Hello Flight-Report #Avgeeks. After a brief but enjoyable visit to Cairns it was time to make the slow and multi-stop trip back to the US, the wrong way of course. Originally this trip had almost a week in Australia, Cairns and Brisbane being the choice cities. My return home was on Singapore and ANA in first class using a no longer available 125K point redemption, which was a grand steal. When I booked it a year out there was rumor the new A380 would fly the SYD-SIN route. Singapore flies 2 A380s between these cities. BOTH were available when I booked it. But I picked the wrong one, and by the time I realized it, the new A380 was not available.
So for months that gnawed at me. Then SQ started publishing routes for their new B787-10. Reward Flying wanted to fly that plane. And I found Malaysia A350 too. And I found a waitlist on the new SQ A380. And I found space on Cathay's A350-1K. So I blew up the trip and ultimately had tickets on all these aircrafts.
Proud of my accomplishment I became tired just looking at the travel I was facing.
So I blew it up again. However all these aircraft are booked for travel in the next few months, as well as some others (hint: QR Qsuites, QR A350-1K, SQ URL) And the good news is CX swapped out the A350-1K on my flight and MH had an aircraft swap as well.
And in the end I lucked into QF's 787 plus an incredible dose of first class to return home.
Singapore Airlines FRA-JFK A380 Suites Class - this report
JetBlue JFK-ORD E190 Economy Class - no report
Day 4, the final leg has arrived. So far this 4-leg 15,000+ mile first class journey was everything I’d hoped for. Could it get any better? Yes!
After a quick sleep at the Hilton Frankfurt Airport at “The Squaire”, it was off to the airport. The Hilton is right across from the airport via underground tunnel. There is a Sheraton and Hilton Garden Inn at The Squaire as well that I saw, maybe others.
I would be flying Singapore Airlines’ lone first class flight to the US from Europe, flight SQ26, which is necessary because a fuel stop is needed as New York to Singapore is too far for the A380 to fly direct. The only reason I could put this itinerary together was the unusual availability of a first class saver award on this leg. In fact to my surprise, this FRA to JFK award was open for a couple weeks before I actually figured out the itinerary I’d end up ticketing. It was no surprise to see SQ26 on time.
Whoa! In the land of Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi and even Volkswagen, a British car on display car? That’s like walking into Airbus headquarters and seeing a model of a Boeing 787.
Making digital look like the past. Much preferred.
You can’t use Lufthansa’s First Class lounge in Frankfurt unless you are flying Lufthansa. You’d think that Singapore and Lufthansa would make a deal where SQ First pax can enter Lufthansa First Class Lounge in Frankfurt/Munich and LH First pax can enter Singapore Airlines The Private Room in Singapore. But you can’t and they haven’t asked me for my advice. As it is, in both cities you use the Star Alliance First Class Lounge which in this case is Lufthansa Senator Lounge. Notice they’ve updated their logo, so the talk about changing it back seems to have been fake news.
The lounge is quite large with various rooms and a nice view of the tarmac.
In the minority, I happen to like the new Lufthansa logo.
Various features of the lounge include workstations, phone chargers, keyed lockers as well as a Spa with paid services.
There was a large dining area off to the right as you entered. One thing the Senator lounge has in common with the FCT are the bar stools.
Food was the typical array of European breakfast items, including meats, cheeses and breads.
.
I didn’t mention any first class ground services because there weren’t any. Soon it was off to gate B46, the Star Alliance gate for A380’s. One last view of this:
Today I mixed it up and selected 1F.
.
The Singapore Flight Crew swarmed me with introductions, amenities, oshiboris and requests for beverages. Today’s crew was Henry, Sam, Chong, Shirley and See Woon. I couldn’t tell you if the cabin behind me was full. Row 1 is as private as you can get on an airplane.
Interestingly the Lalique amenity kit was different from the one given out of Sydney. This kit has a magnet closure.
While most other airline amenity kit contents are the typical toothbrush, ear plugs, eye mask, etc., that stuff is available in the lavatories on Singapore Airlines. Their amenity kits has samples of some really nice products.
Since having my suite transformed to a bed was not on the agenda today, I would only need this blanket as the cabin was kept at a perfect cool temperature.
My sole complaint about the A380., tunnel vision.
Other than First Class (and as I’ve experienced not everytime), I’m not sure 5 stars applies.
Pushback on this glorious morning in Frankfurt.
With an 8:30 AM departure the first meal would be brunch. One would have thought it could all been placed on a single page.
.
This is the Book the Cook menu for today’s flight.
Last year when I flew the opposite way out of Frankfurt I’d ordered the Farro and Avocado Salad with Red Lentil Soufflé and it was fantastic. So I didn’t hesitate to order it again as the main course.
Flatware used by Singapore in first class.
Fruit was first.
The only mis-step of this flight crew was I had to ask for the bread basket.
The bircher-muesli was delicious. Everytime I attempt to make this at home I fail to make it this good.
.
Either I made a mistake when ordering or my order was messed up, but I received the chicken version. It was outstanding as well (maybe better).
This is such a great dish. Colorful, flavorful and satisfying. Don’t let the Jalapeno stray you away if you don’t like heat. This dish is not spicy.
Shortly after finishing my favorite breakfast in the sky, Shirley presented me with dessert. Ice cream for breakfast, Yes!
Yoghurt Cinnamon Mousse with Berry Coulis, How’s that for making decadence for breakfast sound healthy!
Wait, didn’t I start from here?
On SQ25 from New York to Frankfurt one meal is served as it’s a late night departure. The return flight gets two meals presumably because it flies during the day and into the headwind so slightly longer.
. .
Book the Cook for this flight wasn’t too inspiring for me. Last year I’d pre-ordered the Bresse Chicken. It’d been overcooked and dry but otherwise had good flavor. The preparation was different on this menu so I ordered it.
And now it’s close to 5 somewhere.
. .
This time it was perfection.
. . . .
Words can’t give due credit to any of these dishes that were served on SQ26. Each one, from the bircher muesli to the pistachio cake and everything in between elicited the same thought, OMG is this fantastic.
Soon the New York area appeared out the window and the first class extravaganza was about to come to an end. But boy, was it fun.
As I made the trek from Terminal 4 over to Jetblue in Terminal 5, a short 5 minute walk, I got one last glimpse of the Singapore Airlines A380.
This concludes my epic journey to Australia and back where I sampled A380 first class services on Qatar, Singapore and Lufthansa along with business class on KLM's 747 and Qantas 787. What a trip!
But there's much more to come over the next year.
Including: Qatar A350-1K Qsuites Singapore A380 New Suites United 787-10 Inaugural flight Singapore’s A350 ULR inaugural to San Francisco Swiss A330/B777 First Class Cathay Pacific A350-1K Ethiopian B787/B777/A350
Subject to change of course!
See more
Verdict
Singapore Airlines
8.5/10
Cabin8.5
Cabin crew8.5
Entertainment/wifi7.0
Meal/catering10.0
Lufthansa Senator Lounge B42 - B
7.4/10
Comfort6.0
Meal/catering7.5
Entertainment/wifi8.5
Services7.5
Frankfurt - FRA
6.9/10
Efficiency6.0
Access8.0
Services7.0
Cleanliness6.5
New York - JFK
6.9/10
Efficiency7.0
Access7.0
Services6.5
Cleanliness7.0
Conclusion
Thanks for following me on my 34,807 mile trip to Australia and back. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Thanks for reading and happy reward flying!
11 LIKESLIKE TO THANK THE AUTHORTHANKS ! FLIGHT-REPORT LIKED
“I would be flying Singapore Airlines’ lone flight to the US from Europe, flight SQ26” - SQ51/52 flies between Manchester and Houston. The last I recalled Brexit hasn’t occurred, UK should still be part of Europe.
It was a reply specific to the statement made. No where in the statement does it specify first class.
Nevertheless I don’t deny that the report is good. Really great to have these regulars provide such thorough yet concise reports. Many of the new guys just carry one about a story for far too long and interest is lost even before they get to the boarding stage.
Wrapping up an awesome series nicely with this nice 5th freedom flight. It's too bad that other Star Alliance F pax can't get in to the LH FCT of FCL. It reminds me of BA and their "Concorde Room" and "Concorde Bar" naming, which keeps oneworld F pax out of their best lounges. A great redemption at 74K miles--I'm guessing from SQ's own FFP, being that SQ doesn't really make F awards available to other *A FFPs?
Hi KévinDC, thanks for reading and pointing out a typo on my site, it's 76,000 points to for this redemption (which I verified when wrote it and still typed the wrong number!) And the other problem is availability is limited at best. You are also correct, SQ doesn't release saver award space in premium cabins on their A380, B777, A350 aircraft to *A partners. However they have gotten a little better recently allowing 787 business class availability. You have to redeem with KrisFlyer points, but AMEX, Citi, Chase all transfer to SQ.
Only a 2K point typo, haha nbd...still a very good deal! Yup, a points transfer from Chase Sapphire Reserve is pretty much the only way I'll even fly an SQ premium cabin since I never fly *A.
Flight-Report is a free website hosting more than 500 000 pictures and 17 000 reviews, without ads, this website can't exist. We understand that ads can be annoying, this is why we only display a maximum of 2 non-invasive ads per page.
To continue using Flight-Report, we invite you to add Flight-Report to your blocker's "white list".
#3 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings.
701 reviews
8 Comments
- SQ51/52 flies between Manchester and Houston. The last I recalled Brexit hasn’t occurred, UK should still be part of Europe.
Nevertheless I don’t deny that the report is good. Really great to have these regulars provide such thorough yet concise reports. Many of the new guys just carry one about a story for far too long and interest is lost even before they get to the boarding stage.
Login to post a comment.