SIA 777-300ER Premium Economy on SQ2 SIN-HKG and a night at the W Hong Kong

[yflyer]

Just off SQ973 BKK-SIN at 1pm on August 14th, I stepped into Terminal 3 of Changi Airport with a decision to make: Should I, or should I not, head to Hong Kong on SQ2 SIN-HKG that same evening...

In the SilverKris Lounge in BKK a few hours earlier, the newspapers on the rack all told the same story...



Earlier in the week in HKG, flights had been cancelled, and check-ins stopped because of the ongoing disruption. That was, in fact why I opted to make a transit stop back home in Singapore Changi, making a giant detour, rather than booking a flight straight from Bangkok to Hong Kong, which would have been a no-brainer in normal times. But these were not normal times.

I am a cautious traveller, and would never take chances with my safety, but I am also practical, not paranoid. I headed to Berlin not long after the Christmas terror attacks in 2016, and I recently also headed to Jakarta despite the occasional, isolated demonstration, as the risk on those occasions was felt to be minimal, or at the very least manageable.

So although there were disturbances ongoing in Hong Kong, a brief consultation with my colleagues in Hong Kong told me that that the situation was now stable and that the airport was operating normally that day. I would also spend my time on this short trip just on the Kowloon side, which at that point, was not a flashpoint for any trouble.

"Everything is normal today, so yes, the meeting is on tomorrow. Please come..." my colleagues said.

"OK great! See you tomorrow!"

So my trip to Hong Kong was on...

TR INDEX

1. Flight - SQ2 SIN-HKG in Premium Economy
2. Hotel - W Hong Kong
3. Fight - SQ1 HKG-SIN in Economy

[yflyer]

I checked in at the transit counter, and picked up my boarding pass for SQ2 SIN-HKG at 6.30pm that evening, and headed home for a short rest before returning to Changi T3 later that afternoon...



The flight status displays showed an on-time departure for SQ2 at 6.30pm.



Like almost every other time I was heading to Hong Kong on SQ2, I felt a slight tinge of envy for all the other pax going all the way to SFO, and wished I was continuing my journey on the next HKG-SFO hop as well...

I headed airside...



Today's flight was departing from Gate B2, one of the gates in a large, shared departure lounge. At that hour, we were the only flight departing from those gates, which meant that everyone waiting had a lot of space to stretch out in the massive holding room.



9V-SWO taking us to Hong Kong today.



More news about our destination in the papers at the aerobridge...

[yflyer]

Onboard, I first passed through the J cabin, which had the 2013 business class product laid out 1-2-1...



The PEY cabin was laid out 2-4-2, with the same seat frame as PEY on the A380.



The Y cabin, laid out in a comfortable 9-abreast 3-3-3...



I would have the opportunity to revisit Y on my return HKG-SIN sector, but for now, I returned to my seat in PEY...

[yflyer]

My seat was 31H, the emex row aisle seat...



This was a great seat as far as spaciousness and legroom were concerned.

Note, though, that there was no window in this row. At least the emex door had a narrow window which I could look out of if I leaned forward.

The leather PEY seats were comfortable and wide...



...with good seat pitch and ample legroom...



Recline was good -- noticeably more recline than regular Y...



A view of the recline buttons (And IFE controller)...



There was a thigh rest. This was quite comfortable to use, although it was slightly on the narrow side, especially when compared to CX A350 PEY, whose thigh rest was the full width of the seat.



Foldout foot rest under the seat in front.



Large seat pocket, and cubby holes to put your phone...

[yflyer]

There were adjustable reading lamps...



...and cup holders in front of the wide armrests...



In the middle bank of 4 seats, the centre armrests could be raised.



USB ports and airline-style headphone sockets (That require an adapter if you want to use your own headphones/earphones)...



PEY pax received noise-cancelling headphones.



Universal A/C power sockets...

[yflyer]

My seat 31H, in the emex row, had a free-standing console where the fold-out IFE screen was stowed.



Personalised sign-in was possible, and this would allow you to enjoy features such as resuming a half-watched movie from a previous flight.

Large fold-out tray table...



The emex row PEY seats had a slightly different thigh rest from the regular seats.



These had an integrated fold-out footrest...



Between the aisle-side and "window" side emex seats, I think the aisle seats would be preferred, as the curvature of the cabin wall gave the "window" seat a slightly closed-in feel compared to the aisle-side emex seat.



And of course there was no window. This was the view looking forward when seated at the PEY emex "window" seat.



By contrast, the aisle-side emex seat felt much more open and spacious.

[yflyer]

There were no dedicated bathrooms for PEY on this aircraft.

The bathrooms were in the first section of the Y cabin, which required a short walk past several rows of Y seats to reach.

No great hardship, but a cabin configuration with toilets accessible directly from PEY where you could pretend that Y did not exist, was always preferable.

A view of the bathrooms...





Only toothbrushes in the amenities drawer, with combs available from cabin crew on request.

[yflyer]

Hot towels prior to take-off...



A view out the emex door window as we taxi'ed for take-off...

[yflyer]

Once airborne, service began with Champagne, served in plastic goblets...



A large packet of nuts was also served...

[yflyer]

I checked out the IFE before dinner...



As usual, a great selection of new and classic movies, TV and music...



...including Avengers: Endgame.



Picture and sound quality were very great (Usual caveat: Use your own headphones for the best possible sound...)

Wifi was also available...complimentary for First/Business and PPS...



Wifi price plans for purchase were based on MB of data used, and not generous...

[yflyer]

Curtains between PEY and Y remained open for the duration of the flight...



Fast-fading daylight as we flew towards Hong Kong...



...emergency markings on the way, just outside the emex door...

[yflyer]

It was soon time for dinner...

Today's PEY menu...



Amenity kits (And other items such as combs and eye shades) were no longer handed out...they were listed in the menu, and would be provided on request...



Amenity kits on SQ are a hotly debated issue these days. While not handing them out to all pax does look like a cost-cutting measure, I think it is a reasonable decision to only hand them out on request, as often these amenity kits are not used and left onboard. And for frequent travellers, the pile of unused amenity kits at home can pile up fast (I used to have drawers and cupboards full of them...).

[yflyer]

The drink list.



What a waste of a page: nothing informative apart from categories of beverages. Does it really cost much more to actually list the beverages on offer? Singapore Sling "and Other Cocktails". What other cocktails?

There were three choices of main course for dinner on the SIN-HKG sector.

An international and an Asian selecion...



...and also an Indian vegetarian selection...



This, to me, looked similar to what Y pax got. Of course, PEY pax could also book the cook.

For completeness, this is what PEY pax continuing on to San Francisco would get...

Supper...





Mid-flight snacks...



Breakfast prior to arrival in SFO...

[yflyer]

I opted for the Sweet and Sour Pork...



I accompanied this with Frontera Sauvignon Blanc from Chile, a very refreshing wine...



The shrimp and pasta salad was fine, with a generous sprinkling of small shrimp, although I wished SQ would consider providing some sort of salad dressing along with their salads...



The sweet and sour pork with rice was very satisfying...



Dessert was a delicious mango sorbet...



Overall a very tasty Y dinner....

But wait a minute, I was in PEY, not Y.

SQ recently won a Business Traveller award for best Premium Economy. All I can say is that the voters in that poll have probably never flown QF PEY, which has an almost-J like standard of catering, including real glassware and porcelain plates, not to mention a menu clearly a class above Y.

If there is anything SQ can do to PEY to differentiate it from Y, and bring it to the standard of most of their competition, it is to up the standard of catering to make meal time a more enjoyable experience than dining in Y. SQ provides some of the best Y meals in the industry, but to serve up the same thing in PEY just cheapens the experience and makes me (And perhaps other passengers) much more reluctant to pay extra to fly in the PEY cabin...

[yflyer]

PEY cabin ambience on this aircraft was great...



A spacious cabin which felt very calm and peaceful...



I took a stroll around the Y cabin. As the pictures clearly show, there is a huge difference between PEY and Y, with PEY being much more comfortable.

That said, while Y was no match for the PEY cabin, the cabin did have very good ambience for an economy class product, with the main reason for that being the 9-abreast 3-3-3 configuration.



This 9-abreast cabin felt noticeably more open and uncrowded than a 10-abreast Y cabin which has become increasingly common among other airlines' Boeing 777 cabins.