On January 5, 2022 United Airlines will resume its nonstop service between San Francisco and Singapore.
United Airlines Service To Singapore Relaunches In January 2022
As Singapore bucks the trend of its neighbors and takes a “we must live with it” approach to COVID-19, it has re-opened to foreign tourism from several nations. Singapore Airlines has already resumed nonstop service from Singapore (SIN) to San Francisco (SFO) and Los Angeles (LAX) as well as Fifth Freedom flights from Tokyo (NRT) to LAX, Manchester (MAN) to Houston (IAH), and Frankfurt (FRA) to New York (JFK).
Now United Airlines will resume service between SFO and SIN starting on January 5, 2022. The flight will operate according to the following schedule:
- UA001 – departs SFO 10:30pm, arrives SIN 7:40am+2
- begins 05 January 2022
- operates on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays
- UA002 – departs SIN 10:10am, arrives SFO 8:50am
- begins 09 January 2022
- Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Sundays
United will utilize a retrofitted Boeing 787-9 with:
- 48 seats in Polaris business class
- 21 seats in Premium Plus premium economy class
- 39 seats in Economy Plus (extra legroom economy class)
- 149 seats in economy class
All United flights will operated in accordance with the Singapore Government’s Vaccinated Travel Lane program (VTL). Passengers who are fully vaccinated can avoid quarantine (after testing negative upon arrival).
The paper CDC vaccination card from the USA is not accepted by itself, but you can present a digital vaccination certificate from your state or local healthy authority (Los Angeles County, for example, issues one) or the paper CDC card along with a letter signed by your vaccination provider to attest to your vaccination status, including:
- your name and at least one other personal identifier such as the date of birth or passport number corresponding exactly with the information in your passport used for entry into Singapore;
- the name of the vaccine administered for each dose; and
- the date when each dose was administered
(more details here)
CONCLUSION
With Singapore now open again to foreign visitors, Untied Airlines will resume service in early January 2022. Flights will be bookable later this evening.
image: United Airlines
Will the seatmap be old or new Polaris? (48 seats sounds like the old 2-2-2 config…)
Will be exclusively new Polaris – still has 48 seats plus premium economy.
@ Matthew — So Singapore dropped the SmartHealth card only rule?
I was surprised too, but that appears to be the case if you follow the link I included above. That’s great news considering France no longer converts U.S. CDC cards into digital passes.
Great news! Glad to have snagged a Suites award trip for 2022.
FCQ will certainly enjoy!
One of the few nice governmental things about living in California is that they figured out how to handle this, so now I have proof in my iOS wallet.
The “we must live with it approach” is nuanced. It is very high vaccination rates and lots of tracking. Eat in a food court and log in with your phone. The “we must live with it approach” is not moderate vaccination rates, no masks, no tracking, meet with as many people as you can and in large crowds. If the US is to copy the Singaporean “we must live with it approach” there are many, many things that must change.
My POV is actually that the US/UK embody “Living with the virus” more closely than Singapore. Eventually everything should return to “normal” except for those individuals who choose heightened caution (as some did with the flu). The rest of the world, while more cautious than us atm, will converge on this model, definitely not the other way around. (Otherwise, where were all these Masks and Distancing precautions during our annual flu seasons)
They also embody “dying with the virus” too.
Do people forget that Singapore is a police state? Lee Kuan Yew explicitly modelled the People’s Action Party logo after that of the British Union of Fascists. Folx cried fascist when Trump was in office, but they seem to like actual fascism.
Oh, and I last flew UA1/UA2 in February of 2020. It was still the old BusinessFirst seats. I wore a mask on board, back when Fauci and Co. said not to. I thought was a prudent measure to take with a novel respiratory disease we didn’t know much about on the loose. Now we know better. Masks are close to useless.
On a side note, why do people think 787s are quiet? Sure, 777s are horribly loud. but I’ve used a decibel meter (on a smartphone, admittedly) and found 787s to be barely quieter than 777s. The seats by the doors are insanely loud. I recall sitting in 6A on UA28 and dreading the rest of flight because it was so deafening.
So is the LA County Healthvana iOS wallet card as good as the California QR code?
Singapore . . . isn’t that the place where they will cane your bare bum if they catch you not flushing the toilet?
Something like that… ain’t it great?
I cringe if I forget noise canceling gear for a 90 minute flight. It’s mandatory for SFO-SIN. I’m glad to see real Polaris on this route.
Just came back from Singapore yesterday after a 10-day stay. Not sure the passenger demand is there based on what I observed on the ground and learn to deal with all the COVID restrictions and contact tracing in Singapore. Some hotels are not open to foreign visitors and only domestic guests are allowed.
I travelled to Singapore from a Singapore recognized green lane country, so prior submission of vaccination record was not needed. I presented my written CDC card upon landing and was accepted by border control agent. The contact tracing app was updated within 24 hours to show I was fully vaccinated. This is important. If the App does not show you are fully vaccinated, you will not be allowed into certain public areas and cannot dine in restaurants.
I flew back via Tokyo on NH and then NRT-EWR on a UA 789. Both flights was less than 1/3 full. There were quite a number of passengers did the same routing as me. I saw them on both flights. Some I saw were waiting in the gate area of the NRT-SFO flight. Because there were so few passengers leaving SIN, it was not hard to recognize some of the faces.
Not sure about the Polaris seat on the 787s. It is fine for European flights. I have done a few transpacific long haul flights in the reconfigured Polaris seats on 789 and 7810. I found it hard to turn side way in flat sleeping position. My lower legs keep bump into the underside of the monitor. A bit narrow for my liking.
I tried to book UE from LAX to SIN Jan 5 RT Jan 15, be able to go thru, but during payment its error.
Looks like they don’t open the Economy Seat yet. Call CS, they don’t know VTL, and the price is $7K.
This is frustrating. Tried to be there before Jan 10 to attend NUS student exchange. Seems all from LA VTL price is ridiculous high. Any suggestion?
Wonder if I can missed the leg before the last-one, since LAX VTL SQ to Jakarta is $667 O/W , and its. VTL line.
Thank you.
That’s a risky proposition. Have you thought about buying miles before you pay $7K?
I did, but its all wait listed.
Questions:
UA LAX SIN, UA739 (LAX-SFO) and connecting to UA01 (SFO-SIN), I know this leg is VTL
IS it consider VTL if I start from LAX?
Called UA and they are not sure. Thanks.
Yes. 100% sure.
Thank you