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40 - Sunday, February 9, 1992 - North Shore News

Swing your feet up on Singapore Airlines

WHEN THE Bocing 747
first took to the air, it was
without passengers in the
upper deck.

David
Wishart

TRAVEL TIPS

This was the lounge for first-
class passengers, who could stroll
from their cabin in the nose of the
aircraft and climb a winding stair-
case.

Here was a bar, easy chairs,
toilet with a chic cologne, and a
usually-open cockpit door enabl-
ing passengers to saunter up front
and check that the pilot was fol-
lowing the right railway tracks.

Even Wardair in its charter days
had a lounge area upstairs where
passengers used to party to
Honolulu and back. (Continental
has something even better today
with its pub-in-the-sky DC-10
flights to Hawaii).

The huge jump in fuel prices,
prompted by the Arabs’ decision
to trade in their camels for Fer-
raris, caused airlines to shuffie the
so that these days every

seat in the upper deck is a
money-earner.

Along the way Boeing has built
several models of the Boeing 747,
including the 100 and 200 series,
which have the same upper deck.

They were followed by the 300
and the 400 series with an ex-
panded upper deck.

Some very smart airlines have
put 32 to 40 big seats in the ex-
panded upper decks and made it a
superb non-smoking Odusiness
class,

KLM is one; I first tried this
cabin on a flight from Amsterdam
to Nairobi. The non-stop was one
of the most comfortable flights
I’ve ever made.

KLM now offers this configura-
tion out of Vancouver, eastbound
to Amsterdam, and so does
Singapore Airlines in its service to
Seoul and Singapore.

The upper-deck business class
cabin has a lot going for it. For a
start, it has the size and solid feel
of a private railway car.

There is not a sea of heads all
around, and there is no danger of
being trapped in a centre seat, as
can happen in a downstairs
business class.

Seating is two on each side with
a centre aisle. There are lockers
for hanging garment bags,
everhead lockers and also large
bins located between the fuselage
and the window seat.

This not only adds to vast
potential for carry-on luggage,
but the window-side bins are ideal
for passengers who like to spread
out.

During waking hours the bin lid
serves as a side table for drinks,
paperwork, your coloring book
(after 10 hours in the air what else
makes sense?) so you don’t have
to find a place for everything
when getting up from your seat.

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TRAVEL

Photo submitted

ACLUB-LIKE atmosphere reigns in the Boeing upper deck of Singapore Airlines.

At night time the bin is
brilliant. First you open the big
bag of goodies as dispensed by
Singapore Airlines’ flight atten-
dants. .

You select the sockettes, slip
them on, put your seat way back,
and swing your feet up. Yes, there
is a built-in footrest, but this is
far better.

Getting as close to horizontal is
the secret of rest on an aircraft, or
anywhere for that matter. It’s so
good, in fact, that upper deck
passengers have no reason to envy
the first-class cabin.

And there is a huge difference
in cost. First-class roundtrip be-
tween Vancouver and Singapore is
$5,594, while business class is
$3,466. Economy starts at $1,519.

The service on Singapore
Airlines business class is also
something worth writing home
about.

The flight attendants, the
women in elegant Balmain gowns,
attend to passengers with a deli-
cate charm that is natural as well
as carefully honed in aircraft
mock-ups at Singapore Airlines’
training centre at home base.

The trans-Pacific flight is
shorter than many, making a wel-
come stop at Seoul, although the
transit lounge there could use a
decent bar and some better shops.

Then to Singapore, and a late
evening arrival, just right for fall-
ing into bed.

The next day you'll awake
ready to explore this remarkable
city-state where they don’t like
drugs or chewing gum (death
penalty for the former only), and
love golf. This tiny island has 17
courses.

That, however, is another story.

soaks co eee