Flying across the Pacific Ocean is easy, a frequent flier once said. Eat, drink, read, sleep, watch a movie, take a walk and you have only eight hours to go.
And there’s nothing much you can do about it. Barring some new high-speed technology, flying to Asia means 10, 12 or 14 hours in the plane. And short of adding bowling alleys or tennis courts, the airlines can do only so much to make the trip much easier.
Trans-Pacific service, however, doesn’t have to be a cattle-car operation, as evidenced by Singapore Airlines. One flight and it’s not hard to see why it regularly winds up at the top of reader surveys in the travel press.
Business Traveler magazine has rated it tops for international travel for the last 11 years. It’s earned similar honors from Travel & Leisure and Conde Nast Traveler in 11 of its 12 annual surveys.
The International Airline Passengers Association agrees, citing its food and overall service.
Several international carriers offer such premium service, said Hans Krakauer, the organization’s senior vice president for government and industry affairs. But he finds Singapore at the top, and lists the cabin crew as a big reason why.
“They make passengers feel they are important by an attitude devoted to service,” he said. “They do not give the usual impression of doing passengers a favor by taking care of them. In short, flying with Singapore Airlines is usually a pleasure.”
The airline worked to establish premium service when it began operating in 1947, figuring it had to do something to compete with better known and better financed competitors such as Pan American World Airways and British Airways.
At one point the airline joined British Airways in Concorde supersonic service between London and Singapore, with half the plane painted in the Singapore’s colors, the other half British Airways’.
Singapore became the first to offer coach passengers the amenities available in premium seats, such as free drinks and headsets, telephones and meals designed by international chefs.
And in the last year, the airline has brought more first-class amenities into business class and more of business class into coach. There’s strolling champagne service throughout the plane and a movie screen at every seat.
In an average month last year, Singapore passengers in all classes went through one ton of caviar and 20,000 bottles of wine and champagne.
The competition is intense, said Honor Verrier, British Airways North American vice president for communications. As a rule, she said, new products last about five years.
“As soon as it’s launched, we start on the next generation,” she said. “You find that if you have a good product, the competition matches you and you always have to be ahead.”
British Airways turned up that competition for long-haul travel in 1996 when it added fully reclining beds in first class. And this year it announced $1 billion in fleet upgrades, including plans to add beds in business class on all long-haul 747s and 777s by the end of next year. They’re in place on its New York-London routes.
First class, of course, is the most accommodating and exclusive.
Singapore Airlines charges $7,919 for a first class round-trip between San Francisco and Singapore. Real life rarely measures up to flying first class on a Singapore 747-400.
It starts before you board. Coach passengers are separated from the premium classes halfway down the jetway, each group entering the plane through separate doors.
First-class offers an elite, clubby atmosphere in soft, amber lighting.
This is the lair of chief executives, pampered athletes, rock stars and well-heeled leisure travelers. Flight personnel call you by name and hand you a flute of fine champagne even before you sit down.
Hot towels follow quickly and then reappear frequently throughout the flight, particularly before mealtime. Everyone gets a little baby-blue bag filled with items that can help make the long journey easier: thick socks, a toothbrush and toothpaste, and an eye mask. The bathrooms have razors, toothbrushes and other goodies.
But only when you sit down can you tell how different first class is from business class and steerage. The seats are less airline seats than multimedia Barcalounger or a luxury escape pod as envisioned by Rolls-Royce. The seats are made from Connolly leather, the same as that found in a Rolls, and the trim is finished in bur wood, which is popular in Asia.
They’re not even called seats. They are, in the airline’s parlance, “sky suites.” They’re 23 inches wide, an inch or two wider than non-premium carriers but about the same as the best of them. At nap time, they turn into a fully reclined bed with a down comforter and a pop-up screen separating neighbors.
Each of these pods includes a drawer with writing materials and, at the foot, a 14-inch TV screen that summons movies on demand. The first-class seats are arrayed 1-2-1, and in some rows 1-1-1 in the front cabin of the wide-body plane.
The upper deck and second cabin house business class, or, as Singapore Airlines calls it, Raffles class. This is the habitat of the serious business travelers, the reason airlines install phones and power plugs for laptops. They use these long flights to get some work done. The San Francisco-Singapore round trip costs $4,307 in business class.
Business-class passengers are well tended. A seat is the standard 21 inches wide with a 52-inch pitch, the distance between a seat and the one in front. They don’t fully recline, reaching 142 degrees, but that gets you pretty close to horizontal. It’s a little like being in a dentist’s chair but without the drill. There’s plenty of leg room, and the seats are still spaced well apart, a 2-3-2 configuration.
The amenities are piled on for this crowd too. You are handed a beverage upon entering. You get elaborately printed menus–one for wine, the other for food–outlining dining for the whole flight.
Three meals were featured on the Raffles class menu on for a recent flight from San Francisco to Singapore, the first two on the leg to Hong Kong.
The first was supper served shortly after the midnight takeoff. It offered a shrimp and asparagus roll, fruit, cheeses, bread and a choice of three entrees catering to Asian and western tastes, wok-fried ono, duck and beef. A few hours later came breakfast with juice, fruit, cereal and a choice of three entrees: noodles with fish, grilled ham and baked crepe with egg.
Finally, from Hong Kong to Singapore, came brunch with a choice of omelets, grouper or Cantonese rice. You can order snacks any time from your seat, just like room service.
Coach is where to find the plane’s proletariat; families, vacationers, young couples with backpacks and businessfolk whose companies can’t afford premium.
The cost of a San Francisco-Singapore round-trip coach seat varies wildly, from $3,533 for full-fare to around $900 for the most restrictive discount, which doesn’t offer frequent-flier miles.
Service is a step above the usual coach fare.
Hot towels are passed out while still on the ground and then reappear throughout the flight just as frequently as in the luxury classes.
Champagne and beer come around for free, as do the little blue bags with the socks and sleep aids, and the bathrooms have the same toiletries.
The menu’s not as fancy but there are just as many meals designed by the same chefs and just as many selections.
Crossing the Pacific means three full meals, usually with Japanese, American, Indonesian or Indian dishes.
Coach seats are 17 inches wide, standard for long-haul carriers, with a 34-inch pitch, about as good as it gets in coach. The seat reclines only 24 degrees, just enough to make you think you can sleep without getting a stiff neck.
The seats are arrayed 10 across in a 3-4-3 configuration, better suited for movie theaters than airliners.
Getting up for a stroll, often a necessity, can be a nuisance when the flights are jammed, which is most of the time.
All three classes are hooked into a new fiber-optic entertainment system installed at an average cost of $27,500 per premium-class seat.
It provides each first- and business-class passenger with a choice of 25 movies, 50 shorter films or TV shows and 50 audio CDs.
The system allows passengers, except those in coach, to call up movies when they want.
“If you get halfway through the movie and want to have your dinner, you can hit pause and return to the movie,” said James Boyd, airline spokesman. “It puts control back in the hands of the passengers.”
Technological advances eventually will give coach passengers the same control, Boyd added.
For now, they have to make do with 25 video channels on individual monitors.
The movie selection reflects the mix of tastes and cultures found on a trans-Pacific flight.
There were the predictable American blockbusters such as the latest from James Bond and Bruce Willis, but also films from India, France and Hong Kong that don’t usually find their way to U.S. theaters.
With plenty of time to kill, the chance for browsing is like jumping from one theater to another at a multicultural multiplex.
There are unexpected treats, like 1968’s “The Lion in Winter” and “Taxi,” a delightful French farce. There are also cartoons and video games for kids. Within two years, the airline expects to quadruple the film and CD capacity and may provide Internet and e-mail access.
Singapore Airlines, Boyd said, is trying to switch control to the passenger.
“The human animal reacts negatively to being so controlled,” he said. “If we can provide the illusion of control, psychologically it creates a better flight experience.”
PLANE FACTS
According to Singapore Airlines, the Asian carrier, in operation since 1947, serves 90 cities in 40 countries with a fleet of 92 planes:
– 44 Boeing 747-400, seating 380-386 passengers each
– 15 Airbus 340-300E, seating 265 passengers each
– 15 Airbus 310-300, seating 183 passengers each
– 13 Boeing 777-200, seating 294-323 passengers each
– 5 Boeing 777-300, seating 332 passengers each
