The Longest Flight in the World

After having to wait for many years, mostly due to COVID, we were finally able to take our second trip to Asia, visiting North Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia.

As the trip has been planned for many years, we had a good idea on how to maximize our rewards points and were able to book two round-trip tickets in business class with Singapore Airlines. The non-stop flights leaving from JFK and Newark to Singapore are now considered the longest in the world with around 9,500 miles and a duration of around 19 hours.

Our tickets included the following itinerary:

The outbound took us from Newark to Bangkok with a night stopover in Singapore. The return took us from Phnom Penh to Singapore to Frankfurt to JFK. These were totally different experiences, but both enjoyable as we were able to relax and sleep in seats that converted into fully flat beds.

As our departure from Newark was in the morning, we spent the previous night at the Marriott Newark Airport Hotel. When you book, it makes you believe that the hotel is inside the airport, as it is in many cities, but it is not. It is within walking distance, but everybody advised us to take the Marriott shuttle as the walk is quite dangerous due to heavy traffic. The Concierge Lounge did not have much to offer, so we had dinner at the Aviation Grill, which is your usual airport hotel restaurant.

Checking in the next morning at the Singapore Airlines desk was flawless. We even had time to stop by the Star Alliance lounge before boarding the flight. A great perk with Singapore Airlines is that most of the time they have a dedicated ramp for first-class and business passengers.

The size of the seats is very impressive. The only drawback is that the structure of the seats makes it a little bit challenging to have a conversation with the passenger seated next to you in the central console. In some countries, you will be offered a glass of Piper-Heidsieck Champagne before you even sit. In others, you will have to wait until after take-off because of regulations.

The in-flight food was excellent. Singapore Airlines has a program called “Book the Cook” that lets you pre-order gourmet meals from an extensive menu in case you do not like the regular dishes available on the flight. You can access and book all these meals online a few days before your flight. Their menu is created by an international culinary panel, including celebrity chefs and sommeliers. There are up to 68 meal choices to select from (depending on your flight departure) with options such as Lobster Thermidor, Duck, Lamb, or Asian specialties. Their wine list is quite impressive, with very good wines from all over the world. My favorite was the 2020 Tenuta Frescobaldi Castiglioni. The staff is very attentive and converts your seat into a bed after your meal or when you request it. We had such a good sleep and relaxation that we did not watch any movies. We arrived at Singapore Changi Airport in the afternoon and went directly to our hotel.

The next morning, we went back to the airport for our flight to Bangkok. We arrived a little bit earlier in order to visit the SilverKris Business Lounge. The place is amazing. It's the best business class lounge I have ever visited. They offer Asian and Western cuisines, French champagne, and more. The breakfast was excellent.

After our trip to Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia, we took Singapore Airlines back to New York from Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital. Our flight was in the evening. It took two hours to reach Singapore, where we were supposed to have one hour and twenty minutes to walk to our gate for our next flight to Frankfurt. We arrived in Singapore with some delays, and we had to walk fast to reach our gate in time. People were already boarding. We made it, but unfortunately, our luggage did not.

The flight to Frankfurt included good food and excellent service. We arrived in Frankfurt at around six in the morning. The same plane goes to JFK, but you have to disembark with all your stuff. We spent an hour at the Lufthansa business lounge before reboarding our plane. The flight was also flawless, and we enjoyed one last time on our flatbeds.

We arrived at JFK just before noon and realized very soon that our luggage was missing. A Singapore Airlines representative was aware of it and told us that our luggage did not make the short connection in Singapore and that it would arrive with the next flight. She also told us that she needed our suitcase lock combination in case they had to be inspected by Customs and Border Protection. We shared the information, being told that this would ensure the CBP would not break our locks.

We received our luggage the next day. Both of our TSA built-in locks had been broken. We contacted Singapore Airlines and asked them if they would replace our Samsonite luggage. They came back with the same blah blah that they copy and paste for each customer with the same problem. We have traveled to almost ninety countries, and that was the worst customer service we have ever had from any airline around the world.

Going back to the wonderful experience we had with the flights themselves, I would recommend the same flight pattern, except for the return. A direct flight from Singapore to JFK is much better than having a stopover in Frankfurt.