Trip Report: Singapore to Washington DC (Flight 1: SG to Tokyo)

• Introduction
• Flight 1: Singapore to Tokyo
• Flight 2: Tokyo to Toronto
• Flight 3: Toronto to Washington D.C.

Last week, Amy and I travelled back to the U.S. from Singapore. We used my entire balance of United MileagePlus frequent flyer miles, along with several thousand points transferred from my Chase Sapphire Preferred account, to book our business class flights. This is my trip report.

Flight 1 – Business Class: 

• Singapore to Tokyo Narita
• Boeing 777-300ER
• Operated by ANA All Nippon Airways

The first leg of our trip departed from Singapore at 6:00am. ANA operates out of Terminal 2 at Singapore’s Changi airport. In my opinion, Terminal 2 is the most outdated terminal in Singapore’s otherwise modern and easily accessible airport.

While checking in at the ANA Business class counter, our taxi driver ran in to the airport to find us. We had overpaid by $10 and he was bringing us our change. I took this as a good sign: a favorable start to a long trip.

After checking in, we proceeded through Singapore immigration. Changi airport performs security scanning on an individual gate basis. In my opinion, this is far superior to the normal security process where all passengers are bottlenecked into the same long security line. However, I understand Changi’s New Terminal 4, which is currently under construction, will employ a traditional, airport-wide security process.

After passing through immigration, we proceeded to the KrisFlyer Business Class Lounge. As we were flying business class on a Star Alliance airline (which includes Singapore Airlines), we were entitled to use the Singapore lounge.

The business class lounge and the first class lounge are side by side in Terminal 2. We presented out boarding passes and entered the Business class side.

As it was still early, the lounge was fairly empty. A light buffet was available along with plenty of drink options, both coffees and alcoholic choices.

Just in case, there were computer terminals and even booths to make private phone calls in.

The food in the lounge was good but nothing amazing. We waited in the relative quiet of the lounge until about 30 minutes before our flight was due to depart. After quickly going through the gate’s security line (there was almost no one in line by the time we got there), we boarded the large 777 and found our seats.

I did not explore the back of the plane, but the business class section was almost completely empty.

The ANA 777 we were on offers a staggered 1-2-1 business class arrangement with direct aisle access for all seats.

For the aisle seats, every other seat is flush with the window, in my opinion these seats offer the most privacy as they are blocked from the aisle by the storage and tray table area.

The business class seats were adjustable into fully flat beds. When extended, I found the beds to offer more than enough space for sleeping comfortably.

After boarding I took my seat, 5F, and settled in. We were offered newspapers in Japanese and English and a welcome drink of orange juice, water or sparkling wine. The pre-flight drinks were served in plastic cups.

We left the gate shortly after the doors closed and taxied for only a few minutes.

After a smooth takeoff, the seat belt sign was turned off and I explored the forward business class cabin.

The individual screens for each passenger were large and easy to operate. However, I was a bit underwhelmed  by the entertainment options. Although there were approximately 32 “new releases” available, many of these were actually duplications of the same movie in different languages.

I like to watch breezy comedies on long flights, so I opted for the Robert De Niro and Zac Efron movie, Dirty Grandpa. Unfortunately, the movie was neither breezy nor funny. It was unquestionably the worst movie I’ve seen in a long time. In addition, there appeared to be issues of continuity regarding the feeble and predictable plot. I think this was due to ANA censoring certain aspects of the movie (i.e. sex and drugs), but it is also possible the movie was just poorly edited. Either way, I have no plans to re-watch it and find out.

 

The flight attendants in business class were attentive and friendly. The food was okay but not exceptional – but I guess that is to be expected given that we were on a plane. The fruit was my favorite part of the meal above.

It was a beautiful day as we made our approach to Tokyo’s Narita.  Overall, the flight was relaxing and comfortable. It was especially enjoyable given how quiet business class was (I’m pretty sure I had a bathroom all to myself).  We were first off the plane (we passed a small first class compartment with a single passenger) and after clearing a short security line, we headed for the ANA lounge.