Short review
Lounge (The Esplanade in Jakarta): 3/5
Cabin: 4/5
Service: 4/5
Food and beverages: 4.5/5
Pros:
- Great service overall
Cons:
- Basic lounge in Jakarta
Long review
This journey was a continuation from my Yogyakarta experience. You can read my Virgin Australia flight review here and my stay in Novotel Yogyakarta here.
Now this flight, Singapore Airlines SQ959, was less than 2 hours, making this route one of the shortest first class routes in the world. It left Jakarta at 14:10 and arrived in Singapore at 17:00. My journey began in the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport Terminal 2. In one end of the terminal I saw a priority check-in for Singapore Airlines. When I approached the staff, I was directed to get my boarding pass from the first class counter in front of the priority check-in.
After obtaining my boarding pass, I was back to the priority check-in area. Behind the desk, apparently there was passport control. Since I was the only one there, the immigration process took me less than 1 minute. From there, a staff accompanied me through the Premier Lounge to go to the Esplanade Lounge. I believe the Premier Lounge is for KrisFlyer Elite Gold and Star Alliance Gold members, while the Esplanade Lounge is for Singapore Airlines First and Business class passengers and PPS Club members. The lounge itself has two sections for first class and business class passengers respectively. There’s a walkway inside the lounge that connects these two sections though. I didn’t see much difference between the two in terms of their appearances.
The lounge itself was rather underwhelming compared to other first class lounges that I have visited or read about. There are sitting areas, 3 work stations in one corner and a small bar in another corner. There’s a ceiling height window on one side of the lounge overlooking nothing really. The food was quite delicious actually. All of them were Asian-style food though. A lounge staff told me that laksa was also available in the business class lounge and he happily brought one to my table. It’s quite tasty even though it’s not spicy (hey, they rhyme!). I ordered a glass of red wine as well and it’s also nice. I must add that alcoholic drinks were not displayed, but they are available. You need to ask the lounge staff for one. The lounge was busier than I though it would be, but there were still plenty of seatings available when I came in. It became quieter about 15 minutes before my boarding time.
When boarding was called, it only took me about 10 minutes to enter the aircraft from the lounge. The plane was B777-300 and had old first-class seats. There were 8 seats in first class arranged in 2 rows. The row configuration was the typical 1-2-1, giving direct access to the aisle for every passenger. Obviously this feature is a must in first class and has become common even in business class. There were 5 first class passengers including myself.
The seat was wide and comfortable. I disliked the head rest though because it kept coming down to my upper back if I didn’t rest my neck on it. The seat could be converted to a fully flat bed but I didn’t have time to try it since the flight was too short.
Welcome drink and a hot towel were offered. As usual I chose champagne for my welcome drink. The light lunch menu was essentially a piece of paper placed initially on a table in every seat. There were 3 choices of main: nasi padang (Indonesian food), imperial braised chicken with sliced ginseng, vegetables and egg noodles (Singaporean/Chinese food), and grilled beef fillet in black pepper sauce with green bean, baby carrot and gratin potato (western food). I chose the braised chicken. There was only 1 dessert, cream cheese dome with raspberry. Oh yes, amenity bag was not provided for this route.
The meal service began very soon after the take off. The food came on a tray, while in a longer flight, normally they serve the dishes one by one. The food itself was tasty and I cleaned everything even after a lunch in the lounge.
Imperial braised chicken with sliced ginseng, vegetables and egg noodles
After meal, a flight attendant requested me to fill in a satisfaction questionnaire which I complied. It’s a bit hard to evaluate their service in such a short flight, but overall their offering met my expectations. I spent the remaining of the time watching a movie and not long after we touched down in Singapore.
I only stayed for one night in Singapore. I had a medium-sized bag and a relatively large package. I needed my bag, but I didn’t want to carry the package. Since I would be flying in first class again the following morning with Singapore Airlines, I tried to check-in the package. The check-in was happy to comply even though I was in Terminal 2 and my flight would be in Terminal 3 the following day. Stay tuned for more Singapore Airlines first class review.
