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Hello everyone, and happy 2024! I kicked off the travel year with a week long work trip to New York City on 12 January. On this trip, I finally got to fly SQ's new Airbus A350-900 ULR (Ultra Long Range) aircraft there and back, on the world's longest scheduled commercial flights. I flew there in Premium Economy, then flew home in Business Class.
Nonstop flights from Singapore to New York started with SQ in 2004, with the 4-engined Airbus A340-500 doing SIN-EWR-SIN, a great circle distance of 9529 miles (Over 15,000km), the world's longest scheduled commercial flight. Then, when SQ started flying nonstop to JFK, SQ24/23 SIN-JFK-SIN pipped SQ22/21 SIN-EWR-SIN by just a few km to be crowned the new world's longest. What's the difference? From a Krisflyer mileage perspective, SIN-JFK gets you 9533 miles, whereas SIN-EWR gets you 9529 miles.
The last time I flew nonstop from SIN to EWR was in 2006, on SQ's Airbus A345, in what was then called Exec Economy. Those were the days before I began writing TRs, but I did share a brief video of the flight on Youtube here:
These days the flights are flown on modern twin-engined Airbus A350-900 ULRs, which have a 2 class configuration: 67 Business Class seats and 94 Premium Economy seats.
On my outbound SIN-JFK sector in PEY, I snagged one of the sought after solo seats, located in the rear of the aircraft. There are only 6 of these solo seats, 3 on either side. These seats are special because while the PEY cabin is laid out 2-4-2, these solo seats are standalone (As the name implies), with storage cabinet next to the seat. My opinion of the solo seat coming up later in this TR.
For my first night in NY after arriving at JFK, rather than head into the city, I checked into the TWA Hotel. This hotel was the iconic former Idlewild Terminal at JFK, designed by architect Eero Saarinen.
This stunning terminal building, with its soaring curves and public spaces, has been lovingly restored, and is now a hotel, complete with Lockheed Constellation converted into a cocktail bar.
I spent the rest of the week in Manhattan for work. This was my first post-pandemic visit to NY, and I was glad to see the city as lively and buzzing as ever.
I flew home on SQ21 EWR-SIN a week later. This was my first time checking out SQ's 2013 J seat in its Airbus A359 version.
How would this long haul seat fare on such a long 17+ hour sector? Read on to find out!
Nonstop flights from Singapore to New York started with SQ in 2004, with the 4-engined Airbus A340-500 doing SIN-EWR-SIN, a great circle distance of 9529 miles (Over 15,000km), the world's longest scheduled commercial flight. Then, when SQ started flying nonstop to JFK, SQ24/23 SIN-JFK-SIN pipped SQ22/21 SIN-EWR-SIN by just a few km to be crowned the new world's longest. What's the difference? From a Krisflyer mileage perspective, SIN-JFK gets you 9533 miles, whereas SIN-EWR gets you 9529 miles.
The last time I flew nonstop from SIN to EWR was in 2006, on SQ's Airbus A345, in what was then called Exec Economy. Those were the days before I began writing TRs, but I did share a brief video of the flight on Youtube here:
These days the flights are flown on modern twin-engined Airbus A350-900 ULRs, which have a 2 class configuration: 67 Business Class seats and 94 Premium Economy seats.
On my outbound SIN-JFK sector in PEY, I snagged one of the sought after solo seats, located in the rear of the aircraft. There are only 6 of these solo seats, 3 on either side. These seats are special because while the PEY cabin is laid out 2-4-2, these solo seats are standalone (As the name implies), with storage cabinet next to the seat. My opinion of the solo seat coming up later in this TR.
For my first night in NY after arriving at JFK, rather than head into the city, I checked into the TWA Hotel. This hotel was the iconic former Idlewild Terminal at JFK, designed by architect Eero Saarinen.
This stunning terminal building, with its soaring curves and public spaces, has been lovingly restored, and is now a hotel, complete with Lockheed Constellation converted into a cocktail bar.
I spent the rest of the week in Manhattan for work. This was my first post-pandemic visit to NY, and I was glad to see the city as lively and buzzing as ever.
I flew home on SQ21 EWR-SIN a week later. This was my first time checking out SQ's 2013 J seat in its Airbus A359 version.
How would this long haul seat fare on such a long 17+ hour sector? Read on to find out!
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