While entering the MEL SQ lounge sometime in Jan, I asked the lounge lady about load factor. She somehow worked out that I was hinting about upgrade chances, and cheekily told me that had I flown a day earlier there would have been a 99% chance of getting upgraded as the same flight was "massively overbooked" a day earlier. I then pointed out that I was only a UA*G, and she mentioned something about how I would have been quite high up the ranks as far as economy pax go based on the flight the day I was travelling. And finally I could not help it and blurted out that SQ never upgrades. She replied something along the lines of "oh you might be surprised." Found it hard to believe her though as there are 3 dailies out of MEL and it was only the 2nd flight of the day I was travelling on, so surely the airline would have attempted to accomodate pax on a later flight.

I can see the point of what SQ does though - I'd want to be feeling that I paid for J or F for a reason if I fork out thousands of dollars for the extra class of service.

bla bla bla bla bla....

who is the italian guy flying next fall YYZ-LCA in biz at 40$????? His name starts with "MA" and it ends with "CH81"....

that's smart IMHO!flying J at a ridiculous price is ok!it's not my fault if they have biz class sales over there...

I have to respectfully disagree with the OP. If you buy an econ ticket on SQ and CX and CX upgrades you of course CX provides better food and service! But comparing apples to apples, SQ is definitely better than CX in terms of food and service.

I have flow CX F for many years and in the past 2 years CX J. Now flying SQ I see a big difference in food (especially in J) and service SQ wins hands down! SQ anticipates what you need, you don't have to ask. CX can sometimes be very good but sometimes very bad. CX F I've had 95% excellent service but only 50% good service in CX J. On SQ J, I haven't had a bad flight yet!