I'm back in Singapore after a quick trip to China. I would have like to have a longer holiday, but due to work I need to return early. As much as I enjoy vacations, work and of course health, is still my priority. With work, there is income, which pays for my bills and my vacation.
All the times I have travelled, I have always put a lot of faith into my flight connections. Though I will always try to avoid tight connections, there are times when it cannot be avoided. Fortunately, after travelling for ~10 years, I have hardly, if I remembered correctly, missed a flight due to bad connections. Sure, I have encountered flight delays, but not serious enough to affect my subsequent flights. Of course, some times, it involves me running or walking hastily to catch the next flight. For this, I felt grateful.
So my trip started off on a Monday afternoon. An mrt train ride to Changi Airport terminal 2, followed by a shuttle bus transfer to terminal 4, where AirAsia departs from.
Apart from costs, I'm not sure why the airport cannot build a skytrain to link up terminal 4 with the rest of the airport terminals. Currently, to get to terminal 4, either passengers get dropped off by private transport or by the free shuttle bus from terminal 2. I feel that the airport should really consider building a skytrain to link up terminal 4 and the future terminal 5 to the other airport terminals for ease of transfer.
Anyway, apart from visiting terminal 4 during its open house, which I have reviewed in a previous post, this is my first time departing from this terminal. All the automated features...
AirAsia provides mobile boarding pass for those departing Singapore. With that in hand, I arrive at Changi Airport slightly more than an hour to a sparsely populated terminal. Without having to approach the check-in counter, I proceeded straight to the manned centralized security screening. This is different from terminals 1, 2 and 3, where security screening is conducted at individual gates. Currently, there are only a couple of big duty free shops in terminal 4. Not much in terms of shopping experience. Then there are the open boarding gates. Less than 10, I believe. As in other terminals, there are power sockets and usb ports at some, but not all, seats. I used the waiting time to charge my phone, since I will be boarding AirAsia, a budget airline from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur to Delhi, India. Both AirAsia flights ended up delayed.
The first flight delayed due to late inbound flight. The second flight actually boarded on time, but then spent some time waiting while taxiing on the tarmac. Not sure why. There was no announcement at all from the flight deck.
I booked these 2 AirAsia flights on separate tickets, so I need to clear immigration and check in again in Kuala Lumpur. Initially, I planned for a 3 hour connection, which I felt was sufficient for the transfer. The first flight ended up arriving in Kuala Lumpur ~ 1 hour late. The long immigration queue followed by another custom queue didn't help either. Not sure why so long on a weekday afternoon. To add on, AirAsia uses klia2 terminal building, which is a very, very, very long walk to immigration. On the other hand, check-in was fast. I prepaid for a meal at the check-in counter for 17myr and paid with a credit card. I might have paid a bit more as the prepaid meals were advertised at 15myr inside the aircraft. It seems they were promoting it at check-in to get more revenue.
Originally, I intended to check out the plaza premium lounge using my free access thanks to the amex ascend kf credit card, but I reasoned there is not much time left to boarding. So I took up the prepaid meal option.
After that, a reasonable queue at security screening and immigration, followed by the same long walk to kila2. I arrived at the gate just in time for boarding. Yup, so a 3 hour AirAsia connection at kila2 is just sufficient for me, with no spare time available.
Both flights were uneventful. I chose AirAsia flights from Singapore to Delhi as they offer the cheapest ticket on the day and time I wanted to travel. Save for the prepaid meal, I didn't include any other chargeable service.
On the short Sin-Kul sector on A320 aircraft with 3-3 seating, I was given the window seat, which is great for admiring the scenery and I didn't need to leave my seat.
On the longer Kul-Del sector on A330 aircraft with 3-3-3 seating, I was given the aisle seat, which is again great so that I can get up and walk for a more pleasant flying experience. I ended up reaching Delhi airport ~ 30 minutes behind schedule.
All in all, an alright experience with AirAsia. I will book it again if the price is great and the timing is suitable. Leave plenty of time to walk to klia2 terminal. Allow plenty of time for flight delays too.
All the times I have travelled, I have always put a lot of faith into my flight connections. Though I will always try to avoid tight connections, there are times when it cannot be avoided. Fortunately, after travelling for ~10 years, I have hardly, if I remembered correctly, missed a flight due to bad connections. Sure, I have encountered flight delays, but not serious enough to affect my subsequent flights. Of course, some times, it involves me running or walking hastily to catch the next flight. For this, I felt grateful.
So my trip started off on a Monday afternoon. An mrt train ride to Changi Airport terminal 2, followed by a shuttle bus transfer to terminal 4, where AirAsia departs from.
Apart from costs, I'm not sure why the airport cannot build a skytrain to link up terminal 4 with the rest of the airport terminals. Currently, to get to terminal 4, either passengers get dropped off by private transport or by the free shuttle bus from terminal 2. I feel that the airport should really consider building a skytrain to link up terminal 4 and the future terminal 5 to the other airport terminals for ease of transfer.
Anyway, apart from visiting terminal 4 during its open house, which I have reviewed in a previous post, this is my first time departing from this terminal. All the automated features...
AirAsia provides mobile boarding pass for those departing Singapore. With that in hand, I arrive at Changi Airport slightly more than an hour to a sparsely populated terminal. Without having to approach the check-in counter, I proceeded straight to the manned centralized security screening. This is different from terminals 1, 2 and 3, where security screening is conducted at individual gates. Currently, there are only a couple of big duty free shops in terminal 4. Not much in terms of shopping experience. Then there are the open boarding gates. Less than 10, I believe. As in other terminals, there are power sockets and usb ports at some, but not all, seats. I used the waiting time to charge my phone, since I will be boarding AirAsia, a budget airline from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur to Delhi, India. Both AirAsia flights ended up delayed.
Open, spacious seating at Terminal 4. Underutilized on a weekday afternoon, I think.
AirAsia A320 plane
Standard A320 seating arrangement
Free wifi is advertised, but not available on this flight. Not sure since when did AirAsia offered free wifi.
Upon taking off from Changi, saw the almost completed jewel !
Reaching M'sia
This meal and drink costs 17myr. Not sure if I would get a better deal at the airport.
The first flight delayed due to late inbound flight. The second flight actually boarded on time, but then spent some time waiting while taxiing on the tarmac. Not sure why. There was no announcement at all from the flight deck.
I booked these 2 AirAsia flights on separate tickets, so I need to clear immigration and check in again in Kuala Lumpur. Initially, I planned for a 3 hour connection, which I felt was sufficient for the transfer. The first flight ended up arriving in Kuala Lumpur ~ 1 hour late. The long immigration queue followed by another custom queue didn't help either. Not sure why so long on a weekday afternoon. To add on, AirAsia uses klia2 terminal building, which is a very, very, very long walk to immigration. On the other hand, check-in was fast. I prepaid for a meal at the check-in counter for 17myr and paid with a credit card. I might have paid a bit more as the prepaid meals were advertised at 15myr inside the aircraft. It seems they were promoting it at check-in to get more revenue.
Originally, I intended to check out the plaza premium lounge using my free access thanks to the amex ascend kf credit card, but I reasoned there is not much time left to boarding. So I took up the prepaid meal option.
After that, a reasonable queue at security screening and immigration, followed by the same long walk to kila2. I arrived at the gate just in time for boarding. Yup, so a 3 hour AirAsia connection at kila2 is just sufficient for me, with no spare time available.
Both flights were uneventful. I chose AirAsia flights from Singapore to Delhi as they offer the cheapest ticket on the day and time I wanted to travel. Save for the prepaid meal, I didn't include any other chargeable service.
On the short Sin-Kul sector on A320 aircraft with 3-3 seating, I was given the window seat, which is great for admiring the scenery and I didn't need to leave my seat.
On the longer Kul-Del sector on A330 aircraft with 3-3-3 seating, I was given the aisle seat, which is again great so that I can get up and walk for a more pleasant flying experience. I ended up reaching Delhi airport ~ 30 minutes behind schedule.
All in all, an alright experience with AirAsia. I will book it again if the price is great and the timing is suitable. Leave plenty of time to walk to klia2 terminal. Allow plenty of time for flight delays too.
