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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - This Ang Moh loves SIA and SIA girls....</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
Subscribe </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=msgtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="96%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msg vAlign=top><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgbfr1 width="1%"> </TD><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgF noWrap align=right width="1%">From: </TD><TD class=msgFname noWrap width="68%">kojakbt22 <NOBR>
</NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate noWrap align=right width="30%">Jan-10 11:08 pm </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT noWrap align=right width="1%" height=20>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname noWrap width="68%">ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 6) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft width="1%" rowSpan=4> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>5091.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Jan 11, 2009
THE EX-PAT FILES
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : start --></TD></TR><TR><TD>Great way to fly - or cry
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- Author --></TD></TR><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Mark Featherstone
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- show image if available --></TD></TR><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->While the differences between East and West may be diminishing, especially in this consumer paradise called Singapore, there is one stark disparity that I expect will never go away: the quality of the airlines.
Not long ago, I flew to Los Angeles via Hong Kong. The first leg of the trip was with Singapore Airlines (SIA) and was wonderful, not least because I had the choice of 40 or 50 movies to watch on the screen built into the back of the seat in front of me.
In Hong Kong, however, I had to board a United Airlines flight for the transpacific marathon. When I sat down, the only thing facing me was a tray table. A quick and horrified glance around the cabin identified a single, postage stamp of a screen located on the ceiling, a screen that would display a single movie for the entire cabin at a fixed time. And it was sure to be - shudder - a family film.
I felt a primal scream gestating somewhere deep in my throat. I must have stumbled through a portal into a nightmarish dimension consisting solely of ancient aviation technology. This was a biplane.
From that trip onwards, I vowed that I would never cross an ocean on anything except an SIA flight. To my everlasting sorrow, however, flying with them is not an option once you've touched down in North America.
Hence, for my recent trip back to Canada, I booked with Delta for the 90-minute hop from New York to Montreal.
The journey from Singapore through Frankfurt and on to JFK had been great. Good food, lots of movies and those exquisite gifts of God to Man - the Singapore Girls.
Singapore Girls are especially appreciated by a Canadian male since, through no fault of his own, he has often been obliged to fly with Air Canada.
Air Canada, following some misguided, politically correct, non-discriminatory policy, employs flight attendants from all walks of life. By that I mean that many of Air Canada's stewardesses are 'lifers', grandmothers who have long since stopped caring about your in-flight comfort and are just counting the peanut packets to retirement. There are no Singapore Grandmothers, for which I bow my head and give thanks.
Anyway, I arrived at JFK in good time for my connecting flight. I cleared Customs, collected my bag, changed terminals and, after a lengthy check-in, reached the gate and waited for Delta's boarding call. At about 2.20pm, well past the expected boarding time, a Delta employee announced that because a crew member could not be located - what?! - the flight to Montreal would be delayed until at least - AT LEAST - 3.30pm.
That was okay. No need to get upset. I was exceedingly jet-lagged, and could use the time to catch 40 winks. So that's what I did, rousing myself around 3pm and inquiring whether the Montreal flight was ready for boarding. The answer was that the flight had already been boarded and taken off.
Feeling like I had woken up in an episode of the Twilight Zone, I gaped, stammered and then babbled that the flight was not supposed to leave till 3.30pm. All I got for an answer from a woman who did not take the trouble to look at me was that I would have to re-book.
It's never pleasant when a grown man cries, especially when I am the grown man, so I swallowed hard and spent the following two hours re-booking onto the next flight.
After endless pacing, standing, sitting and pacing again, Delta called us for boarding almost an hour late. We then sat in the plane for another hour while they searched for a pilot to fly the damn thing. I'm not making this up.
I finally reached Montreal 12hours after landing at JFK. My bag was not so lucky. It arrived another 24 hours after that, just in time for me to hand out Christmas gifts.
As I write this from my hotel room in Montreal, I am acutely aware that I will have to face Delta one more time before sitting down on an SIA flight to go back home.
Oh Singapore Girl, West never seemed so far from East. The writer is a professor at the School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, and has lived in Singapore for two and a half years. He stays in Bukit Batok. His luggage stays where Delta sees fit.
[email protected]
</TD></TR><TR><TD> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
THE EX-PAT FILES
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : start --></TD></TR><TR><TD>Great way to fly - or cry
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- Author --></TD></TR><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Mark Featherstone
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- show image if available --></TD></TR><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->While the differences between East and West may be diminishing, especially in this consumer paradise called Singapore, there is one stark disparity that I expect will never go away: the quality of the airlines.
Not long ago, I flew to Los Angeles via Hong Kong. The first leg of the trip was with Singapore Airlines (SIA) and was wonderful, not least because I had the choice of 40 or 50 movies to watch on the screen built into the back of the seat in front of me.
In Hong Kong, however, I had to board a United Airlines flight for the transpacific marathon. When I sat down, the only thing facing me was a tray table. A quick and horrified glance around the cabin identified a single, postage stamp of a screen located on the ceiling, a screen that would display a single movie for the entire cabin at a fixed time. And it was sure to be - shudder - a family film.
I felt a primal scream gestating somewhere deep in my throat. I must have stumbled through a portal into a nightmarish dimension consisting solely of ancient aviation technology. This was a biplane.
From that trip onwards, I vowed that I would never cross an ocean on anything except an SIA flight. To my everlasting sorrow, however, flying with them is not an option once you've touched down in North America.
Hence, for my recent trip back to Canada, I booked with Delta for the 90-minute hop from New York to Montreal.
The journey from Singapore through Frankfurt and on to JFK had been great. Good food, lots of movies and those exquisite gifts of God to Man - the Singapore Girls.
Singapore Girls are especially appreciated by a Canadian male since, through no fault of his own, he has often been obliged to fly with Air Canada.
Air Canada, following some misguided, politically correct, non-discriminatory policy, employs flight attendants from all walks of life. By that I mean that many of Air Canada's stewardesses are 'lifers', grandmothers who have long since stopped caring about your in-flight comfort and are just counting the peanut packets to retirement. There are no Singapore Grandmothers, for which I bow my head and give thanks.
Anyway, I arrived at JFK in good time for my connecting flight. I cleared Customs, collected my bag, changed terminals and, after a lengthy check-in, reached the gate and waited for Delta's boarding call. At about 2.20pm, well past the expected boarding time, a Delta employee announced that because a crew member could not be located - what?! - the flight to Montreal would be delayed until at least - AT LEAST - 3.30pm.
That was okay. No need to get upset. I was exceedingly jet-lagged, and could use the time to catch 40 winks. So that's what I did, rousing myself around 3pm and inquiring whether the Montreal flight was ready for boarding. The answer was that the flight had already been boarded and taken off.
Feeling like I had woken up in an episode of the Twilight Zone, I gaped, stammered and then babbled that the flight was not supposed to leave till 3.30pm. All I got for an answer from a woman who did not take the trouble to look at me was that I would have to re-book.
It's never pleasant when a grown man cries, especially when I am the grown man, so I swallowed hard and spent the following two hours re-booking onto the next flight.
After endless pacing, standing, sitting and pacing again, Delta called us for boarding almost an hour late. We then sat in the plane for another hour while they searched for a pilot to fly the damn thing. I'm not making this up.
I finally reached Montreal 12hours after landing at JFK. My bag was not so lucky. It arrived another 24 hours after that, just in time for me to hand out Christmas gifts.
As I write this from my hotel room in Montreal, I am acutely aware that I will have to face Delta one more time before sitting down on an SIA flight to go back home.
Oh Singapore Girl, West never seemed so far from East. The writer is a professor at the School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, and has lived in Singapore for two and a half years. He stays in Bukit Batok. His luggage stays where Delta sees fit.
[email protected]
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