SQ32/31 SIN-SFO-SIN in Y: Impressions of Post-COVID San Francisco

[yflyer]

I arrived at the Golden Gate Bridge on the SF end...



...and began my run along it's 2.7km length...



The weather that day was beautiful: cool, with blue skies and a moderate amount of wind.



Pedestrian traffic on the bridge that afternoon was a little lighter than pre-COVID days, with fewer tourists at each end than before, but there were still many folks walking, running or cycling across the bridge (Cyclists crossed on the other side of the roadway, separate from the pedestrians).



I reached the Marin end and headed back the way I came...



There were wonderful views to be had all along the bridge.

Boat tours of the bay were still operating...a must do for first time visitors to the city...



I spied thick low-level clouds moving over the city as I picked up the pace and returned to the SF end...



An Emirates A380 flew high over the bridge...it must just have taken off from SFO...what great views pax on board must have had...



Back on the SF end, I continued along the coastline...



...towards Crissy Field...



...and then the Marina...



...and up the hill at Great Meadow Park at Fort Mason.



From there it was downhill towards Ghirardelli and Fisherman's Wharf, with great views of Alcatraz Island along the way...



I headed past the Maritime Museum...



...to my end point at Ghirardelli Square...



...which was not far from the Cable Car station, whose cable cars ran all the way back to Union Square.

It was nice to see a line of tourists (and maybe a smattering of locals) waiting to ride the cable car.



I would have done the same, but I had a dinner appointment to catch, so caught an Uber back to the Marriott Union Square instead.

Overall, this was a great 10+ km route, with great scenery and wonderful weather.

[yflyer]

Back at the Marriott, I showered then headed out again to Fisherman's Wharf with my colleague for dinner.

I was stunned to see Fisherman's Wharf essentially deserted at just after 8pm in the evening. Didn't the area used to be much busier in the evening? What happened to all the restaurants and street side stalls selling seafood? Or was it always like this at night? It couldn't have been.



I had no time on this trip to visit Fisherman's Wharf during daylight hours, hopefully it was more lively during the afternoon or early evening.

While that part of Fisherman's Wharf was eerily quiet, the nearby In-N-Out was doing good business...



Now that Shake Shack is well established in Singapore, the burger I crave most when visiting the USA is In-N-Out...

Inside, there was a long but fast moving queue...



My colleague and I ordered burgers and fries, both animal style...



There were also complimentary pickled peppers you could nibble on while you wanted. These were incredibly fiery...



The burgers were just excellent...simple, yet supremely satisfying...

[yflyer]

After polishing off our burgers, we headed to The Buena Vista, a bar famous for having introduced Irish Coffee to San Francisco in the early 1950's...



This was another really busy place...


We watched as Joseph, our bartender prepared 2 Irish coffees with the practised skill of someone who must have made thousands of these over the years...

First pouring the coffee and the whisky...



...and then ladling on the cream.



Apparently the cream has to be specially prepared for it to float on top, rather than sink to the bottom: the cream is aged 48 hours then frothed to a specific consistency...

In the pics above, Joseph just made 2, but look at this Youtube video of Joseph making quick work of a whole row of Irish coffees....

The end result...yum...

[yflyer]

After drinks at the Buena Vista, we took a short stroll to the Cable Car station at Ghirardelli Square and caught the cable car back to the Marriott...



While there are seats in the cable car, the best way to do it (IMHO) is by hanging off the side (Yes, even after a few drinks)...



....with the best views on the left side...



The ride on the cable car was a nice conclusion to this short trip to San Francisco. We got off the cable car just steps away from the Marriott.

[yflyer]

The next morning, I was at SFO to catch SQ31 back to Singapore...



The International Terminal is no longer new, but it has aged very well, and still looks very impressive...



Moderate queues for Y, shorter queues for PEY and J...



There was a limited airport worker's strike on, so some of the lounges were temporarily closed. I was given a USD 25 voucher to dine at any open F&B outlets...



The United Polaris Lounge was still open, although a business associate mentioned that there was no food available inside. In anywise, the Polaris Lounge was only available to business class pax (Possible only United pax?) and not to me.



The United Club, where Star / Krisflyer Gold members usually went to was closed...



...but to me, this was no great loss, as it was a fairly average lounge anyway. I headed towards the airside F&B outlets...



There were actually quite a few eating options available...



...including this pair of Asian and Japanese restaurants...



I decided on the Japanese...

Wow, lots of freshly made sushi and sashimi...



For the USD25 voucher and a tiny cash top-up, I got this...Hamachi sashimi and a bottle of sake...



Delicious...and better than anything they served in the lounge...

[yflyer]

I headed to the boarding gate...



...where 9V-SJE was being prepared for departure...



Impossible to take decent pics of the plane through the patterned glass windows...



9V-SJE was SQ's 57th Airbus A350. It was delivered to SQ on Dec 31st 2021, just 10 months ago.

A busy gate area...



Boarding was called -- you were boarded based on facial recognition...



You did not even need to show a boarding pass...a camera took a picture of your face, and if it recognised you, you could board. Impressive!

I stepped onboard...

[yflyer]

This aircraft had the same seating plan and hard product as my inbound SQ32.

The Business Class cabin, with 2013 J seats laid out 1-2-1...



Premium Economy, laid out 2-4-2...



And the Economy cabin, laid out 3-3-3.



Unlike my recent A350 Y flights, where I sat in the rear of the aircraft, today I thought I would change it up and sit in the first Y cabin.



This really paid off, as there were a few empty seats onboard, and one of the empty seats was next to mine!



That's when it dawned on me that for flights that had some empty seats, it might actually be better to sit in the first Y cabin than at the back, because in the first section of the Y cabin, seats could only be pre-selected free-of-charge if you were a PPS or Gold member. This seemed to mean that for flights which were busy, but not completely full, there would actually be more chance of an empty seat up front than in the rear, where seat selection was free of charge. In any case, I had a great seat in the forward cabin, which was actually less full than the 2nd Y cabin.

Today's flight was an 11.30am departure out of San Francisco, with a scheduled arrival time of 7pm in Singapore the next day. We took off on schedule, with today's flight time a fairly long 15 1/2 hours...



Full post-take-off drink service, starting with Premium Economy...



I asked for a G&T with a lemon slice...



While waiting for lunch service, I began watching the movie "Tolkien", about the early years of JRR Tolkien, the friendships of his youth...



...and his experiences in WW1...

[yflyer]

Lunch service began about an hour and a half into the flight...



For some reason, digital menus were not available on this flight. There was a western option and an Asian option, with meatballs and rice. I chose the Asian option.



This looked really good...



Dessert was chocolate ice cream...



I enjoyed the cheese and crackers as well...



As this was a daytime flight, I spent quite a bit of time browsing Krisworld and watching movies...the selection was very extensive...

There were some interesting programs on music, including the Beatles and India...



...where I learned more about George Harrison's meeting and lessons with sitar maestro Ravi Shankar



There was also a concert recording of Queen live at Wembley...



...with Freddy Mercury in top form...

[yflyer]

There were SQ programmes as well, including "Travels with Cabin Crew"



...featuring cabin crew members travelling around Singapore...



...to places such as Changi Village...



...to sample the food...



...or visiting neighbourhoods like Joo Chiat...



...to see the iconic row of heritage Peranakan homes...




In between programmes on Krisworld, I asked D, a very warm and pleasant FSS, for a Bloody Mary...

She was quite apologetic, and replied, "I'm so sorry, we no longer have the Bloody Mary pre-mix...but I can make one for you with tomato juice and vodka if you like?"

How wonderful to have cabin crew go the extra mile like that. I gladly accepted.

"Would you like it spicy?"

"Yes please!"

She headed to the galley and came back a few minutes later with a perfect Bloody Mary.



Thumbs up!

[yflyer]

8 hours into the flight, it was time for the 2nd meal service...perfect timing for dinner...



Thankfully on this flight, it really was dinner (and not "breakfast") on the menu. The choices were Beef Goulash, Thai Chicken Massaman Curry, or an Indian Vegetarian Option...

I chose the Beef Goulash...



...accompanied with a glass of red wine...



This was a very satisfying meal, with decent sized portions and pretty good flavour.

[yflyer]

The flight routing for today took us much further south than my outbound SQ32. Enroute, we overflew the Philippines...



Not much of a view outside, as much of the Philippines was under thick cloud cover...



Pretty good cabin ambience on this flight...

The PEY cabin...



The first Y cabin...



The second Y cabin...

[yflyer]

I got hungry again and headed to the rear galley...

Boxes of snacks were laid out...





There were also sandwiches and wraps available...



As usual, I couldn't resist asking for Cup Noodles...

[yflyer]

Eventually it was time to begin our descent into Singapore.

I noticed that the first row aisle seat in the Y cabin was occupied, but the middle and window seat were empty throughout the flight. I went over and asked the gentleman in the aisle seat if it was ok for me to take the window seat for descent...he nodded and motioned for me to take a seat...



"Great!" I thought to myself...I could now take some pictures out the window...



There were wonderful views out of seat 41K during our descent...



Speed brakes deployed...



Nice view of the whole of Changi Airport as we joined the landing pattern...



Banking low over the Indonesian Islands (Batam?) in order to line up for landing on Runway 02L...



Ships anchored off the East Coast...



On the ground in Singapore...



As one lands, another takes off...



A long taxi to our gate in T2. Still quite a few aircraft in storage on the ground...

[yflyer]

Off the plane into T2...



At that point in time, T2 was only being used for arrivals. Many of the shops were still closed and boarded up.



The new T2 carpets...urggghhhh....



The beautiful new T2 baggage claim...

[yflyer]

Final Reflections

Like my outbound SQ32 SIN-SFO flight, my return sector SQ31 was wonderful. SQ appears to use their newest equipment, and possibly even their best cabin crew on these non-stop USA sectors. I thought the Y catering on this flight was excellent, with good portion sizes and nicely flavoured food. The A359 is a really comfortable aircraft to fly, even in Y: the aircraft is very quiet, and the lower cabin altitude (Compared to the previous generation of aircraft) and higher humidity also helped make this long flight more comfortable, I think.

As for San Francisco, the city looks to be just emerging from it's COVID slump, with many shops and restaurants still closed and a fairly quiet, even deserted city centre. But I did see encouraging signs that tourists were coming back, and I believe companies are starting to urge employees to return to the workplace as well. I hope San Francisco is able to recapture its former buzz and glory soon.



Thanks for reading!