Just a quick report on the new first and business class which I have now experienced. As I posted when the new Singapore Airlines product was launched, the key feature is width. The seats are very wide, as are the screens.

The first seat is like a supersized skysuite (747 first class seat on Singapore Airlines). I found the seat very comfortable if not a bit too slippery – I ended up using 3 pillows to wedge myself into the seat, somewhat unsuccessfully. The huge screen is a bit disappointing as the movies and programs are not in wide-screen format thus look a bit odd.

The business seat (no longer called Raffles) is also comfortable. I had good fortune to get a bulkhead seat – it looked like the others could be claustraphobic despite the width thanks the the design.

The IFE had a few bugs, as any new system does. It was a little slow to respond, but not as slow as Air New Zealand’s avod for example. I thought the 2x and 3x fast forward was a nice improvement, but the Cathay Pacific and Air New Zealand 2x, 4x and 8x work better. The menu was simple and intuitive. I missed the time remaining that the older Wisemen systems showed when pausing, fast forwarding or reversing. I hope they can add this.

The bathrooms are nice and stylish. The first one is huge (for an airline bathroom) with throne facing forward. A minor design flaw is to have the cloth towels above the tissues, meaning the open tissue can get dripped on.

The food is much the same, but the cutlery, crockery and glassware have changed. I liked the new plating for satay.

Gotta dash.

Musings of the Global Traveller
Thoughts, advice and travel news from around the world by a seasoned frequent flyer.

Wishing all my readers a happy festive season and all the best for the new year. Travel far, travel wide and travel well.

PS. While I am taking some time off I will be continuing to post over the holidays.

Musings of the Global Traveller
Thoughts, advice and travel news from around the world by a seasoned frequent flyer.

Despite not being able to get any work done I decided against sleeping the few hours until my next flight – that way there is no chance I’ll oversleep and miss the flight. The last of the flights for the night has long departed and most of the handful of lounge users are trying to sleep. So it came as a surprise to hear a few calls over the PA.

Musings of the Global Traveller
Thoughts, advice and travel news from around the world by a seasoned frequent flyer.

Filling in time in between flights (the work I intended to do kept crashing ), I was reminded by a post by Muse of Fire that Qantas and Emirates are rolling out onboard phone service early next year. Perhaps there could be a phone section in the hold? I’m still not looking forward to it.

Musings of the Global Traveller
Thoughts, advice and travel news from around the world by a seasoned frequent flyer.

On my original travel plans I would now be caught up in the mess of London’s fog flight disruptions – already 3 days of massive cancellations and delays, and looking like it will be another 3 or more days before flights return to normal. Fortunately for me my plans changed.

I can but imagine the chaos in the busy travel period that is the lead up to Christmas. Hopefully most get to where they need to be in time.

The best thing for those caught up in it is to keep yourself informed and be aware of options available to you. Do you really need to take that trip? Can you take the train a day early instead? Can you rebook on another airline? If transitting through a London airport can you connect at a mainland europe airport instead?

Best wishes.

Musings of the Global Traveller
Thoughts, advice and travel news from around the world by a seasoned frequent flyer.

In an earlier post I mentioned that British Airways had changed it’s seat selection policy. BA has now clarified that one world sapphire and emerald elite members should have access to the same seats as BA Executive Club silver and gold members respectively. It may take a bit longer for the IT systems to resolve this.

Musings of the Global Traveller
Thoughts, advice and travel news from around the world by a seasoned frequent flyer.

Thanks to a Flyer Talk thread discussing current delays and cancellations in the UK for freezing fog, I found a website that has lots of useful airport weather information for many airports all around the world, allmetsat.com.

For example, right now at Denver International Airport the weather is “heavy snow and blowing snow and freezing fog” – so I’d expect major disruption to air traffic. The forecast shows improvement tomorrow. This info is taken off official airport weather reports and forecasts but with the codes translated into english to make it easy to read.

I’ve also learned that Great Circle Mapper has some weather information if you search on airport information.

Musings of the Global Traveller
Thoughts, advice and travel news from around the world by a seasoned frequent flyer.

It isn’t only passengers that are unhappy with airline fuel surcharges. A group of Australian travel agents are suing several airlines for lost commissions. (Source SMH) One of the arguments used relates to fair trading (Australian Trade Practices Act), which if successful should be good news for most passengers.

Musings of the Global Traveller
Thoughts, advice and travel news from around the world by a seasoned frequent flyer.

The Australian newspaper is reporting the sale of Qantas on a rebid by private equity buyers less than 24 hours after their first bid was rejected.

Watch for lots of changes to Qantas. Slightly worrying, Macquarie which owns Sydney airport will now have a significant stake in the airport’s biggest (by far) customer.

Musings of the Global Traveller
Thoughts, advice and travel news from around the world by a seasoned frequent flyer.

From late March 2007, Australia will adopt the new EU rules against liquids in carry-ons.

The fact they have announced the introduction of a security policy to take effect in 3 1/2 months time highlights just how much of a farce this is. Obviously there is no real risk since if there was it would be implemented immediately (or indeed already).

Musings of the Global Traveller
Thoughts, advice and travel news from around the world by a seasoned frequent flyer.