FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Re-discovering SQ in J after 4 years: now as a lifetime *G & traveling solo! Advice?
Old Apr 2, 2018, 7:39 am
  #2  
wavery83
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 404
Originally Posted by AvidFlyer1990
Hello Everyone,

So, after a brief disappearance from the FT community, I have made a comeback: and how!! In this brief span, quite a lot happened, in fact: professionally and personally; one of them being (and the one that FT'ers would appreciate the most) my earning lifetime *G status!!

To cut a long-story short, I am starting this thread, to ask for advice. My last SQ flight was in Suites class, almost 4 years ago, with parents. It was a phenomenal experience: especially with the double beds and lobster thermidor.

Now, after 4 years, I am all set to experience SQ J!! And I have loads of questions for the FT community (and I hope that it is perfectly fine of my starting a brand new thread):

I am taking advantage of this deal now: AMD-JFK SQ Premium Fare deal. I am currently based out of India, but, considering good deals are few and far between and that I need to make my yearly trip back home, decided to take advantage of this!

My routing, all in J, cost me ~$1900. In the end, my routing ended up looking like this: AMD-SIN-FRA-JFK-FRA-SIN-AMD. My questions:

On-board:

1. The AMD-SIN and SIN-AMD routes are on the A330, and I have selected 11A, which is the bulkhead. I always prefer bulkheads, as it generally seems more spacious (on Asian carriers), however, I was wondering if you could advise me if there are any other seats which might be better than the bulkhead?

2.The SIN-FRA-JFK-FRA-SIN is on the all J upper-deck A 380-800. As of now, I am on 15A (front mini-cabin), on both the directions. I have gone through this thread: SQ A-380 Business class seat questions, however, I am confused: some people prefer the bulkheads without the windows (row 11): are they that much better? Some prefer the back mini cabin: rows 91 through 95? Why? While others are of the opinion that Row 96, the last row, is the best? The main purpose of the seat, for me, would be to sleep (so quieter area preferred) and lounge. Any specific seats stand out to you?

3. I have BTC'ed on all of the flights where I was given BTC as an option. On one flight, AMD-SIN, BTC was not on offer, and I chose Hindu Non-Vegetarian: Is that a decent choice? If I don't like my pre-ordered BTC option or the Non-vegetarian option, will I be able to choose from the standard menu, or do they only load very specific number of meals according to the load?

4. Anything else, to make my on-board experience better?

Online:

1. Quick question, when you see your reservation online on SQ site, do you see your FFN displayed as such - SQ: 123456789 OR NZ: 123456789? That's how I see when I open my reservation:

Ex.

FirstNAME LastNAME

UA: XXXXXX

On-the-ground:

On both the in-bound and out-bound journeys, I have >12 hours layover in SIN. And the flight times are so awkward, that hotel is out of question (unless there's a SPG/Marriott property that lets you check-in super early and just use the room as a day-room). Any suggestions on the best way to spend 12 hours at SIN / city? Lounge-hopping, perhaps?

Anything else that you may want to add (and which I might have missed)?

Thanks so much, for helping me out, FT! Much appreciated!!

P.S. Mods: If there's a relevant thread, please feel free to merge it.
P.P.S. Mods: Please remove the emoji from the headline / tagline. Not sure how it got populated?! Thanks!!
Hi,

Just returned from a 15 hr layover at Changi. 18:00 - 09:00. Despite other recommendations on multiple pages, my wife insisted on staying the airport and not booking a room - even the ambassador short-term ones. We were in Suites but I can safely say you're not missing much from not being in TPR imho though the staff were very helpful. What we were reasonably impressed with was at the early hours you can find a padded bench to lie down on in the SK lounge and they give you blankets and pillows. No buffet offering between 1am and 5am from what I could see. Food pretty decent from the buffet. We also went to the cinema in T2 which was a bit of a mistake as it was basically used as a sleeping room. The one at T3 looked more respectable but didn't have the same movie selection. Did want to look at the PP lounges but didn't get round to it. The other disappointment was the lack of storage areas in the lounges. They sent us to the pay for storage areas which will store your carry on bags for about 4 $S (half the 24hr rate).

If I was to do this again I think I would probably hop in a cab and spend the time walking around the marina area and get some fresh food. At least that would kill 5 hrs. I would also consider getting a pay per hour room in the transit area. We were just trying to stay up to chase the sun. The other decent rest area is at the lounge level next to the double storey LV outlet in T3. Lots of good chairs there which are more comfortable than the lounge.

Definitely a great airport to be in for a layover.

Just commenting briefly on meal options. Made the mistake of ordering a non-seafood option on SilkAir and ended up with a v tepid chicken breast salad (no sauce) rather than the tasty looking beef rendang. I wasn't given the option to trade. With BTC - The angus burger was excellent but the wagyu beef (dry though well seasoned) was a huge disappointment. The stewards didn't appear to know what they were doing with it which I was surprised with.

Will
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