Anyway, the food was mediocre.
Smoking
After the flight took off, I went to the toilet behind the pilot cockpit only to find it locked. The next thing I know, the pilot came out and I went in only to find a light tinge of cigarette smell in the cubicle. My goodness, the pilot has been smoking inside!
In flight entertainment and seat
I didn't bother with watching any movie or trying out the entertainment system after seeing how manual the seats are. Haha. I definitely have been taking the inflight entertainment, large tv screen and comfortable leather seats in SQ for granted.
Singaporeans
Perhaps this is somewhat similar to Singaporeans? We never know how good and efficient our country is until we lose it?
The plane landed in Beijing 2 hours past its scheduled time. The "haze" appeared to be better than I expected. In fact, the air in Beijing was deceivingly better than Hong Kong.
Don't be deceived by the pictures above. It is still very unhealthy to run outside and no one is exercising.
Start appreciating Singapore?
Don't wait till you lose the clean air in Singapore before you start appreciating our air!
Happy breathing!
