stompey5

I just noticed that my flight LH779 is leaving SIN at 23:55 and arrives in FRA at 6:00

I also noticed that another flight SQ26 is also leaving SIN at 23:55 and arrives in FRA at 6:25.

Both flights at A380s - are *A partners - do they really have the numbers to run the two flights at the same time?

And how come SQ is 25 min slower?

DFW-SEN

In addition QF5 leaves SIN at 23:30 for FRA (a 747) and there is SQ326, that leaves at 13:55 (777-300ER). And the flights are usually quite full, but mind you Singapore is a big hub for onwards travel to all over AP.
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Scrooge McDuck

We are having this since at least 10 years. Before the age of the A380, we had these 4 daily connections FRA-SIN on 747-400s. And most of the time they were and are pretty full.

House

SQ allows longer for the flight in the timetable. But the flight time in reality is the same with the same aircraft type (A380).

This isn't unusual, having so many flights at the same time. The overnight flights are very popular (try booking a business class seat to FRA or LHR on a Friday night departure) and the "window" for these flights is narrow. No one wants to leave SIN at 2am or 3am, and a departure before 10pm or so would arrive too early in Europe.

If you think FRA has a lot of flights from SIN, try LHR. From September, this route will have departures between 9pm and Midnight on:

SQ (A380)
SQ (B777)
BA (2 x B747)
QF (2 x A380)

That's in addition to 2 SQ daytime departures (both A380).

megalab

I noticed all those FRA-SIN flights, as well as a MUC-SIN LH flight around the same time. The loads these last few days were nearly full on LH and nearly always full on SQ.

I'm looking at this because I'm planning a business trip Sat Sep 29, return Wed Oct 3. Can one expect these flights to be as full then? Can't afford C but would like to upgrade. Anyone have experience using a UA GPU (aka SWU) on LH to upgrade Y->C on these routes? Any other thoughts/experiences on these routes? Thanks.

DFW-SEN

I lived in Singapore for several years and have flown many times to Europe (usually to MUC, but also occasionally to FRA or LHR before LH started the MUC flight or when it was not available)). I can not remember any flight that wasn't fully booked in C.
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harryhv

Those planes can't all leave at once, in fact the big ones need to be spaced a few minutes apart for safety reasons. So SQ26 doesn't really leave at 2355, it more often leaves towards 1am. But the airport staff like to cram all the passengers on board before midnight anyway so they can finish their shift. That is, it's a good flight to upgrade because there's up to an hour's wait before pushback.

My experience is 50/50 with upgrades, but it's important to try to be served at check-in by one of the German-loooking staff rather than by one of the script-following ICC-rejects that LH seems to employ at all outstations. Their script is only for a simple check-in so their stock answer to anything else such as an upgrade request is "no, not available". Whereas the German check-in person will put your name down even if there's a waitlist. It's the GA who makes the final decision so hang around the podium.

megalab

Thank you both for the replies; you both described exactly what I've been seeing.

I checked this morning and all of today's LH & SQ flights from MUC or FRA to SIN are sold out. Last week when I checked on Friday the Friday flights were sold out but the Sat flights still had some availability, moreso from MUC. (Forgot to check again on Sat).

Do you know if there is any seasonality to the FRA-SIN loads? I know SFO-FRA is nearly impossible to upgrade during Spring/Summer, but loads drop significantly in the Fall. As I'm flying in the Fall I am hoping for something similar. Otherwise, my best bet may be to endure the daytime flights and crash in a real bed when I arrive, though the timing doesn't work as well for me.

chinatraderjmr

The SQ flight actually goes to JFK. FRA is just a stop as apposed to the 77W flight which SQ flys just between SIN-FRA

I know these flights are generally full but I have taken SQ 325 or 326 5 times in the last 12 months. On 3 of those flights Y & C were full and I was the ONLY passenger in F. The other 2 flights had 1 and 2 other pax in F. This is very common at certain times in the year for certain SQ flights (won't happen on 380 flights). I've had the same thing with SQ flights from SFO-ICN (been only pax in F more often then not. LH will always have F full or close to it. That's a good indicator of how many people use upgrades, MM tickets. SQ keeps F free of upgrades and award tickets in most cases. It's very nice to have the whole F cabin to yourself

chinatraderjmr

Germans spend more money (per capita) on vacation travel then ANY other nationality. Since Germans love places with lots of SUN, especially Miami and California, it makes sense that summer loads are so high. Even though SFO is not exactly "sunny and warm", it's still a good place to start a California vacation.