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Planes, More Planes, Missiles, and Premium Travel (4 varieties of SQ J, AS F, WN Y)

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  • Planes, More Planes, Missiles, and Premium Travel (4 varieties of SQ J, AS F, WN Y)

    Most trip reports are written by frequent flyers well used to the vagaries of international travel. This… is not one of those.

    The trip reports on a site like this are really excellent tools for traveling vicariously through others, especially for those of us who don’t fly very often (either for business or pleasure). However, this meant that when it was time for me to plan some travel of my own, a simple ticket in economy wouldn’t suffice. To paraphrase James May: as you can see, I’ve done this properly.

    This is what I ended up with:



    Index
    MNL-SIN - (very) old SQ regional J (772)
    The Singapore Stopover
    SIN-ICN-SFO - new SQ long-haul J (77WR)
    SFO-SEA - AS F
    Seattle In One Week
    SEA-PHX
    Tucson - Planes, Missiles, and the Desert
    PHX-LAX - WN
    LAX-NRT-SIN - old SQ long-haul J (A380)
    SIN-MNL - SQ regional J (refitted 773)

    The primary destinations for this trip were Seattle and Tucson. As an avowed aviation geek, the appeal of Seattle should be obvious. While I was already in the US, I couldn’t pass up the chance to head down to Tucson, Arizona and visit both the Pima Air and Space Museum as well as take the bus tour of the US government’s aircraft boneyard. Some days were added to both destinations to visit the other non-aviation attractions of each city.

    Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I turned out to be a lousy trip reporter when it came to photos. In some cases I have used publicly available photos that show what I’m talking about and properly cited these. All other photos are my own.

    Flight #1
    SQ 915, MNL-SIN
    Scheduled: 7:40 AM to 11:00 AM
    Actual: 8:00 AM to 11:11 AM
    Operated by: 777-200 (9V-SRJ)


    The Ninoy Aquino International Airport has the dubious distinction of being called the “Worst Airport in the World” by the Sleeping in Airports website from 2011 to 2013. Most of the criticism was due to the rather decrepit state of Terminal 1, which dates back to 1981. Singapore Airlines flies out of the newest terminal, Terminal 3.

    Unfortunately, the first thing that greets anyone departing from MNL is… a line. Unusually, passengers need to pass through a security check even before entering the terminal itself. The area for dropping off passengers is also too small, resulting in lines for both cars and passengers, as seen here:


    Image from @glenjuego on Twitter

    The line wasn’t quite this bad when I got at the airport about three hours before my flight. Even at this early time there was already a sizable line at the counters - but not for business class. One would think that 5AM-ish would be a fairly quiet time, but not at MNL: there are quite a few early morning flights that head off to international hubs early in the morning.

    For an outstation, Terminal 3 has quite good lounge options. All of the lounges are a floor above the main departure level, and there are four in total: both SQ and CX operate airline lounges, and there are two contract lounges.



    SQ operates their SilverKris lounge…



    CX operates their own lounge as well.



    One of the contract lounges; this one is used by ANA and Emirates and is operated by dnata.

    Four lounges may not sound like a lot, but considering that only five non-LCC airlines (CX, DL, EK, NH, and SQ) actually operate out of Terminal 3, four lounges is a lot. This produced an exceptionally pleasant lounge experience: it never got particularly crowded!

    I was the first passenger to arrive at the SilverKris lounge. It’s not particularly large, but at no time did the lounge feel crowded. It’s essentially one large room: both lounging chairs and pod chairs (like those available in other SQ lounges) are present.



    One side of the room has the available food. Choices are relatively limited, but adequate. Seats and tables more suited for eating are also located here.





    The lounge actually has a view of the tarmac - a rarity for SQ lounges. The plane that serves SQ 915 actually arrives the night before and remains overnight at MNL, and it’s parked right outside the lounge:



    Unfortunately a ledge of some sort between the room and the outside keeps passengers from catching a good view of their plane.

    NH and DL also keep a plane overnight at MNL. On the other side of the airport, Terminal 2 - the hub of PR - is clearly visible from the lounge.



    The lounge has its own WiFi network, with the password provided to passengers on a slip of paper on entrance. One thing this lounge gets very right is power. Each table between the lounging chairs has an AC socket and two USB ports, ensuring most seats have easy access to power:



    I had a light breakfast to keep my hunger pangs at bay. I was the sole passenger in the lounge for about 30 minutes or so, but even when other passengers arrived it wasn’t crowded at all.

    Soon enough, it was time to board: this lounge makes boarding calls, perhaps because it actually closes for a few hours until the next departure, which isn’t until the early afternoon.

    The boarding call was perfectly timed, as I was able to walk all the way from the lounge to the airplane without breaking a sweat. There is something to be said about early boarding and not spending any time waiting at the gate…

    At Terminal 3 the actual gate is a level below the departure area, with a long ramp that leads to the plane. This gave me a marginally better view of the plane:

    Last edited by leops1984; 9 May 2016, 10:41 PM.

  • #2
    Overall, while the experience at MNL isn’t going to blow anyone anyway, it’s not completely horrible - and it’s even perfectly comfortable if you’re an elite with the right airlines. The SQ SilverKris Lounge in MNL is one of the newest in the system, and it shows: the decor is pleasantly bright (and not overly dark, unlike some other SQ lounges) and it actually has a view. They got a lot of things right here.

    There’s a decent amount of traffic waiting to depart MNL in the morning. Aside from the NH 767 and the DL 744 visible from the lounge, there’s also a CX 77W:



    The 747 is still one of the prettiest planes flying today. Even if this one has a rather devilish registry…



    Now, the flight itself. SQ likes to brag about its relatively young fleet. 9V-SRJ is… not one of its newer planes. It has the (in)famous Ultimo purple seats - in business class, that means 7-across recliners:


    Singapore Airlines Business Class by Andrew Currie is licensed under CC BY 2.0

    I was seated in 12A. The J cabin was about half-full, with most of the occupied seats in the front rows.

    The seat itself is the oldest premium seat in the Singapore Airlines fleet, and… it shows. It’s not even the seat that’s the problem - for a relatively short regional flight in the daytime a recliner is actually acceptable. It’s the rest of the seat that falls short. Storage was lacking. The screens are not particularly sharp or bright, and very prone to glare, either from the outside or cabin lighting:



    The hard materials of the seat looked and felt a bit worn, and the screen could also turn upside-down if it was positioned just right. At the time I thought it was okay - this was my first flight in anything but economy. However, after much better experiences in both long-haul J and the current regional J seat, I have to wonder if the seat is up to SQ’s normally high standards. Then again, it goes to BKK and MNL only nowadays - neither of which is exactly a premium market.

    The service itself was fine, if hurried. It didn’t feel hurried at the time, but after experiencing two good crews to SFO and two superb ones from LAX, I can see why regional flights are thought to have something of an assembly-line feel. I’ll be honest: if this was my only business class leg, I’d have been disappointed.

    After breakfast and some Mythbusters on the IFE, I eventually reclined the seat as far as it will go and catch some sleep. It wasn’t long after waking up that we were on descent for a landing on runway 02L.



    I’d chosen a seat on the left for this reason: the view of Singapore harbor.



    Landing at 02L but disembarking at Terminal 2 meant a rather long taxi. Once we’d arrived at our gate, this private 787 turned out to be our neighbor. Ah, Middle East money...

    I disembarked from my first-ever premium cabin experience, ready to play tourist in Singapore for a few hours.

    Comment


    • #3
      The Singapore Stopover

      I’d booked my flights to allow me to spend some time as a tourist in Singapore. By catching SQ915 in the morning and SQ16 the following day, I would have about half a day to be a tourist. Helpfully, because of how I’d booked this flight, Singapore Airlines provided a free one-day Explorer Pass.

      Once I’d claimed the pass, stored my carry-on luggage, and acquired a one-day Singapore Tourist Pass for my transport needs, it was off to the city. The first destination?

      I couldn’t call myself a foodie and not visit at least one hawker center. Somehow I decided to end up at the Maxwell Food Center, where I discovered that hawker centers are as crowded and hot as the tourist guides make them out to be - if not worse. Perhaps a more tourist-friendly center would have been a less taxing introduction…

      Using the principle of “the stand with the longest line is the best”, I ended up at the Tian Tian chicken rice stall, favored by one Anthony Bourdain. And certainly, they’re not shy about advertising that point either:



      The food itself was as good as advertised. Foodies planning a stay in Singapore would be well-advised to pick a hotel within easy walking distance of a hawker center. Which one is a debate in an of itself, which I leave to locals and expats alike...

      Next I headed off to Sentosa. Frankly, this was not one of my best decisions: I’m not much of a resort person. However, the view from the cable car of the harbor is quite impressive.



      By this time I was a bit tired, so I needed to cool off and relax. So I headed off to the Gardens By The Bay, beside the much more well-known Marina Bay Sands.

      When people think Singapore, “nature park” isn’t probably the first thing that comes to mind. Still, for a somewhat tired tourist just looking to relax, it’s a great place to go to.

      The centerpiece of the park are the two air-conditioned conservatories. In the tropical heat and humidity of Singapore, this is huge. While admission to the park is free, the admission to the conservatories is not. While my pass entitled me to enter both, on this day one of the two (the Flower Dome) was closed for maintenance.

      The Cloud Forest is the smaller of the two, but is taller than its neighbor:



      Inside is what can best be described as… an artificial mountain with a waterfall.





      Thanks to the waterfalls, the inside is remarkably cool and comfortable. On both sides, the path to the hill has all kinds of plants and flowers… even if not all of it is real.



      It’s not going to be everyone’s taste, but for those looking for a place to simply relax, enjoy nature (or really, a highly curated and maintained form of it)... it’s a pretty good place to be.

      Aside from the conservatories, the most prominent feature of the Gardens are what they call “supertrees”. Notionally, this is because they perform the functions of trees on a larger scale. How exactly they do this, I’m not sure - but they are something of an engineering marvel.


      There’s a walkway between some of the larger supertrees, which one can access via an elevator inside. (Access to the walkway, is, however, not free.) It provides a good view of the entire garden, and the nearby port and business district.





      With the failing sun it was time to catch up with some friends who had made Singapore their home. Dinner was at the Makansutra Glutton’s Bay - which can be thought of as a tourist-friendly version of a hawker center. The food was not quite as good as Maxwell, but the environment is more comfortable and more tourist-friendly.

      The Marina Bay area makes for some fine viewing at night. The Merlion, icon of the city:



      The Singapore Flyer:



      The Marina Bay Sands, and the flower-like ArtScience Museum.



      Singapore is a great city for a quick stopover, with something for just about everyone. Just a word to the wise: be prepared for humidity and a lot of walking.

      Comment


      • #4
        Hi leops1984!

        Sounds like you had a nice time exploring SG! Looking forward to the rest of your report!

        I wonder how long those retro planes (Well, retro on the inside at least...) will remain on SQ's fleet.

        I have fond memories of those old blue Ultimo J seats, and as you have also said, would not mind those seats on shorter, day time flights.

        Comment


        • #5
          Flight #2:
          SQ 16, SIN-ICN-SFO
          Scheduled: 9:25 AM to 12:15 PM
          Actual: 9:39 AM to 11:47 AM
          Operated by: 777-300ER (9V-SNB)


          After a few hours of catching up - as friends who haven’t seen each other in a while are wont to do - it was time to head back to the airport. (Long bus rides aren’t any more glamorous in Singapore, either.)

          At the other end of this journey was Changi Terminal 3. This is the terminal that gives Changi multiple best airport awards. It’s roomy, very functional, and beautiful all at the same time. Right from the departure hall, passengers can’t help but be impressed:



          I didn’t take any photos of the SilverKris Lounge here because, frankly, there wasn’t much to see - and I figure this audience already knows what it looks like. The couches at the back of the lounge were a perfect location to catch some sleep.

          There’s very little to complain about the SilverKris Lounge if it comes to functionality. The food selection is a great mix of both Western and local cuisine. A wide range of drinks (alcoholic and otherwise) is available. The seats are comfortable, the wifi is fast, the showers are clean.

          The one area where the lounge falls short here is power - it’s simply too hard to get in this lounge. To get AC power, you need to unplug the lamps - and have the local plug available. USB ports aren’t available unless you have your own adapter. Maybe for the typical business clientele these aren’t problems, but they are areas where other (and newer) lounges do better.

          What I didn’t like about this lounge is really the decor. I’d almost describe it as… gloomy. Low ceilings, no natural light, relatively dark color palette… cheerful the lounge isn’t.Also, with no natural light or outside view you could forget that you’re at an airport. I view this as a minus, but others may disagree. It’s a comfortable place to be - but it doesn’t feel special.

          What makes it so odd is that the rest of the terminal gets it right. High ceilings, natural light, warmer colors… it’s almost the opposite of what the lounge is.



          Passengers at Changi clear security at the gate. While this does cut down on the length of lines, this does result in a slightly crowded experience just before boarding: you’re placed in a walled off holding area. When dealing with a fully-loaded 77W or A380, it can get a bit cramped.

          Changi doesn’t have airline-exclusive terminals. This Jet Airways 737 looked lost amidst all the SQ widebodies:



          Once I got on the plane, though… let me put it this way: this was my first long-haul flight in anything but economy. I find it hard to imagine how much better such a flight could have gone. Everything - the seat, the service, the entertainment, the food - was excellent. In a word: wow.

          I’d managed to book myself into one of the best seats on the plane: 11A.



          My previous flight had been on the oldest SQ business class product; this was the newest one. (The plane itself is the second newest 77W in the airline’s fleet.)

          Predeparture drinks were offered by the crew, and I accepted a glass of juice. I then settled into my seat - and wow, what a seat it was.

          The seat has to be one of the widest business class seats out there. Combined with the bulkhead seat I had, there was an incredible amount of room. The legrest comes up to a fully horizontal position, which made this seat a great lounger - I could put my feet up without having to put the seat in the bed mode, which was very nice. I didn’t bother putting the seat in bed mode until the ICN-SFO leg: to be honest I was taking in the experience. (First long-haul business flight, remember.)

          Of course, I couldn’t do that until we took off. Beside us was an A380 that was going to perform the daily flight to LAX via NRT:



          I still don’t like how the A380 looks from the outside.



          While taxiing to the runway I caught Scoot’s special SG50 plane. I thought it would look better in person - it doesn’t. It still looks like a plane caught chicken pox.





          An Air China A330 and SQ Cargo plane were behind us in the takeoff queue.

          Comment


          • #6


            Once in the air, the crew brought out the satay and champagne… the unmistakable “welcome to SQ” combination in business or first.



            The salad included octopus, which was… interesting. I wouldn’t object to having it again, but it wouldn’t be my first choice either.



            New to business class and Book The Cook… lobster thermidor was the obvious choice. Can you really fly in an SQ premium cabin and not have lobster at least once?

            The food was pretty good. I found that of all my SQ flights, this leg had the best meals, both in taste and presentation.

            While relaxing in the seat, I took in some of the programming on the IFE system. The available selection is top notch - at the time of this flight The Revenant was the featured movie, but both the new Star Wars movie and the entire Hunger Games franchise were available. I opted for some Top Gear at first:



            This looks just about right…



            This one doesn’t.

            Some Mythbusters and The Big Short later, and we were on approach to ICN. There’s nothing to complain about with the content or the screen, but the user interface… it’s a bit flaky.

            The large screen isn’t a touch screen; instead you use the phone-like controller at the side. It doesn’t always work very well - it’s not intuitive, and it’s not as responsive as a good smartphone. Sometimes it’s okay, but sometimes you just want to administer some good old-fashioned percussive maintenance.

            I like the idea of the controller as a more “modern” way to control the IFE. I like how it’s basically positioned as a second screen and not hidden in the armrest. If this was a mobile app, I’d have said it was in beta. I sort of wonder if the cleaners are paying proper attention to it: my controller had a bit of caked-on dirt on it, and I know that touch-controlled devices can be flaky if the screen is dirty.

            My favorite feature of the IFE might be the 3D maps.



            Aside from this view, there are a lot of modes, all controllable by the passenger. Particularly interesting is the pilot’s eye view. It’s not very accurate when landing, though. (Image pixelated to hide my reflection.)



            As for the crews on both legs, they were pretty good. The pace of service was much more relaxed than with the regional crew. As an airline, SQ crews appear to be pretty good at the art of knowing when to disturb passengers (to, say, refill drinks) and when to give passengers the privacy. Maybe I was the greased wheel that didn’t need any attention, but I thought both SIN-ICN and ICN-SFO crews were pretty good.

            Soon it was time for the brief stopover at ICN’s remote concourse. I skipped the lounge since the layover would be so short and went plane-spotting.



            My ride to ICN and on to SFO.



            An ever-ubiquitous EK A380, with two KE A380s behind it.

            Back on board and taxiing to the runway, there was a surprise: two KE 747s at the remote concourse. Strange, I thought KE was centralized at the main terminal?



            Back in the sky I had BTCed the Grilled Beef Tenderloin Steak (a Matthew Moran creation). It was okay - if perhaps a bit overcooked. Then again, it’s steak on a plane. Next time, I’ll pick something else.

            One viewing of The Martian later, it was time for sleep. I was probably a bit too excited to sleep properly, which meant that I was able to see something special: sunrise high over the Pacific Ocean.



            For breakfast I opted for braised udon noodles.



            I loved this selection - compared to either pancakes or an egg omelette (the other breakfast choices), I found this to be far more interesting. The only reason I wasn’t able to finish all of it is I was still a bit full from my dinner earlier in the flight.

            Comment


            • #7
              The approach to SFO is full of interesting sights visible from the window, especially if you’re sitting on the left side of the plane.



              The Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz.



              Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco’s financial district, and Treasure Island (which might well be best known today as a frequent Mythbusters location.



              Perhaps the most famous Mythbusters location: the former Naval Air Station Alameda, referred to on-air as the “Alameda runway”. This is a misnomer: there are actually two runways. Also in this shot is a retired World War 2 aircraft carrier now serving as a museum ship, the USS Hornet. Next to the former airbase is the port of Oakland.

              The plane-spotting at SFO upon landing is quite varied.



              UA 744.



              AI 77L, with both new and old SFO control towers behind it.



              ANA 77W.



              The world’s longest single-aisle airliner, the 753. Boarding this plane can’t be easy.

              This particular trip was strictly a vacation, and flying this particular product was a big part of that. I had expectations… and I wasn’t disappointed in the least bit. The seat was superb. The crews were up to the lofty standards that are part of SQ’s reputation.

              The only real downside? Having this as my first longhaul business class trip will probably spoil me for the rest of my life. But hey, that’s what money and miles are for...

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by yflyer View Post
                Hi leops1984!

                Sounds like you had a nice time exploring SG! Looking forward to the rest of your report!

                I wonder how long those retro planes (Well, retro on the inside at least...) will remain on SQ's fleet.

                I have fond memories of those old blue Ultimo J seats, and as you have also said, would not mind those seats on shorter, day time flights.
                Thank you, yflyer. Yes, I did have a great time, even if I was very tired after exploring SG. (I am convinced that walking to and fro MRT stations qualifies as "strenuous exercise", given how long they can be at times.)

                Your guess is as good as mine as to when these "retro" planes will leave the SQ fleet. I am surprised that they were never refitted in their lifespan, to be honest.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Nice report! Looking forward to your US report

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Excellent TR. I hope that if I fly SQ15/16 in December (hopefully if I go to India), I get the SN birds. I presume you had T-Mobile Wifi on that plane too, correct?

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by SQfanatic View Post
                      Excellent TR. I hope that if I fly SQ15/16 in December (hopefully if I go to India), I get the SN birds. I presume you had T-Mobile Wifi on that plane too, correct?
                      I did, but I didn't try it out. I didn't mind going without Internet access for a couple of hours.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by leops1984 View Post
                        I did, but I didn't try it out. I didn't mind going without Internet access for a couple of hours.
                        Me either. I have no issue without internet access for even a couple of hours either myself. I only thought I'd ask because the new Wifi system being time based looks tempting to not use. If it doesn't work that's another story; that's what happened when I flew EK's A380 back in December (Volume based, but price was cheaper than SQ). Even I attempted to use the internet, barely much of a connection sadly.

                        Comment

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