January 9, 2016

Review: Singapore Airlines 777-200ER Business Class Male to Singapore

Introduction
Planning & Booking
American Express Centurion Lounge DFW
Emirates A380 First Class Dallas to Dubai
Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa Dubai
Emirates First Class Lounge Dubai
Emirates 777-300ER First Class Dubai to Male
Transfer to Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa
Park Hyatt Maldives - Resort & Park Villa
Park Hyatt Maldives - Water Villa
Transfer to Male
Singapore Airlines 777-200ER Business Class Male to Singapore
Grand Hyatt Singapore
Singapore Airlines The Private Room Singapore
Singapore Airlines 777-300ER First Class Singapore to Hong Kong
Singapore Airlines 777-300ER First Class Hong Kong to San Francisco

I've reviewed Singapore Airlines a number of times over the past couple of years.  Before flying Emirates, they were my favorite airline and this was my 9th segment flying with them in a premium cabin.  Given the late departure (nearly 11:30 PM) and the fact that we were depressed tired after leaving the Park Hyatt, I didn't take a ton of pictures.  I had looked long and hard for a review of this flight to no avail.  So hopefully this review is helpful to some.

We arrived at the gate a few minutes before the scheduled boarding time.  We went through security again (like our 5th checkpoint of the day) just as boarding was called.  We made our way down the stairs to the waiting bus to take us to plane.

The bus ride was short and we were able to get up close and personal with the one of the giant Rolls-Royce Trent 892's.

Rolls-Royce Trent 892 behind the stairs

Singapore Airlines 777-200ER


We climbed the stairs at the front of the plane and entered the very purple business class cabin.  Set in a 2-2-2 layout, these angled flat seats were pretty much identical to what you'll get on Thai Airway's medium haul service.  While the seats weren't fully flat, they were perfectly serviceable for the 5 hour redeye to Singapore.  These seats are essentially shells meaning the seats reclines in the shell vs. into the seat behind you - legroom is never impacted which is great.

Boarding finished up and the door was shut.  There were maybe 10 occupied seats in business class.  We were in seats D/F meaning we both had direct aisle access which was great during the overnight flight.

Looking forward

Empty cabin shot

We pushed back, had a quick taxi to the end of the runway, turned 180 degrees and blasted off towards Singapore.  We had a very quick dinner before reclining all the way (not all the way) to get some sleep on the redeye.  

Service was perfectly acceptable for what equates to a US transcon (2100 miles).  The only "glitch" was a broken glass next to my seat maybe 2 hours into the flight.  Glass (and wine) literally went everywhere.  I found a piece of glass in my backpack and in my sock the next day.  Interestingly enough, there would be a broken glass on all three of our Singapore Airlines segment this trip.  Hopefully that means good luck for 2016.

Seat "back"

The flight "flew" by and we were soon landing in Singapore roughly 30 minutes early.  Immigration queues were non existent and we were loading our bags into a cab less than 30 minutes after landing.  

Final Thoughts:

If you're visiting the Maldives, I'd highly recommend this flight over the day flight.  You get the entire day at the resort even with the extensive transfer.  It's much better to spend the day on the beach vs. on a plane.  We were both a little wary of the redeye but we were able to get almost 4 hours of sleep and felt mostly rested and ready for an awesome day in Singapore!

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