As usual, Singapore 51 departed from gate D10. Tonight’s flight was packed to the gills in all classes.





Man, have we been lucky to have this fifth freedom flight over to the UK for nearly a decade. Now that British Airways is offering Club Suites regularly out of Houston, Singapore doesn’t have the best hard product to the UK out of Houston. But they definitely still have the best overall product. What a treat it was to be able to fly them again.

Singapore Airlines 51
Houston (IAH) – Manchester (MAN)
Depart: 6:35PM
Arrive: 9:40AM +1
Aircraft: Airbus A350-900
Seat: 14K (Business Class)

D10 is a bit of weird gate, requiring an escalator to make it down to the jet bridge.



I also hate that you don’t get a glimpse of the lovely bird taking us over to Manchester that night, but at least you get a pretty nice view of the Qatar Airways A350-1000 next door.



But at least you get to see the wingtips.



As usual, flight attendants were waiting at the door to greet passengers. After a quick glance at my boarding pass, I was handed off to my aisle flight attendant who escorted to my seat, 14K. Impressively, I was addressed by name at every interaction from that point forward.



It was nice being back with one of the widest and most comfortable business class seats aloft.









Water, orange juice, and champagne were offered shortly after I settled in. Singapore is currently pouring 2015 Piper Heidsieck, which is tasty.



Pushback was on time, and we had a pretty quick taxi to the runway.





And then we were off right on time, and climbing out over Humble and Atascocita.



Inside, I was hard at work finding something to watch on Singapore’s excellent entertainment system and just enjoying the quiet ride. I love classics like the 747 and 777 (weird typing that out), but newer planes like the A350 and the 787 are far quieter making for a more pleasant experience.

Dinner service began an impressive 20 minutes after take off.



First up, drinks and warm mixed nuts. Funny enough, the flight attendant accidentally dropped the champagne glass while serving the passenger in front of me. And then, I followed suit moments later by knocking over my glass and spilling champagne on what wasn’t soaked from the flight attendant’s spill. So this picture was taken just seconds before disaster.



The last time I flew Singapore (on this very flight no less) was back in 2022, with many COVID restrictions still in place. I can’t begin to describe how much more pleasant it was this go around. Even the menu seemed to be back to normal. The scallops appetizer was fantastic and paired nicely with the 2021 Louis Latour Pouilly-Fusse.





The pretzel roll and garlic bread were both lovely.



I pre-ordered the Book the Cook sea bass, which was pretty tasty.



I capped off dinner with a stout pour of Suntory’s The Chita, which was delicious, and a cheese plate.





After hitting the lavatory, I made my bed by flipping over the seat. Singapore’s mattress is pretty comfortable, but the bed is kinda short and forces you to sleep on your side. I personally don’t have an issue with it, but some folks do.



I slept for a solid 4.5 hours before being woken up by the flight attendants for breakfast.

Breakfast started off with a fruit plate, which was perfectly ripe and delightfully chilled.



I also did Book the Cook for breakfast and ordered the wonton noodle soup, which was delicious.



A cappuccino capped off breakfast.



We were cruising at 41,000 feet high above Ireland when breakfast was over.



All too soon, we descended for a smooth landing at Manchester.







We parked next to a literal non-descript A330.



Impressively, the inflight manager said good bye to everyone by name, which is no small feat. I finally got a glimpse of the beautiful bird after we deplaned.



As expected, it was quite the hike to immigration.



My passport didn’t work with the automated gates this go around, but luckily the assistance line was short and I was through in a couple of minutes.