Singapore Airlines

Hanging Out With Jay-Z; Singapore Airlines Suites A380 NRT-LAX

Posted on April 5, 2015 by where is rahul

Ok so after two flights in the past 24 hours on Singapore Airlines in Suites Class on the A380, this was my final leg flying SQ 12 from Narita, Japan to Los Angeles. I really had a great flight from Singapore and was excited for the last leg and getting home to the family. But let’s just cut to the chase did I rub elbows with Jay-Z’s bettter half? Sadly the answer is no, she wasn’t on the flight :(. Yes he was, and no I didn’t hang out with him. He did acknowledge my presence when we were deplaning in LAX, but that was really it. The suites are so darn private I only noticed him a few times when I walked past his seat, and when he walked by mine to use the facilities. Next time I’m hoping to see Beyonce damit!

After a short layover in Japan, I re-boarded the plane and was greeted by the purser and staff and escorted to my seat. I was immediately asked for my drink order and my luggage was again stored in an empty seat, this flight was 7-12 so I didn’t have to squeeze my roller under the ottoman.

I’ve got to be honest by this flight I was a little tired. I had flown 17,000 miles and 7 segments in five days and spent two short nights in hotels. I was ready to head home, but also ready to enjoy my time on this flight. I guess what I’m trying to say is this, I was tired of taking pictures and just wanted to enjoy the flight, so if you want to get a more detailed review of the seat and service please check out the last review.

Ahh the usual pre-departure drink

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Hot Towels and Champagne Singapore Airlines Suites Class A380 SIN-NRT

Posted on April 4, 2015 by where is rahul

INTRODUCTION

Singapore Airlines First Class Check in

After a short but restful night at the Sheraton Towers Singapore, it was time for the long but ever so exciting journey home via SQ 12 SIN-NRT-LAX. After a short cab ride from the hotel I was dropped off at the First Class check in. I had no idea that this even existed at Changi Airport, on all my other travels on Singapore in First Class I’ve always been a transit passenger, so I’ve never had the chance to use this entrance let alone know it existed. It’s located right before Terminal 3 and there are signs for it, but just let your driver know and they’ll hook you up.

Even at 7 am there were staff out front ready to help you with your luggage and escort you to a check in desk. Here they would take your bags, check you in and print all necessary documentation. All of this is done in a quick, painless and welcoming environment. It was definitely a nice way to get checked in. I know other airlines have similar services, but I’ve never had this luxury before. Continue reading →

Categories: a380, Airlines, Airport, Around the world, Singapore Airlines, Travel, Travel Blog, Trip Report | Tags: Airlines, Asia, Travel | 4 Comments

Trip Report: Singapore Airlines A380 Suites Class Shanghai-Singapore

Posted on April 1, 2015 by where is rahul

INTRODUCTION

There she is

After flying 12,000 miles traveling from SFO-LAX-BOS-SFO-ICN-NRT-PVG, I finally was getting ready for the penultimate part of my trip, the beginning of my around the world trip in First on Airbus a380’ s. In this case I was starting my journey in Shanghai, China flying Singapore Airlines Suites Class to Singapore. From there I’ll fly back to Narita and then onwards to Los Angeles, all on SQ a380’s. Needless to say I was incredibly excited, sure I’ve flown a handful of a380’ s previously, but getting a chance to fly on my favorite airline in their flagship Suites Class, was the cherry on top of the sundae.

I arrived at the gate about 10 minutes prior to boarding and there were three boarding lanes (sorry I didn’t get any snaps) one for coach, business and then suites. The former two had healthy lines but suites was empty, which was expected since the cabin was only 3 of 12. This definitely was going to make for a really nice trip. Besides that, since they have different boarding doors with 1L exclusively for Suites guests once you get on board you only see your fellow guests and the staff working the cabin. In my case it felt like it was 2 ½ crew to one guest, not bad huh? Continue reading →

Categories: a380, Airlines, Around the world, Asia, Singapore Airlines, Travel, Travel Blog, Trip Report | Tags: Airlines, around the world, Asia, Travel | 4 Comments

Booking An Award Redemption On Singapore Airlines

Posted on March 13, 2015 by where is rahul

Booking An Award Redemption On Singapore Airlines

Introduction

Once I had secured the dates for the trip to Seoul it was now time to find the most extravagant way to get back at the cheapest price. There are many airlines I want to try but at the top of my list for the past 7 years has been the Singapore Airlines a380 Suites Class. It’s one of those white whale redemptions that are really hard to come by. They pretty much block redemptions with partner’s mileage programs so getting a seat is really really tough in any premium cabin let alone on the a380. In my entire life I’ve been lucky enough to do one round trip in Business Class to Bali and two First Class redemptions to the Maldives on SQ. All were with United miles and were just lucky redemptions or computer glitches. But in all three cases none were on the a380, two were on the 747 and one on the 77W. These are still some of my favorite flights, and I still feel that way even after flying Lufthansa and Asiana in First Class last December.

Now you can get seats with miles from Avianca, Air Canada, Lufthansa and a few others, but for me not having miles in these accounts and not having much interest in buying miles to make a booking, the best way was a credit card transfer partner. In my case I have miles/points with Chase and American Express, both are transfer partners to Singapore Airlines direct and after getting an amazing sign up bonus a few years back with Amex of 100,000 points it was finally time to use them. Currently SQ only fly’s five routes to the US, two of which have this aircraft, LAX-NRT-SIN or JFK-FRA-SIN. So I went looking for space on those two routes. Now for me the easiest way to find space on SQ is on their site, yes you can use the ANA tool too and it works well, but I only wanted specific routes and a specific carrier the SQ site was tops for me.

Here’s what you do to check award space. First of all you need to create an account on their website. It’s free and valid for 18 months if you don’t have any activity in the account. If it expires before you credit miles to the account or transfer some in, then make a new account, they don’t care. Continue reading →

Categories: a380, Around the world, Singapore Airlines, Travel, Travel Blog, Travel Tools, Trip Report | Tags: Airlines, around the world, Travel | Leave a comment

Welcome Million Mile Secrets Readers

Posted on July 11, 2014 by where is rahul

I recently was lucky enough to be featured on the awesome travel blog Million Mile Secrets in their weekly Interview series. If you haven’t read or seen Daraius’s blog you should check it out (and read my interview too). Since this is my first ever interview about my travel habits and blog, I thought it would be nice to welcome all my current and hopefully new readers to participate in a giveaway. Since I love Starbucks and can’t imagine anyone who doesn’t I thought a $25 gift card would be the thing to give away.

So if you’re interested in being included in my giveaway, please leave a comment on this post about your most memorable trip, vacation or travel experience and why and also include your name and I’ll pick the one I think sounds the most fun. I know it’s not very democratic or random, but hey it’s my blog so I can make my own rules. I’ll leave the contest open for one week starting today July 11^th and ending at Noon Pacific Time on July 18^th. Once I pick a winner I’ll message you back with the code to redeem the card.

For readers that are new to the site, I’ve listed a few of my favorite adventures that you might find fun to read about. They’ll hopefully give you an idea of what types of things I write about and what makes me tick as a traveler.

Flying Singapore Airlines First Class Food Porn

Malossol caviar at 35,000 feet with a glass of Dom Perignon and Russian Vodka of course.

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Categories: Contest, Interview, Review, Singapore Airlines, Starwood Hotels, Travel, Travel Blog | Tags: air travel, Family travel, my life in review, Travel, USA, Where is rahul | 27 Comments

Singapore Airlines: Food porn from 35,000 feet

Posted on December 9, 2012 by where is rahul

Recently I had the opportunity to fly on my favorite airline again, Singapore Airlines. SQ15 flies from San Francisco, CA to Singapore via a short fuel stop in Seoul, South Korea. Back in April, I was lucky enough to find award space for three passengers in first class, so I immediately snapped them up for the entire family. The flight turned out to be a pretty spectacular treat, which I’ll blog about later, but in the meantime, here’s the amazing food I had up in the air. As you can imagine I was pretty full after eating all this wonderful food, but it was worth it so I could to provide these visual sights.