Singapore Airlines Trip Report: Introduction and Itinerary

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: UA 534 Business Class LAX-JFK

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: Swiss & Oasis Lounges JFK

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: SQ 25 Business Class JFK-FRA

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: Hilton Garden Inn Frankfurt Airport

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: Lufthansa Senator Lounge FRA (B42)

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: SQ 26 Business Class FRA-JFK

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: UA 535 Business Class JFK-LAX & Conclusion

After a quick security experience thanks to the dedicated lane for first and business class passengers, I made my way to gate A6 at the end of the concourse. It was already packed with passengers and agents were setting up the stanchions and signage for the boarding process to identify which door should be used based on seat assignment and class of service.

Shortly, what seemed like 50 flight attendants made their way up the concourse and boarded the aircraft. It’s just amazing how many there are for this behemoth of a plane and I’m certain Singapore staffs more than the required minimum. As boarding time approached, the ‘gate lice’ syndrome was in full effect with hordes of people standing about anxious to get onboard (yes, I was one of them).

Singapore boards families with small children first along with any Suites passengers that might be standing about and then they called business class. At this particular gate there is no jet bridge that extends to the upper deck, so I boarded at door 1L, was very pleasantly greeted by two flight attendants and directed up the ridiculously wide staircase. At the top of the stairs, another flight attendant pointed me in the direction of my seat, 14A.

My apologies in advance as the seat pictures didn’t come out all that great. My return trip shots are much, much better. The video I’ll eventually compile does have better images, too.

Seat

Seat (again)

Cabin view from seat

IFE monitor

Connectivity

Left armrest

Right armrest

The seat is the widest business class seat in the sky and it actually feels awkwardly so. There’s no fold-down armrest similar to what Cathay Pacific’s extra-wide first class seat provides. Instead, Singapore supplies a small pillow and sturdy arm cushion. It doesn’t really do the trick if you want to rest both elbows at equal height, but who am I to complain.

After settling in, a flight attendant came by offering a pre-departure beverage and later confirmed my ‘Book the Cook’ meal of pan-fried chicken in green peppercorn sauce prior to pushback. Had I not pre-booked my meal, the dinner menu was already in the seat pocket.

Dinner menu

We pushed back a minute or two ahead of schedule and surprisingly, were airborne in another five minutes – something rare for JFK, in my opinion. As with most foreign carriers, the seat belt sign was off very quickly while still climbing to our cruising altitude. Flight attendants went into action immediately, first distributing eyeshades and slippers. Other individual amenities were available in the lavatories and shown below.

Amenities

While I have to say it’s probably more cost-effective and efficient, I very much miss having an actual amenity kit in international premium cabins. Before dinner service got underway, I was eager to check out the lavatory. It’s definitely spacious in a rectangular kind of way and I loved the little foot pedal for the trash receptacle, as well as cloth vs. paper towels.

Sink

Loo and amenity drawers

Lav amenities

Back at my seat, dinner service got underway while I plugged in my headphones and began scanning through the fantastic amount of video selections.

Mixed nuts

Appetizer

Entree

I have to say, this was the best business class meal I’ve ever had and it’s really on par with what you’d find in first class internationally. The chicken, in particular, surprised me at how moist and delicious it was. While I’m not much of a dessert person to begin with, I skipped it since I wanted to get as much sleep as possible. I hate East coast to Europe flights for just this reason – there’s very little time to get a decent amount of sleep between the post-departure meal and arrival.

Putting the seat into bed mode requires you to stand up, release a handle and fold down the seat back, which then reveals a full-sized pillow, blanket and very thin mattress pad already in place. While it is lie-flat, you are ever so slightly head-high when horizontal. I was exhausted by this point, so pressed the ‘Do Not Disturb’ button and snuggled in for a solid sleep. So solid, in fact, I slept right through the light breakfast.

Breakfast menu

I woke with just enough time to get my seat back into regular mode and freshen up in the lavatory. While waiting for the lav, I stood there at the top of the stairs looking down thinking, “This can’t be an airplane.” It feels more like a cruise ship.

Look down to Suites class

Roped off

As far as service, I have to say it was good- to- excellent. It seemed like I had a different flight attendant for each portion of service, whether it was serving the appetizer, main course, refreshing my beverage or clearing my table. A bit impersonal, but what can you expect for such a large plane. I’m sure Suites class is a totally different experience.

My overall impression of the A380: Too big, but fun to fly. It’s quiet and spacious (in business class), though. I don’t think I’d like to fly it in economy.

Up next: Hilton Garden Inn Frankfurt Airport

United Airlines posted pictures of its new amenity kits on Facebook yesterday. The Global First version looks quite nice and an upgrade from the current version, though the case might not be as reusable. Sadly, the BusinessFirst version doesn’t appear to be much of an upgrade from the current United Business Class model – and a significant downgrade from the Continental BusinessFirst version. I’ll be sure to get my hands on both soon for my Amenity Kit Review series. I’m flying BusinessFirst internationally next week, so I’m hoping they’ll be boarded.

What’s your take based on the pictures below?

Courtesy: United Airlines

Courtesy: United Airlines

Courtesy: United Airlines

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: Introduction and Itinerary

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: UA 534 Business Class LAX-JFK

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: Swiss & Oasis Lounges JFK

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: SQ 25 Business Class JFK-FRA

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: Hilton Garden Inn Frankfurt Airport

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: Lufthansa Senator Lounge FRA (B42)

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: SQ 26 Business Class FRA-JFK

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: UA 535 Business Class JFK-LAX & Conclusion

In September last year, Singapore Airlines announced they’d be switching out the daily 747-400 service on the JFK-FRA-SIN run to an Airbus A380. Up to that point, Singapore had blocked their premium cabins on the A380 from Star Alliance award redemptions, so as soon as I heard the announcement, I started scouring for business class award space.

The hope was that the SQ revenue management folks hadn’t been as quick to shut down availability as the airline was to announce the aircraft swap. Success! What I saw available using the ANA Award Tool matched up with what United saw, so I made a roundtrip booking.

(Side note: There are reports now that business class award availability shows with some regularity on SQ’s A380s.)

I really wanted to fly the entire route to Singapore, but given my own calendar restrictions at the time, I was only able to book the JFK-FRA-JFK portion, with flights on United LAX-JFK-LAX. I wasn’t complaining, though. Not only would this be my first Singapore Airlines flight, it would be my first ride on an A380.

United only had coach award availability on the premium service (p.s.) flights between Los Angeles and New York and given there used to be issues with waitlisted segments being sent to another airline on the same PNR – often causing the OA segments to cancel – the agent simply booked me in coach. To avoid checking daily for business class space myself, I created an ExpertFlyer flight alert to notify me when a seat opened and crossed my fingers. I would hate to start a premium experience in a non-premium way, not to mention “wasting” the miles.

I had my reservation booked and ticketed on September 26, 2011. Between then and the flight date, a number of schedule changes came through, business award space opened up on the United flights (yay!) and the very scary systems migration from Apollo to Shares happened on March 3^rd. My final itinerary ended up being as follows:

4/21/12 – UA 534 LAX-JFK 8:06am – 4:34pm: Business Class Seat 9A

4/21/12 – SQ 25 JFK-FRA 8:35pm – 10:45am+1: Business Class Seat 14A

4/23/12 – SQ 26 FRA-JFK 8:30am – 11:00am: Business Class Seat 14A

4/23/12 – UA 535 JFK-LAX 5:55pm – 9:28pm: Business Class Seat 9D

Total Cost: 100,000 miles + $135.20 in taxes

While I know many find such a short trip ridiculous, my goal was simply to ride the A380 and as I mentioned, my calendar at the time wasn’t open to book a longer adventure.

I called United back the day after booking the trip to get SQ’s specific record locator for the reservation and then called Singapore directly to confirm all looked good on their end, as well as get seat assignments. I wanted to be in the mini business cabin ahead of the first door on the upper deck, so was happy to get 14A in the third row (far enough from the lavs and galley). Later, I went on Singapore’s website and placed my “Book the Cook” order.

Stay tuned for the next installment reviewing my United p.s. flight from Los Angeles to JFK.

Not too long ago, Delta Air Lines introduced a new amenity kit for Business Elite passengers and I’ve selected the new version for this installment of Amenity Kit Reviews. I also reviewed the previous red cylindrical offering. For a better description of each category and the 7-point scale for scoring, please refer to my introductory post.

Bag/Container: This beige canvas zipper bag is a major upgrade from their previous version. It’s very well manufactured, the zipper operates smoothly and I love the detachable “snap on” handle. Leather (or leather-like) trim surrounds opposing sides and a small patch with the Delta – and SkyTeam – logo is sewn into one edge. Reusability is high in my opinion as its size and flexibility are ideal for a travel case. For a hybrid Business-First bag, this one is pretty darn good. Score: 6

Skin Care: Delta again chose Greek company Korres as their partner to supply skin care products in the kit, as well as the lavatories. The full retail-sized lip balm is effective and has a subtle Shea butter flavor. I’ve been a fan of pomegranate scented skin care products since United introduced Murad-branded items in their premium cabin lavatories, but the moisturizing cream from Korres sort of lacks a similarly appealing scent. It does, however, apply smoothly and absorbs fairly quickly. An antiseptic wet wipe infused with Aloe Vera and a lemony-citrus scent is also included. Score: 4

Oral Care: A medium-bristled mini toothbrush is enclosed in plastic along with a small tube of Colgate toothpaste and a DenTek fresh mint floss pick. If you’ve been reading my amenity kit reviews, you know that I wish more airlines would include mint-flavored toothpaste, but I’m slowly getting over it. I’d be less picky about it if mints or mouthwash were included and whereas the previous Delta kit included mints, this one does not. Ah well, Delta still gets an adequate rating here. Score: 4

Comfort Items: It’s hard to really come up with an “exceptional” sock, but I have to give Delta some props for theirs. The bottoms have little foam gripper thingies that I think are pretty cool. The eyeshades are an upgrade from the last kit and feature a Velcro strap to adjust the tightness to your liking. Also upgraded are the earplugs, which are larger than the last ones and very soft. A shoehorn and Delta-branded shoe polisher are also included. Score: 5

Intangibles: The kit is well stocked and provides just a little extra bit of luxury you expect when flying internationally in a premium cabin. Delta’s branding is subtle, yet welcoming and airlines that add a full-size pen get an extra hat tip in my book. For a hybrid Business-First product, Delta did very well. Oh, and there’s a “romance card” included from Korres offering a 20% discount on their in-store and online products. Score: 6

Total score & comments:

The last kit scored 3.95 and while 4.75 might not seem like much of an upgrade, it really does rank exceptionally better. Some of the items I was critical of in the last review – the earplugs, toothpaste tube size and moisturizing cream – were all improved. The pen, too, is better, if you can believe it. Nicely done, Delta, and manufacturer Wessco.

Cathay Pacific recently posted a video tour of their new First and Business Class lounge at San Francisco International Airport and it’s a pretty darn good one. The only thing I’ll miss about the British Airways Terraces lounge they used to use is the “back door” boarding directly from the lounge for gate A6. A small price to pay for what looks like a significantly upgraded experience.

I previously posted the international configuration of a TWA L-1011-100 TriStar and I’ve selected the airline’s domestic version for this installment of Vintage Airline Seat Maps.

This L-1011 also had three classes of service, but the business class – Ambassador Class – cabin was in a 2 x 4 x 2 layout versus the more spacious 2 x 2 x 2 found on the other bird. First Class also appears to have a tighter pitch, though the description still labels the seats as “Sleepers.”

Seating a total of 275 passengers, there were 28 seats in First, 48 in Ambassador Class and 199 in coach. Like the international configuration, there were no dedicated lavatories for Ambassador Class, which I find a bit odd.

In First Class you’d find me in row two or three, row eight or nine in the middle cabin, or row 17 or 18 in coach.

Where would you sit?

Fellow blogger and very, very frequent flyer The Mr. Pickles generously gave me two Air Tahiti Nui kits he picked up on his recent trip with the airline and I offer my review of the Poerava Business Class offering below for this installment of Amenity Kit Reviews. For a better description of each category and the 7-point scale for scoring, please review my introductory post.

Bag/Container: The navy blue, pre-molded sturdy zipper case features the carrier’s gardenia logo on one side of the exterior, as well as on the silver zipper pull following Air Tahiti Nui. The container opens smoothly to reveal two felt-lined side mesh compartments with all of the amenities. It’s a great case, well made and would be perfect to reuse for items you definitely don’t want being squeezed or crushed in either your carryon or checked bag. It’s not luxurious by any sense, but definitely a notch above some other business class offerings out there. Score: 5

Skin Care: Air Tahiti Nui partnered with L’Occitane to provide cooling hand cream with organic verbena extract, shea butter lip balm and a cleansing refreshment cloth. The hand cream is gel-like and while effective and non-greasy, it’s far too overpowering in scent for my taste. The lip balm is quite nice, as is the alcohol-free moist towelette. Score: 4

Oral Care: This kit includes a medium-bristled toothbrush, a tube of “Sunstar” toothpaste (the first time I’ve encountered this brand manufactured in Japan) and a packet of Smints. The toothbrush didn’t have a cover (no biggie), the toothpaste tasted like any standard non-mint U.S. brand and I always appreciate mints or mouthwash in these kits. Score: 4

Comfort Items: The standard eyeshades, socks and slippers are included along with a flip comb – an amenity not normally seen in business class kits – featuring the Air Tahiti Nui logo. The socks are fine for single use and the X-Treme brand earplugs are very soft. A gardenia logo appears on the brightly colored elastic eyeshades, which fit snugly. Stickers were also included that affix to your seat letting the flight attendants know if you prefer to be woken for duty free sales or wish not to be disturbed. Score: 5

Intangibles: There isn’t anything exceptional or luxurious about this kit, but I’m impressed with the case and the volume of amenities. The branding is subtle and while I’m unsure as to the need for the lanyard, it’s a nice added touch, as is the pen. As such, it impresses and deserves a slight nudge up in score for this category. Score: 5

Total score & comments:

Essentially, this amenity kit contained everything I expect from a business class offering and it received an appropriate total score of 4.50.

I’m very happy to soon be flying on my first Airbus A380 in Business Class with Singapore Airlines, and tonight took another look at my reservation as it shows up on their website. I’ve heard about the “Book A Cook” option that allows you to pre-select your meals, and this evening I did just that. I was very impressed by the variety of selections, actually, as you’d certainly never find such an option on U.S. carriers for such a “short” flight from New York’s JFK to Frankfurt.

JFK-FRA meal options:

FRA-JFK meal options:

Here are my choices (the brunch and light meal options were identical)… would you have picked the same?

Yesterday I flew my first trip with United Airlines since the system conversion this past weekend and while I witnessed other people having issues (check-in, upgrade priority, United Club access), I had absolutely no problems. Granted, I called in advance to clear up a ticketing issue a few days ahead of time and was already upgraded, so everything was smooth sailing.

I took a “quick” LAX-JFK-LAX turn on United’s p.s. service and checked-in the day before without issue on the mobile app. For backup, I also had the boarding passes emailed to me in case the sometimes glitch-prone app decided to conk out at the gate. I also tried to visit the check-in page on United.com, but it did fail out and just plopped me back to the homepage without so much as an error message. No worries… I printed my backup copies from the email.

At LAX, I decided to use the kiosk to see if it was working and sure enough, it spit out both my outbound and return BPs without issue. I made my way to the United Club and was scanned in using my club card as boarding passes currently don’t work. One of the agents I’ve gotten to know mentioned they are coming up with a fix, but the old Mileage Plus numbers are still needed for access.

At the gate, I noticed the overheads now show the full seat map identical to what’s viewed online noting which seats are booked, available, etc. There was an agent I hadn’t seen before at LAX (probably from the Continental-side) helping the gate crew with the manual “GG” Shares GDS commands. The boarding time printed on the BP was incorrect as United only boards p.s. 757s a half hour before departure time, but I was soon onboard and settled into seat 9A.

I had a fantastic crew and the flight was on-time. Breakfast has improved slightly as I’ve already experienced on non-p.s. flights and I’m loving the cinnamon roll addition. Catering forgot to board maple syrup, though, so I had dry French toast for breakfast… I survived.

At JFK, I got quite a bit of work done in the lounge before heading to my 8:24pm departure back to LAX. It, too, was on-time and I again had a fantastic crew. The late flight JFK-LAX was historically a snack flight – and it still shows up as such online – but now features full dinner service.

We landed nearly a half hour early, though had to wait about 10 minutes to be ushered into the gate as the ground crew wasn’t ready for our arrival. All in all, it was a seamless travel day for me and I was happy to get my first post-system conversion flight under my belt. Now I’ll just have to wait to see how long it takes for my MileagePlus account to be credited.

I saw this on someone’s Facebook wall the other day and thought it was pretty darn funny. I end up doing a lot of “What I really do” in order to do “What society thinks I do.” I’m sort of at a loss for the meaning/translation of “What my boss thinks I do.” Any ideas?

Last week, the Chicago Tribune published an insightful article focused on a United-Continental merger related item not often reported in such detail – the consideration given to airline meals and galley equipment. Reporter Gregory Karp spent a day at the United Airlines test kitchen in suburban Chicago speaking with chefs, executives and other staff who make the decisions about what we as passengers eat and which items are best suited for onboard preparation and service.

Effective May 1, 2012, we as passengers will be experiencing the new menu, wine and service items under consideration in this article when we travel in First or Business class. According to John Yeng, United’s Director of Product Marketing, “We’re serious about this merger. Part of the reason we’re going through these details is that we want our customers to know that it’s not just merging things together. We’re paying attention.”

Fortunately, the article hints at the fact that chefs are “trying to emulate Continental’s food, which traditionally received high ratings, compared with United’s food, which usually scored poorly.” I tweeted a picture of my breakfast on United earlier this month noting how good it was for a change and one of my followers mentioned it’s Continental’s influence already being seen.

My recent domestic dinner flight also was a pleasant surprise with a salmon appetizer and a main dish including gnocchi.

Some decisions have already been finalized as to which way to go – the United way or the Continental way. Among them are:

• Continental’s slimmer, sleeker serving pot for coffee.
• Continental’s salt shakers vs. packets on United.
• United’s metal bowls for serving hot fudge and salad dressing.
• United’s longer, safer oven mitts.
• Continental’s cloth hot towels vs. United’s paper.
• United’s custom of serving warmed nuts in a ramekin.

The article goes deeper into the logistics and factors that determined the “winners” in each category, so I’d encourage you to read it to get a behind the scenes look into just how many decisions are made for what many travelers take for granted.