I recently took the longest flight in the world – the flight from JFK airport in New York to Singapore operated by Singapore Airlines. And this was a business class flight. Here is the Midlife Adventurer’s JFK – Singapore World’s Longest Business Class Flight review.
Check My Video JFK – Singapore World’s Longest Business Class Flight Review
Background
Singapore Airlines operates three daily flights from the east coast of the USA to Singapore. One from JFK to Singapore with a stopover in Frankfurt, one non-stop from EWR in New York to Singapore, and then the JFK to Singapore non-stop flight.
Exactly how long is the longest flight is a matter of who does the calculation.
According to one calculation, it is just over 15,330 GCD km. GCD stands for Great Circle Distance and considers the fact earth is spherical and therefore the shortest route is not the so-called crow-flying distance. But I have seen distance putting the flight to be more than 17,000 km.
What is undisputable at the moment is that this is the longest flight, beating the second longest one, also operated by Singapore Airlines but from EWR, by a few kilometers.
In theory, the flight time is 18 hours and 50 minutes while the second longest is five minutes shorter.
The Airlines uses the newer Airbus 350-900 ULR with 67 business class and 94 premium economy seats in this flight.
There are neither first class nor economy class seats in this flight.
Table of Contents
Toggle- An (Almost) Free Flight – Loyalty Points
- Pre-Flight Preparation
- The Flight
- Boarding
- In-Flight
- The Seat
- The Amenity Kit
- Entertainment
- Wifi
- Final Comments – Midlife Adventurer’s JFK – Singapore World’s Longest Business Class Flight Review
An (Almost) Free Flight – Loyalty Points
The flight was part of my three-week Asia tour. The flight plan was Toronto – New York – Singapore – Siem Reap (Cambodia) – Sihanoukville (Cambodia) – Phnom Penh (Cambodia) – Langkawi (Malaysia) – Kuala Lumpur – Abu Dhabi – Toronto.
So, the New York – Singapore flight will be a one-way ticket aboard the SQ23.
A business class trip on this route costs around CAD8,000 (USD 5,800.00).
But I wasn’t paying for this. Instead, I was using 100,000 Alaska Rewards Points plus just over CAD 87 (USD 63.50) in taxes. Interestingly, one will need just over 110,000 KrisFlyer Points to book the same ticket.
I had booked this ticket almost a year ahead and it was a good deal.
Pre-Flight Preparation
Singapore Airlines offers what it calls Book the Cook feature which allows the passenger to book their main meal online weeks earlier. Because of logical reasons of preparing this dish in a custom manner, the flights that are operated outside of Singapore have fewer options than those emanating from the airlines’ home base.
I had chosen two dishes:
- Chicken Rice. I had watched a video about its special status in Singapore so I chose it though later I was told chicken rice is native to Malaysia.
- Seafood Congee. I just like congee.
I also signed up for KrisFlyer to get free wifi.
The Flight
I live in Toronto, and the flight was from JFK in New York.
In my opinion, the vacation should start with the flight itself, not when the flight ends in the destination. And my experience has taught me that it is better to be fully relaxed with sound sleep to enjoy a business class flight.
So, I took the flight to New York the previous evening and had a good night’s sleep.
Still, my flight was at 10.30 pm, and I had to check out of the hotel mid-afternoon.
I reached the airport around 5 pm.
Singapore Airlines’ flight via Frankfurt leaves a little earlier in the evening and I had heard that they do not let the SQ23 passengers check in earlier because of the concern they will clog the lounges.
So, I just hang around.
And then when the time came, I walked to the check in counter.
Check in was a breezy affair. After the travel document and luggage check and the latter were tagged, I was ready to go.
They also pointed out to the two lounges available.
I wanted the one with alcohol and a shower but unfortunately the two lounges did not have the shower facility. A third, the Centurion Lounge had it.
I will write a separate blog about my short, lounge-hopping at the JFK.
Boarding
There was no surprise that the business class queue was quite long and we started boarding just past 10 pm.
Shortly after I settled into my seat (more on seat), I was offered a choice of orange juice, apple juice or water. I asked whether there was no champagne because I always loved to take a selfie of myself holding the champagne flute.
But no, that will be only after we have taken off. I have heard about airlines not serving alcohol on ground because that entails extra tax.
So, I went with water.
I was surprised that no hot/cold towel was provided.
The plane left the boarding gate just after 10.30 and was airborne ten minutes later.
In-Flight
Champagne
After takeoff, I was offered my alcoholic drinks and I got my champagne. The NV Piper-Heidsieck Essentiel Extra Brut is a smooth, bottle-aged champagne and was a good fit to start the journey.
Appetizer
They served us warm nuts and then came the appetizer. It was smoked trout and salad with zucchini, pickled red onions, roasted cauliflower, hazelnut with a dressing of lemon curd vinaigrette.
Suntory Chita
I also chose to have Suntory Chita Single Grain to go with my meals. Though some say it is better to enjoy it over ice, I prefer my whisky neat, or just with a few drops of water.
Main Meal
The chicken rice was tasty indeed and when I mentioned to the Flight Attendant N that this was one of the dishes I wanted to taste, she told there are also some hawker centres in Singapore itself where I can taste even more. I also talked about my desire to taste the many dishes Singapore is famous for. And she promised to give me a list of such places.
Menu
SQ23 has an extensive menu, ranging from fried cod and prawns to grilled chicken breast and Cantonese style barbequed pork – the dishes were a mixture of Asian and western.
So, later I had marinated shrimps with lemon aioli for appetizer and fish-seafood congee for mains.
The Seat
I will have spent almost the entire time of this long flightion the seat – eating, drinking, reading, watching and/or sleeping – so the composition of the seat is critical and Singapore Airlines hasn’t spared any effort to make it as good as it can get.
As expected, the seating is configured in a 1-2-1 setup and I had chosen a window seat.
The seat is 28 inches wide – and that’s more than two feet – and has enough leg room/pitch to stretch one’s legs. There are a number of reclining, bringing forward/backward options that can be operated via the seat adjustment panel.
It is a full-flat seat but the flight attendant had to come to set up the seat in a bed fashion.
Each compartment had also sufficient storage space besides the overhead bin.
And there were charging outlets as well.
The Amenity Kit
Singapore Airlines is going the way of many of its peers when it comes to amenity kits in business class. Gone are they days of bags full of fancy stuff – from moisturizers to pyjamas – on long haul business class flights.
When I got into my compartment, I saw slippers, socks and a sleeping masks
Later, the crew distributed the famous Penhaligan’s pouch consisting of hand lotion, facial mist and lip balm. There was also a zip-lock bag to put everything inside, in case you are going through a third-country transit.
The toilet had toothbrush, razor etc.
Entertainment
According to the airlines, its entertainment section features almost 2000 items, ranging from movies to music.
Within movies, there are new arrivals, the Hollywood movies as well as European, Asian, Bollywood and regional Indian movies. There are also TV shows and live tv.
Wifi
As mentioned, I had signed up for Kris Flyer to get my free wifi and once we were above 10,000 feet, the connection was activated and I signed in.
But, a little later, it stopped working.
I tried again and again but it didn’t work so I gave up. However, the flight attendant mentioned that the Internet does indeed gets interrupted when the aircraft passes through specific areas due to weather and other conditions, but when I mentioned it had not been working for a while, she showed me how to reset everything and it worked.
A few hours later – and I did spend 18 hours on that plane – it stopped working again, so I just gave up. I had some reading and video watching to do anyway.
And then it was time for landing.
The flight landed actually ahead of time, 18 hours later.
Just before landing, N. came with a list of dishes and the hawker centers that I should visit. I realized that she and her colleagues decided to put together the list.
So, thank you N and the team.
Final Comments – Midlife Adventurer’s JFK – Singapore World’s Longest Business Class Flight Review
As I had mentioned, this was a dream flight for me and I had well prepared.
The seating arrangement, along with the bed, ensured the flight was comfortable. And even though I landed early in the morning, I was ready to go for my breakfast and some sight seeing once I hit the hotel and had a good shower.
