First trip on SQ Premium Economy SFO-SIN-SFO

[jericho]

it was our first trip on PE on SQ. i was looking forward to taking a ride on the relatively new aircraft, and what better reason was there than the need to go back to Singapore for a short trip. Here is my TR, it's my first, so be kind It all started at SFO, at gate 93, waiting for my first encounter with the A350.




Here is a video of it pulling up to the gate, after the 14 hour flight from Singapore.

And here it is parked by the gate, waiting for me.


The aircraft seemed smaller than i expected it to be. I've recently been on ANA's excellent 787s, and thought that the 787 looked a little bigger, but it could just be an illusion.

With the 17 hour flight ahead of us, we boarded the plane. As we were in PE, we were let in right after the business class folks. The PE cabin is nice, the seats were MUCH better than the British Airways PE seats that we took over Christmas, while the SQ seats were less soft, the overall legroom was pretty good. The great thing about the seats is that when the recline, it doesn't intrude into the back as much (as the seat bottom slides forward). I did find that the leg rests were useless for my 6ft 3' frame, but everything else was great. The 13" screen was awesome, and super responsive to touch.



The center seats had superior height clearance, you can pretty much stand upright without hitting the bag storage when it's open. Different story for the seats on the side, when the storage bins were open, you cannot stand up without hitting them... did not encounter this on the 787s!


I sat on the aisle seat on the right side of the plane, 33H IIRC. One nagging issue is that there is a AV box right below the front seat, which cut my leg room by a third this is present on every aisle seat... so be warned!


There was a USB port and a tri-plug headphone jack in the rear of the center arm rest

[jericho]

and convenient storage for water bottles in front of you (where we put a phone )


as the plane taxied to takeoff, we looked out and saw the curved wingtips on the a350, we also taxied past the last of the 747 "queen of the skies", i'm going to miss seeing them around when they all retire this year





after a ponderous taxi around the busy SFO airport, it was finally our turn to take off on this 17 hour journey. Watch a time-lapse of the takeoff here.

3 hours after takeoff, we were served with lunch, i had decided to book the cook, and picked the "Beef short ribs with Kimchi fried rice", while the rice was disappointing, the short ribs were delicious!

it was a great meal indeed!


During the flight i immersed myself into Krisworld, as well as the videos i had downloaded from Netflix, with these distraction, i didn't even find the need to try the Wifi! One observation though, the PE cabin is really small (24 seats), and feels almost like an afterthought on this plane - why? well, there are no dedicated toilets for PE!, you have to walk to Y, past 7-8 rows of seats before you get to the toilet. The partition between PE and Y was also almost non-existent (an office cubicle would offer more division), we had some newborns on board in the bassinets in Y, and one of them was not happy throughout the 17 hours. In PE, because it's only 4 rows, and a thin partition, you could not hide from the baby cries. Luckily my BOSE headphones saved me from the worst, but be warned!

The other note around meals on this 17 hour flight, they serve you a breakfast (mine was a dimsum selection) somewhere 6 hours after the first meal, this matched up with dinner on SFO time, but was wierd being positioned as breakfast food. shortly after breakfast, they dimmed the lights, and most of us slept. I only woke up 30mins before landing, and snapped this amazing cloud formation on approach to singapore.



shortly after, we landed in Singapore. Here is a time-lapse of the landing.

The A350 lives up to it's promise (like the 787) of a kindlier/gentler flight on your body,. the higher humidity, as well as the lower pressurization seemed to help with the jetlag (or lack thereof), perhaps it was also the time was landed (around 7.30pm Singapore time, the next day), as after a good meal, it was really easy to fall asleep, and be out and about the next day without any of the typical side effects.

Next - the return trip after 4 days and 10 hours in Singapore.

[loldude333]

Hi Jericho, i thought this was a pretty good TR! There are many different writing styles out there, but what i enjoyed about yours was that it was short and sweet, and everything was written with purpose (ie. i never had to go 'why on earth did he write this?') Also, your comparisons with ANA's 787 was interesting, as well as the observation about the IFE box in the aisle seats, which i don't think i've seen on any TR about SQ's A350 PEY as of yet (though to be fair i'm not a serial reader so i'm not the expert).

Also, welcome to SQTalk!

[jericho]

Also, welcome to SQTalk!

Thanks loldude333 for the warm welcome, i've been lurking on sqtalk reading up on PEY before my trip, and thought i would return the favor with my perspective on the flight. Glad that you enjoyed it!

[jericho]

The way back

After a quick 4 day+ visit, it was finally time to go back. This was the start of a long day for us, as we had to get on the 14 hour direct to SFO, with a connection back to SEA latter in the day. This turned out to not be a great decision, but the highlight was the long flight on SQ32 back to SFO.

Changi Airport continues to amaze, every time I visit, there is something new. The butterfly gardens, the shops, great food before and after checkin. It's no wonder its one of the best airports in the world. Checkin in Singapore is also unlike more of the US airports, where to the security check right after you get your bags checked, and boarding passes printed. You only have to present your passport to immigration, who cheerfully stamp your passport and asks politely if you enjoyed your stay... the carry on security check doesn't happen until you are at the gate. Boarding is pretty swift, with PEY passengers given priority right after the business class elites and we were walking towards the plane through the aerobridge minutes after we went through a low stress security line to get our carry ons xrayed.


Right next to the A350 was a nice 777 (I think it looked like a 777-300ER)


on the way in, I manage to snag a shot of the (still empty) PEY first row. You can see that the leg room in this row is pretty fantastic! downside is that the video screen is higher than eye level (which I really didn't like), and much further away (which negates the great size of the screen, and the fact that it was a touchscreen). You also have the stewardess that insisted (for safety) that the empty space in front of you be clear of anything for take off and landing, so any carry-on had to be stowed overhead. The good news is that overhead like most international flights are largely empty. Also notice the large orange pillows, those were very nice


another shot of the neighboring 777-300ER as we pulled away from the gate


On the inbound trip, I wanted to get a shot of the entire trip on the Airshow module in the IFE, but I forgot this time, i made sure i took the video of the entire flightpath preview. 14 hours! Check it out here

The interesting thing about the flight path back to SFO is that it was entirely over the sea, whereas on the inbound to SIN, the plane flew into Russia, crossed China, skirted South Korea, before skipping to the south china sea - it was unexpected, as i thought most of the SFO-SIN was going to be over the sea as well. I suspect this was to avoid any turbulent air over the pacific or near Japan. If anyone knows why they take this routing into Russia/China/S.Korea, i'd love to know if it's more efficient OR purely done for the comfort of the passengers. The inbound ride was extremely pleasant, with almost no turbulence at all! as you saw above, i slept like a baby

After a short taxi, we were on our way. Here is a time-lapse of the take off from Changi International.

[jericho]

After 1.5 hours into the flight, breakfast was served. Considering it was 9.20ish when we took off, it felt more like lunch. We booked the cook again, and selected Nasi Lemak (a popular Malay dish of coconut rice, spicy sambal chilli and fried chicken), yes, it tasted as good as i described Here are some photos to salivate over. It's highly recommended. My daughter likes Nasi Lemak so much, she booked the same thing for both meals on this flight



Look! Fried Anchovies with Peanut - YUM!


Closeup of the main dish




Generous helping of sambal - not too spicy, just right!


and even a slice of Otah (spiced fish cake) between 2 egg slices


OK enough of the great first meal (yes, there is more later). Here is a shot of the leg room. I'm 6ft3 and it was quite comfortable for me. There was also good storage for my BOSE headphones, and other electronics in front of me.


After the breakfast, i settled once again into Krisworld, unexpectedly, between the 4 days 10 hours we were in Singapore, Krisworld switched to the next month's lineup for Movies. So i managed to catch "The Arrival", "The Accountant" and "Jason Borne" all in one seating again, no need to use the Wifi. After these movies - about 7-8 hours into the flight, it was meal time again!

[jericho]

Book the cook! Look at the wonderful choices here for the SIN-SFO leg, for lunch, i chose Nasi Biryani. An Indian spiced rice dish with chicken. Once again, it was very well done - totally enjoyed it.




it came with this side of Archa (preserved spicy vegetables, kinda like a sweet version of kimchi) that complemented the rice dish wonderfully - another fabulous meal


One of my daughters had the chicken rice, which doesn't look like much, but according to her, tasted great!


One word of warning - do not order the pancakes on this leg on book the cook - total waste. It was dry and generally unappetizing, one of my daughters did, and barely touched it.


With all the nice food, and movies distracting. The flight was over in no time. Just like the inbound flight to Singapore, this flight had many babies, 2 were in the first row Y seats with the basinets, and one was in the first row of PEY. The PEY baby stayed relatively quiet throughout the journey, but the two behind PEY took turns crying. Even with the noise cancelling headsets, it was hard to tune them out at times. Genuinely a downside of the A350 cabin being noticeable quieter than the 777.

We also had an annoying passenger in the last row of PEY on this trip that kept opening up her window shades. This is where i really miss the 787 windows, where after some time, the cabin crew will dim the windows electronically, and since it never gets opaque, there is no reason for someone to undim it just to take a peek outside. The A350 has traditional shades, which when the plane is darkened for people to enjoy movies or to catch some sleep - opening the shade wide to steal a peek is just not nice. Perhaps she was kept awake by the baby behind her - but comeon!

14 hours passed by really quick this time, perhaps it was the movie, the naps between meals, but about 30 minutes from SFO, the crew lit up the lights (these were the same kind of multi-colored LEDs that the 787 first introduced) and woke most of us up. Here is a view out the window on 32left


and here is a time-lapse of our landing in SFO.

Well, that is about it. Verdict.
1. Super nice plane - i think the one we took to Singapore was 9V-SMI, which was barely 3 months old. So the new plane smell was there.
2. New, but starting to show wear and tear - The one we took back to SFO was likely a little bit older. There were some seat IFE problems, My wife's seat as OK, but her headphone jack was totally busted. They tried to reset her IFE several times, but it did not help. Other passengers in PEY also complained about their touchscreens failing - i was lucky, both seats were great in and out of SIN. The wear and tear on these plane must be amazing. the other interesting thing is that the bathrooms both had touch free water and trash cans - cept the trash cans sensors were mostly broken on the flight back - overuse. There was also a little paint peeling around the toilet itself... weird for such a new plane!
3. Singapore airline food rocks! I didn't really observe the Y food, but the PEY food, especially book the cook rocked. I would totally take advantage of it everytime i fly PEY, you should too!
4. it was long, but didn't feel that long. 17 hours sounds daunting, and i was worried i'd be bored, nope. it went by in no time. The same for 14 hours. I was worried that the morning flight (both departs SFO and SIN at around 9.30am) was going to be a problem, but it didn't turn out to be much of a problem for us to adjust. Jetlag is almost non existent which was the biggest surprise on both inbound and ourbound flights!

That's about it, hope you enjoyed this TR - If you have any questions, i would be more than happy to help!

Till next time!

[sunnyday]

Routing over Russia taken to avoid the strong jet streams in the pacific

The way back

After a quick 4 day+ visit, it was finally time to go back. This was the start of a long day for us, as we had to get on the 14 hour direct to SFO, with a connection back to SEA latter in the day. This turned out to not be a great decision, but the highlight was the long flight on SQ32 back to SFO.

Changi Airport continues to amaze, every time I visit, there is something new. The butterfly gardens, the shops, great food before and after checkin. It's no wonder its one of the best airports in the world. Checkin in Singapore is also unlike more of the US airports, where to the security check right after you get your bags checked, and boarding passes printed. You only have to present your passport to immigration, who cheerfully stamp your passport and asks politely if you enjoyed your stay... the carry on security check doesn't happen until you are at the gate. Boarding is pretty swift, with PEY passengers given priority right after the business class elites and we were walking towards the plane through the aerobridge minutes after we went through a low stress security line to get our carry ons xrayed.


Right next to the A350 was a nice 777 (I think it looked like a 777-300ER)


on the way in, I manage to snag a shot of the (still empty) PEY first row. You can see that the leg room in this row is pretty fantastic! downside is that the video screen is higher than eye level (which I really didn't like), and much further away (which negates the great size of the screen, and the fact that it was a touchscreen). You also have the stewardess that insisted (for safety) that the empty space in front of you be clear of anything for take off and landing, so any carry-on had to be stowed overhead. The good news is that overhead like most international flights are largely empty. Also notice the large orange pillows, those were very nice


another shot of the neighboring 777-300ER as we pulled away from the gate


On the inbound trip, I wanted to get a shot of the entire trip on the Airshow module in the IFE, but I forgot this time, i made sure i took the video of the entire flightpath preview. 14 hours! Check it out here

The interesting thing about the flight path back to SFO is that it was entirely over the sea, whereas on the inbound to SIN, the plane flew into Russia, crossed China, skirted South Korea, before skipping to the south china sea - it was unexpected, as i thought most of the SFO-SIN was going to be over the sea as well. I suspect this was to avoid any turbulent air over the pacific or near Japan. If anyone knows why they take this routing into Russia/China/S.Korea, i'd love to know if it's more efficient OR purely done for the comfort of the passengers. The inbound ride was extremely pleasant, with almost no turbulence at all! as you saw above, i slept like a baby

After a short taxi, we were on our way. Here is a time-lapse of the take off from Changi International.

[SQGamespeed]

Excellent TR, jericho! And welcome to SQTalk!

The interesting thing about the flight path back to SFO is that it was entirely over the sea, whereas on the inbound to SIN, the plane flew into Russia, crossed China, skirted South Korea, before skipping to the south china sea - it was unexpected, as i thought most of the SFO-SIN was going to be over the sea as well. I suspect this was to avoid any turbulent air over the pacific or near Japan. If anyone knows why they take this routing into Russia/China/S.Korea, i'd love to know if it's more efficient OR purely done for the comfort of the passengers. The inbound ride was extremely pleasant, with almost no turbulence at all! as you saw above, i slept like a baby

Interesting. When I took SQ31 in December, we flew over the Pacific all the way until we reached the Philippines, then over the South China Sea. Even flights between HKG and North America usually don't fly over mainland China. However, when turbulence over the Pacific is heavy, flight paths do involve going over eastern Siberia and China.

[jericho]

Thanks @sunnyday and @SQGamespeed for confirming that the routing is to avoid turbulence. I've flown over the pacific many times and it has usually been bumpy, so the routing was a pleasant surprise!

also thanks @SQGamespeed for the welcome, and glad you enjoyed this TR.

[yflyer]

Thanks for the TR, jericho! Very nicely written with beautiful pics. The PEY BTC food looks pretty good...

[sunnyday]

Actually it's not to avoid turbulence. Flying in jet streams doesn't mean it's going to be turbulent.

In winter months. Jet streams can be around 150kts. With aircraft speed at around 480kts. Flying against a jet stream will mean a ground speed of 330kts. It's going to take ages and lots of fuel to fly the shortest route. Hence sfo-sin go up north and hug the Russian coast line or go down south near to Guam and Honolulu to avoid the jet stream, depending on where the jet stream is that day.

Meanwhile the sin sfo leg will be flying as close to the jet stream as possible to get the highest ground speed which explain the 14hours sin sfo leg while the return leg is 17 hrs in winter.

In summer. The jet stream is not as strong. And sin sfo is 15 hours and sfo sin is 16 hours.

Thanks @sunnyday and @SQGamespeed for confirming that the routing is to avoid turbulence. I've flown over the pacific many times and it has usually been bumpy, so the routing was a pleasant surprise!

also thanks @SQGamespeed for the welcome, and glad you enjoyed this TR.

[SQfanatic]

Great TR. While my mom flew in December on SQ31 (came with me on SQ2) she loved the seats but for stretching out the aisles were cramped. I'm sure you had a very comfortable flight though

[SQGamespeed]

Great TR. While my mom flew in December on SQ31 (came with me on SQ2) she loved the seats but for stretching out the aisles were cramped. I'm sure you had a very comfortable flight though

I flew on SQ31 and 32 in Y, and didn't feel the aisles were cramped at all. The A350 cabin is a tad narrower than on a 9-abreast 777, but still many orders of magnitude better than 9-abreast 787s or 10-abreast 777s.

[jammed]

Thanks for taking the effort to write up the TR Jericho and welcome to SQTalk! Glad you enjoyed the two flights; shame with all that wear and tear so soon on a relatively new plane. Which begs the question whether anything could have been done to strengthen the resilience (to abusers?) of the product.