Plans available:1) S$6 per ½ hour2) S$8 per hour (+10mins bonus, total 70 mins)3) S$12 per 2 hours * Promotion valid till 31 Dec 2007. I chose option 3; the exchange rate is 1.42 to the USD.
Tokyo-Narita International Airport, Japan (NRT)
I left the Northwest WorldClub at gate 15 and headed for gate 32. It is pretty amazing that Northwest has at least three Clubs here. This just shows the scope of their operation. The Club I used has an Air France Salon right next to it. The two Clubs I checked out were nicely done and in my opinion are far superior to the ones in the U.S.
Just before I left the Lounge, a Korean Airlines A300-600 pushed back, an Air France Boeing 777-200ER arrived followed by an Alitalia Boeing 777. Prior to that the Aeromexico Boeing 777-200ER on which I arrived was pushed to a hard stand. As I walked to my gate, I saw a Continental Boeing 767-400 at the gate; it had just arrived from Guam. SkyTeam at work, I thought.
As I got to the ANA gate, I looked around the gates and now it is Star Alliance at work. I passed a United Airlines Red Carpet Club, but I have no credentials for it, so I did not even ask about it. Down the way is an ANA Star Alliance Club. At the gates were a Singapore Airlines Boeing 777; this one makes one stop in Bangkok I think on its way to Singapore. It was a choice, but got in at about 7:30p, too close to the 8:30p departure and would cost more. There were also, a few ANA airplanes, mostly 767s, an ANA Boeing 777-300 with a logo celebrating 10 years of Star Alliance, an Austrian Boeing 777 that came in from Vienna, Austria (VIE); I had missed taking that flight in last October when I visited Japan. As I boarded, a SAS Airbus A340-300 taxied in.
4 NH111 26DEC WE Tokyo-Narita, Japan (NRT) to Singapore (SIN) 763 10:40A 5:15P 26DEC JA603A
We pushed back at 10:38a; it took a little time for the engines to start though. As we pushed back, the safety video started. It was English, Japanese and Chinese subtitles plus hand signals all at the same time.
We had a minimal taxi time and takeoff was without delay as we were the only one in line for takeoff. As we taxied, there was a camera showing us what was ahead and once we took off, it showed what was below us. This is always cool to see.
The flight attendant made an announcement about what to expect for the flight. We would get a snack first and then have a choice of seafood or pork both served with rice. They also explained the document requirements for the flight once we arrive in Singapore including the fact that Singapore does not allow chewing gum into the country.
The entertainment system was activated and there was news playing on the main screens throughout the cabin. There were already headphones available in the glove compartment in the seat pocket in front of me. The entertainment system seems identical to the one on the Aeromexico flight and actually had the same issue where the movie would be playing once you got to the channel, but as I learned, pressing Stop twice takes care of that.
Channel 1 – Forward/Downward camera
Channel 2 – Airshow
Channel 7 – The Bourne Ultimatum
Channel 8 – Stardust
Channel 9 – Mr. Bean’s Holiday
Channel 10 – Crossing Over (Chinese)
Channel 11 – Take Me Out to the Snowland
Channel 12 – Talk, Talk, Talk (Japanese)
Channel 13 – The Burmese Harp
Channel 14 – Prison Free-for-All (Japanese)
Channel 15 – Eye In the Sky (Cantonese)
Channel 16 – Eye in the Sky (Mandarin)
Channel 17 – ANA Travel Navigator
Channel 18 – ANA Gourmet Guide
Channel 19 – 5 Minutes Chinese Lesson
Channel 20 – National Geographic
Channel 21 – Best Hit USA: Time Machine Special
Channel 22 – ANA Sound Shower (music videos)
Channel 23 – Travel Information (Japanese)
Channel 24 – Cabin Information (information about the passenger layout area and is about 0:55 long)
The Captain came on the PA, gave his welcome aboard and said that the flying time was 6:30; I think that was the amount of time left. He also said that our arrival time would be 17:15 local time in Singapore.
The appetizer was a snack pack of starch, regular rice, cashew items with your beverage of choice. The flight attendants came by and handed me a picture of the two meals with the descriptions in Japanese and English; I picked the seafood, which was a combination of different types of seafood; I know that one of them was fish. Both meals came with a chocolate cake, a roll, a 280ml bottle of water and peas plus a potato salad and a cookie.
The meal was quite good and they followed it up with an offer for white or red wines.
I looked through the entertainment selection and I decided to watch the Mr. Bean’s Movie.
I fell asleep at some point and awoke when we had half way to go, as I was still sleepy, I went back to sleep. My circadian rhythm is off; my body is in sleep mode as it is currently night time where I live.
I awoke again at 2:02 to go; local time where I started the journey on Christmas eve is 1:07a. I’d normally be awake anyways…The seatbelt sign was on for a while and when it came off at 1:57 to go, you heard a cheer come up from the cabin; I was also relieved as well as I really needed to go to the restroom.
I took the opportunity to check out the aircraft. There are two exits forward of the wing as opposed to being over the wing. The Economy class cabin is divided into two parts; the first part has five rows then the rest of the cabin goes from row 22 the Exit row to row 40. Economy class is 2-3-2; standard for a Boeing 767 and Club ANA Class is 2-1-2. Each seat also has a footrest in Economy class.
I also noticed that the entertainment system has an Interactive mode; this mode was disabled on the Aeromexico system. This mode basically allowed you to navigate the system differently, the sections are:
Movie
Video
Audio
Games (10 games)
Business & News
I found eleven additional programs under the Video section that I did not find when going channel by channel.
Simple is Best
Shoten
Suberanai Hanashi
Just for Laughs Gags
Frasier
Virtual Trip
Pingu
Baby TV
Santa Claus is comin’ to town
Around China
On the Road
With about 1:30 to go, we were served vanilla ice cream and juice, plus tea or coffee with a moist towelette in a plastic casing.
I started to run out of battery so I ended the transaction.
We landed on a cloudy afternoon in Singapore, but it was a beautiful sight to see teh city on landing. The beaches were awesome as well.
It was 5:05p when we arrived at the gate. I got my stuff together and departed the airplane.
Singapore Changi International Airport (SIN)
I headed for the Singapore Airlines Transfer Desk in Terminal 2 immediately. I had to take the quick train from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2.
I took a number and was serviced efficiently after a few phone calls about the ticket, etc. I was then told to return at 7:50p to be possibly assigned a seat.
I don't think I will have an opportunity to blog again until I arrive in Sydney on Dec. 27, 2008 at 7a, but we will see.
Tick, tock...
I made a quick entry at a free kiosk just outside the Transfer Desk, to let you all know what is going on. I then walked around until I found some really cool desk for laptop users. They have power cables, typically every country is represented except Australia in terms of plugs. I then got wireless Internet acess for the following rates:
Plans available:
1) S$6 per ½ hour
2) S$8 per hour (+10mins bonus, total 70 mins)
3) S$12 per 2 hours * Promotion valid till 31 Dec 2007.
Before sitting down, I took a video of the plane at the gate not being serviced as yet. I'll add a photo as well.
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