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Best Airline to fly to US (LAX/SFO)

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  • Best Airline to fly to US (LAX/SFO)

    hi

    I'm not one who has the privilege (?) of flying for work, but thanks to twice yearly travels (usually one long haul) and credit cards, I have managed to redeem flights to Rome/MXP in 2014, and using some miles which are due to expire in Apr 2015, have managed to redeem business class flights from SIN-NRT/HND-SIN for Dec 2015!

    Seems a bit of forward planning, but my kid is taking her PSLE next year (2016) and we're planning a trip to California after her exams. I probably won't have enough miles for redemption on any airline, so will be paying full fare for our tickets.

    The last few times I flew to the US were on SQ, but a long time ago I flew EVA. Assuming we are flying Econony or Premium Economy (at most!), what would be the best airline, in your opinion, to do the SIN-SFO/LAX-SIN route?

    Best would mean cost versus comfort, total flight time, IFEs, potential to earn miles (for our next trip!)? Anyone cares to share their experiences on SQ, Eva, ANA, etc?

    Thanks!

  • #2
    Originally posted by banoffi View Post
    hi

    I'm not one who has the privilege (?) of flying for work, but thanks to twice yearly travels (usually one long haul) and credit cards, I have managed to redeem flights to Rome/MXP in 2014, and using some miles which are due to expire in Apr 2015, have managed to redeem business class flights from SIN-NRT/HND-SIN for Dec 2015!

    Seems a bit of forward planning, but my kid is taking her PSLE next year (2016) and we're planning a trip to California after her exams. I probably won't have enough miles for redemption on any airline, so will be paying full fare for our tickets.

    The last few times I flew to the US were on SQ, but a long time ago I flew EVA. Assuming we are flying Econony or Premium Economy (at most!), what would be the best airline, in your opinion, to do the SIN-SFO/LAX-SIN route?

    Best would mean cost versus comfort, total flight time, IFEs, potential to earn miles (for our next trip!)? Anyone cares to share their experiences on SQ, Eva, ANA, etc?

    Thanks!
    Hi, banoffi!

    I've flown this route recently in Y on SQ, CX and JL. I've not tried ANA or Eva.

    In terms of quality of Y hard and soft product, my opinion is that SQ is the best, but CX and JL are quite close.

    SQ has the most consistent and strong cabin product, IFE, cabin service and a very good schedule out of SG. That said, their regular fares are also typically a little higher than the other carriers.

    CX has a almost as good as SQ (Connection in HKG, but have to make a stop somewhere, and HKG is a good place to break a journey), in terms of hard product, however catering is just slightly less elaborate. IFE is as good as SQ. Hard product is very good (e.g. Y on the 77W), as long as you don't get the old fixed back Y seats for the long haul sector. Service is fine as well. Price-wise you can get some very good deals on CX. And CX premium Y will definitely be better than Y (Although I have not tried CX Y, I have tried PY on other carriers, and every inch counts.)

    JL is overall very good in terms of overall experience, especially if you get a 787 sector. Catering is good, and service is wonderful. New 767 hard product not as comfortable as SQ Y, but it is still fine. 787 long haul Y is superb. The layover may be quite long on the outbound sector. Smaller IFE selection than SQ and CX, but still AVOD.

    You can get very good deals on ANA, and of course you get to try their 787's as well, however I have not heard good things about the fixed back Y seats on some of their 787's.

    If you want to collect miles on Star Alliance or SQ, then it is probably either SQ, ANA, or Eva (Worst case, even UA if the price is attractive!), otherwise CX and JL are also worth trying.

    so will be paying full fare for our tickets.
    Just a side note as well that "Full Fare" has a special meaning for airline tickets i.e. for economy class, "full fare" is an extremely high, fully flexible/changeable/refundable fare, that almost no-one pays for these days. Most of the economy fares most people buy are discount economy/excursion fares. (Experts please feel free to comment on this last point as well, as I am not in the airline industry).
    Last edited by yflyer; 20 January 2015, 09:38 PM.

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    • #3
      Thanks! In that case i didn't mean "full fare" but more like having to charge it to my KF card to get miles ( as opposed to getting an award ticket).

      I am really hoping that by Dec next year (2016), SQ will revive their non-stops to LAXl and that when they do, they will have both Y and PY seats on the flight! Any clue if that is going to happen?

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      • #4
        Maybe you like to try EVA's new Hello Kitty jet...
        http://www.evaair.com/en-global/flig...new-theme.html

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        • #5
          yup, EVA Is definitely one of my options, although their PY prices seem steeper than I remember them to be!

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          • #6
            SQ will launch Y+ sometime later this year and by the time psle ends, all 77Ws would have been refitted. Something you may wish to consider.
            A380 Y+ refit is less clear at this point.

            With that, I would take SQ2/1 combo for the trip. Much better for managing jet lag. Then take VX to fly between sfo & lax. You'll earn KF miles too

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            • #7
              [QUOTE=9V-JKL;191190]SQ will launch Y+ sometime later this year and by the time psle ends, all 77Ws would have been refitted. Something you may wish to consider.
              A380 Y+ refit is less clear at this point.[
              ...
              /QUOTE]

              That sounds like a very quick refitting, if they are able to refit all 77W's in such a short time, but I guess they have to do it all at once, otherwise there will be chaos if there are equipment swaps etc.

              Hopefully they do it on the A380 too -- it would be strange not to roll it out quickly on the A380, given that many flagship / longhaul routes are operated by the 380...

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by yflyer View Post

                That sounds like a very quick refitting, if they are able to refit all 77W's in such a short time, but I guess they have to do it all at once, otherwise there will be chaos if there are equipment swaps etc.

                Hopefully they do it on the A380 too -- it would be strange not to roll it out quickly on the A380, given that many flagship / longhaul routes are operated by the 380...
                Just to be clear, it'll be done by Q3, 2016 not 2015; which is when OP's daughter's PSLE ends, not this year.

                They say A380 very soon after, that's all.... Nothing else available as yet..

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                • #9
                  well if one is looking for a good bargain from SIN to LAX the Delta beats them all by offering only $1,025 net from now till end april. Believed this is the lowest fare to US so far in the last many years.

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                  • #10
                    Thanks! Does anyone know if there are any plans to reinstate the non-stop from SIN-LAX?

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by banoffi View Post
                      Thanks! Does anyone know if there are any plans to reinstate the non-stop from SIN-LAX?
                      There're a lot of hope that they will, now that fuel prices are down, but I've not heard anything firm. However one can't expect that fuel will remain low indefinitely, until some wonder tech becomes available.

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                      • #12
                        I got an ex-SIN mailer from ANA yesterday which doesn't include taxes/surcharges and fees that would probably give the DL fare a run for its money (especially to New York!!):


                        To NORTH AMERICA

                        Los Angeles Economy Class from SGD765
                        New York, Chicago Economy Class from SGD702
                        San Francisco, San Jose Economy Class from SGD793
                        Washington D.C. Economy Class from SGD730

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