No more amenity kits -- Singapore Airlines -- Business Class

One of the nice little comforts of business class travel is the amenity kit. Waiting on your seat in a sealed bag, this little gift provides you with toothpaste, eyeshades, lip balm, and other little in-flight necessities.

I use these bags to carry around my electronic toys. I suppose that if I were a true road-warrior on long-distance flights every week, I would quickly tire of these novelties, but I fly rarely enough that I still get a kick out of them. (Actually my dirty little secret is that I have a sad habit of collecting them, and I have even been known to buy these things on e-bay.)

Funnily enough, Singapore Airlines, the airline that seems to lead the way in making customers happy, seems to have abandoned the practice of handing out these little bags. Although, according to their website, they provide a "range of branded toiletries such as eau de cologne, aftershave, and moisturising lotion" in the lavatories, the individual bag handed to you at your seat seems to be a thing of the past.

I would have thought these days, with liquids being a cause for suspicion, these little goodie bags would be even more important to the traveler seeking comfort in the air!

This blog continues on http://www.louisandlouisa.com 

Singapore Airlines -- SQ 25 from New York to Frankfurt

Also posted on my new blog site -- www.louisandlouisa.com

Singapore Airlines runs several flights from the New York area to Singapore. There is a non-stop, SQ 21, which goes out of Newark on an Airbus (340-500), and also service from JFK on a Boeing 747-400, with a stop in Frankfurt. (Interestingly, both SQ21 and SQ22 run eastbound so the traveler on this route will go round the world without really stopping!)

All airline adventurers should at some stage of their lives experience the joys of flying one of the better Asian airlines (Cathay, Thai, Singapore, etc.). SQ 25 provides an opportunity for you to experience Singapore Airlines even if you are planning to spend your miles on a European trip.
Here is an example. I once wanted to travel from Washington to London using miles in my Mileage Plus account. The obvious way to travel would have been on any of United’s three non-stop flights from Dulles to Heathrow. As someone whose goal is to travel on as many airlines as possible, I decided to use United’s service from Dulles (IAD) to New York (JFK). I took SQ25 from JFK to Frankfurt (FRA), and then used Lufthansa to get from FRA to London (LHR). The price of this route in miles was the same as if I had taken the non-stop routing.

Next summer, I am going to use SQ25 again for a family trip to Athens. Using United miles my route will be Washington - New York - Frankfurt - Athens - Frankfurt - London - Washington. The last leg will be on United, but I could not avoid that if I wanted to spend a few nights in London on the return trip.

Mileage Plus seats are limited on SQ25 so the traveler really needs to make plans in advance. With careful planning, this is a good way of experiencing what is arguably the best airline in the world.