My next trip is coming up very soon! We originally booked tickets for this close to a year ago, so I wanted to post a quick reminder and provide some details of our itinerary, which had been finalized at this point.

1. The itinerary: Chiang Mai and Bangkok
2. What we booked: the cheapest ‘premium’ flight to Southeast Asia
   1. The key to this trick: the plane has no economy cabin
   2. Singapore Airlines provides a comfortable premium economy seat and amenities
3. Summary

The itinerary: Chiang Mai and Bangkok

This trip is centered around visitng my husband’s family and friends in Bangkok, but we will venture a little further than that. Once we arrive, we will almost immediately fly to Chiang Mai. We booked tickets with Thai Airways in their cheapest fare, which amazingly still gives you free seat selection and 40kg worth of checked luggage on this domestic flight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and back (clearly we’re not in the US anymore!).

In Chiang Mai we have a fun itinerary planned:

• We will spend the first night outside of the city, at the Chiang Mai Elephant Friends elephant sanctuary in the mountains north of Doi Inthanon national Park. We will be seeing these gentle giants up close, being able to wash and interact with them, and give them breakfast the next day.

• We are then picked up by a private driver and photographer, whom we hired to help us plan the rest of our time in Chiang Mai. Together we planned an itinerary that brings us from waterfalls to mountains to temples, allowing us to see all the highlights of the city and then some. One special thing we have planned, though a little further away, is a visit to the Araksa tea garden, where we will be picking tea leaves, get educated on the various teas grown, and have a tasting.
• After the Chiang Mai Elephant Friends, we will be staying in the city, at the Kantari Hills Chiang Mai hotel. This should be a lovely time, with tastefully designed accommodations and good service.

After Chiang Mai we will head back to Bangkok. Most of that time we will stay with my husband’s family, but we have also planned to stay two nights in the center of Bangkok, at the Hilton Sukhumvit Bangkok. This is courtesy if 80.000 Hilton Honors points that my husband had received as a welcome bonus many years ago, but that we never got to use for anything. The truth is that this hotel is not super expensive, so the points don’t give you a particularly good deal – basically it’s cash equivalent.

What we booked: the cheapest ‘premium’ flight to Southeast Asia

So, how do we fly to Thailand? This may come as a surprise, but we didn’t use points to buy business class tickets this time around! The reason for that, is that there is a fairly cheap way to fly to Southeast Asia in premium economy. Sure, it’s not the lie flat seats you’ll get in business class, but I believe this will still be a very comfortable flight regardless, and for a much lower price than you’d otherwise are likely to get with other airlines. I’m talking of course about Singapore Airlines’ premium economy on their direct flight from New York-JFK to Singapore.

We ended up spending about $1400 per person on the return flight, departing New York-JFK and flying to Bangkok BKK with a 3-hour layover in Singapore (SIN). This should be doubly exciting: it’ll be my first time flying Singapore Airlines premium economy, as well as my first time transiting at Singapore’ Changi International Airport, which has won ‘best airport in the world’ year after year! Very excited to finally see this airport for myself!

The key to this trick: the plane has no economy cabin

How come premium economy is so cheap on the direct flight from JFK to SIN? It has to do with the plane serving this route is in an ‘ultra premium’ configuration. Instead of the usual 3-class (or 4-class, if first class is offered) configuration, economy is lacking and both the business and premium economy cabins are about twice as large as they would normally be, as you can see on the below seatmap. This configuration is specific to Singapore Airlines’ A350-900ULR (which stands for ‘ultra long range’), which are deployed on these ultra-long flights (JFK-SIN is about 19 hours)

The lack of an economy cabin takes out the cheapest fare class that would normally be offered on Singapore Airlines, which brings down the price of premium economy. Interestingly, if you look at Singapore Airlines’ 777-operated flight (which feature economy) that make a stop in Frankfurt FRA on their way from SIN to JFK, you’ll see the usual price: premium economy on those flights can easily close in on the $2000 mark for a return flight. This is also about standard for Asian carriers on flights from the US to (south)east Asia.

Note: it’s not just the JFK-SIN-BKK route that offers these lower prices! I have seen this $1300-1500 price range to other destinations in southeast Asia, including destinations in Malaysia and Vietnam for example. If you want to fly a little further, e.g. Hong Kong, unfortunately prices start to become more similar to the competition, sio there’s not much of an advantage there.

Singapore Airlines provides a comfortable premium economy seat and amenities

I’m very excited to try this product out for myself, but based on the pictures we’re in for a comfortable ride. I’m not going to expect the same level of comfort as in Singapore Airlines business class, but I do expect the same friendliness and courtesy. That’s what Singapore Airlines is known for ultimately.

The seat looks like a fairly standard premium economy seat. In the A350, the seating is in a 2-4-2 layout. My husband and I got a window seat so we can sit together. All seats include a footrest that comes out when reclining for additional comfort. The entertainment screen is a nice 13.3″, and should have the same good selection of entertainment options as I reviewed before.

Another nice perks in premium economy over economy is that you do get a small amenity kit, see below. Singapore Airlines’ kit includes slippers, an eye mask and lip balm, so those are useful amenities, especially on such a long flight. Otherwise I’m interested to see what the food is like in premium economy. Supposedly the ‘dining experience’ is elevated from economy, with larger portions and ‘book the cook’ allowing you to pre-select your meals at least 24 hours in advance.

Once back from the trip, I’ll post a review and will include a comparison to Singapore Airlines’ business class experience.

Summary

Soon my husband and I embark on our next trip: a trip to visit my husband’s family in Thailand. We will be flying in Singapore Airlines’ premium economy cabin, which we got for a good price hanks to the premium-heavy layout of the plane that flies the direct JFK-SIN route. I’m excited to try Singapore Airlines in premium economy, as well as transferring at Singapore’s world-renowned Changi Intl Airport (SIN). Once in Thailand, we will visit Bangkok and Chiang Mai. I’m looking forward to seeing the sights both in and outside the city, see the family and friends, and above all: eat a lot of amazing food!