sjn2003

Just returned from 2 weeks in Sydney and we flew with Singapore and, as has been said on this site before, I was very impressed with the whole package:

- Check-ins queues were not long at Heathrow
- Air Stewardesses are lovely !
- Choice of 28 movies, TV, Games etc all on demand on individual tvs in economy
- food is really good
- 1.5hrs stopover in Singapore - just enough time to walk to next plane checking out the duty free
- Ticket prices tend to be at least as cheap as Qantas/ BA

We have a young baby and pre-booked the bulkhead seats with the baby bassinette - a must if travelling with under 2's. They give you either the middle section of the plane (rows 39 or 59 behind the galley) but better seats IMO are on row 31 which is three seats and one basinette and is immediately behind business. They have more legroom and you do not share the bulkhead with another basinette which could have a louder screaming baby than your own !! Definitely the choice if you are booking 3 seats and an infant.

Check out http://www.seatexpert.com/SQ744_1.html

They will provide baby food in jars etc which is good because we took food for the whole 21hrs flights but it started to look a bit manky after the first flight so wouldn't do it again. Be warned though, I saw the tray of food they provided for a 2yr old sat next to me - some good food but loads of chocolate on same tray. Guess what ! Kid didn't want to eat anything but the chocolate and then when he was e-numbered and sugared up, started to climb the walls and act up

They will also give you a bag with nappies,wipes,bibs and toys for babies which is cool.

So thumbs up for Singapore

Paul & Shar

Hi

Thanks for your post, the info about seats and basinettes will help us.

Although we have flown Singapore Airlines numerous times and totally agree with you about service etc, we are doing it in December with our new baby and your info on seat no.s etc will really help.

At what point did / can you ring and request those seats?
and what number did you ring?

Thanks

Shar

N&S

Thanks for the advice.

We flew with Emirates when we visited OZ. I thought they were fantasic. This was in the days before our son came along..... what did we do with our time before kids?!

I'll certainly consider Singapore when hopefully we book our flights for NZ.

irishmolly

Hi,

How do you pre-book the seats ? do you have any contact telephone number for Singapore Airlines as we would like to do the same as you guys.

Any help appreciated - thanks.

Don

Singapore are generally excellent, they did the Christchurch-Singapore (return) part of our ticket and really impressed with the cabin girls & service (drinks/ food/ anything/ kids), clean plane, hardware (not that we used it much), food goodish too.

Much better than the Lufthansa dragongirls and Lufthansa relic planes!

The Thorpes

Hi

You can e-mail them and get it done at:

[email protected]

We've just done ours and pre-booked the kids meals too all by e-mail.


Sam

Elaine M

Hi all,

I completely agree about Singapore airlines being really good, both in general and specifically with kids.

Just a couple of points though from our experience:

Double check that your seats and bassinette are confirmed; we were at check in at Manchester next to a family who thought they'd booked a bassinette through their travel agent. Turned out it was down as a "request" and as all the bassinettes for that flight were booked out and confirmed, they didn't get one.

I'd recommend confirming direct with the airline as has already been suggested.

Also, bear in mind that the bassinettes are only suitable for babies less than around 13 kilos. My grandson had his first birthday during our validation trip and weighed around 12 kilos. On one leg the bassinette was a pretty tight squeeze for him. As they're not allowed to sit up in them, only lie down, if they're wriggling and not ready to sleep you may still have your baby on your lap for a good proportion of the journey.

But the cabin staff couldn't have been more helpful;the supplied snacks and biscuits in between meals when he was fidgety, and by the end of the flight they all knew his name and several came to say goodbye to him before we landed.

Elaine M

Paul & Shar

Hi Elaine,
Thanks for the info just wondered how long before your flight should book/ confirm seats and basinette?

I can remember the agent saying she would REQUEST a basinette so am a bit worried now that I need to get this sorted as it's to long a flight to not have somewhere to put baby down!!

Thanks, any help appreciated.

Shar

Elaine M

Hi Shar,

I'd confirm as soon as you can to make sure, as there are only a few available on each flight. I checked with the travel agent a couple of months before we went, and found that it wasn't confirmed for one leg of our journey, but they sorted it for us. I then checked with the airline (I was emailing about something else, and just asked in passing) to be completely sure.

When and where are you going?

Elaine M

Vegemite Kids

Arrrrrgh - Lufthansa. Dont even think about it !!!!!! Avoid like the plague.

gedge

Couldn't agree more - Singapore are superb on all counts. Had bad experiences with BA and Qantas (cramped seats and surly staff, why won't they smile )

Love the link to seatexpert.com, will be using that all the time now. Is it usual to request a particular seat?
Anyone got any good excuses?

sjn2003

Tel reservations on 0870 608 8886. Definitely ring to confirm for all legs of the flight and returns as your travel agent will probably only 'put in a request'. Personally, I would change flights if there was no basinette available.

sjn2003

Our son is 9mths old (no idea what he weighs) and he fits with about 6ins to spare when lying down. I did see some much bigger kids squeezed into basinettes though!

We had no problems with our son sitting up in the basinette for much of the flight playing with his toys - it only becomes a problem if he is at risk of falling out as you would both end up wearing that lovely thai chicken curry they do for dinner

Don

Likewise, our 1 year old sat up and nobody told us off. Plus our 3 year old insisted on having a go in the basinette as well (15/16kgs) and was able to squeeze in but comfortable to sit up in. I know the theoretical limit is about 13kgs but I reckon the breaking strain would be at least 25 kgs.

Swaffy

[QUOTE]Originally posted by sjn2003

- Air Stewardesses are lovely !


Really hubs - never mentioned that to me!