trip-report – Hooked On Points

Singapore Airlines Suites Class – Frankfurt to Singapore

June 4, 2025Tagged business-class, first-class, singapore-airlines, star-alliance, travel, trip-reportLeave a comment

At 6pm, checked out and took the train back to the airport.

Wandered over to the C check in desks to spy on the SQ activity.

Security was as convoluted as it gets at FRA but eventually got through as well as immigration. Had a lot of time to kill before boarding, so wandered around. I did want to visit the AC MLL but it was closed.

Nice plane spotting.

The Condor livery is growing on me.

Only lounge choice left was the Senator lounge.

No complaints about the lounge as it was my first time experiencing it – felt big enough and separated into different sections. Not a lot of people were in the lounge during the time I was there and therefore felt roomier and peaceful.

Dining area

Was super hungry since I skipped lunch and was happy with the selections

The spa seems enticing …

T-60 and I made my way to the gate and found the gate lice.

There was an agent manning the Suites area and in typical Canadian fashion, I apologetically yet politely inquired if the line up was here. She responded with “you are welcome to board now!”. She undid the rope and let me know, scanned my BP and I was off towards the boarding tube.

I was welcomed onboard by the purser and handed off to the LSS who escorted me to my seat.

1A – the holiest … you know what I mean 😀

Staircase to heaven if you are boarding from the bottom level

Libis came by to introduce himself and asked if I wanted a PDB. Went with the Tattinger to start.

After downing the first glass, I snuck into the washroom to change into PJs.

When I got back to my seat, Libis poured round 2.

Perusing the menu while boarding was wrapping up.

The SIN to FRA menu which I honestly thought was way better than the FRA to SIN menu.

FRA to SIN section

Fast forward past take off and cabin crew got into action once the sign came from the captain. Served with some more Tattinger.

Show time

Round 3 but this time back to Cristal

Bit of a funny moment here when the LSS attempted to pour during a bumpy part of the flight and some of the delicious liquid spilled over to the floor.

Caviar to start

Caviar from China – I guess SQ doesnt purchase Russian anymore? Or never did?

Saw the trend, didnt understand it but YOLO

Should it be caviar on the top or bottom

Double boiled pork shank soup – Love a good broth

BTC Lobster Ballotine – meh but you know, lobster. Also, they didnt have Lobster Thermidor in the BTC selection which itself was quite poor ex FRA.

Finale – Buchette Cerise

After dinner, I requested the cabin crew to make the bed while I went to the washroom.

I set my alarm to wake me up in 3 hours but I was still groggy and went back down for another 3 hours LOL. After freshening up, I ordered a mid flight snack.

Egg noodles with Prawn

Massaman Moo

Raw dogging it until the next meal service.

With 2 hours to go, breakfast service started.

Fruits to start.

Cornflakes

Blueberry pancakes

Landing was butter and sadly did not get the iconic landing view over the strait.

Once last look before disembarking from the plane.

Next up – The Private Room

Turkish Airlines Business Class – Istanbul to Manila

July 31, 2024Tagged business-class, photography, travel, trip-report, trip-reportsLeave a comment

At T-60, I made the long trek to the gate as it was a good 15 minutes at a leisurely pace. IST is ridiculously large and the only negative thing about it is that there are no movators.

Really getting my steps in 😀

Got to the gate and boarding was underway. Despite a J line, everything got bottleneck in the long tunnel leading to the tubes.

The chariot.

Spied the J class tube and ducked in.

My seat for the next 10-ish hours. Same one used by SQ for intra Asia flights on their 787’s and 350’s.

Cabin crew came by offering PDB’s and went with OJ this time – very tasty.

Menu’s were provided shortly after.

Aircraft pushed back on time and we eventually whooshed our way into the night sky

Meal service started an hour after take off. Started with the smoked turkey, cheeses and veggies.

Followed by the poached eggs with shakshuka which was ok

We flew into a nice sunrise and it was good just watching the flight via the tail cam.

3 hours before landing, the next meal service started. Started with a small amuse bouche.

Followed by a cart of appetizers to choose from.

Creamy Avocado soup

Grilled lamb chops – delicious!

Finishing off with the eclair and bread/butter pudding – very good.

Landing in MNL

Parked at our assigned gate

Immigration was quick – was 10th in line and after the formalities, made my way to baggage claim. The bag was already on the belt by there. Was picked up by friends for the 5 minute drive round the bend to the Sheraton. Always loved the decor, vibe and hospitality here versus the Marriott next door. The check in agent asked if I wanted to go to the lounge for the formalities but I declined as I just wanted to get to my room – was “upgraded” to the club floor but I didnt care as I just wanted to get in for a shower and sleep.

Comfy for one night.

After a semi decent sleep, I woke up to a wonderful view – the wow factor for me is the airport views.

To wrap up on my TK experience – I have heard good things about it and I will agree to a certain extent. I set my expectations low for anything business class these days and I was not disappointed but I was also not wow-ed compared to SQ and QR. The cabin crew were good, professional and smiling. The food and drinks were delicious and the lounge experience was better than most (I’m looking at your Air Canada). The seat on this leg is just terrible for a long haul flight and felt a little tight when compared to other airlines with better business class seat products.

Turkish Airlines Business Class – Toronto to Istanbul

July 31, 2024Tagged business-class, flight-review, japan, travel, trip-reportLeave a comment

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.