The Most Kid-Friendly Airline in the World
Written: Sep 04 '05 (Updated Sep 04 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Excellent Service, Reasonable Fares, and Very Kid-Friendly.
Cons: Long layover in Singapore
The Bottom Line: Given my current needs, Singapore Airlines is number one in the world because of its kid-friendliness.
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| arathi's Full Review: Singapore Airlines |
Singapore Airlines has never disappointed us in the past, and so this time around when we planned a trip to India, we chose the airline without any hesitation.
Our itinerary was to fly from Seattle to San Francisco (SFO) on Alaska Air and thereafter fly from SFO to Bangalore on Singapore Airlines. The journey was divided into two legs. The first leg was from SFO to Singapore with a fuel break in Seoul for an hour, and the second leg was from Singapore to Bangalore. We returned to the US using the same route.
Exemplary Service:
It was an extremely nervous me who set out alone with our two (I have an 11 month old daughter now) kids for my brother’s wedding in India. I was especially nervous because in addition to having never traveled by myself with two kids, my daughter was a little sick. We had almost cancelled our tickets because of her sickness, but when our travel agent told us that there were NO tickets available to fly to Bangalore for the next 45 days, I set out for the trip after getting her pediatrician’s blessing.
Even though I had asked for assistance with my baggage when I had booked my tickets, I did not expect the “assistance” to be so all-encompassing. As soon as I checked in SFO, a Singapore Air employee was with me, who took care of my bags and my son as we passed through security check and reached the gate for boarding. After we got into the plane, a stewardess helped us stow our bags, and get settled into our seats.
The flight crew are the most helpful that I have seen on all my International flights. They lavish you with genuine attention and care, and take very good care of children. My 8 year old son got an activity book with crayons and pencils, and I also got a baby bag which held diapers, wipes, and a soft toy. The bassinet that I had asked for was a god-send because my baby slept in it peacefully for most of the plane ride. On the 15 hour flight, a stewardess held my baby and walked on the aisles just so that I could finish eating my dinner. I have not had this happen to me on any other airline.
When we reached Singapore (had an 8 hour layover), I again had a nice lady to help me with my bags and kids to go to the transit hotel where I had a room booked for six hours. The lady was with me all the way till our room, and when I offered her a tip, she refused and said that she was just doing her duty. When I got my wake-up call after 6 hours, the hotel staff told me that I already had a person from Singapore Air waiting for me in the lobby to help me with our bags again and take us to our gate for the flight to Bangalore. Now this is what I call a service oriented airline.
I did not need the “assistance” on the way back to the US because my husband was with me, but the food and the service otherwise was warm and friendly in addition to being efficient.
The Plane and In Flight Entertainment :
The plane was reasonably comfortable; as comfortable as you can get in economy class of any international flight. The leg room was adequate, and I loved the foot rests that were provided on the front seat. The plane had a pleasing color scheme of blue and lavender, and was very clean. The restrooms were clean and stocked with essentials like toothpaste, toothbrush, soap, lotion, and even some kind of perfume and cologne.
We had individual entertainment units positioned on the back of the seat in front that enabled us to view 5 movies (there was even a Hindi one), several television shows and sitcoms including the cartoon network, and some video games. Whenever my son popped the “Are we there yet?” question on the long flight, I was able to use the plane plotter feature to show him where exactly we were that that point of time, and how long it would take us to reach our destination.
Direct Service to Bangalore :
My whereabouts in India are in Bangalore, a city in southern India. Despite being a important city, Bangalore is not as well connected to the world as the four metros of India; Mumbai, Calcutta, New Delhi and Chennai.
We were limited to the choices of Malaysia, Cathay Pacific, Air India, and Lufthansa to fly directly into Bangalore until now, but when Singapore announced a direct connection to Bangalore recently, I had no doubt about choosing them for our trip.
I had also inquired about Lufthansa, but the tickets were priced exactly $600 more per ticket, and so I chose to fly Singapore. I refuse to pay the extra dollars to a snobbish airline just because they are “European”, but I have to admit that they have plenty of people patronizing them because of the shorter route to India: trans-Atlantic, as opposed to trans-Pacific. We paid $1600 + taxes per ticket, which these days is considered pretty reasonable when you are flying to India during peak season.
Final Note:
Given my current needs, for me, Singapore Airlines is the number one airline in the world, , not only because of the fact that they are super efficient, and their service is exemplary, but also because of the fact, they are the most kid-friendly airline in the world.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
arathi
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 - Top 1000 |
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Member: Arathi Srikantaiah
Reviews written: 65
Trusted by: 42 members
About Me:
Aditi was born on Oct 9, 2004.
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