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700 reviews
SIA offers 2 daily flights from Tokyo Narita to Singapore, one early in morning and another later in afternoon, the latter is the flight we are reviewing. This is one of SIA's fifth freedom flights where the plane comes from LAX.
Cost was 43k Krisflyer miles. Redemption availability was alright, there were unavailable days here and there, however if you are flexible then scoring a seat shouldn't be a problem.
Since there are only two flights per day, the check in counters open 3 hours before each flight and close around 1 hour before the departure time. We arrived just short of an hour before the early morning flight and found the economy check in already closed. Luckily we were flying business, and its check in was still staffed. We quickly obtained our boarding passes and were on our way to the lounge in no time.
There are two ANA lounges for business/Star Alliance gold passengers in T1. The lounge in satellite 5 required a long walk through an underground tunnel so we decided to use the one in satellite 4. The lounge is immaculate with a black & white theme. Its renovation has a contemporary Japanese feel of simplicity and classiness. The only thing lacking would be natural lighting, as the lounge has none (the lounge in satellite 5 has windows). There is a large seating and dining area, as well as business center and a quiet area with massaging chairs.
The showers has dedicated attendants who cleans the rooms after each use. Water is hot and has good pressure. Shiseido hair and body products will be provided.
Self serve alcohol and hot food buffet is in the center of the lounge. Since this is Japan, plum wine and Yamazaki whiskey is available. Just around the corner, there is an ordering station offering Japanese comfort food such as curry rice and noodle dishes. You will be given a pager that notifies you when the food is ready.
A unique part of the ANA lounge is the sake bar featuring sakes from different parts of Japan. The sake ranges from sweet and smooth to dry and strong. Be careful how much you pour as the strongest one contains 35% alcohol content.
Rainy fall weather in Tokyo. Boarding of the 777-300ER was done over 2 bridges.
Upon entering the cabin, the crew showed us to our seats and offered Veuve Clicquot and a variety of non alcoholic drinks. She also took the order for after take off drink where I chose Graham's Tawny port. At this point I was already feeling "good" from all the sake and champagne and the comfortable seats was the perfect place to relax in.
Speaking of the seats, Singapore Air 777-300ER are retrofitted with the new 1-2-1 business layout, each seat is extremely wide and have direct aisle access. Although there is no door for each seat, the walls are high enough that when siting down you don't really notice your fellow passengers. I quite like the color scheme with dark leather and gold accents, giving it an understated luxury feel. As the seats are so wide, the big soft pillow creates a more snug feel and is quite comfortable to lean on.
Storage room is plenty. There's space underneath the feet hole for backpacks. The arm rest area is big enough to hold my laptop during food services.
The seats can turn flat but requires the back rest to be flipped over by the flight attendant. As this is a regional flight we didn't get to experience that. The wide and short space does mean when stretching out, you will need to lay sideways and stick your feet into the hole underneath the arm rest of the seat in front. Looking at other reviews this can be uncomfortable for some people, but it did not bother me.
I wanted to try the Hanakoireki bento dinner exclusive to this route, so I did not use book the cook. While we didn't get the exclusive attention from the crew like in the previous flight to Beijing, the food still kept coming at a good pace and all the drinks were topped up without us asking.
The menu with first 4 pages dedicated to the segment from LAX.
The service starts with a round of satay sticks with plenty of peanut sauce. They are comparable to ones in Singapore hawker centers, although not as smoky. Each item in the Hanakoireki set is intricately prepared and comes in high quality bento boxes. I would say some items stood out more than others, but overall it was pretty good given all plane food are usually extra processed for safety.
Dinner service finished off with green tea cake, cheese and crackers, TWG tea, and of course more champaign.
Don't think anyone can walk away from this flight hungry.
Business class on Singapore Air struck a good balance between price, service, and comfort. The seats were really comfortable and offered a good amount of privacy. Food and drink selections were also top notch.
I liked the clean ANA lounge in Narita but I wish I had time to also try the other lounge with a better view.
Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 20 avis concernant 5 compagnies sur la ligne Tokyo (NRT) → Singapore (SIN).
La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est Singapore Airlines avec 8.7/10.
La durée moyenne des vols est de 8 heures et 5 minutes.
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5 Comments
Needless to say it On a US or transatlantic flight of similar length typically there is a meal up front and a meal or light snack at the end which I find preferable.
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