Some pictures from my friend BL who managed to snag 3 seats on Spontaneous Escape recently to Seoul. Here are some pictures on his return flight – SQ 611
Some pictures from my friend BL who managed to snag 3 seats on Spontaneous Escape recently to Seoul. Here are some pictures on his return flight – SQ 611
Many thanks to KK, my ex classmate who recently returned from ORD for a conference. He was kind enough to get some pictures for me on his NH 7 flight (SFO-NRT).
Not extensive (as this was a last minute request) – just some food pictures:
Here are pictures from my friend CAP who recently flew back on SQ 637 from Narita to Singapore. Just like Osaka, Singapore Airlines recently introduced seasonal flight on A380 to and from Narita Airport. They used to fly the A380 on SQ11/SQ12 to Los Angeles (which has since been swapped to a Boeing 777-300ER).
Another friend recently made his maiden flight on Premium Class and what better way to do it on a Transpacific flight.
He was in San Diego for a conference and he managed to try the famed Delta One Business Class Suite (on the Narita to Seattle Segment) which was operated on their new A350-900.
On the way back, he was on a Korean Air Boeing 777-300ER with a very outdated 2-3-2 shell seat (oh, they still have such seats in Business Class nowadays?!)
It has been a busy week and I have not been able to continue – decided to take a bit of a break from my recent trip reviews and to post this from a friend’s recent trip.
A friend recently flew on UA 2 which is the direct competitor of SQ 34. Other than the fact that it is a direct flight and she was given the Economy Plus seat (at no extra charge), the rest of the flight was pretty forgettable. The best (or the worst) part was the “service with a snarl”.
After 2 flights on SQ 26, finally I get to try SQ 25. In the past, it was easier to redeem the Suites on SQ 26 but it seems to be the opposite now. Despite 2 devaluation, Suites on SQ 25 and SQ 26 remains elusive (except for Advantage tickets)!
The flight was previously operated using the All-Business class upper deck cabin but since June 1, it has been changed to the older A380 (with upper deck rear-economy section). Although this reduces the number of Business Class seats on this flight, the overall number of Business Class seats into and out of New York has increased with the reintroduction of SQ21/22 in October 2018.
After 1.5 weeks in Texas and Panama, it was time for us to move on to our final stop – New York. Without any fifth freedom flights from Star Alliance, I am left with either Copa Airlines or United Airlines. While United Airlines had a slightly better timing, redeeming a ticket can be rather challenging. Copa Airlines on the other hand can be redeemed directly from the Krisflyer portal without any issue. Although there are 3 flights into JFK, neither is good and only CM 804 was available for redemption (for my travel date). The redemption cost is 30,000 miles per person in Business Class.
This is a very new route that was launched only in April 2019. Twice a week, Air China would have a 5th freedom flight from Houston to Panama City operated on a Boeing 777-300ER. The other options would be United Airlines which uses a Boeing 737. Between an international long-haul First Class vs a domestic USA First Class, the choice if very obvious.
Air China being part of Star Alliance can be redeemed using Krisflyer miles (and it can be searched directly from Singapore Airlines website). The miles required on First Class is 40,000 miles per person while Business Class requires 30,000 miles (it has since been devalued to 46,000 and 34,500 miles respectively).
So how did the flight go?
After a 25.5 hours flight into Houston and another 3.5 hours wait in the airport – it is time for the final leg of my journey into Austin. I was initially thinking of taking a Megabus/Greyhound from Houston into Austin (cheapest) but I figured that I won’t have the stamina to do that (and I am glad that I did not do it). We flew into Austin instead on United Airlines. So far, I have only tried Domestic Delta Airlines (JFK-BOS and JFK-YUL). So how did United fare?
That Time of The Year 2019 (second edition) came and went and my body is still trying to adjust back to local timing. After the discontinuation of SQ67/68, SQ51/52 is now the longest route for Singapore Airlines. The Houston route was previously flown using a 777-300ER via Moscow (SIN-DME-IAH) but has since changed to an A350-900 (hence eliminating First Class on this route) and the layover stop is now in Manchester.
That Time Of The Year! 