I just flew my first SIN trip & got back earlier today. My itinerary is as follows:
SNA-LAX Jan 17 UA 5293
LAX-SIN Jan 17 UA 897 (via NRT)
SIN-LAX Jan 21 UA 890 (via NRT)
LAX-SNA Jan 21 UA 5296
Ticket cost me $493 on ual.com. Got 18.5 status & 38K total miles.
Security took all of 10 minutes including being 'wanded' extensively. Security (unlike most others!) gentleman was very nice, professional, & seem to know what he was doing. (most don't
!) After that, went to the red carpet club & waited for more than an hour. My first flight was a UAX & the scenery below was nice. Arrived at LAX & went into the red carpet club there. Met 2 flyer talkers, 'taxdude' & his traveling companion. (they were to take the same flight as I to SIN). Went on UA 897 to SIN via NRT. Were in the E+ section. Coach was packed! Had seat 37H but by mistake, sat in 37C. The man's seat I took by mistake was very nice & wanted my original seat more. Anyway, I was two rows up from 'taxdude' & talking to other FTer's makes the time go very quickly. Arrived in NRT in afternoon of 1/18 & went to red carpet club. Had to check out the famous beer machine! Ate some rice rolls, diet coke (they seem to had a very good selection of liquors--I do not like the taste of liquor), etc. After 1.5 hrs, went to gate of UA 897 to SIN. There were two more FTer's in 35A & 35C. (I forgot their handles). Talked to them & made time go by quickly. Landed in SIN at 11:50PM on 1/18.
Took cab to hotel. Probably paid too much for cab. Stayed in an inexpensive hotel. New 7th Storey Hotel (NSSH). Just you basic, cheap old (built in '53) hotel. Met my needs OK. Stayed 2 nights in backpakers room & last nite in private room with common bath. Paid 75 SGD total. (next visit, have the Conrad at 50% weekend rate
). Hotel is OK in a pinch for frugal types who do not care if the place is old & basic. Hotel seems to be kept up pretty decently, however. Met another UA 1K who was staying there. Hotel is well located to MRT (subway) & is 1 block away.
Got to hotel about 1AM & slept pretty decent. Woke up & just walked all over the central city. Had some very good & inexpensive Chinese food. Got to have lots of seafood & duck. First day, napped, walked & just got familiar with the city. Second day, went to the Preserve & hiked up to the summit & on the trails into the jungle. The only two rain forests in the urban areas (according to my guidebook) are Rio & SIN. Had a nice time & got some serious exercise.
Checked out of hotel at 5AM & shared cab with another hotel guest. (the 1K I met earlier). Went to check in & did not see a Prem Exec/Business checkin. Anyway, the line was fairly short. Was given a lounge pass to SATs lounge. Lounge was decent & they had Movenpick ice cream! Had to try some even at 6AM. (had the choc chip & strawberry). Yum Yum! Did not see any FTer on my return flight #890. Middle seat next to me on both legs was empty.
Had seat 37A. From SIN-NRT, NRT was having weather problems & we were in 2 different holding patterns. Got in over a hour late. Still had a little time to go to the Red Carpet club. Was brave (for me, that is
) & had half of a beer from the well known beer machine. (credit to chexfan for the wonderful pictures & description
) Beer was great!
Was able to rest on both SIN-NRT & NRT-LAX legs. Going through customs was another matter.
Went through Customs, got flagged to the red line. Lady was polite but asked a "million" questions! Made remarks about "you must have alot of $$$ to travel for 3 days". Remarked that FTer friends do a 6-7 hour turn for the miles. Explained that I have limited vacation time. She said, don't you get alot of time off. I remarked that I am using most of mine (3 weeks) for a trip to Australia in Business class. Asked me if flying to SIN was worth it. Of course, YES! Explained truthfully that my SIN trip cost me only 1.30 cents/mile (earning almost 2/3 of a expensive Australia ticket). Asked where I'd been, etc. She remarked that I did alot in the two days. When she saw all the books, fliers,etc. that I'd picked up in SIN coupled with an old Australia guidebook I had with with me, she seem to believe what I was saying. This was my first time I'd cleared LAX customs in a few years. (I usually clear customs on the eastern USA on my trips back to Europe). In spite of having luggage searched & being questioned, I am ready for my Feb trip to SIN!
After clearing customs, I made my flight to SNA. Still trying to decide whether to go for UA 1K or stop at Prem Ex. Thank you for bearing with me in reading this long report.