British Airways - Boston - Singapore - My impression

I caught a flight from Boston - Singapore on British Airways via London Heathrow airport. This is not the first time I am on this flight, and I'd like to share my experience on the trip.

Firstly, I would like to point out that this journey is slightly more expensive than flying from Boston to Singapore through the West Coast, however when you take airlines like China Eastern Airlines, Malaysian Airlines or even United that goes near China, you will find that much of the flight is filled with many Chinese Nationals which will make you feel uncomfortable. I've experienced on every flight that passes through Shanghai that people go to toilets with the doors open.

The flight from Boston to London is rather pleasant. The people are rather orderly and not overly excited to get on the plane. The seat size and luggage space is decent, after all its a B747.

I have not much complains except that the food is pretty bad. But since it was a short flight, it was fine, and I got dinner at Heathrow.

As Heathrow Airport is one of the busiest in the world, it is efficient in many ways, however, I do not like it very much as they still use buses to transport people between terminals, which I do not feel it is safe as it does not seem hard to stray away from bus area to get to the planes.

The terminals are separated and not accessible much but by the buses and lots of walking. The staff at the counters at British Airways are not terribly friendly as well. My flight got delayed for 12 hours, and there was not even any notice by the British Airways staff to inform the passengers of the delay. The airport sigh says flight delayed to 9am, and if you don't look closely, you will not notice as the flight was for 9pm.

After going to the transfer counter, the staff gave me a note to go to the Qantas staff and they have a bus to bring me to a Hotel to accommodate me for the night. Again, the location of the counter is far away, and rather hard to navigate. When I finally arrived, there was again, going from arrival to departure to arrival and much back and fourth.

The hotel that they put me in is Park Inn Hotel inn Heathrow. It is about 10 minutes from the airport, and a pretty nice hotel. It seems like 50% of the time I transfer in London, I end up at this hotel as the planes failed to fly off on time.

However, in the morning, after another 1 hour delay, my flight to Singapore was ready, and it is a Qantas Codeshare flight and its a A380. QF010

The flight was orderly unlike domestic US flight where everyone brings their huge luggage on board. On this flight, everyone was normal. The old ladies spoke in their strong British accent and were courteous and enjoy their tea. On the flight, the touchscreen was pretty enjoyable, it was a skycam which shows you the top view of the A380, which during take off, makes you feel that it is "too heavy" to fly, but miraculously manages to take off.

Other than that, there was nothing special about the A380. The flight was bigger, but it simply packed more people in the 2 levels on the plane. I've previously flew business on the A380 and it is much more spacious than economy, but not much more special compared to the 747-400.

Overall, I would say that going from Boston to Singapore through London, would be a very pleasant experience if not for the 13 hour flight delay which makes me arrive in Singapore at 6:30am, one of the worst time as the Taxi's charge you extra for peak hour charges, and you get stuck in the terrible morning rush hour.

-- Robin Low

Heathrow Airport

Leaving Boston

Dinner on British Airways

Arriving at Heathrow

Heathrow Airport

China Eastern Airlines (SIN - JFK)

Flight: MU 568 Singapore - Pudong (Shanghai)
Flight: MU 587 Pudong - New York (JFK)

At a glance, this is the cheapest flight form Singapore - New York. The cost is about US$1400 which is about $400 cheaper than the other flights. As I was saving up for a camera lens, I decided to fly this as I have enough miles on China Eastern to upgrade to business class on the latter flight.

Initially, I booked at several other webpages, and all of the bookings seemed to be cancelled. I wanted to book with Singapore webpages, Zuji and Asiatravels.sg, however for the same (cheapest flight) the cost is S$150 more than the US sites. Hence, I decided to try the other sites, and eventually, with Orbitz, the order got through.

The flight was however far from satisfactory, but at $400 cheaper, I decided to try. Firstly there was a 14 hour stop over at Shanghai, this allowed me to meet a friend and go around the EXPO area again.

It was strange how many passengers on the airlines are just so eager to get on board, from the beginning, this flight to JFK (New York) seemed to be a nightmare. The flight attendants of China Eastern cannot seem to control the crowd. The boarding was very chaotic, and everyone seemed to be fighting to get on board. On the plane, the passengers do not seem to know where to sit. I had a person in my seat because there was someone in his seat, and someone else in his seat...

Nonetheless, the flight took off on time. On the flight, I requested for water after 30 minutes in the air, and the air stewardess was no where to be found. 30 minutes later, they started serving water, and for the initial few people in front, they seem to get beer and other beverages, however, when they came to me, there was no more beer and orange juice, just apple juice and coke.

Then dinner came, and again beef rice was out, and chicken noodles was what's left, and indeed, it is inedible. The fruits are soggy and food is simply nasty. They ran out of beverages, and they only have water and tea. I requested for playing cards, and they are out of that too. This is simply insane!

When I arrived in Shanghai, I met my friend for dinner and we travelled around the EXPO site and had dinner, later I checked into a motel. It was a decent motel for $60, but there is no internet access. I was quite glad to have this break in my flight for a nap, and it may prove to be very good. 2 showers amd a breakfast, it may seem all worthwhile.

The second leg of my flight is from Shanghai to New York. The plane is much bigger and the business class is much more spacious compared to economy. In business class, the food however is as miserable as before, and what I can simply call NASTY, hence I decided on my liquid meals, 6 beers, and they have only Bud light, but still, its better than crappy food. Surprisingly, in business class, the "China" people who fly seemed to be similar. As I was sitting near the toilet, I could say that 1 out of 2 people flush, and about 2 out of 3 knows how to lock the door. It was a very sad seat indeed when you hear people from the toilet trying to have a conversation with their friend outside.

I usually get a lot of sleep on flights, but this bunch of people are extremely noisy, the "real estate tycoon" beside me who boasts of 7 digit income per month and several mistresses around seemed very eager to share too much information, and show me his keys to the different cars he own, and one of them was a limited edition E63 AMG with Swarvoski Crystals embedded in the key. He also talked about his Cadalliac and his Audi R8 in Manhattan, I wonder where is there space to own a supercar?

The beers for each meal kept me going on, no food and simply light beer seemed to work so far. I'm really looking forward to meet my friends, and all the pain endured, and more pain to come (Metro, and probably bus from NYC to Boston) will be rewarded with good company.

Overall, the trip was indeed "Budget" and it feels like it, the meals are poor, and experience rather bad, but it felt safe and ok when you arrive. Do you think it is worth it?

-- Robin Low