I am just back from SIN yesterday. I have some friends out there whom I have not seen for a while and the $540 fare with UA over Memorial Day weekend was totally irresistible.

Since it was "Q" fare and I could not use miles for upgrade, I was almost(!) ready to sit the back side of 747, but the super kind RichardMEL gave me his SWU. Thanks so much, Richard! My waitlist (LAX-SIN) cleared 3 days before the flight departure and I secured 15G for LAX-NRT and 15A for NRT-SIN.

On the day of departure (5/23/02), I was stuck in the traffic and when I arrived at LAX, it was 11:45AM (12:30 departure). The check-in counter was already closed and I was told to go to the gate directly (Thank god, I only had carry-on bag).

When I arrived at 68B gate, even coach class passengers were lined up for the boarding. I rushed to the counter and did check-in. The super gentle agent told me that he was about to release my seat for upgrade waitlist passengers but was glad he did not (I thanked him a lot). He even let me go behind the counter and escorted me directly to the boarding entrance so that I did not have to be at the end of the coach class pax line. And...he did not collect the SWU.
I noticed my presecured 15G was changed to 25G, but I decided not to go back to him.

I got to my seat and hey, there was someone sitting there already! I checked her boarding pass - it said 24G. I told her to keep the seat since she spread her stuff around her seat already. I took her seat (24G). I had great conversation with my seatmate and he was on his way to Beijing on business. I had my preselected obento meal. Other choices were beef steak or scallops noodles. If you would like to have obento meal, please preselect. Otherwise you will not get it.

Upon arrival at NRT, I took my seatmate to RCC for shower - felt great. Great staff members! After shower, we enjoyed the beer serving machine. Thanks for the great tips, other FTers!! Since UA did not collect the SWU, I put my name on the upgrade waitlist for my return flight. They said it looks good.

My flight to SIN left on time. I was sitting on 15A and had no seatmate. I had lightly fried salmon marinated in yuanji sauce (some Japanese sauce) for dinner. Other choices were some chicken thing and seafood Chinese noodles.

My friend picked me up at SIN and we had some ramen noodles on the way (I was hungry for some reason), then took me to Sheraton Towers, Singapore. I booked the hotel with the rate of S$195 for triple star points. In spite of the very arrival time (1AM or so), the checkin agent welcomed very nicely and gave me a boxed gift (wrapped). I was told free breakfast buffet was included. Cool!

The bellman took me to my room and once I got into...boy, it was a gorgeous suite room with stunning furniture named "Safari Suite" A big fruit basket, a bottle of red wine, and 2 bottles of water were waiting for me in the room as Platinum welcome amenity. I really enjoyed the hotel.
The staff members were always attentive, polite, and friendly. They opened up Business Centre just for me to use internet service afterhours and even offered me a cup of tea or coffee.

I stayed at Ritz Carlton on my last day just to compare the experience. For the room and the employees, I liked Sheraton Towers better! Ritz's bathroom was stunning though... There was a huge bathtub with a tiny pillow cushion for you to lie down and you have the great city view while taking a bath (You can of course close the blinds though).

I called the local UA office to find my upgrade waitlist status and I was told that I was upgraded and seat assignment has to be done at the airport! Thanks again, Richard. On my departure date, I took a cab from Ritz and left for Changi airport at 5AM to catch 7:20 flight. I checked in and requested seat assignment. I got 15G on SIN-NRT, but no upper deck was available on NRT-LAX. I took the only aisle seat 26G.

I went to SATS Lounge and had the icecream (that I learned from other FTers, thanks!). My flight to NRT was rather uneventful. The first meal selections were some chicken, seafood noodles, or Continental breakfast. The second meal choises were cajun chicken salad or spaghetti meat sauce! I was surprised to see they serve spaghetti with meat sauce on international business class.

My seatmate was asleep throughout the flight. FAs on the upperdeck were both NRT based and very polite and professional. I started to talk to them and they got me a nice bottle of Meduc (French Red) before getting off.

Even though I did not enough time at NRT, I had to send a couple of e-mails. So I rushed to the famous Silver Kris Lounge. I had some sushi while sending e-mails. There was only one more passenger in the lounge. Very quite and good food...

Upon getting on the flight on NRT-LAX, I saw someone sitting in my seat (again!). This time, the woman asked me if I would like to switch with her seat - middle in the middle section so that she could sit with her family. Huh? The FA showed up and asked us what happened. This woman said to her "He (that's me) would like to take my (middle section) seat." Wait, that's a lie!!! The FA did a great job to rearrange the family's seat - by putting all of them in the middle section. My seatmate was kind of scary looking (sorry), so I kind of kept low profile during the flight. I got preselected obento for dinner. Again obento was for preselected passengers only. Other options were beef steak or some chicken. The second meal options - either omelet or fresh fruit plate.

Our flight landed at LAX 40 min earlier (9:20AM). The problem was Immigration/Customs do not open until 10AM
because of the holiday (5/27). So the Captain decided to "hang out" on runway until they opened. Finally we approached the gate and were released. The immigration officer that I spoke was the friendliest guy that I ever know...

[This message has been edited by FlyMan (edited 05-28-2002).]