A Great Way To Fly?

As you all probably know, I'm quite the airline aficionado. I've been looking at reviews for China Eastern Airlines (let's just say I'm counting on their new fleet of A340s and the crew having a pleasant disposition later this year) and that got me to thinking of my own experiences on various airlines, and I thought I'd write them out here for fun. So from what I can remember...

Early 1990s
Sin - Langkawi - Sin
Malaysia Airlines, Boeing 737-400
My first flight ever, and I really can't remember anything. Do have a picture of me standing in front of the plane on the tarmac tho'.

Sin - Penang - Sin
Malaysia Airlines, Boeing 737-400
Can't remember either. Haha. Have not flown MH since, and god willing, will never have to.

1996
Sin - Brisbane - Melbourne - Sin
Qantas, Boeing 747-200, Boeing 767-300 (I think) and Boeing 747-400 respectively
My only time on Qantas and did NOT have a good experience. No personal inflight entertainment. There was just this very crappy movie on the big screen. Service was so-so and very Caucasian. Did get to go into the cockpit on the Brisbane to Melbourne leg, although I felt very out of place as the rest of the people inside were Aussie (and ang mor) kids returning from vacation.

1998
Sin - Shanghai - Sin
Singapore Airlines, Boeing 777 something
My first time on SQ and I remember being so excited to finally have Krisworld (yes personalized inflight entertainment was very important to me back then). Plane was new and shiny. Although its hazy, I remember having a very good first impression of SQ

Sin - Sydney - Sin
Singapore Airlines, Boeing 747-400
Yes people, in the days before the A380, the Megatop was the crown jewel in the SQ fleet, the behemoth, the SHIT. I think this was a great flight too, although I had to vomit into a bag while we were flying back somewhere over Indonesia.

Sin - KL - Sin
Japan Airlines, can't remember plane model
Funny airline to take to KL - they had the cheapest tickets I think. Lack of inflight entertainment was fine (it is a 45 min flight after all), although they use those same planes to fly to Japan...Will probably go down in history as the worst (and thank goodness shortest) flight I have ever taken. Fucking Japanese men smoking in cabin, fucking pilot can't take off properly - I felt like I was on a ROLLERCOASTER when the plane was taking off!! (as in, the whole G-force thing - which one SHOULD NOT feel on a flight!)

1999
Sin - Melbourne - Sin
Emirates, can't remember plane model
Ah, this was a breath of fresh air. An airline with PTVs (touch screen, no less!) that wasn't SQ! Back in those days, Emirates was only beginning to develop its reputation and their flights were attractively priced. Had a good one. Love the uniforms (when they don the red headgear)

2000
Sin - New York JFK - Sin (via Frankfurt)
Singapore Airlines, Boeing 747-400
Oh this flight was memorable. I remember the stewardess asking my mum why we were going to New York, and when my mum said something about how my brother and I have been dying to go (bad choice of words, as we shall see shortly), stewardess replied, 'everyone wants to see the Big Apple'. Her name? Ang Miao Lee (or something close to that), a.k.a one of the cabin crew who perished later that year in the SQ 006 crash in Taipei (see I told you). I recognized her name in the papers. That was sad. Landing in Frankfurt was super-smooth, hardly felt like the plane had hit the ground at all! Why do I remember this? Because when we came to a stop, people in the cabin started clapping. I kid you not. The only time I have ever experienced that.

2001

Sin - Chiang Mai - Sin (via Phuket - outbound only - and Bangkok - both out and inbound)
Thai Airways, Airbus A300 (I think), Boeing 737 and Boeing 747
Talk about unnecessary stopovers. I loved looking down at the azure waters around Phuket just before landing though. Spent all of an hour in the airport lounge before flying to Don Muang, transiting to the domestic terminal, and taking these really cramped 737s to Chiang Mai (this was the AC-wide trip btw, so you can imagine the havoc of the journey). On the return leg, I remember exploring Don Muang (nothing much to explore but oh well) with Mike and Henry before we boarded back to Singapore. No inflight entertainment, but they did have audio on demand *cue oohs and ahs*

Sin - London - Sin
Singapore Airlines, presumably Boeing 747-400
Longest uninterrupted flight I've been on so far. I remember my mum complaining about how this was SQ and the food shouldn't have been so bad. I found it fine. I've never had a problem with airline food generally. I've never had a bad experience on SQ, but as my pockets don't run deep, this was my last time on an SQ flight for almost 7 years. And the gap between this and my next flight was the longest ever. I just didn't travel for nearly 4 years! I think times were bad or something.

2005
Sin - HK - Sin
United Airlines, Boeing 747
The big screen in front (ie no PTVs) didn't bother me because my flight was only 3 hours. After serving lunch (or was it breakfast) and a bit of doodling, we were already preparing to land. Pity the people traveling trans-Pacific though. The first time my ears really ached on landing, and it was fucking painful. For a moment, I thought maybe the frequent flier thing wasn't for me. But am pretty much over that by now (hopefully). Security checks were a CHORE. Had to get there really early and queue up and stuff. But it was a steal. Wouldn't die if I never flew United again though.

Sin - Bangkok - Sin
Swiss, Airbus urm either 330 or 340...
Before the flight, the cabin crew were going around asking everyone whether they were stopping in Bangkok or moving on to Zurich. I wish I was in the latter class but, like most of the cheap people on board, I was just on for 2 hours plus. And why not go on to Zurich really. Swiss was a fantastic experience. Good inflight entertainment, good food, gorgeous crew (including one whose name was Simon haha). I would so fly them again.

2006
Sin - San Francisco - Sin (via Tokyo Narita)
Northwest, Airbus A330
This was a pleasant surprise really. Having been warned of American airlines, and after my very mediocre experience on United, the only reason I was flying Northwest was because, well, their tickets were... shall we say, competitively priced. But it turned out to be one of my better experiences. New, spacious aircraft, decent inflight entertainment (yes there were PTVs), and generally helpful cabin crew (one must look past age). When we landed in San Francisco, I remember one of the more urm... senior stewardesses shouting at a man who had stood up before the plane had come to a stop. 'SIR WOULD YOU PLEASE SIT DOWN!' In her 'older American woman' twang. As I have always been attracted to older, powerful women, I found that hot. Would recommend Northwest to anyone, although there won't be a Northwest much longer sadly - think they're merging with Continental. Hell, Jinesh still uses their headphones.

2007
Sin - Krabi - Sin
Tiger Airways, Airbus A320
What do you expect? It was ok. I remember someone commenting before the flight that Tiger stewardesses 'look like they've been mauled by a Tiger'. So bad. They were ok la. Nothing much to do anyway. One does not expect anything when one flies a budget airline.

2008
Sin - Tokyo Narita - Sin
Singapore Airlines, Boeing 747-400
Ah, my return to SQ, courtesy of daddy's Krisflyer miles. And after the passage of 7 years, the Boeing 747 seemed worn, like an aging workhorse still capable of great power but just generally looking tired and past its prime. Krisworld, which back in 1998 had been like the Messiah to me, now seemed old and unresponsive (these were the ones that had not yet been upgraded). It was nice to fly SQ again but at this point, I don't think the premium they charge is necessarily translated into the premium in terms of overall inflight experience. Nice Christmas decorations in the cabin, though.

And that's it for now. I don't think I've left anything out. Certainly not comparable to many of my peers but not quite unremarkable either (which is more indicative of the fact that so many of my peers are young jetsetters haha).

Next up, SQ in Jul on the triple 7 and urm, yes, China Eastern end of year, complete with many hours stopover in Shanghai (this one should be an adventure).