Next month, I planned to take my first international trip in months and fulfill a bucket-list item: fly Singapore Airlines in the new A380 Suites Class. For better or for worse, Singapore Airlines just cancelled my flight. I’m actually relieved.
Singapore Airlines New A380 Suites Class
I flew the Singapore Airlines A380 in the older Suites Class many years ago. It was one of the best flights of my life, not the least because my uncle and I had the entire cabin to ourselves.
> Review: Singapore Airlines A380 Suites Class Singapore to Melbourne
But the new A380 Suites Class replaces 12 suites with only six, providing more space and more comfort. I’ve reviewed most of the world’s top first class products and this product represents a glaring hole.
Earlier this year I saw some saver space from London (LHR) to Singapore (SIN)…125K KrisFlyer miles is hardly a steal, but there’s no fuel surcharge and it beats the usual 220K price. I grabbed it with a connection to Jakarta (CGK). The plan was to review the A380 in Suites Class, the 777 in first class (I’ve done that before, but it was no additional miles for the extra segment), stay at the new Park Hyatt in Jakarta, and then take Garuda Indonesia to Tokyo on the A330neo in business class. From Tokyo I hoped to fly ANA or JAL in business class back to Los Angeles. I had hoped to fly Virgin Atlantic to London on the A350.
A lot of moving parts, right?
Well, any hope that international travel would broadly resume by July was woefully optimistic.
Virgin Atlantic won’t start flying until late July. Transiting through London and Singapore would not be a problem but Indonesia does not currently allow it and I’m not even clear about whether Japan does. The Park Hyatt opening has been pushed back to the end of the year.
Now I could have salvaged the trip and taken British Airways to London, another product I’ve wanted to review, then ditch the Singapore – Jakarta leg and just fly back to San Francisco on United or back to Los Angeles nonstop on Singapore to try the A350.
But there was something else that bothered me, namely the soft product cutbacks onboard.
The Premium Cabin Dilemma
Premium cabin travel bloggers face a dilemma in the coming months, as routes begin to re-open. Even with routes resuming, how valuable is a review of a product in which the soft product (meals, blankets, pillows, amenities) is drastically scaled back (hopefully on a temporary basis). If single-tray service in first class becomes the new norm, then maybe such a review is helpful. If not, the review has a very short shelf life.
Singapore Airlines has suspended its popular Book the Cook option from all outstations “during” COVID-19. It also announced:
For flights where meal services are provided, First and Business Class meals are to be served as a one-tray offering, as per Singapore’s regulations. This will consist of an appetiser, a main course and a dessert. We have also adjusted the alcohol offerings in all classes. Satay, cheese and fruit services have also been suspended in First and Business Class.
That doesn’t sound like fun for a 13-hour flight…
CONCLUSION
Honestly, one reason I’m relieved about this flight being cancelled is that I don’t have to justify taking a purely discretionary trip. It is bound to happen one day…we must slowly get back to work, myself included, but I am happy to suspend this trip to a later date.
Do you have any international July trips you are still planning on taking?
I have a group of flights for my annual big trip in the beginning of October all in business
MIA – DOH – CMB – MLE – IST – DPS – HND – LAX
Hate to say but as the days go by im becoming less and less confident that this will be a reality
Who flies DPS-HND? I fly to Bali a fair bit but I must have missed this route.
Safe to assume he meant NRT unless making a stop…
I feel you I just had to call and disassemble ord to lhr lhr to jro jro to cpt cpt to fra fra to ord
Spent all last summer getting 4 tickets all business class for it all to crumble
The recent news about TK has me in a quandary. We’ve a trip to Greece in September. We’ve used Aeroplan miles for the outbound in J routing ATL-IST-ATH specifically to fly their new Dreamliner and layover in IST to try the new lounge. But all TK’s cutbacks that’s truly just penny-pinching-masquerading-as-health-concern has me really reconsidering. I don’t much care for the thought of “Hygiene Experts” dictating how frequently I can visit the lav or when and how often I can remove my mask to eat/talk/whatever. Then there’s this utterly bullshit meal situation. Yeah, the ATL-IST flight is overnight but it’s not like “The Club at ATL” or any of the restaurants at ATL hold a candle to what TK’s catering is/used to be and I’ll still want to have something to eat that’s more substantial than a hummus wrap and a sugar-and-preservative-loaded brownie.
Ultimately, all these health charades that double-down on the lie that they’re concerned for pax safety really is going to put a damper on the experience. If it weren’t for the lie-flat seat which really is a must given our itinerary’s timing, I don’t think TK is remotely worth it when there are easier routes to fly that don’t require positioning and don’t have an 8-1/2 hour layover at what’s sure to be a dismal lounge experience. Now if only Aeroplan’s website would actually work so I could see about alternate arrangments.
Of course, this is all predicated on the assumption that Europe/Greece will actually allow American visitors by this fall. Fingers crossed, but I’m not very optimistic. In fact, we don’t even have the return booked because who knows what the sitch will be by fall…
Getting a plane used to be exciting, especially on airlines that provided good service. Now you are basically getting on a subway that flies. It’s really disappointing and who knows when the airlines will resume the soft products in the name of “health”
What about the 8-15 hours of enforcement of mask wear – or the opposite for those concerned with a lack of masks beyond meals or sleep?
What of the face mask that slip off while sleeping (eye-masks seem to have a mind of thier own for restless sleepers). Are the FA going to wake the F/J passenger who’s masked is removed by accident or design while sleeping?
I think aspirational award travel is at least 12-18 months out for the soft product and amenities (lounges) – unless COVID19 burns out before this fall.
How many widebodies will airlines fly with just 25-85% of the seats filled?
@Matthew – Any idea what you’d figure for the odds of your booking service being able to obtain two seats on SQ at saver level in suites to or from the US, given a year’s notice?
Not going to happen since SQ (lately at least) has only released one seat per flight.
Worth a try, I guess. Thanks for the reply.
I’m holding on to my RTW plans (IAH-TPE-ICN-DOH-LHR-JFK-DFW) for early November, though I’m growing increasingly skeptical I’ll actually be able to go.
I think you’ll be okay for November. Hope it works out and looks like a great trip.
I’m sure the flights will go. Questions are whether 1) I’ll get roadblocked by a travel ban on Americans at one of my layover points, and 2) whether the on-board product at that point warrants spending 5 days to do this. Just got a bad feeling on #2.
@matthew Just curious…when (date) was your SQ flight? I booked the same flight (LHR-SIN) in F on the 380 too. My flight is the last week of July but they haven’t canceled it yet.
First week in July.
Your sentiment on saving travel for essential is the right thing.
There is a lot I would “like” to do. But I am resolving to book only the absolute necessary in travel right now until we see more. Interestingly, clients in Austria, where things are mostly back to “normal,” told me that either I come over to continue talks or they are moving on without me. Their reasoning? “We are no longer waiting for a vaccine or treatment. We are not optimistic like you Americans that this will ever happen for many years. As such we are moving on with this deal with you or without you.”
So I am going. At some point I have to make a critical decision as to my business no matter what. And it appears that point has been reached.
I’ve booked Suites Saver for Oct. from SYD-JFK via SIN .. I will take the wait & see approach for now
I agree totally re: the reduced offerings on board – it’s just not the same
Traveling in Suites yet with a pared down service is just not … right
It’s almost pointless really.
Shocking, SQ reducing the services in premium class. It is probably the best the trip is cancelled. It would not be that nice to have a reduce service. I still cannot believe SQ has done it!
oh believe it hun. Im not surprised at all-when one is constantly glorified & venerated by the travel parias as the “king of the skies” they of course feel self-entitled bordering narcisism to not be acountable for anything. SQ is the only airline on my “brown” (poo-poo) list for already 10 yrs for a very minor thing (Mathew knows why)
“But there was something else that bothered me, namely the soft product cutbacks onboard.”
This is exactly the reason why when non-essential travel resumes I still won’t be booking any premium cabins until the soft product returns, both on the ground and in the air. It is not enough to pay a premium just for the seat, especially when you consider that the points required hasn’t decreased even though the service offering has (and dramatically so with some airlines).
If I fly J or F international it’s part of my vacation and pleasure. Without the amenities (a cellophane-wrapped K-12 eco-friendly biodegradable cafeteria food tray along with a straw to sip champagne from your miniature bottle is hardly a pleasure) I’m not ready to fly.
I think there’s a bit of a tradeoff here when looking solely at premium cabin flying. All travel bloggers get secretly happy when they see an empty cabin, no matter how bad it is for the airline. While COVID-19 may have discombobulated the entire effort of improving F/J soft product, I feel like we’ll be seeing many empty/half-full cabins in the future.
I’m only thinking about travel because I’m stuck in Hong Kong and need to be in London for second year by September, so I don’t have much of a take on when it’s “worth it” to pursue aspirational travel. I managed to fly BA home on the last day they were still offering a full soft product in J, so I consider myself lucky.
Alvin, I certainly agree that I love empty cabins when I am a passengers…but I don’t wish that on any airline. Not now, not ever. My Singapore flight had 4/6 seats blocked…it appeared they were selling only one suite on each side. That would have made the journey even more fantastic even without meal service. Oh well.
I think Park Hyatt Jakarta opening delayed until next year.
Indeed, I see the opening is now pushed back to Q1 2021. Bummmer.