Killing time
I slept till 0700 and did some admin on the computer till 1000 when I had brunch of fishball kwayteow soup. Uniqlo beckoned again and I went to their flagship store next to Times Square which was impressive even before their expansion slated for next week.
That killed half a day and I returned to the hostel to collect my bag before hopping on the E21 just outside to head to the airport. Check-in was queue-free and painless. There was a bit of conflicting (mis)information given out by the staff as to where I would clear customs/immigration as I was on AI317 bound for DEL then BOM with the second sector operated by a different aircraft. My reckoning that I’d clear everything in BOM turned out to be correct.
Flying on the Dreamliner
The flight was operated by a Boeing 787 Dreamliner and it was my first experience with it. There was quite a bit to like about the aircraft:
- The interior looked nice illuminated by white light (like in an office or supermarket) which made it look really clean, rather than that yellow lights (like from bulbs) as normally seen on Boeing aircraft. The blue highlights in the illumination were nice too.
- Seated in the front of the economy cabin, the flight was quieter than say a Boeing 777 in terms of engine and ventilation noise. I think it is similar to the Airbus A330/340 which can be freakily quiet.
- It did seem less dry also, but I wouldn’t have said it if that feature hadn’t read it somewhere before though.
- However, most of the above are only catching up with say an Airbus A330. Even some niceties seen on the A320 haven’t made it here … eg. reading lights that come on/off gradually to minimise that blinding sensation.
- A lot of signage is now graphic eg. door/slide status and exits. I suspect there are issues with having green “running man” symbols for exits as they had to announce it twice in the safety demo what the signs meant! Also the safety information card has a large section explaining it too. I guess people are used to seeing the word “Exit” accompanied by the vernacular.
There were some interesting features too:
- Toilet doors were neither swing nor bifold. They were oddly hinged somewhat at three-quarters of its width. Is it to save on intruding into the narrow aisles?
- There are nice red/green lights above each toilet door to indicate occupancy. Toilets are illuminated with a dim blue light until locked when it is illuminated fully.
Some interesting features may not be built to last:
- Instead of window shades, there is a dimmer button beneath each window which one would press to darken/brighten the transparency by polarisation. But the button had kinda sunken in and detached from its mount from overuse already.
- Toilets are equipped with a sensor so you can wave in front of it to activate the flush, but the sensors in various toilets I used didn’t work. Pushing the button does close the lid automatically and activate the flush, except for one toilet where the motor to close the lid had failed, and made a funny sound. Closing the lid by hand (eeew!) also activates the flush automatically.
Immediately upon taking my seat, I realised it was very narrow. The aircraft was originally designed for 8-across but now takes 9-across. My neighbour was a big-shouldered man; I was so thankful I had asked for an aisle seat.
We landed in DEL around 2145 and I managed to fit in a quick visit to the lounge before boarding my continuing flight at before 2300 to DEL on an Airbus A321. The 2-hour hop felt more spacious and even quieter (even though I was seated close to the back) than the Dreamliner. So my first impressions of the Dreamliner is a nice plane but not too special.