I decided to write this next few reviews as a series so it seems abit more coherent.

So the background of this trip is that I knew I had a work trip to Carmel, California. Nearest flight stop will be San Francisco (SFO).

Flight wise, we were all booked on Singapore Airlines Premium Economy due to the long fight hours. I was honestly quite excited about trying PE on SQ!

For accommodation, we were going to be holed up at Carmel Valley Ranch, a charming ranch property under Hyatt. The property is a 2-hour drive from SFO.

Being a newbie to the city, I decided to extend my trip for 4nights due to take advantage of CP’s 4NF. After spending too much braincells, the decision was Marriott Marquis as it was recently renovated and right next to the metro and amidst the city action.

For my return flight, since I would be flying without colleagues and booked via Hong Kong making the total journey 20hours, I decided to burn 48,000 miles to upgrade myself to Business. This means I would also get the chance to try the much lauded United Polaris Lounge in SFO, then the SilverKris Lounge in Hong Kong Airport.

So my final itenary looked like this:

• Singapore Airlines SQ34 Singapore to San Francisco A350-900 – Premium Economy
• Carmel Valley Ranch
• San Francisco Marriott Marquis
• United Polaris Lounge, San Francisco International Airport
• Singapore Airlines SQ1 San Francisco to Hong Kong 777-300ER – Business
• SilverKris Lounge, Hong Kong International Airport
• Singapore Airlines SQ1 Hong Kong to Singapore 777-300ER – Business
• The Haven, Changi Airport Terminal 3

Here we go!

First up:

• Flight: SQ34
• Flight Time: 14hours 30mins
• Singapore (SIN) to San Francisco (SFO)
• Depart: 15:20
• Arrive: 13:50
• Cabin Class: Premium Economy (T)
• Aircraft Type: A350-900ULR
• Seat: 36G

I was half excited about this flight as its my first time trying Premium Economy on SQ but at the same time, 14 hours on a non-flat direct flight does not sound like a lot of fun. But I was also flying with colleagues so I was consoled by the fact that I have options to pass time to pass even if I don’t manage a lot of sleep.

This was also a URL aircraft – for ultra long-haul flights which can fly a max of 20hours non-stop (nope, I don’t know what the abbreviation stands for as well) with a 2-cabin configuration so the aircraft only had Premium Economy and Business.

Boarding began at around 2:30pm but the flight was later slightly delayed around 15mins. No biggie.

The Premium Economy was configured in a 2-4-2 style. 36G was my choice of seat, which was an aisle seat of the middle section in the middle of the cabin. This is always an ideal spot for me as I can get to the toilet easily without being near it, plus there is always a chance that the pax in the middle goes out the other way to use the toilets without coming your side.

At first look, the seat did look more spacious and I particularly liked the elegant color combi of grey and orange. The recline buttons for the seat and leg rest were below the right arm rest while the left counterpart contained the TV remote.

To the left of the seat body was where your noise cancelling earphones can be plugged in, as well as a USB port for charging your devices.

 

Above that was your individual reading light:

 

At 1.6m, there was comfortable legroom and you’d get varying degrees of it depending on how you use the leg rests, both the chair’s and the one below the seat in front.

The noise cancelling earphones were SIA branded and does what it’s supposed to do:

About 3 hours into the flight, dinner was served. The inflight menu looks rather nice and a big selection of bites

But since Premium Economy offers the Book The Cook service, I picked the rosemary beef brisket. It was delicious!

I won’t review so much about the IFE as much has been said about it but this time round, the movie selection was abit lacklustre I feel. Either that or I have watched a lot of what was on there. I ended up watching some unmemorable one and Lion King 2019. I did like it that the TV was touchscreen which makes for easy navigation from the seat.

About 2.5 hours prior to landing, we were served ‘lunch’ in SF time. Again, the in-flight menu looked fine but I made the unfortunate decision to BTC the roasted cauliflower steak  with tahini garlic sauce. It was disgustingly bland and soggy. The crappy pesto sauce did not help.

In between meals, if you get hungry, you get to pick from the ‘delectables’ menu. But most are carbs so I asked for mixed nuts (and champagne!) twice in between meal service.

We landed slightly after time and immigration took about 1.5 hours as most of us didn’t not have Global Entry nor APEC.

In summary,

a smooth flight which did not turn out to be as torturous as I had imagined in my head. The seat was comfortable with a reasonable amount of recline for a long haul. The food quality can be improved though.