Return home

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Geo: 47.4609, 8.55617

As usual we had an early transfer from the hotel to the airport. Pulkovo Airport is newly built three years ago and it was fine. Our guide said Aeroflot has trouble competing with world airlines so the Government imposes high airport fees on foreign carriers. Residents of St Petersburg find it cheaper to train to Helsinki and then fly from there.

We waited in the lounge with others from our group who were also flying Swiss Air. Then three hours to Zurich on an A320 and a long, six-hour wait before going on to Singapore. Swiss Air's Zurich lounge (their flagship, I guess) is the first we've seen with a chef on hand who will cook you a number of hot dishes including a minute steak, while you wait. Outdoor balcony, well stocked self-service bar and great wi-fi too.

Swiss Air Boeing 777-300ER to Singapore, a 12 hour flight. Same odd cabin configuration as before, with the double seats beside the window being cramped. The single window seats are very spacious. Then the twin seats in the middle of the plane have one good, one cramped (relatively). Weird layout, but someone must have liked it. Watched Matt Damon's film The Great Wall - monsters and sweeping cinematography, but pretty silly. Then Manchester by the Sea. Good acting I suppose, but the slowest (and worst) movie I've seen in years.

After a four-hour wait in Singapore we boarded a Singapore Airlines A330-300 for Brisbane. Flight time 7 hours. It's been a while since we've flown SAL and I had forgotten the quality of the flying experience they offer. Although the cabin fit out is a little dated in this aircraft, the service is just terrific.

Despite a couple of planes arriving at the same time in Brisbane, processing the long immigration lines went smoothly. We had arranged for the complimentary Lexus valet service for airport drop off and pick up, and it was perfect. Got home after another 36 hour door-to-door journey, but don't feel too tired.

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Photos

Swiss Air 777 seating
See the space disparity between the different seats? I'd be very careful picking seats if we flew on this configuration again. I must be more diligent and use the Seat Guru website!

SAL A330
Even though it did not have fully flat seat/beds, the cabin spaces were better than Swiss Air. It seemed to be only 2//3 full. We started with a couple of "Singapore Slings", as you do!