Sawasdee Serenity: Hello from Thailand!

Hello from Thailand! It’s been about a week since we flew Singapore Airlines Premium Economy from New York-JFK to Bangkok via Singapore (which I announced a while ago and then re-introduced about a week or two ago). In that week or so we spent most of our time in Chiang Mai, flying Thai Airways from Suvarnabhumi (BKK) to Chiang Mai Intl Airport (CNX). I thought I’d give a quick update on the trip so far, given that we ended up visiting a bunch of lounges that I’ll be reviewing, besides the flight with Singapore Airlines.

A quick recap

What was the plan again? To re-iterate from my post a week or two ago, we flew Singapore Airlines from New York-JFK to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi (BKK) via Singapore Changi (SIN). The flight from JFK to SIN is currently the longest flight in the world at ~19 hours. To accomadate this length of flight, Singapore Airlines flies an all-premium A350-900ULR, which lacks economy class. Thus, the ‘lowest’ class is premium economy, and the real kicker is that the price for this flight ends up somewhere between economy and premium economy. This is ultimately why we booked this flight over others: we had the opportunity to fly premium economy at about $1450 per person.

Upon arrival we spent the night with my husband’s family in Bangkok, then the next day we flew to Chiang Mai for a few days. We had a fantastic time there, first at an elephant sanctuary where we got to walk with elephants, wash them, and… get multiple elephant kisses…

Waking up the next morning at the elephant sanctuary we were treated to the lovely views of the mountains, and had a hearty Thai breakfast. We then headed to the city for the remaining few days and got to go to the highest peak of Thailand (Doi Inthanon), see some fantastically beautiful temples (e.g. Wat Pha Lat), and have great food.

We then flew back with Thai Airways to Bangkok, and will spend the remaining time there, between Joe’s family home and several hotels, to get to see and experience different parts of the city.

*Approaching Bangkok Suvarnabhumi BKK on the way back from Chiang Mai.*

Quick look: Singapore Airlines Premium Economy

I was quite excited about this flight, because there were going to be a number of firsts: I’d never flown in premium economy before and I’d never transited through Singapore before. Besides, after the fantastic business class flight with Singapore Airlines earlier this year, I was excited to fly with them again. So how was it?

In short: this is perhaps one of those few situations where ‘boring’ is a good thing. With that I mean that overall it was a perfectly pleasant flight, but due to its length, you get to a point where the flight simply gets boring. It’s 19 hours after all.

Without going into too much detail (I’ll post a full review after I return home), the seat is comfortable, and comes with a variety of features that put it a step above economy. Of course the seat is a little wider than in economy and has a fixed armrest, which also hold a foldable tray table. There are buttons to control a generous recline, and a leg support, which I felt was not very useful, same with the footpad. Both seemed configured for people shorter than me. The entertainment system had a responsive, crisp and bright touch screen, and I enjoyed the medeley of Western and Asian content.

Singapore Airlines is not proactive with giving out amenity kits, but you are entitled to one in Premium Economy, though it is basic and comes in a rather sad-looking paper pouch. The amenities themselves however are welcome and include, slippers, an eye mask and lip balm.

On this flight we were served dinner, breakfast and a refreshment before landing. Singapore has the ‘Book the Cook’ feature, where you get pre-select your meals, and my husband and I gladly made use of this on this flight. We selected the beef stew, which was rich in flavor and wonderfully soft.

Then, after having slept for a surprisingly long 7 hours, breakfast was served. Here, my husband and I had both selected the congee. While he maintains that the congee was just fine, I thought it was quite tasty.

The rest of the flight I mostly spent watching movies. There are a few snack baskets in the back, and every time I went there to grab some chips or something else, the flight attendants were more than happy to suggest additional things to try. I never left with less than two items, even if I came for only one thing.

Finally, the refresher was a pizza margherita, which was quite tasty

And so the flight came to a close. We got a spectacular view of the nighttime Singapore skyline upon approach and landing. It got a little boring around the 16th hour, which just shows that overall the flight was perfectly nice and pleasant. The flight attendants generally provided very good and friendly service. I didn’t quite like some points of the service flow, but I’ll get to that in the full review.

The lounges we visited so far

I had an inkling that we would be using our Priority Pass membership, courtesy of the Citibank Strata Elite credit card, to enter lounges at every departure or transit point in our trip, and that is exactly what happened. In New York-JFK we got to visit the Chase Sapphire Lounge despite a 1-hour wait (arriving early does have its benefits!), but since I reviewed that lounge recently, I won’t do so again now. Then, we also visited lounges in Singapore Changi, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi, and Chiang Mai, for which I’ll provide quick looks.

SATS Premier Lounge at Singapore Changi SIN

There are quite a few priority pass lounges at Singapore Changi, but we wanted to be fairly close to our departure gate, which would be in Terminal 2. To that end, we visited the SATS Premier Lounge.

The SATS Premier Lounge is not particularly big, but I liked the design. The setup is pleasing and even though all the plants are fake, they give some color. The seating was comfortable through a little rundown. There was also a VIP area but that didn’t seem to have any extra amenity besides that it was empty.

The back half of the lounge was all about dining, with a substantial buffet with hot and cold options. The hot options were the most interesting, and included a mix of Western and Asian options. I particularly liked the Singapore-style signature Laksa curry.

Finally, the restrooms and showers looked clean, though the shower stalls did seem a little small. The lounge was also quite busy, but we were warned of this by the staff upon entry. Overall, this was a fine lounge to have sit down and have some food, and at least after our arrival the lounge did seem to empty a little bit.

The Corral Executive Lounge at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi BKK

For our trip to Chiang Mai, we departed from the domestic part of Bangkok Suvarnabhumi, BKK. The airport doesn’t have a dedicated domestic terminal, rather it’s a different floor of the terminal: domestic departures are on the second floor, while international is all on the upper floors. We arrived around 5:30am for our flight at 7:25am, and decided to go the Corral Executive Lounge, as it had more and better reviews compared to the alternative: the Miracle Lounge.

The lounge is fairly small, with really just one large, square area that offers a view different kinds of seating. There are restaurant-style tables arranged for 2 or 4 people, there is also a more lounge-like seating with loer coffee tables, and there are some communal tables and other 2-person seating toward the edges of the space. And yes, the plants are all plastic.

In terms of food, there is a buffet along one edge of the lounge with hot and cold options. For the most part these seemed rather Western and not particularly special, though there was curried chicken and rice dish that was very tasty. There was also a selection of Thai desserts and hot and cold drinks. It was nice that there was a legit bar where you could order cocktails.

Note that the lounge doesn’t have dedicated restrooms: you’ll need to exit the lounge and use the restrooms in the terminal.

Thai Airways Royal Orchid Lounge in Chiang Mai Intl Airport CNX

This was a bit iof a surprise to me. I hadn’t looked in advance what lounges accepted Priority Pass members to enter. Once we cleared security in the domestic terminal, we took a left and bumped into the Thai Airways Royal Orchid Lounge, and lo and behold it accepted Priority Pass members. I was interested to enter, because I was curious what the Thai flag carrier would offer its business class passengers, even though Chiang Mai only has a smaller airport and I imagine the Thai Airways lounge here is probably not the best in the network.

Like the other lounges we’d visited so far on this trip, this one was again quite small. Fortunately, it wasn’t too busy throughout the time that we were there. I don’t think it ever got more than 50% full, and a significant number of the guests seemed to be tourists. As you can see, there is a setaing space by the reception desk, and a bigger, square space just beyond that.

The buffet was a little odd with a mixture of all sorts of things, and it seemed a little haphazard in its choices and display. The only real hot food item was an omelet, though there were also some pork buns (which were delicious!). Then there was some bread and cold cuts, and some Thai desserts, which were also tasty.

The restrooms were few, with only a single toilet for women and a toilet and urinal for men. It’s fortunate the lounge was never really busy, or I could easily have seen a line forming for the restrooms.

What’s still to come…

I think you should be able to expect at least one more lounge visit in this trip, in the international section of Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport. We will likely visit the Miracle lounge, of which I’ve heard good things, so I’m curious to see what that’s all about. Then, it’s quite possible we will visit another lounge in Singapore. Though if I’m honest, I’m partial to just roaming around the airport as well. I like exploring airports I’ve never been too, and since our layover is ‘only’ 3 hours, I’d be fine spending that time roaming shops, gardens and other Changi amenities.

Summary

In this post I’ve given a very quick look at our flight in Singapore Airlines Premium Economy, and the lounges we’ve been able to visit so far. The Singapore Airlines flight was pleasant, and the Premium Economy experience is clearly a step up from economy. The bigger seat and good food were a pleasure, and made the 19-hour flight seem shorter than it was (though my husband disagrees with me on that!). The lounges we visited were all quite small, though nice with some tasty food. Priority Pass lounges tend to be higher quality in Asia, so it’s usually a pleasure to visit them. Stay tuned for full reviews, once I’m back home!