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Flight Review: Singapore Airlines – Saigon to Sydney via Singapore

September 26, 2017 By James Clark Leave a Comment

Flight Review: Singapore Airlines – Saigon to Sydney via Singapore

Flight: Singapore Airlines SQ 177
From: Ho Chi Minh City (SGN) To: Singapore (SIN)

Flight: Singapore Airlines SQ 221
From: Singapore (SIN) To: Sydney (SYD)

I flew with Singapore Airlines from Saigon to Sydney (via Singapore, of course). I compared flights with Skyscanner and Singapore Airlines had the best price range and times for my needs.

Skyscanner

There are two direct flights between Saigon and Sydney, by Vietnam Airlines and Jetstar. Jetstar often have cheap deals if you book in advance, while Vietnam Airlines charge a premium for their direct service.

There were some cheaper flights on Jetstar, but I found return flights for $616 USD, which is an amazing deal.

Payment

It might have been that the fare was so cheap that there weren’t many seat options when I tried to select a seat online. I didn’t select a seat and waited until I got to the airport.

Singapore Airlines SIN-SYD seat selection

Checking in at SGN I was able to select my preferred seats (window for short-haul, and aisle for long-haul).

Departure lounge

Singapore Airlines at SGN.

Singapore Airlines at SGN

Free newspapers and earbuds if you need them.

Free newspapers

Escaping a rainy season downpour in Saigon.

Rainy season in Saigon

Singapore Airlines use 777 and A330 aircraft for flights around Asia. Smaller cites are served by SilkAir – the regional brand of Singapore Airlines. There will soon be 787 and A350 in service, making it a young fleet.

Singapore Airlines fleet age

Todays flight was on a B777-200ER, which according to this information it might have been the last 777 not to be retrofitted.

777-200 fleet

I guessed it was an older model as the TV screen looked like one of the earlier personal inflight entertainment units.

Inflight screen

To give you an idea of how small the screen was, here is my Samsung Galaxy 8 in comparison.

Galaxy S8 vs old screen

Not that it mattered anyway as the flight time is about 90 minutes, so not even enough time to watch a movie. This was the second time this month I had flown from SGN to SIN with SIA, and the previous flight was on a younger A330.

SGN-SIN route

Silverkris – the inflight magazine of Singapore Airlines.

Silverkris October 2017

Even thoguh there was another week to go in September they had the October edition of Silverkris and the Krisworld inflight entertainment guide. I was reading this in anticipation of the Sydney flight, not realising that these movies weren’t going to be available.

Krisworld Oct 2017

The extensive route map of Singapore Airlines.

Singapore Airlines route map

With a 12.30pm departure time, this is a lunch service, and a full meal is served on all Singapore flights.

Lunch

Flight 177 is scheduled to arrive at 15.19. There are several flights a day between SGN and SIN, and SIN and SYD, so when you book you are presented with different combinations of those flights. As the Sydney flight was arriving in the morning it didn’t really matter to me what time the day flight from Saigon was, so I ended up picking a flight which gave me a 5-hour layover at Changi.

Singa 777

Finding your way around Changi is easy enough. If you have time you can walk all the way from T2 to T3.

T2 to T3

Or get the shuttle train.

Singapore Changi Airport Skytrain

Flights to Australia are from T3 but check before changing terminals.

Singapore Changi Airport - Singapore Airlines terminals

I like transiting in Changi so I figured I would give myself time to have some Singaporean food and do some work at the airport while watching planes take off. If you are departing from Terminal 3 be sure to check out the food court, which would put most airport food around the world to shame.

T3 food court

Flight SQ 221 departs Singapore at 20.20 and arrives in Sydney at 5.47 the next morning.

Newspapers

This flight was on an A380. When you book you can see what type of aircraft will be used for the flight.

Singapore Airlines A380-800

Compared to my last flight this has a more modern entertainment unit.

Galaxy S8 vs A380 screen

Economy seats are in a 3-4-3 configuration.

A380 seats - economy

On this overnight flight and amenities kit of toothbrush-toothpaste and socks are provided.

Amenities kit

Flying through the night to Sydney.

SIN-SYD route map

A welcome drink and peanuts.

Welcome drink

The September 2017 edition of Silverkris.

Silverkris - September 2017

And the correct September edition of Krisworld – the inflight entertainment guide.

Krisworld September 2017

A menu for the evenings flight is provided.

Economy menu

Dinner is served not long after take off. I got the oriental chicken rice.

Oriental chicken rice

And an ice cream is served after dinner.

Ice Cream

I’ve never been able to sleep on overnight flights so I rarely try to. Sometimes I will try for 15 minutes then get agitated, so I settle in for a movie marathon.

Whenever I return to Australia I always go “home” to Melbourne. On this occasion I was flying to Sydney for a work project. I checked the airshow to see that the flight was not on the usual course that I was used to. It took me a few seconds to remember that I was flying to Sydney.

Over Australia

The scheduled flying time is 7H, 11M though actual flying time is less than that. For such a flight time a light breakfast is served before arriving instead of a full meal. Breakfast was a muffin and bread roll, plus fruit and drink.

Singapore Airlines breakfast bread and muffin

The flight arrived on time in the early hours of the morning, with the sun rising on the horizon as we landed.

Singapore Airlines A380 at Sydney Airport

Overall this was another good flight with Singapore Airlines. Being based in Southeast Asia I like to fly with them whenever possible for long haul flights.

Filed Under: Flight Review Tagged With: australia, singapore, singapore airlines, sydney

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James Clark from Nomadic Notes

Hi, I’m James Clark, and I've been travelling the world since 2003 while running a location independent travel business. Nomadic Notes is a travel blog featuring travel guides and notes from my travels.

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