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Old 10-09-2018, 02:00 PM
 
Location: Sunshine state
2,539 posts, read 3,719,851 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NightBazaar View Post
Economy and coach are the same thing.
Correct, except the OP said it's coach and prem (premium) economy, and they're not the same.

Prem economy has seats similar to the old business class seats with the folded foot rest. A little bit more comfortable than coach, but not much better for long distance as you still can't stretch your legs much.
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Old 10-09-2018, 02:01 PM
 
5,051 posts, read 3,559,450 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kcmo View Post
I'm planning a trip next summer to Singapore. We plan to spend about a week in Singapore with maybe a quick trip up to Kuala Lumpur.

I'm trying to figure out if it would be best to just fly non stop from NYC or do a stopover and break the trip up. The only nonstops to Singapore from the US are from NYC and LA/SF. Since we live in the DC area, we could take a train up to Newark airport.

But 19 hours for a single flight is a long flight. The longest I have flown was from Baltimore to London and from San Diego to Honolulu. This would be over twice as long as those flights!

What do you think? Would it be better to just get the flight over with or stopover?

I'm thinking we could stopover in Frankfurt or something but would like to hear from others that have made similar trips.

Thanks!



Personally I would not fly non-stop - especially if you are not flying Business Class - the flight is simply too long and is usually priced at a premium over 1 stop routes.


I have done this many times and found the Tokyo and Korea routes to be the most painless. You can often find similar, perhaps cheaper through the UAE and although those airlines have nice service and good equipment I find them worse than the Asian carriers. In addition there are lots of dining/walking options in Seoul and Tokyo (try both Narita and Haneda).
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Old 10-09-2018, 04:55 PM
 
14,612 posts, read 17,391,856 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Vacanegro View Post
Personally I would not fly non-stop - especially if you are not flying Business Class - the flight is simply too long and is usually priced at a premium over 1 stop routes.
Normally that is true, but SQ has a lot riding on this new route from EWR to SIN. As such they do not have any plain old coach seats, only premium economy. They are also priced relatively well compared to the one stop routes as SQ wants this route to be a success.

But none of this makes any sense unless the nearest big airport is EWR. It would be insane to drive a few hundred miles just to get on this flight. You are much better off flying to London and walking around .
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Old 10-09-2018, 06:24 PM
 
Location: Taipei
7,776 posts, read 10,105,789 times
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IST (Istanbul) seems like it offers the most even split (~10 hrs on both legs) along with a very cool city for a stopover.

As others have said, London, Dubai, Abu Dhabi are all viable. And since you asked, I personally have no qualms about flying nonstop. If it's a decent international carrier then even better! If you have Chase points and can claim first class award space on Singapore Airlines then that would be ideal...but as I understand it it's very hard to get the award ahead of time and usually space comes available last minute, which is not conducive to planning such a long trip. So I'd stick to your WAS airports and taking a stopover.
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Old 10-09-2018, 07:02 PM
 
Location: Honolulu
1,708 posts, read 1,136,089 times
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Just an advice to OP: Don't travel to Singapore in summer. It is excruciatingly hot.

If you fly in the shoulder season, I recommend the 19-hour direct flight in lieu of a 2-hour stopover. Usually for such long haul flight, the seats are not all taken. Choose a seat at the rear of the cabin. Most likely the section of the row, 3 or 4 seats, were occupied only by you. You can lie down to take a long sleep after taking off.
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Old 10-09-2018, 08:12 PM
 
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Munich is the best stop I have experienced in Europe, on the way to SEA. London was the worst, and Frankfurt was boring as can be. From IAD, you might find PEK to be the least flight time.
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Old 10-09-2018, 10:03 PM
 
14,612 posts, read 17,391,856 times
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First consideration must be given to home airport (BWI) which has very limited international flights. The only airport from BWI that you can use for a stop over to Singapore is London Heathrow (as I mentioned in an earlier post)
  • Air Canada Express Montréal–Trudeau, Toronto–Pearson
  • Condor Seasonal: Frankfurt
  • WOW air Reykjavík–Keflavík
  • British Airways London–Heathrow

Driving 3 hours to EWR seems like an option only if you want bragging rights as to having taken the longest nonstop commercial flight in the world

There are more options for stopover airports from IAD (Washington Dulles) which is an hour away from BWI.Istanbul using Turkish Airlines provides the halfway point (as mentioned earlier). Turkish Airlines at less than $1000 may be your cheapest option.
10:05 duration 22:55 Washington DC (IAD) 17:00 Istanbul (IST) Airbus A330-300 Wide-body
10:35 duration 01:55 Istanbul (IST) 17:30 Singapore (SIN) Boeing 777-300ER Wide-body
If you are going to spend 33 hours in the city it doesn't matter, but if you are going straight through it is a 9 hour layover
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Old 10-09-2018, 10:53 PM
 
Location: Washington, DC area
11,108 posts, read 23,765,829 times
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Wow, thanks for all the info. PacoMartin you must be some world traveler. You are very helpful.

We were just in London in July for a week and don't really have a lot of interest in visiting again this soon. We also visited the Netherlands and France this past summer. So that kind of eliminates being able to fly from BWI with a direct international flight since the British Airways flight to London is all they have. (other than Iceland flights).

Your Istanbul stopover sounds like a great idea. What do you mean by the 33 hours vs the 9 hour layover?
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Old 10-09-2018, 10:55 PM
 
Location: Washington, DC area
11,108 posts, read 23,765,829 times
Reputation: 6437
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vacanegro View Post
Personally I would not fly non-stop - especially if you are not flying Business Class - the flight is simply too long and is usually priced at a premium over 1 stop routes.


I have done this many times and found the Tokyo and Korea routes to be the most painless. You can often find similar, perhaps cheaper through the UAE and although those airlines have nice service and good equipment I find them worse than the Asian carriers. In addition there are lots of dining/walking options in Seoul and Tokyo (try both Narita and Haneda).
Which would be the easiest to just spend a day in the city for a stopover? Tokyo, Korea or Istanbul?
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Old 10-09-2018, 10:59 PM
 
Location: Washington, DC area
11,108 posts, read 23,765,829 times
Reputation: 6437
Quote:
Originally Posted by graceC View Post
Yeah, IAD is the main international hub for our area so you won't find many long distance flights from BWI.

In that case, I highly recommend you stop in Europe because it's only ~7 hours from IAD, and from there it's only ~12 hours to SIN. That seems to be the best route because it's not too long a flight on either leg. You will also 'gently' let your body prepare for jetlag since you stagger the distance, especially if you're going to stop for at least a day.

When we flew the IAD - London - SIN route, and stopped in London for a couple of days, we went out and about every day in London and arrived in SIN much better prepared for the jetlag.

Then last year, we did the IAD - Frankfurt - SIN, without stopping in Frankfurt other than to catch the connecting flight to SIN. We arrived in SIN like a pair of zombies and suffered jetlag for almost a week (woke up late in the day, couldn't sleep at night until at least 3am SIN time), horrible!! I think it's also because we're getting older so our bodies can no longer adjust to jetlag as fast as we used to. Next time we fly to Southeast Asia, we will make sure to stop for a couple of days in Europe before continuing on our journey. We definitely learned our lesson.
The problem with stopping for more than a day is it would start it really extend the length (and cost) of the trip. I'm starting to wonder if it's worth the all the hassle for a week in Singapore.
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