Well, it is once-in-a-lifetime chance, unless they keep upping the ante in the airline industry ... which is not so likely.
A380 represents as big a jump when the 747 was introduced. But forget about shopping mall and spa in the sky, space is still a premium and no airline wants to get sued for passengers getting injured during turbulence while shopping or receiving a massage.
I was fortunate not to get assigned to the touchdown day. The biggest bigshot VIP arrived late, held up the plane in the sky while the pilot had to find somewhere to circle round and round, and yet be ready to descend at short notice. Other pilots landing and taking off at Changi and Senai must be laughing their heads off. And after that, the VIP and his lady took a way-past-schedule extended tour of the plane, and other dignitaries got to rush through their already tight 10-minute tour or miss some "precious" shoulder-rubbing moments ...
Before my assigned duty as overglorified jaga - Check Point, I got a tour of the aircraft myself. Took some videos and photos, but didn't come out too well. Too many colleagues jostling around and posing themselves in the cabin suites.
Anyway, there's really a Suite for super-first-class passengers, and two suites could even merge to form a honeymoon suite. No soundproofing though.
I really thought they could do a better job with the diaper-changing tables too, will submit that as Staff-Idea.
Manning CheckPoint, I got to see the PPS passengers arriving ... hot-cars with hot-looking female drivers who barely slowed down to flash their invites ... oversized expats in inversely-proportioned cars ... and the opposites ... and one wife nervously confessing she lost the carpark label ...
I heard from colleagues later the antics observed after these cash cows alighted from their vehicles were more hilarious.
One big sized husband walked ramrod straight ahead with a small wife in tow, practically flying to keep up. Another couple walked but always looked at opposite directions from each other ...
But for all their money, I wouldn't trade it to get the health of the foreign shipping boss I accompanied (I was re-assigned to other tasks later) on his way out, whose every step was preceded by heavy labourious breathing, I was really worried he'd collapsed before he got to his chauffer driven jaguar.
Another colleague reported though on the bright side, there seemed to be a number of single doctors, males and females. On the down side, it's not applicable to married men like me.
It's turning out to be an interesting, informative and revealing experience for me who never had to deal directly with the company's customers all these years.
Another round of duty tonight for Corporate clients. To be followed by a post-event partying.
Too bad the party is at 11pm ... I got to leave earlier to bring the kids home from granny's. Wonder how a husband and father like me could party anyway with all the mostly single crowd ...
delightful article.. thanks.
ReplyDeleteand.. SIA got the tops again, as best airline..
Quite well if some couples and parents are any guide. Let your hair down (figuratively speaking) and party away.
ReplyDeleteWell, just trade with one of the younger and healthier guys who still has the dough. :-)
ReplyDeleteAnyway Snowy you are already rich and I think you know it.
Cool, the A380 is the latest addition to SQ... must be such a plane.
ReplyDeleteHmm...so what or who exactly do you work for?
ReplyDeleteTop secret ... just kidding of course, I am an employee of that first airline to fly the A380 commercially ... 2 years after it was originally scheduled.
ReplyDeleteHokay, finished my last duty on Friday night ... some corporate client representatives are really ... how should I put it ... more "big shot" than the PPS ... but that's not saying a lot either ...
ReplyDeleteOne colleague who was manning the lifts accounted that she was greeted by name only once (all of us got name-tags). I thought the letters were kind of small, but another colleague pointed out in the close confines of the lift, it's not really an issue.
One older lady trudge out, with a heh-heh weak smile and complained of the distance. I offered to help her with her bag, but she said no, it's the heels that were killing her. Privately, I wondered why she wore them in the first place.
Yeah, it is a distance from the carpark to the boarding gate where the party was held, but then again, they'd know it's not exactly held at the Ritz but at a yet-to-be-completed T3.
When I finally left much later, I saw some of the guests I saw out earlier trying to find their way out as the lifts had been deactivated, wondered what the heck delayed them. One of them finally took off her heels and walked without shoes.
Several things could be better done by the comm, such as getting the Airport to continue running the lifts until later. At least though, they managed to keep the skytrain running until 1am to get to T2 to better take a cab. (Incidentally, T3 is still closed to the public, access only via valid authorised passes).
Our own SVP showed a bit of tiredness finally too, when he left the official party at 9pm, though he would return at 11pm to throw us a post-event party.
Finally, we could guzzle down the champaigne, but bleah, it was darn bitter. My group stood out as we were wearing polos, compared to the marketing people who wore black suits. And somehow, the marketing people got hold of the real wine glasses to drink with while we settled for plastic cups. %@$@^%#%@@!
They didn't really get the last laugh though. During the thankyou-speech, our SVP concluded with "Now that the baby (A380) is delivered, it's time for you guys (SALES) to bring home the bacon!"
Yeah, even though we're all colleagues of the same company, our assignments are quite different, I always got the image that marketing people get to wine-and-dine the clients a lot, but in truth, they actually got the very challenging job actually making the sales.
No matter how good a product is, it doesn't sell by itself.
And even if it does, we want to sell high so we can have fat bonuses.
At the same time, everybody outside will only remember when the newspaper report us getting good bonus, but nobody will notice when the same press reported we got no bonus and took paycuts instead. The media will only keep reminding the public when ministers take paycut, even if it was years ago, and the cuts had long been restored.
Anyway, my role in the A380 is not quite over yet, still got the return leg of the inaugural charity flight from Sydney to service ...
Cool.
ReplyDeleteHey, not all of us have good eyesight! I remember I always made it a point to get the names of flight stewardesses from the name tags they have as well, but am not always successful as my eyesight is not good. (Some one mentioned flight stewards. What flight stewards?)
ReplyDeleteVery very true. Conversely, a not-so-good product can still sell well or better because of great marketing and sales efforts. Happens all the time in the IT industry...
ReplyDeleteInterested to join? From observations, better join after you get your degree.
ReplyDeleteAlternatively, join as a cabin crew if you meet the height and age requirements, and take it as a learning experience.
Ask them to come closer ... or better yet, ask them "How should I address you?" directly ...
ReplyDeleteSnowylady went through my camera-phone photo albums of the pictures/videos I took and saw ... "Hey!!!! What are you doing taking photos of the stewardesses??!!!"
ReplyDeleteIt's really a poorly taken photo in a dimly lit room but the flash didn't work 'cos of the strong light from showcases around.
So she can't really see that the girls in the pictures aren't that great-lookers and I really took it for completeness sake of the venue.
Of course, I was also honest enough to admit to her I wanted to see if I could do it, ask them (or their supe) nicely, or I lost my touch (which I'm not sure I ever got in the first place).
She looked at me like, "You did it for your ego's sake???!!!!!"
There're fewer of them of course ... but they have been praised as being more attentive, especially those who are gays.
ReplyDeleteNot all stewards are gays. My colleague's brother is one. He impressed a Japanese couple so much they send him an annual gift package.
ReplyDeleteNah...
ReplyDeleteOh, my Modus Operandi is to wait for the one I am interested in knowing better to come down the aisle (I always take aisle seat) and I catch her attention and usually ask for something, I don't know, a blanket usually, but sometimes if the flight is more empty I will ask about the weather and start a conversation, at which point of course she is close enough for me to see her name-tag clearly, among other things. Most are more than happy to chat especially on the more empty flights.
ReplyDeleteI must say overall, the friendlier ones are usually the non-Singaporean stewardesses on SIA or other airlines.
It was a poor joke on my part to indicate the invisibility of stewards to me on planes. Actually there are quite a few, have a few friends who are stewards/ex-stewards.
ReplyDeleteSNAFU!!!
ReplyDeleteMy last assignment was to welcome business class passengers on the SYD-SIN charity flight of SQ380. We were briefed what the Suite Class pax and Y class pax could expected.
However, someone from PA had the bright idea of arranging transport for media and some Y class pax headed to Four Seasons, but didn't bother informing us.
Inevitably, after some of them passed through customs, they made their queries to us and we couldn't tell them nuts. PA depended on a roving guy to make rounds at the Arrival Terminal to catch these folks.
What a way to ruin a perfectly good event.