Airlines
Nalle in British Open 2009 - Arrival
As two years ago I took KLM flight from Helsinki to Amsterdam and then another leg to Manchester. Flights were in time and as KLM has improved service it was a nice experience to fly. Luckily there was 2 hours stop over in Amsterdam giving enough time to dinner at the Schiphol airport. 
Today’s lunch brought me back to the reality. I tried to eat in local pub, but the waiter ignored me completely and I walked out after checking emails. Free WiFi was the main reason to go there anyway. Sometime later I found a nice Italian restaurant and ordered spaghetti carbonara. That’s my favorite pasta and I have eaten it in 100+ restaurants all over the world. Spaghetti carbonara has always tasted good, except today. It will be tough week to find any decent food here even if I have lowered the expectations before traveling to UK.
At the Northern squash club everything have been well organized. I even succeeded to get a practice court right after arrival. It was nice to train volleys, drop shots and tricks on the glass backwall court when Amr Swelim (EGY) and Shaun Le Roux (ENG) played their PSA match on the next court. Court was good and my touch was excellent even if I have not been able to play properly in one month due to repeating hamstring injuries. After practicing I was talking with four Pakistani players. They had seen me on the court and asked my PSA ranking. I asked their opinion and they said that you have a nice touch, your ranking is 150!!! As they also estimated me 10 years younger I feel unbeatable in tomorrow’s match in men over 45 category. If the hamstring does not disagree.
Today’s lunch brought me back to the reality. I tried to eat in local pub, but the waiter ignored me completely and I walked out after checking emails. Free WiFi was the main reason to go there anyway. Sometime later I found a nice Italian restaurant and ordered spaghetti carbonara. That’s my favorite pasta and I have eaten it in 100+ restaurants all over the world. Spaghetti carbonara has always tasted good, except today. It will be tough week to find any decent food here even if I have lowered the expectations before traveling to UK.
At the Northern squash club everything have been well organized. I even succeeded to get a practice court right after arrival. It was nice to train volleys, drop shots and tricks on the glass backwall court when Amr Swelim (EGY) and Shaun Le Roux (ENG) played their PSA match on the next court. Court was good and my touch was excellent even if I have not been able to play properly in one month due to repeating hamstring injuries. After practicing I was talking with four Pakistani players. They had seen me on the court and asked my PSA ranking. I asked their opinion and they said that you have a nice touch, your ranking is 150!!! As they also estimated me 10 years younger I feel unbeatable in tomorrow’s match in men over 45 category. If the hamstring does not disagree.
Singapore Airlines
04-Nov-08 01:20 Filed in: Travel
Q: Why to blog anything about an airline on squashdevil.com?
A: Squash players and fans need to travel to play and watch matches
These observations and comments are based on 4 long distance and 2 medium distance flights in October/November.
Check in
It was difficult to understand why it was necessary to move 3 kg of clothes from suitcase to hand luggage in order to be able to check in. The total weight was same i.e. no fuel savings, but lot’s of discomfort for customer. Of course there are rules to follow, but there should also be a possibility to use common sense.
Cabin crew
Singapore Airlines has often been considered as the best airline especially what comes to service and friendliness of the cabin crew. In many occasions that proved to be the case, but there were also exceptions. It is annoying that boarding pass is requested (or insisted to be more precise) when entering into the aircraft even if customer knows exactly were to go.
On one flight multimedia/TV unit got terribly overheated when person on the same row watched a movie. Note: multimedia/TV unit is placed under the middle seat. Cabin crew was not able to do anything even if the plane was only about 80% full. Smile does not help when one’s ass is sweating.
Food
Generally all meals are high in calories and fat including almost no fibers and are low in protein Naturally it should be about the opposite.
Breakfast should include fibers, carbs and protein. Lunch and dinner should be rich in protein and carbs, whereas supper should include protein and a fruit. Naturally all meals and snacks should not contain fat.
Aircraft
Uncomfortable seats: Boeing 777 fleet starts to be old compared to Airbuses. Economy class seats are terrible giving high pressure to the hamstrings. Seats have obviously made for short persons as the head rest touches shoulders even in the highest position.
No power outlets: There is no power outlets for laptops in economy class which doesn’t allow to work more than 3-4 hours or watch own dvd for 1-2 hours. On demand movies are nice if you can find something interesting to watch that you have not seen already. But the real experience would be to watch own squash dvd from 17” laptop.
Conclusions
Based on the examples above there is only one conclusion to be made i.e. Singapore Airline does not meet the expectations for the quality of service anymore. Let’s hope that moving to Airbuses will solve the issues with lower than expected technology. And let’s hope that someone in Singapore Airlines customer service will read this blog.
A: Squash players and fans need to travel to play and watch matches
These observations and comments are based on 4 long distance and 2 medium distance flights in October/November.
Check in
It was difficult to understand why it was necessary to move 3 kg of clothes from suitcase to hand luggage in order to be able to check in. The total weight was same i.e. no fuel savings, but lot’s of discomfort for customer. Of course there are rules to follow, but there should also be a possibility to use common sense.
Cabin crew
Singapore Airlines has often been considered as the best airline especially what comes to service and friendliness of the cabin crew. In many occasions that proved to be the case, but there were also exceptions. It is annoying that boarding pass is requested (or insisted to be more precise) when entering into the aircraft even if customer knows exactly were to go.
On one flight multimedia/TV unit got terribly overheated when person on the same row watched a movie. Note: multimedia/TV unit is placed under the middle seat. Cabin crew was not able to do anything even if the plane was only about 80% full. Smile does not help when one’s ass is sweating.
Food
Generally all meals are high in calories and fat including almost no fibers and are low in protein
Naturally it should be about the opposite. Breakfast should include fibers, carbs and protein. Lunch and dinner should be rich in protein and carbs, whereas supper should include protein and a fruit. Naturally all meals and snacks should not contain fat.
Aircraft
Uncomfortable seats: Boeing 777 fleet starts to be old compared to Airbuses. Economy class seats are terrible giving high pressure to the hamstrings. Seats have obviously made for short persons as the head rest touches shoulders even in the highest position.
No power outlets: There is no power outlets for laptops in economy class which doesn’t allow to work more than 3-4 hours or watch own dvd for 1-2 hours. On demand movies are nice if you can find something interesting to watch that you have not seen already. But the real experience would be to watch own squash dvd from 17” laptop.
Conclusions
Based on the examples above there is only one conclusion to be made i.e. Singapore Airline does not meet the expectations for the quality of service anymore. Let’s hope that moving to Airbuses will solve the issues with lower than expected technology. And let’s hope that someone in Singapore Airlines customer service will read this blog.