flight-review – Hooked On Points

As stated in the previous post, the flight was departing from the new remote and you had to take the underground train over.

People were already lined up by the time I got to the gate. From the perspective of the picture below, I was standing in the premium boarding line with no separate F line and the right side was non premium passengers. As you can tell, that line was MUCH shorter. Once boarding started, the premium line moved fairly quickly.

Was welcomed aboard by the male purser and pointed in the direction of my seat.

Amenity kit and cold towelette was waiting at the seat

I will say this up front – I set my expectations too high and I was disappointed by the service. It took 15 minutes before a member of the cabin crew came by to welcome me and this was a sign of lacklustre service to come during the flight. They were not rude in any way but it just lacked polish and attentiveness when compared with my previous SQ flights. As foreshadowing, my upcoming QR J flight was so much better in terms of service from the cabin crew.

While I was waiting for someone to come by, I took pictures of the menu.

One of the other cabin crew members came by to welcome me and asked if I wanted a PDB – just went with OJ.

Followed by a date and arabic coffee

Safety video by Kevin Hart was playing and it was hilarious! 😀

Missing the flower 🙁

Was poking around the seat and oops, somethings wrong here. LOL

The line up for take off was ridiculously long and I counted 15 planes passing us by towards the runway before it was our turn.

Finally, we were off

Service began quickly after the seat belt sign came off.

Caviar and Balik Salmon to start – delicious

Amuse bouche – meh

Lobster with jumbo crab

Grilled lamb chops and chicken kofta – dry

I dont think I had dessert because I dont have a picture and I looked back at the menu and went “Hey, I dont think I tried any of those” 🥲

Went to change into PJs and one of the crew made up the seat into a bed …. Which was actually just putting a seat cover and walking away …

Went down for a nap and I was so groggy when I woke up around 30 minutes prior to landing due it being a short-ish flight.

Cold towel to get me out of my foggy state

My next stop 😀

Next up – Qatar Airways Business Class – Doha to Washington DC

Kicked off birthday celebrations with dinner one day before flying out. Mountain of delicious lobster for me!

A gorgeous day to fly out of Canada’s worst airport – Pearson International (IYKYK). Found the TK check in desks at pier E aisle.

Even though the J line took 15 minutes, it was still faster than waiting in the Y line which was snaking through the roped lanes and spilling out and in front of the pier. One of the TK agents was trying his best to muster everyone into lines but was failing miserably through no fault of his own – people were just not listening and/or not caring. To add on to the chaos, the belt stopped working and bags had to be stored in a separate staging area to the side until the belt was fixed. Luckily, the bags made it onto the flight since I was tracking with iPhone airtags.

With the security formalities done fairly quickly and after the long walk to the international pier, I made my way to the AC ML lounge only to wait for 15 minutes to enter. Had a quick meal with choices being decent and killed an hour before heading to the gate.

Thank goodness I was not flying Air Satan today – many delays and/or cancellations. The flight to Dubai was cancelled due to the flooding but didnt know at the time. Hooray for cloud seeding.

Gate area was pure chaos with everyone lining up in every direction and from different angles – I just stood off to the side until the announcement for business class to board was called and then made my way (politely and gently as all Canadians do) through the horde.

Once on board, made my way into the mini cabin and the last row. The 777 plane has a 2-3-2 configuration and while it lacked privacy, it was really roomy and was more preferred over the A350 leg to MNL (more to come on this).

LOTS of leg space.

Menus were already at the seat.

A member of the cabin crew came around offering PDB’s and I went with the raspberry. Other choices were orange and lime.

Pushback was on time and after the long taxi to the furthest end of the airport, we rocketed off into the night sky.

Mood lighting

Cabin crew came by later with a hot towel and beverage choice which was provided along with the meal choice before take off. There were two onboard chefs (one for each side) and it was an interesting interaction. The chef on my side came by to take our meal orders.

Chef: “Would you like the soup along with the other appetizer – yes or no?”

It was an interesting way to phrase the question and while it came across as abrupt, I understood that it was well intentioned. No harm done.
The crew also came by to put the bedding cover over everyone’s seat before the meal service started.