Review: Singapore Airlines First Class Seoul Incheon to San Francisco

That immigration queue is disgraceful. The inherent stress of going through immigration is bad enough, adding a couple of hours wait before hand is miserable.

sooooo.... whose this lady friend you were traveling with???? 😉

Creepy.

There are countries that treat foreigners and their own citizens a lot worse than we do. But of course you never talk about that on your travels.

I don't feel bad as i had to wait about an hour at customs in Japan on the foreigners side while the citizen/resident line was so much shorter. It happens.

I see that Janesis has a good influence on you: no more diet coke with your champagne!

The line is incredible... this shoudnt happen... ever... not in Japan, not in EU and not in the States...

Love those northern approaches to SFO, right over the city. Truly spectacular. But, erm, that picture is of the Bay Bridge, not the Golden Gate.

(On a flight to southern CA once on a prop plane, we took off towards the north and flew around the city, over the Golden Gate and down the ocean side of the peninsula, on a beautiful clear day - at fairly low altitude because it wasn't a jet. One of the most spectacular views I've ever experienced on a plane. I'd trade it for any amount of Diet Coke and Krug.)

Who cares?? Isn't this like the 10th time you've been to Singapore? You need another "hobby"..lol

"Jumping the Shark"...it's coming. Better plan the exit maneuver soon. Or just spend some more of the fam's cash

A bit jealous. When I flew SQ F, I didn't get a card, teddy bear or any of that. Great flight though 🙂

Ben,

nothing new I am afraid, the last time I visited the states [1994] I spent two hours in the queue.

you do know she is sucking up to you because of your blog right?

Janesis is AMAZING!!! By the way, on your friend's display, what was that cat-like thing inside the Menagerie cup? I couldn't tell whether it was edible or some sort of toy?

@ bill -- You do know she did this on our first flight together before she knew I blogged, right?

@ Joey -- It was some chocolate mousse she picked up in Seoul during her layover. 🙂

Well concerning your comment on immigration queue I am sometimes wondering why we are treating us citizens and permanent resident this way in Dallas. I tend to go through Dallas only in the mid to late afternoon and immigration queue are always lighter for foreigners than for locals .... in the mean time thanks to global entry it can be a breeze ....

You saw 20% of the T'way fleet.

Janesis must have some mad ninja skills if she can place all those items, and lined up perfectly, while you and your friend are sleeping right under her when she does 😉

Awesome ! A fantastic trip report as usual. Just saw that you will be at the TravelMagic event in Brussels ! Excited to meet you there Ben.

@ Lucky -- are those teddy bears available for purchase or something you can request from a steward(ess)? Might ask my mom to pick one up on her flight back as a souvenir if they aren't very expensive.

@ Ivan Y -- That's a great question, let me find out. I believe they're sometimes given to kids onboard, though don't believe they're sold. I'll double check, though.

Thanks, Lucky! My mom loves bears so this would be a cool token. Didn't luck out with her birthday -- it was in August, right in the middle between her outbound (July) and return (September).

I am sure other crews are perform well, hope you are not relating just Janesis=SQ ...=p

I went through SFO a lot and yes it's usually horribe to wait in the line.

It's more interesting to land at 28L though? I guess? ...

Did Janesis do this display for the other 4 passengers too?

Is it just me or are the spirits kind of weak? I mean, Jack Daniels? 12 Yr Macallan? Not a fan of JW Blue...something like 18 Yr Glenlivit or Macallan or Oban would be more up to par on SQ F.

@lucky - Thanks for the great review. I took this exact flight in May and had a great experience; I didn't want to get off the plane! Question for you - I LOVE the Ginger Lemon tea they serve on board and wanted to get the brand/recipe. Do you know what is is or who I could contact to find out? Thanks!

@ Emily -- All tea on Singapore is done by TWG Tea Company. So you should be able to buy it at one of their locations.

Hi Ben,

Given you have experienced many airlines over quite a few years now & taking everything into account, what do you feel is your top 5 (in order) airlines to fly first class with?

P.S. As an Aussie, I'm hoping Qantas is up there 🙂

@ John -- I'm actually working on a post covering just that, so stay tuned. Generally I think it's tough to beat Singapore, Cathay, Emirates, Qantas, Etihad, Asiana, and ANA, though. More to follow. 🙂

@ Lucky - Thanks mate, looking forward to the read!

@ Lucky - I told my mom about the bears and she scored a set (boy & girl) on 9/22 DME-IAH flight. They are pretty small but so damn adorable! Thank you for pointing them out as apparently they aren't widely-known: an SQ lady who helped my mom in IAH (F/J bags were offloaded after Y) didn't know about them. I fear these bears might become like a LH ducks for my mom although for selfless reasons - she wants to give them to SQ ground grew in IAH & DME who she's found to be really, really good 🙂

On a less pleasant side, general level/speed/attentiveness of service in F on the flight was so-so. Perhaps, it was because there were only three crew members for six people in F on this flight (as opposed to six crew for four people in F on IAH-DME outbound). Not only was food service late and slow, but mom felt a bit put to change out of her PJs (in a polite SQ way) but - oh, the horror! - mom said she'd had to ask for drink refills and little things like that which, based on what you report, is a cardinal sin for an SQ crew member, lol

We have to give the crew a break because it sounds like they were understaffed but I guess this just proves your findings that for SQ service level can vary.

P.S. On both flights, they were out of white peach parfait ( https://onemileatatime.com/bali-and-berchtesgaden-singapore-airlines-first-class-houston-to-moscow/) so mom was pretty bummed. But she very much liked the (or, as she refers to them, as mini-kabobs).

Anyway, sorry for the long comment but I just wanted to convey our appreciation for your reports and, if anyone's wondering about their usefulness, they really are a great tool, especially for those of us who don't travel as much and would like to maximize their experience 🙂

Very nice pictures and detailed experience for the majority of us who never get to travel overseas first-class.
Thanks.