I just arrived in in Bangkok after 32 hours door-to-door.

I've done many longhauls to Asia before (ORD-PVG, JFK-NRT, JFK-HKG), but this was one long flight! Those last four hours just crept by. That said, it sure beats having to connect somewhere.

As a novice SQ flyer (but one who has flown other Asian carriers fairly extensively), I am very impressed.

For seating on the all-J A340-500, I reccomend chosing the last cabin (Rows 30-38). On my flight, the front cabin was full, the middle cabin was 2/3 full, but the rear cabin had only 4 passengers in total. I suspect most people naturally book toward the front and that leaves the rear cabin nearly empty on flights that are not full. The service level was definately higher as a result. It was basically first-class level attention. One example: the FAs made up the seat next to me as my bed, so I didn't have to bother converting my seat and could just hop back and forth as I wish.

I would also reccomend the front most seats in whichever cabin you chose. The TV screen is set further back and it appears that there is more "knee space" in these seats. I'm not sure I'm explaining it well, but these seats look (and feel, I tested both) more spacious.

For my return flght, I moved myself to 38A, the rear-most row on the aircraft. Because the tail tapers, there are only three seats per row in Rows 37 and 38 and, as such, more room between the seats. The passenger in the center seat in these rows has no choice but to exit to the right, so chosing the "A" seats will result in even less seat traffic.

I don't think the time it will take you to leave the aircraft from the rear cabin will be all that bad. I was out within 2 minutes of the door opening this morning. Also, the engine noise is really quite minimal, so that should not be a major concern.

For the record, if it even needs to be said, if you are a solo traveler, there is no good reason to chose a center seat.