Blogging From 10363m High

I was quite wary of taking this direct non-stop flight from Singapore to Los Angeles. It’s almost 16 hours of flight time. But now as I sit here in the Executive Economy seats zipping past the Philippines at 864km/h, it turns out it doesn’t seem too bad (touch wood). There is more leg room than the conventional Economy seats. At 37″ row-to-row and 20″ wide, the seats are actually quite comfortable. One thing for sure, I can open up and use my MacBook quite comfortably (slightly less so, but still quite workable even when the seat in-front is fully reclined).

One of the things that got me quite excited about this flight was the availability of in-seat power in every seat. On Singapore Airlines, it’s even better than EmPower or DC cigarette sockets, because I get a simple 110VAC electrical socket. That means there’s no need to invest in an airline power adapter.

Getting power is important. It means our notebooks and other portable electronic devices will get enough juice to keep them running for as long as we want. KrisWorld is excellent, but it’s even better to be able to use my own notebook.

Sadly, the in-seat power didn’t quite work out. First, apparently u need a 3-pin US socket. The usual 2-pin one doesn’t work, because the earth pin is needed to push open the safety covers for the other two pins. I know you can get around it, but it is rather clumpsy because of the position of the socket. Anyhow, the cabin crew was nice enough to lend me a suitable adapter. Then, next problem: The socket was downward facing, and because my MacBook power brick is too heavy, it couldn’t stay firmly in the socket. I think the whole socket wasn’t very well made anyway, because not only did I have to hold the power brick, I also had to firmly push and hold it into the socket before my MacBook received any juice. Also, I think the supply to my socket must have tripped, although it probably wasn’t due to any faulty equipment of mine, because my MacBook got the juice when I plugged into the socket in the row behind me.

So much for in-seat power.

Next: Day 2 in Orlando – Visit to SeaWorld