Flying: Tigerair A320 Singapore to Guangzhou 2016

Usually I wouldn’t want to recount a flight on a budget carrier, as they are usually unmemorable (unless it’s my first time flying them), especially not on this Tigerair flight, since I have flown it no less than a dozen times when visiting my grandparents in China. However, quite a few things have happened by the time I got my boarding pass that I changed my mind.

There was no train service in the wee hours and hence a cab would be the only option of getting to Changi. While trying to book a cab on GrabTaxi, somwhow I just decided to try my luck using GrabCar instead. Usually I find it difficult to get a car at such awkward hours but today there was 4~6 cars within 2km.

We pulled over at terminal 2 right in front of gate 6, and at 5:12AM, there was only 3 minutes to spare before I miss the 45 minutes cut-off for check-in. Thankfully, the staff mannning the crowd let me skip the queue. Phew. I thought this was a really nice gesture, after multiple negative publicity of people missing the cut-off by just a few minutes on other budget carriers.

It was only when I started to check my details on the boarding pass that I realised I have assigned seat 1C. Woah! I mean, on a full service carrier this is nothing special, but with budget carriers typcially charging a fee for seat selection and a hefty premium for seats with extra legroom (in this case SGD 35), getting a first row seat is like a free lunch, hehe.

There was no queue in front of the automated immigration gantries and with a few minutes to spare, I even managed to grab a hot breakfast from McDonald’s before heading down to gate F54, which is a lot nearer than gate F60, which I used the last time when travelling to Hong Kong on Scoot.

Tigerair 2986

Singapore (SIN) – Guangzhou (CAN)
Tuesday, Jun 14 2016
Depart: 6:00AM
Arrive: 9:55AM
Duration: 3hr55min
Aircraft: Airbus 320
Seat: 1C

By the time I arrived at the gate, the boarding has already begun. In fact, the boarding lounge is largely empty, with only a few passengers clearing security. So I quickly gobbled down my McMuffin and boarded the plane, which was having a fairly ful load for such an early morning flight.

Somehow I had a feeling that on this flight, there were way more Chinese passengers than Singaporean ones. Either there are just that many tourists visiting Singapore (which I don't think was the case given official statistics) or Tigerair does a great job selling tickets through travel agents in China.

I guess a big bonus of sitting at the front would be the opportunity to take a peep at the cockpit.

The captain came on the PA at 5:57AM, welcoming all passengers aboard and announcing a flight time of 3hr52min, which he expect would bring us into Guangzhou on schedule. Usually I struggled to catch the captain's address, though this time round he was exceptionally clear and detailed.

At 6:00AM the cabin door was closed, and we pushed-off a minute later, however we had a fairly long taxi before taking off at 6:19AM after an ANA plane.

I quickly fell asleep after takeoff, since I woke up really early to catch this flight, though this time round I managed to wake-up to witness the sun-rise from the right side of the plane.

To be fair the picture does not do the view full justice.

I was a little hungry after filling up the Chinese immigration card, despite the McBreakfast before departure, and ordered a beef curry meal (SGD 12).

Well, to be fair the crew was quite helpful and served the meal even though it was less than an hour to landing. And the meal was served piping hot from the oven, though that was the few compliments I can pay to the meal service. Even judging by economy standards, this was a subpar meal, with the rice clumped tightly and the beef being too tough to chew. Sometimes it takes a meal like this to remind passengers to grab another serving at McDonald's before heading to the gate.

Nevertheless it was a nice gesture for the crew to serve drinks along with a glass of ice.

Soon after I am done with the food the captain announced the descent into Guangzhou, and we landed a little behind schedule at 10:06AM, followed by a short taxi before arriving at the gate at 10:13AM.

I had a slightly longer than usual wait at the luggage carousel, with the first bags coming out after nearly half an hour of waiting, without considering time spent clearing immigration and quarantine checks. Similarly, custom inspections took longer than usual, as all passengers are required to be checked instead of random checks in the past.