lokijuh

Quoted from Straits times:
Oh the hype!! It went as close to the north pole as Singapore is to Manila (~~2500km).

Ryu2

24left

And there she is, "estimated" of course

bruininabag

TPG just posted their review in Premium Economy. It's the first of 2 parts... sounds like a J review is coming for the return flight.

24left

Yes, it seems he wasn't impressed with the "Premium" part of the Premium Economy service. Otherwise, good review in terms of detail and photos.

I've also seen detailed photos, menus, wine options etc from others in J who were posting from the flight.

djsflynn

Review up, for those interested: https://www.ausbt.com.au/singapore-a...apore-new-york

djsflynn

About 25-30 media.

Not really, although some groups of pax did chat with each other over drinks, but generally as we left after midnight and crew were buzzing about, this was more like any other flight. For media it was a 'working' flight.

This was a commercial flight so no seat-swapping really allowed except for some media, but J was full anyway.

I'll find out when I fly back in Y+ on Sunday!

Very long, and it shows that airlines really need to rethink the way things are done for ultra-long flights like this. You can't take hard+soft product designed for an 8-14 hour flight and expect it to work to best effect on an 18-20 hour flight. SQ has made a decent start (well, re-start) but IMHO needs to work on some details, and I'd suggest that for somebody like Qantas looking at non-stop Sydney-New York and Sydney-London will need to design business class seats with incredible attention to detail and built for 18-20 hours, as well as create alternative 'social spaces' in the aircraft.

djsflynn

Terrible WiFi experience on the inaugural, I could not connect at all until the last few hours. Many others had the same experience and others still found it useful only for WhatsApp etc. The issue was
a) SQ PR handed out unlimited free WiFi passcodes to all media
b) I'm told that the rest of the passengers (or at least a very large number of them) got similar coupons from crew
c) some media jumped onto the service to start live video blogs and send large media files to servers, which seems to have gobbled up all available bandwidth or at least reduced it to fits and starts.

I expect the WiFi experience on SQ21 EWR-SIN will be a bit better as perhaps only media will have free unlimited access and some of the bandwidth-gobblers have already done their thing on SQ22; I'm flying back on Sunday and expect that this will provide a far more accurate test of WiFi because it'll be more like a commercial service without all the video, instragrams etc etc.

380Flyer

Having been observing some of the repeat free loaders get excited with the relaunched service from SIN-EWR-SIN service, I am lost in translation to think what is all the hullabaloo all about!

There are some missed opportunities from Singapore Airlines:

1. Lack of "Dine-On-Demand" which in my opinion is a complete missed opportunity for such as long flight. I know, SQ and some of their die hard fans will defend this by saying the health program they have introduced but that's not good enough.
2. No amenities such as nice PJs and amenities kits - not the 3 months sample that they will provide.
3. Where are some of the long time PPS Club Soiltaire members invitation?
4. The J class seats on this aircraft is nothing new and in fact, I hate them for a number of reasons (and SQ's research proves it) that no one likes to flip those mattress, foot walls are too narrow and sleeping diagonally is rather weird.

Dare not I say that some of the repeat bloggers for which some are questionable as to why they get repeat invitations especially when there is nothing much new to report. How much reporting can be done on the same seats and meals - seriously! Conclusion: free loaders who seek free flights.

Just my 2 cents on my observations.

davidlhanson

Sam Chui posted a review of the first SQ21 EWR-SIN flight in premium economy. https://samchui.com/2018/10/13/the-w.../#.W8ICSceZ3UJ

Kacee

Consistent with recent TPG commentary, I felt it didn't even merit the title "review." There was literally no discussion of seat comfort. But we heard all about how SQ employees at SIN recognized him as a TPG writer and gave him special treatment. And of course 500 words flogging various credit cards.

djsflynn

Here's the odd thing: the main meal service is dine on demand, travellers can choose their meal at any time in the 8-16 hour window, but it's not treated as such by the crew and the airline / crew made no effort to communicate this. Instead, we were all woken at the same time, as this was treated like a fixed-schedule meal service. This was very disruptive and I spoke with several passengers who felt the same way. Even the 'supper service' which rolled out 90 minutes after take-off, I wonder if that could not also have been optional, with SQ adopting a single 'eat anything, anytime' menu.

This is an easy fix and I do hope that SQ takes notice of feedback on this. Even the amenity kits, I feel there's a missed opportunity there to go beyond the basics of say moisturiser (which is still not supplied, even in the current pick-and-mix kit) but one of those moisturising face masks which are very popular in Asia (I'm a fan of them and always bring a few on any trip, one to use on the flight and another for my first night in the hotel).

I feel that a seat which converts into a flat bed just by pressing a button, without the passenger getting up and flipping the seat-back over, is the way to go here – several times in the flight I decided to have a nap but had to get up and do the seat flip, very annoying, and doesn't really let me adjust to the type of slight recline I prefer. I do think this is proving that for an 18-20hr flight we need a very different way of looking at the business class seat, and I for one would much rather do this flight in something like QR's Qsuite.

davidlhanson

My wife has back problems so she can't lie flat. In the regular seat mode of the Singapore Air business class seat, could she get her feet up to a horizontal position and recline the back of the seat to about 45 degrees? This is her preferred way to sleep.

kaffir76

First of all, thanks to everyone who posted about the flight after landing in EWR - it must have been a long & tiring flight. We really appreciate it.

This was one of, if not the first review of the flight published after it landed :

https://www.businesstraveller.com/tr...usiness-class/

Singapore Airlines has gone for flexibility when it comes to meal service times, and passengers are able to select their first meal service one to three hours into the flight, and their second meal service any time from eight to 16 hours into the journey.

Reading the review, the pic of the beef "hor fun" (broad rice noodles) looks nasty (sloppy gloppy mess), I hope the writer enjoyed it ... LOL

Re: meal times & lights in cabin - it might have been because it was a "new" flight so the dine on demand part hasn't been ironed out yet. But also when it is DoD & most other pax wanna eat, I don't think the crew would serve the meal in complete darkness, would they?
At least that was my experience on QR J. I'll take note next month when I'm traveling to BOS.
The other con of DoD is the clinking of glasses and silverware, & the smell of hot foods when one is trying to get some sleep.

I'll be traveling to EWR on the 25th & returning 3 days later in PEY. (and c'mon, it is Newark, NJ not NYC - quite misleading but I guess NYC sounds better - it's like saying we are flying to SIN but landing at Senai Airport, Johor)

This is the PEY BTC menu - as mentioned up-thread there is no BTC ex-EWR :

Nasi Lemak with Fried Chicken
Malay-style steamed coconut rice with fried chicken, omelette and grilled fish cake, served with sambal and ikan bilis with peanuts

Roasted Chicken Rice
Roasted five spice chicken thigh served with pandan flavoured rice and Chinese greens

Roasted Chicken in Garlic Cream Sauce
Chicken thigh roasted and served with creamy garlic sauce and vegetables tossed in butter

Rosemary Beef Brisket
Braised beef brisket with rosemary sauce, sauteed vegetable medley and mashed potatoes

Seafood Pasta in Creamed Tomato Basil Sauce
Mixed seafood penne in creamed tomato sauce with basil

Spiced Chicken Nasi Biryani
Chicken braised in Indian spices, served with biryani rice and pickled vegetables

So the takeaway for me from reading the review (I haven't had time to read the rest except for a quick glimpse of CNN's hour by hour review) is to sleep when you can/feel like it & not try to force or plan it according to a sleep schedule - like stay awake for the 1st 7/8 hours then sleep for the next 6/7 hours.
For US bound flights, I just try to get some sleep on board but the really good sleep is when I get to the hotel on the other side.

And finally I have 2 questions :

1. How did you feel after landing in EWR? Was it tough to kill time on the 17-18 hour flight? I've seen the IFE movies & TV shows selection on KrisWorld for this month, & I've watched most of the movies that I want to see - perhaps it is time to start reading again & finish every book that I've started but stopped 1/2 way.
2. I thought that East Coast US (NYC, BOS etc.) is nearer to SIN when flying across the Atlantic instead of the Pacific. However SQ22 flew over the Pacific but SQ 21 is returning from the Atlantic .. is that because of headwind/tailwind? Or is NYC equidistant from SIN so it doesn't really matter either way/direction?

Kacee

Well it really doesn't fly "across" either the Atlantic or the Pacific. It goes way north and then down. Whether it goes east or west of the north pole is I believe a function of the prevailing winds.