SIA A380 Premium Economy from Beijing to Singapore on SQ807 - "To Bid or Not to Bid"

[yflyer]

I chose the Oriental option of braised pork with rice.

This was essentially similar to an economy class meal, although tray came with a tablecloth.



The breadroll was still warm...



A decent starter...



Braised pork with rice...



An attractively presented dish, with moist rice, and tasty pork, although the pork portion could have been a little larger.

A glass of white wine (A real glass this time) to go with the pork...



And Haagen-Dazs Belgian Chocolate ice cream as a fool-proof dessert...



A satisfying meal, although I think SQ should differentiate the PEY meal offering from Y a little more than it currently does. As an example, BA offers pax a J main course for the first PEY meal service (Although BA J meal casseroles are a lot less impressive than SQ J mains.), and Qantas offers a specific PEY menu and tableware which is close to J.

[yflyer]

I decided to sample some of the other beverages on the menu...

A glass of red, which I guzzled before dessert...



...and then later on a G&T, which was mixed in the galley and brought to my seat...

[yflyer]

It was time to turn my attention to the Krisworld entertainment system...

A great selection of movies and television on Krisworld this month, and these could be savoured on the large IFE screen, which had superb picture and sound quality.

For Star Wars fans, Episodes 4-6 were all available on this flight, along with some of the newer releases in the franchise.

I rewatched parts of The Empire Strikes Back, probably the darkest movie in the Franchise, and one where Darth Vader was still a a terrifying villain...





I had forgotten that this movie included so many great scenes with the young Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher...

[fone]

Despite being among the first Y passengers to deplane, all non-Chinese passport holders on the SQ flight, including F and J pax, were faced with a queue of at least 30-45 minutes as another plane had arrived before ours.

On the positive side, rather than individual queues at each counter, there was a single common queue to all counters. One queue for Chinese Passport Holders, and another separate queue for Foreigners. And once the quicker-moving queues for Chinese passport holders cleared, batches of foreign pax were directed to the Chinese passport queue for clearance.

If you can, get the APEC travel card, simply need a letter from employer stating that you travel rather frequently. My dad's a frequent traveller to Beijing and I helped him get one, and he says it saves him a lot of time when entering Beijing. My friend says it helps greatly in other countries like Australia too.

[yflyer]

If you can, get the APEC travel card, simply need a letter from employer stating that you travel rather frequently. My dad's a frequent traveller to Beijing and I helped him get one, and he says it saves him a lot of time when entering Beijing. My friend says it helps greatly in other countries like Australia too.

Thanks for the suggestion, fone! Yes, an APEC card is on my to-do list. I've been putting it off because of the admin involved in the application process, but it looks like in coming months I will be spending a lot of time in China, so it will be worthwhile for me to apply for one.

[yflyer]

Bottles of water were handed out...



The view out the window...these days you only see two engines hanging off a wing if you are on a 747, A380 or A340. (I guess you could also count the BAe-146 / Avro RJ)



I took a stroll through the Y cabin...



This was a mid-week afternoon flight, which would typically have low loads. However there were quite a few tour and school groups onboard, and Y was quite full.

That said, the A380 main deck is so large, even Y felt quite spacious, though not quite as serene and comfortable as the PEY cabin.

For comparison, this was the Y menu, with two choices: International or Oriental.





In PEY, you had an additional choice of fish with pasta.

A very interesting flight path today.



Wifi was available on this flight. This was data usage-based wifi, which is quite costly compared to time-based wifi for the same amount of usage.

However, there was a basic plan which offered 15MB of data for USD6.95. Now 15MB is next to nothing, but if you just use WhatsApp on your cellphone and send just text messages and a few pictures, 15MB is just about sufficient for a 6 hour sector.

I was able to use WhatsApp for the whole flight, using up just about all of the 15MB data as we commenced our descent into Changi.

[yflyer]

Today's approach into Changi was from the north, landing on Runway 20C.



Our landing on this clear and still evening was unusually smooth.



As we turned to park at our gate, I noticed two men on the ground guiding the plane in with a red light stick.





I never noticed this before. Is this a new procedure, perhaps triggered by the recent wingtip scrape between a Scoot Dreamliner and an Emirates A380 at Changi? Or have they been doing this all along?

Once off the plane, I breezed through T2 immigration (No queues, as usual) and got to the taxi stand in minutes (No taxi queues that evening either, which was probably just luck, since other times taxi queues can be quite long).

[yflyer]

Final reflections?

My PEY flight on SQ807 was excellent. SQ's strengths of new, modern aircraft, comprehensive IFE and catering, and warm customer service were all apparent, and the flight proceeded on time and without any hitches.

The SQ PEY seat on the A380 is a good one, although I would say it is on par with, rather than superior to, other carriers' PEY products.

IFE and cabin service are also industry leading in PEY.

I believe catering is where there is a compelling opportunity to improve SQ's PEY offering. More can be done to enhance the dining experience, including real glassware for beverage service, and enhanced meals, rather than simply Y meals with an additional choice of main. I think better catering would greatly enhance the PEY experience and give pax a reason to pay/bid more for PEY vs Y.

As for my earlier flight, SQ806 SIN-PEK in Y on the 77W, that was a superb flight in Y too. However, between paying USD50 (SGD70) for a preferred seat, and bidding for a PEY upgrade for an additional SGD100-240, it looks quite clear that PEY is much better value than paying for a preferred seat. The cost of pre-selecting a preferred Y seat on SQ is fairly high for the benefits you get (Just more legroom).

Finally, back to the question: To Bid or Not to Bid?

For me, based on this week's experience, I would definitely want to bid for PEY using "mySQupgrade" on future flights.

I would likely bid for all flights 5 hours or longer. I would bid low for 5 or 6 hour sectors, but would bid more aggressively for red-eyes and long haul flights.

Is PEY necessary for a 6 hour sector? While I would much prefer PEY to Y on a longhaul sector, I view PEY on a medium haul non red-eye flight to be something close to a luxury. I would bid, but I would not be willing to pay that much of a premium. That said, the bid range on SQ's mySQupgrade for my PEK-SIN sector looked quite reasonable.

Would I ever place a high bid for PEY? Perhaps on a long SIN-LHR or SIN-Europe/SIN-USA sector. I would also have more incentive to make higher bids if SQ would enhance the catering options in PEY to be more inline with what other carriers are offering i.e. enhanced mains and other dishes, and real glassware.

What kind of flights represent good value? I think off-peak or mid-week flights, like SQ807 would be a good example of this...if a flight is lightly loaded, I suspect there is a higher probability of a low bid being accepted, and that is exactly what happened on my flight.

Overall, I was quite happy with the mySQupgrade bidding process and website. It is great that SQ is using IT services like this to enhance the SQ experience. I am definitely encouraged to bid for PEY on future flights if given the option to do so.

Thanks for reading!

[orionmiz]

A box of earbud headphones at the boarding gate looks to be the SOP for SQ these days, at least for short and medium haul flights.

They are doing that for long-haul flight as well (just took SQ328/SQ327 to/from Munich last week).

[orionmiz]

Dessert was a delicious 70th anniversary special: Teh Tarik ice cream...a highlight of the meal. Wonder whether this is available in any of the SQ Lounges...

Singapore Sling Ice Cream is delicious too!

[Markovnikov]

Singapore Sling Ice Cream is delicious too!

I flew AMS-SIN 2 weeks ago and found out that it was not available on that flight. It appears, unfortunately, that they are only available in the month of May and only on outbound flights from SIN.

Hope they were nice!

And once again a well written TR from yflyer!

[yflyer]

Singapore Sling Ice Cream is delicious too!

Thanks for the pic, orionmiz! Hope to try that on a subsequent flight!

I flew AMS-SIN 2 weeks ago and found out that it was not available on that flight. It appears, unfortunately, that they are only available in the month of May and only on outbound flights from SIN.

Hope they were nice!

And once again a well written TR from yflyer!

Thanks, Markovnikov!

Given that this is the 70th anniversary year, I was hoping the special Singapore treats would be served for more than just May!

[fone]

Thanks for the suggestion, fone! Yes, an APEC card is on my to-do list. I've been putting it off because of the admin involved in the application process, but it looks like in coming months I will be spending a lot of time in China, so it will be worthwhile for me to apply for one.

Please note that for SG citizens, the processing time is 3 months (for them to get all the pre-approved stay requirements). So plan your travel time accordingly.

Admin involved actually is only the submission of the letter via Singpass login, then paying of the fee and the rest is waiting time. (And for you to get the letter from your company).

[HUGE AL]

Excellent TR, as usual.

...between paying USD50 (SGD70) for a preferred seat, and bidding for a PEY upgrade for an additional SGD100-240, it looks quite clear that PEY is much better value than paying for a preferred seat. The cost of pre-selecting a preferred Y seat on SQ is fairly high for the benefits you get (Just more legroom).

If you paid for a preferred seat, then bid successfully for PEY, is your preferred seat fee applied to the bid?


Was there a reason you didn't BTC?

[pokfur]

Hello yflyer!

Excellent TR. I had fun reading it.

I've only flown SQ's PEY once more than a year ago and I found it underwhelming. However some of your experiences differ greatly from mine, and I hope that it's a permanent change and not just a one-off for your flight.

For example:

The cabin crew serving the PEY section today was outstanding. PEY pax were addressed by name throughout the flight, and requests were handled promptly and cheerfully.

Definitely none of this on mine. Was PEY lightly loaded? On mine I was treated like any other Y pax. Nowadays it's really not difficult to put a manifest on the trolley and refer to it before addressing passengers (I can see the crew doing it in J anyway... ) Service wise, I waited so long for my champagne that I had finished my meal before the stewardess returned with it.

Speaking of champagne...

In case anyone is wondering, they didn't leave me with the whole bottle. It was just set on my tray table for the photo. But they were generous with refills. The pax sitting in front of me had a constant flow of champers to his seat through the first half of the flight...

Champagne wasn't even loaded on the trolley, and I think the stewardess served the entire Y cabin before returning back to me. It's as if SQ wanted to "hide" it and not offer it if possible. Again, a totally different experience from yours.

Agree that the food has to improve. I know that SQ's argument is that PEY gets one more choice than Y pax do, but for me I'd rather have fewer choices, but better quality food. So what if I have more choices? At the end of the day I'm only going to be able to eat one of those 3 choices and be underwhelmed by the quality. At this point, I would still choose to fly BA on an European flight because they offer better food in my opinion. If SQ copies BA and provides a J main dish, and really provides that sort of personalized service like you experienced, I think their product would definitely be superior to the competition since the hard product is already considered top notch.

Thanks for the report! Always happy to read more!