There is precisely one flight between South Africa and Southeast Asia and today,
we’re gonna take a deep dive into it.
Hi there, my name is Kevin. This channel came from a love of traveling,
a love of the full process and the journey itself. I feature airline trip reports and
high end hotel reviews from all over the world. My reviews aren’t sponsored by airlines or hotels so
you can be sure to get my unbiased opinion. Am I an expert? You can decide. Am I fair? Yea, I am.
Let’s get into it, welcome to Cape Town International Airport, located to the
southeast of the city center. South African routes are one of the KrisFlyer redemption sweet spots,
so if you’d like to know how much I paid for this flight, please check out the description below.
Cape Town’s airport, to me at least, is a surprisingly small operation with flights
to just 38 destinations. The flights connecting Cape Town to Johannesburg
account for over 40% of the monthly departures at the time of writing.
I think we can partially chalk this up to perhaps my own incorrect expectations, but I would also
note that moreso than any airport I’ve visited in let’s say the second half 2022,
Cape Town’s recovery seems to be lagging- which is why today’s route is all the more important.
This is a tag on flight, meaning that we will be traveling to Singapore via Johannesburg,
on the same plane. You can start your journey in either of the two cities. Given
the fact that the plane is not even meant to fill up here, checkin was quick and even
for Economy, the queues were reasonable. The facilities at the airport are basic,
but functional and sport some local tourism marketing touches throughout the terminal.
As we walk to Passport Control allow me to do a bit of my own marketing. You likely
know already, but this flight was not paid for by Singapore Airlines and they had no knowledge
of me being on board. You’d imagine, content like this must be funded some how and that’s where your
subscriptions, likes and comments all come into play- as they genuinely do help the channel grow,
which means more honest content for you. I also have a Patreon linked in
the description below if you’re interested. A genuine thank you in advance for stopping by.
Once through control, we made our way to the Bidvest Premier
Lounge which hosts a litany of banks, airlines and the like.
Compared to what we would normally expect from an unbranded contract lounge,
I was very pleasantly surprised at the facilities, which were comfortable,
offered a few views of the apron and had a truly interesting mix of food and drink on offer.
And frankly any lounge that has six kinds of gouda on offer is a good place to be in my book.
I rushed downstairs to catch a few shots of our beautiful
bird making an especially graceful landing inbound from Johannesburg.
As I mentioned in the opening, this route serves as a vital thoroughfare
between South East Asia and South Africa which Singapore Airlines has been flying since 1992
when they began service to Johannesburg, adding the Cape Town tag two years after.
Originally served by 747s, the route now sees A350s exclusively,
the South African service being the second ever long haul A350 route for the airline.
I’ve been on an airline history kick lately and realized despite reviewing SQ more than
any other airline, I’ve not mentioned anything of their history, so we will dabble a bit today.
With 54 in service and four more on order, SQ is the largest operator of the A350-900 in the world.
Additionally, they are they only operator of the Ultra Long Haul variant which they have 7 of.
With their total of 147 Passanger aircraft, they currently serve 78 destinations in 32 countries,
much of which was maintained throughout COVID, despite the company posting their first ever
loss in their 48 year history in 2020. Singapore Airlines as we know it today was
established in 1972. 10 months after beginning operations the then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew
bluntly told airline staff, “I set up Singapore Airlines to make profits. If you don’t make a
profit, I’m going to close down the airline…” which set the tone for the airline’s beginnings.
Before SQ existed, Malayan Airways formed in 1947, which became Malaysian Airways in
1963 following the merger of the Federation of Malaya with Singapore, North Borneo and Sarawak.
After Singapore’s independence in 1965 the airline was rebranded as Malaysian Singapore Airlines,
jointly owned by both governments. After five years operating togther though, their aspirations
led to the airline’s split. Malaysia wanted to focus on a domestic market- and since Singapore
literally didn’t have a domestic market, they set their sights on International connectivity.
In 1972, SQ108 departed for Kuala Lumpur and began
a new era at what would become one of the world's most respected airlines.
There’s an uncommon sight these days. Boarding began a few minutes behind
schedule but was orderly with priority given to Business Class and PPS members.
Let’s take a look at today’s flight stats. These are the stats essentially for the take
off from Cape Town and arrival in Singapore as noted. We pushed back three minutes ahead
of schedule and for the majority of our journey cruised at 39000 feet for a total of just under
12 hours in the air, arriving in Singapore the next morning 12 minutes behind schedule.
When SQ started out, they are said to have consciously not included local food on board
because it was geared towards international travelers. The decor, the aircraft and the
food was meant to mirror the best international standards, but with a decidedly Asian touch.
One of those touches being the Flight Attendants themselves,
who were branded as Singapore Girls in the early days of the airline and
to this day wear their iconic Batik Sarong Kebayas and are themselves iconic as well.
The beautiful uniforms were originally designed by French couturier Pierre Balmain in 1968 for
Malaysia-Singapore Airlines and changes were made for SQ in 1974 following their founding.
There are currently four versions of the Kebaya, in four colors which identify
the position of the flight attendant. Male attendants wear ties in coordinating colors.
For each female flight attendant, the kebayas are customer tailored for each and every one of them.
Stepping on board, greeted by a crowd of crew, I make my way to my tried and true 19A.
I recently named this as my favorite seat of 2022, let’s look at the details so I can explain why.
SQ has three versions of A350s, the Ultra Long haul I mentioned earlier, a regional version
and today’s standard version which feature 42 Business Class seats spread over two cabins in
a 1-2-1 configuration. While the seats are very roomy when it comes to width, even I need to
admit the bulkheads are key to you enjoying the seat as it gives you a larger sleeping surface,
compared to the standard seats which force you to contour your body when in the lie flat position.
The seats themselves alternate between a plumish mauve and cream
color and are a whopping 27.5 inches wide. While there are a few storage areas around
the seat, the only enclosed area is the small space next
to your seat where you’ll find your head phones. To my knowledge, SQ is the only airline which uses
a fully custom seat across all of it’s long haul aircraft. Certainly there are other custom seats,
such as QSuites, but Qatar has at least four other more standard seat types on offer as well.
Tactile buttons are lined up for a variety of seat functions and there are audio jacks in two
spots to serve you well if you are reclined. Lighting on board is ample with four reading
lights of varying brightness levels, in addition to the overhead lighting.
There are unfortunately no individual air vents though., but SQ cabins are normally
kept pretty comfortable, if not a bit chilly. Row 19 is a bassinet row which isn’t for everyone
as it does raise the TV an inch or two, but when there are no bassinets booked on board,
these seats are opened up prior to checkin for any passenger to select in most circumstances.
I am KrisFlyer Gold which gives me different access to the seats,
but even before I had status with SQ I was never not able to secure a bulkhead one way or another.
Waiting at the seats upon boarding were slippers and socks, both of decent quality,
but far too small. On my recent EVA flight I was given a pair of open toe slippers and they fit,
I think a first for me. I don’t know why more airlines don’t do that.
There was a Penhaligon’s Amenity kit at each seat as well, this
time in Navy. On this flight for some reason I had 3 corrupt video files,
the kits content being one of them so this is from a previous flight, the content is the same.
Some very hefty menus were handed out and one of my all time favorite safety videos began to roll.
We pushed back and would begin to make our way to the departure runway, taking off to the south.
The spool up and take off are coming up now.
We swung around and began our straight shot up to Johannesburg,
which amounted to 92 minutes in the air.
Obviously there are no doors on SQ’s seats, but between the slight staggering
of seats and the small shell around the seatback, they feel perfectly fine.
For this first flight the service was limited to a Paprika Chicken or Veggie Slaw Sandwich.
The menu indicated potato wedges and grilled vegetables as the side,
but I preferred the greek salad which made a surprise appearance.
The filling of the sandwich was very tasty, but that bread is I do believe
the exact same bread I had on SQ from Milan to Barcelona and just a refrigerated chewy mess.
They do so well in so many regards, but I’ve never felt bread was a strong suit.
The entertainment system on board is comprehensive and can be accessed via your remote. The movies
on offer are displayed now. Generally speaking all you need to tell me is how many new releases there
are and you can guess how good the system is. With 106 new releases, it’s an impressive selection.
The bathrooms on board as always were spotless throughout the flight and came equipped with
the standard long haul amenities, including dental kits, shaving kits
and a selection of Penhaligons products. There’s also a thoughtful fold down seat.
Before we knew it it was already time to land in Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International airport.
Since we’re gonna be taking off again very soon, I won’t drag out the normal landing montage.
We pulled into the gate and I was pleasantly surprised that we were allowed to stay on
board for the 71 minutes of ground time and next thing you know, we were pushing back.
This time around, welcome drinks were offered. Orange Juice,
water and Champagne were on offer, but I find SQ won’t deny other requests for
cold non-alcoholic drinks if you’re parched. What do ya know, here we are again. Spool up
and take off number two- a short one I promise, is coming up now.
Clocking in at 10 hours and 19 minutes in the air,
this flight certainly had a bit more ground to cover over some pretty lonely waters.
Prior to take off drink orders were taken and promptly served after take off.
I went with a $16 Riesling and sparkling water. As we past some exceptionally beautiful fluffies
outside, my beloved satay cart began. Here’s the rest of the full menu for the flight. Note the
red price tags on the wines are my additions and show an approximate US retail price per bottle.
What they are lacking perhaps in wine value, they more than make up for though
with the lengthy assortment of coffees, TWG teas, house teas and cocktails on offer.
The satay is served prior to tables being set to hold you over while the full meal
is being prepared. Following that was a marinated prawn appetizer with mango
and red pepper salsa. This was good, but I honestly cannot remember if I’ve
ever had an appetizer on SQ that wasn’t shrimp. A little variety would not hurt.
Some more of that bread- at least the garlic bread was flavorful and then the shining start of the
meal service, this incredible Indian Style Braised Spiced Chicken served with Boryani rice, cucumber
raita and cashews. This was absolutely phenomenal and easily the best non-western dish I’ve ever
had on the airline. It also more than made up for the fact that they don’t offer their Book the Cook
service on flights originating in South Africa. That was followed up with a deceptively light
Raspberry Cheesecake, wrapping up an overall fantastic meal service.
This service is essentially an early and long Red-eye and soon after meal service
the cabin lights were dimmed and the crew asked for the shades to be drawn.
Let’s take a look at the bedding.
I think Singapore offers overall one of the better bedding sets out there with
a very cozy duvet style blanket and two full size, high quality pillows.
There is also a fresh mattress pad already on the sleeping service.
Some complain that you need to flip the seat forward to go lie flat.
This is as reclined as you’ll get in the normal seat mode.
Once you fold it down though you have a thoroughly enjoyable nook which is
just as great for sitting up and watching a movie as it is for getting some needed sleep.
As I’ve mentioned before, this seat along with APEX suites are really
the only two business class seats I can consistently get some sleep on.
A few hours later and just up from a nap, I checked out the hot snacks and noodles
on offer and ordered a “Poached prawn, chicken and egg noodles in chicken soup with garnishes.”
While I love the bowl and the noodles themselves have a nice bite, I promise you
I’m not hiding the prawns or garnishes anywhere. This was just very underwhelming and the chicken
was about as dry and salty as my sense of humor. Quick note for those of you that are bothered by
light, there is a galley directly in front and the lights in there will always be on of course.
Around 90 minutes before landing breakfast service began and they redeemed the soup’s poor showing.
We began with some exceptionally juicy fruit, along with bircher muesli and a peach yogurt.
That was followed by some pastries and a surprisingly good chicken noodle dish. After that
soup I was a dubious about ordering this, but it was impressive and even had a smidge of wok hei.
Soon after breakfast service wrapped up the crew prepared
the cabin and we approached Singapore, with some beautiful views of the city,
before dawn broke. And in
classic Singapore style, the windows fog up near instantly. Now, I’m going to make
my way to the SilverKris lounge for a few hours before my onward flight to Saigon.
Let’s get into the Flip Flop Score. Overall, it was a wonderful flight with warm and
poised service and a fantastic seat. The food service had it’s ups and downs but overall,
at least the main components were really good. I’ll see you next time on a 787-10 to Saigon.