Qatar Airways (QR638) SIN-DPS

I took Qatar Airways to Bali utilizing my Privilege Club miles which was about to expire in Dec-2012.  So I managed to get a confirm economy seat to Bali from for 25-28 Jan 2013.

The flight was using B777-300ER (B77L).  The flight registration is A7-BAA . 

Here are some pictures of the cabin and the meal served.

The cabin is clean with typical 3-3-3 configuration in economy cabin and the seat pitch is comfortable (I am 6"/180cm tall).  One thing I notice that the seat recline is quite good compare to other airlines (sorry no picture on this).  The In flight Entertainment is very good.  "Huge" screen for economy which is comparable to TG A380 or SQ A333/B777-300ER.   The selection may not be as good as SQ, but still quite decent.

 

 

 

 

The flight to DPS from SIN is about 2 hours flight and they food served for late afternoon flight was quite decent.  I think this is much better than the KLM meal service (see my other post about KLM).

 

This was the third time that I took QR flight to DPS since they launched it in early 2010.  The first 2 flights were on C class, which were very nice.  Economy class also not bad.  However, QR has increased the price between SIN-DPS significantly and they do not over daily flight compare to KLM.

 

Experience with KLM B777-300ER

I have not been flying with KLM since they have rerouted its AMS-CGK to AMS-KUL-CGK from AMS-SIN-CGK, which is quite some years ago.

Finally, I have an opportunity to fly with them again (16-19 March 2012) as their SIN-DPS-SIN is the cheapest that I can find for that period.   KLM has been flying AMS-SIN-DPS vv for almost a year now and indeed they have upgraded the second legs (SIN-DPS) to daily service now from 5 weekly service.


They are using their B777-300ER for that particular day, although I notice on some day, the equipment listed as B777-200.  And I was lucky that day the plan is the one with the SkyTeam Logo.  Registration : PH-BVD, with the name of "Nationaal Park Amboseli"

You need to be aware that you need to do self printing for the boarding pass as the check-in staff in Changi will not print the boarding pass for you.  If you have not printed the boarding pass at home, you need to go to the selfservice kiosk to print your boarding pass before heading to the service desk to get your document verified and drop your bag.  I was told that you still need to go to the service desk to get your document checked before proceeding to the Immigration.  I found the process is a bit stupid!

Another thing I chose the KLM flight because I want to see how tight is the 3-4-3 configuration in the B777-300.  All of the B777-300 that I have been are with 3-3-3 configuration.  Although the seat is ok, but the alley is rather narrow and very annoying if you seat on aisle as you may get bumped when people walking along the aisle

 

Pitch-wise is ok and I am 6" (180cm) tall.  IFE is quite fine with ok selection, but I do not like the location of the remote as it can be quite annoying during meal time.

 

The first 4 rows in this section of cabin is designated as Economy Comfort.  Personally I do not feel any different when I was seated on it on the DPS-SIN leg.  There is some "divider" between Eco Com\fort and normal Eco which again I found it a a bit weird.

Meal service is quite good for a short flight and seem it is pre-packed from AMS.

This is the plane that take me back on DPS-SIN.  

It was late due to late arrival from AMS.  We departed at 2300 instead of 2145.  the problem is very hard to get in touch with KLM office in DPS.  I have been trying to call their office in CGK and was told as far as they are concern the flight will depart as per schedule, although I had checked that the plane scheduled to arrive SIN late almost 1.5 hours.  I can only get the confirmation from KLM AMS via twitter which direct me to check their website.



Verdict
Will I fly KLM again?  May be not for long haul, but I will be happy to fly them again on SIN-DPS-SIN if the price is right