Review: World’s Longest Flight – Singapore Airlines A350-900ULR Business Class JFK-SIN

One of my most exciting flights of 2024 was this one, because it is currently the world’s longest nonstop commercial flight! Flying the world’s longest flight has been on my bucket list for a number of years, and ever since I got into the points and miles game, I knew that I would be able to fly on it…in style. Luckily, I had the credit card points and luck to be able to able to redeem this flight for a really good deal. Check out my world’s longest flight review below of Singapore Airlines Business Class on their A350-900ULR from New York to Singapore!

Flight Info

Date Traveled	July 7, 2024
Flight No. / Airports	SQ 23 / JFK-SIN
Aircraft / Tail	A350-900ULR / 9V-SGD
Flight Time / Distance	18 hours / 9537 miles
Departure / Arrival	10:00PM EST / 5:30AM+2 SGT
Class / Seat	Business Class / 16A (window)
Method / Cost	Award / 115,000 KrisFlyer miles (transferred from Chase Ultimate Rewards) + $5.65 USD
Loyalty Status	KrisFlyer Member

Summary

The world’s longest flight clocks in at about 18 hours with over 9500 miles of flight distance, and Business Class on Singapore Airlines’ special configured A350-900ULR aircraft delivers a delightful and comfortable experience to help passengers endure such a long flight.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Booking Singapore Airlines A350-900ULR Business Class

Booking this flight was part of a grand scheme to synergize the following: 1) visit all of my family members in 2024, 2) attend Pokémon Go Fest 2024 in NYC, and 3) knock out a bucket list item of flying on the world’s longest nonstop commercial flight. This is the second flight from this trip, and you can read about my incoming flight to New York in American Airlines B737-800 Main Cabin Extra from DFW to JFK.

Really, the Pokémon Go Fest opportunity showed itself first, then I forced the other two to happen within the same trip, haha. 

To be honest, I’ve been wanting to book this flight for several years now, but the pandemic and other logistics put this on the back burner. I more seriously considered booking it back in 2023, but I transitioned jobs and companies so I had to postpone. I wanted to experience the world’s longest flight by being bougie sitting up in the front of the plane in Business Class. Luckily it all lined up this time! 

About three months before departure, I transferred 145,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points to the KrisFlyer program. This was the cost of Business class for this flight. How did I earn that many rewards points? For the past several years, I tried to utilize the bonus categories in the “Chase Trifecta”, which includes the Chase Sapphire Reserve (for travel and dining), Chase Freedom Unlimited (for everyday spend), and Chase Freedom (for quarterly bonuses).

Because the transfer isn’t instantaneous, I had to wait a few days before the Chase points showed up as KrisFlyer miles. After they transferred successfully, I sat down to book and saw that some saver awards were available for 115,500 miles. After tweaking my travel plans, I went ahead and booked the saver award! The other nice thing was that this was a confirmed award and NOT waitlisted, meaning that I didn’t have to be anxious about whether Singapore Airlines would confirm the award in the weeks leading up to departure. 

I also looked up how much it would have cost me to book this ticket with cash, and that ended up being $3465.30 USD. This means the redemption was about 3 cents per mile, which is pretty dang good.

In the month or so before departure, I was able to pre-order my meals. Singapore Airlines offer its premium cabin passengers to “Book the Cook” on certain routes that are long enough in duration. The menu is very wide and extensive if offered. More info can be found here.

Here were my options for “Book the Cook”…starting with the main courses:

There were also options for Western cuisine and Asian cuisine.

A la carte entrees were also available to select.

And then for those with special dietary needs, there are a good handful of options too.

I realized I accidentally forgot to take a screenshot of the religious meal options, but rest assured Singapore Airlines does have kosher, hallal, etc.

After flipping through these options for a good, short while, I ended up deciding on the braised beef cheek and the pan roasted golden marinated chicken. You can read more about these below in the Food and Drink section.

Singapore Airlines A350-900ULR Aircraft

Singapore Airlines uses a special configured Airbus A350-900ULR for the world’s longest flight. These aircraft are meant to fly efficiently from short-haul to ultra-long-range routes. With the A350, Airbus made significant improvements in performance, weight savings, and other design innovations to make the aircraft a more comfortable ride for passengers while offering cost-savings and sustainability for airlines. The “ULR” designation means “Ultra Long Range”. Singapore Airlines was the launch customer for this particular variant of the A350-900.

What makes Singapore Airlines’ A350-900ULR special for this route is that it only has two cabins: Business and Premium Economy! No First Class nor Economy Class. And for an 18 hour flight, that’s probably not a bad thing to have more premium-type seats available, haha.

Check out this layout on Aerolopa to see the aircraft’s configuration.

Packing for Singapore Airlines A350-900ULR Business Class

I don’t think I specifically packed anything special for this really long flight. Except maybe my eye mask. I have a fancy TempurPedic eye mask that I obtained earlier in 2024, and it effectively blocks out light while still being comfortable to use. It definitely came in handy when I tried to sleep since the cabin, though dark during sleep mode, still had bright-enough lights.

Also, I did only take a rollaboard carry on and a backpack with me on this trip. The rollaboard went up in the bin, and the backpack stayed in the seat with me. I kept things I thought I would need during the flight in my backpack like my toiletries and a change of comfortable clothes.

Check In and Security/Customs at JFK

To check in for this flight, I actually used the app. I received a notification about 48 hours before departure that it would be possible to check in. Weirdly, I couldn’t do it online—I had to check in via the app. Additionally, I had to fill out an electronic arrival card within 3 days prior to arrival. Singapore has a separate government website to handle this task. 24 hours before departure, I was able to add my boarding pass to my Apple Wallet.

By design and savvy travel experience, I didn’t have bags to check as I only had my backpack and carry on rollaboard. I wanted maximum flexibility for later portions of my trip where I’d be flying other airlines using nonrevenue standby as the means of flying, and not checking in bags affords that flexibility.

My cousin and her husband drove me to JFK all the way from southern Newark, New Jersey. They dropped me off at Terminal 4. I went into the departure hall at about 6:50PM and started looking for Singapore Airlines.

Singapore Airlines’ check in booths were in Row 7 so I made my way over there. They had lines for First Class, Business Class, and Premium Economy. I got in line, not realizing that I had gotten into the Premium Economy line which hardly moved. An employee directed me to the Business Class check in line, and that went much faster. 

Ultimately I wanted my paper ticket, and definitely got that when I finally talked to the ticket agent. He also told me about access to the Prime Class and Air India lounges, and printed off an access pass for me to take to those lounges.

Regarding going through airport security, it took me a while to find out where TSA PreCheck was located. Apparently it was all the way to the right at Row 1. The line itself wasn’t too bad, but I had to wait maybe like less than 10 minutes. Fortunately, I didn’t get randomly selected for enhanced screening, and I was on my merry way to go experience some lounges!

Before I went lounge hopping, I actually wandered around the terminal a little bit to get the lay of the land. I had never been to the international terminal at JFK and wanted to see what it was like like restaurants and shops offered.

I couldn’t help but notice this display utilizing airline seats facing a screen advertising a business…

After enjoying random airline seats I saw in the terminal, I beelined towards the first lounge.

Lounges at JFK

First of all, I should mention that by virtue of sitting in a premium class with Singapore Airlines departing from JFK airport, I had access to the Air India Maharaja lounge and the Prime Class lounge. However, these are also Priority Pass lounges! 

And because I also have Priority Pass via my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card, I also have access to the Chase Sapphire lounge (that also doubles as the Etihad Airways lounge).

One caveat I learned while lounge hopping is that the Singapore Airlines premium class lounge access benefit only works for one lounge and only one time, either Maharaja or Prime Class. This wasn’t a problem because while I did access Prime Class first and used the premium class lounge access benefit, I used Priority Pass for Maharaja.

I actually got to experience all three lounges. If I had to rank them, I’d put them in this order:

• Chase Sapphire Lounge
• Air India Maharaja Lounge
• Prime Class Lounge

Let’s start with the worst…

Prime Class Lounge

The Prime Class Lounge is located by gate A2, basically right before you turn the corner to go down the hallway for the other A gates.

Inside, there are various space including a dining area and sitting areas.

For sitting areas, there are couches all over. The space isn’t entirely too big, but I found there were plenty of empty seats around. The other immediately obvious thing is that there are no windows! The lounge is interior and doesn’t share outside walls with the terminal. It almost gives you basement-level hospital cafeteria feels.

The dining area had various hot and cold foods, snacks, drinks, and a small bar that wasn’t attended but required flagging down someone for help to obtain alcoholic drinks. I did not partake, even though I kind of wanted to.

For food, I thought that none of it looked appealing to me, but I did go for the tomato basil soup to whet my appetite. It was just okay, and just lukewarm. I also saw that they used paper plates for everything, which doesn’t express class in a prime way, in my opinion. Despite being a small lounge, I was still somewhat impressed with the spread of food that was offered.

I didn’t look too hard, but I didn’t immediately see if any restrooms were available.

In general, I thought the lounge was kept well. Sure, some wear and tear on the furnishings and whatnot, but nothing egregious. It has decent amount of space as I didn’t feel like I was having to be shoulder buddies with other passengers.

Honestly, I wouldn’t come here to the Prime Class Lounge again given that there are better options available or if the other options are too full. I only stayed for about 15 minutes. And that’s all I needed, lol.

Air India Maharaja Lounge

The Air India Maharaja lounge is located somewhat near gate A4, but you have to go upstairs. It is right next to the Emirates lounge. I think I recall getting a little confused trying to find where I can go upstairs, but I eventually found it.

As far as spaces go, there’s only really one space. It is all basically like one medium-sized dining area. When I walked into the lounge, it was pretty full. I had a difficult time finding an open seat as people were hogging spaces. After a few minutes, I finally found an open seat/table up against the opposite wall of the lounge from the entrance.

I wasn’t too hungry walking into this lounge, but I noticed that the food offerings were very Indian. A selection of Indian food were available like rice and various curries. Snacks were also available, similar to the Primeclass lounge. I also appreciated how there were self-pour alcohols available.

I didn’t happen to see naan, but if there were any, I totally would have grabbed some. Otherwise, I got a plate of basmati rice and butter chicken. Both seemed kind of cold, which was disappointing.

One of my favorite aspects of this lounge was the fact that it actually had windows! Yes! To the outside! You can actually see the adjacent gates!

For restrooms, I didn’t notice them walking into the lounge, but on my way out, I saw a sign that pointed towards them. I didn’t end up using restrooms here.

I somehow only spent 10 minutes in this lounge between finding a seat, taking pics, and eating some food. Would I go back? Maybe, but like with Prime Class, only if the other options are full. I dig the fact that there are windows, I do like Indian food, but I’m not a fan how it was a struggle to find a seat. Bad timing, I suppose.

Chase Sapphire Lounge

This lounge was the star of the show! Chase has been opening up Sapphire branded lounges at various airports, and I believe the one at JFK was one of the first ones. 

The Chase Sapphire Lounge is located at A2 on the mezzanine level. It is not clearly marked to go upstairs. The alternate method is to make an immediate left after passing through security and head down the hallway.

For access, you need to be a Chase Sapphire card holder with Priority Pass enabled. When I checked in, they told me I had to waitlist and quoted around 30-40 minutes wait time to get in. I gave my cell phone number for them to text back when space was available. I then meandered around the terminal to kill time, then stopped for a while in a quiet place to charge my phone with my power bank.

Once I got the text, I got back in line and was admitted in.

Inside, the lounge has a bar area, seating areas in the main space, some secluded seating areas in a back area, and dining areas somewhat lining the entire length of the lounge. The food and drink areas are in the middle, with restrooms adjacent in the back. The lounge also has a “reflection area”, which is probably just the fancy name for quiet zone.

For food, there were various hot foods and cold foods served as small plates. Desserts as well. However, at every table is a QR code where you can order more premium small plates and drinks too and have that delivered right to your table.

Apparently the Sapphire burger was a popular choice based on what I saw at others’ tables, but I decided not to order premium food knowing that I’d eat well on board.

I did order a cocktail, though! And I grabbed a little food from the buffet areas with hot food. Additionally, there were juices and cold brew offered in addition to the typical airline lounge espresso/coffee machine.

Walking around to the various food areas, I took pics of what food was offered. Looks like a great spread! I love that everything is in these little hors d’oeuvre plates or bowls, like in a fancy hotel executive lounge. Buffet style is more practical, but this has better presentation.

A cart with wraps magically appeared at some point while I was going around taking pictures of things.

After I was done walking around and taking pictures, I noticed some proper tables opened up, and I decided to move my stuff. I had more space to spread out and also bust out my iPad to take notes more efficiently. During this time, I also ordered the “Sapphire”. This drink had a lot going on, but it was tasty!

I used the restrooms once, and I found them to be clean. They offer Apotheke products. For showers, I believe I only saw one shower available.

All in all, this was a great lounge providing a chic experience. Well worth the wait, and I wish I had gone here originally! I would definitely return here again and would recommend this lounge over the other two I visited!

Boarding Singapore Airlines A350-900ULR Business Class

Boarding was scheduled for 10:00PM at JFK Terminal 4 Gate A4.

After hopping between the different lounges for a while, I headed to the gate about 30 minutes before boarding so that I could refill my water bottle and be at the gate early to not miss out on how the boarding process looks like, haha.

I sat down nearby to wait it out, but that made for a grave error as I ended up being like 30 or so in line to board. Boarding started at 10:05PM. I’m not so sure about boarding groups as everyone seemed to have gotten in line according to Business or Premium Economy.

Once on board, I showed the flight attendant my ticket, and they directed me to turn left towards my seat at 16A. After I got settled in, they offered a pre-departure drink of either orange juice or water, which I took water. I was also given a hot towel—nice touch! Japan Airlines doesn’t even do that at boarding time!

Departure for Singapore Airlines A350-900ULR Business Class

This flight was scheduled to depart at 10:30PM. Considering that boarding started at 10:05PM, somehow boarding was complete at 10:15PM. I suspect that the passenger density is low for the layout of this aircraft so it didn’t take very long. The door closed at 10:20PM, and we pushed back 5 minutes later. We had a long taxi and ended up asking off at about 11:12PM.

This was my first time on an A350, I think, and I couldn’t help but notice how quiet the engines were with a low to mid hum. The takeoff was really smooth, and once in the air, we banked towards the right then left to head north.

Cabin for Singapore Airlines A350-900ULR Business Class

I feel like I always have to look this up, but according to Aerolopa, there are 67 Business Class seats total in two cabins: 23 and 44. My seat was in the smaller and more forward of the two cabins.

When I boarded the plane, I noticed that there are no bins in the center of the aircraft, nor were there air vents. Luckily, even though I had to share my bin with the passenger sitting across from me, there were no issues with space. I put my rollaboard luggage up in the bin and my backpack in the storage area in my seat. The seats are in 1-2-1 configuration, and my seat was on the left-hand side at the windows.

Seats in Singapore Airlines A350-900ULR Business Class

My Business Class seat on this Singapore Airlines A350-900ULR flight was 16A, the aft-most seat in the 23-seat cabin on the left side of the aircraft by the window. 

These seats are manufactured by Jamco, but I am not sure what model of seat. These seats have a lot of features!

• Cocktail tray shelf
• Front storage for small items
• Sliding mirror
• Push-to-use coat hook
• 18” IFE Monitor and controller
• In-seat storage containing a bottle of water and headphones
• Literature pocket with safety card, menu, WiFi pamphlet, and shopping catalog
• Laptop/tablet storage
• Reading lights (both sides)
• Headset plugs (both sides)
• Power and connection ports
• Tray table
  • Height adjustable!
• Seat controls
• Ottoman for bed mode
  • Not reachable while seat is upright, and it is at an angle
• Under seat storage
  • Can fit shoes only pretty much

And now some pictures to highlight some of these seat features…

Regarding the seat, I thought that it was very spacious, had a lot of thoughtful features, and I had a few struggles with it. I liked that the seat controls are all on the aisle side so that they are out of the way on the counter/table space, but at the same time I was often paranoid throughout the flight that I’d accidentally hit a button. The most clever feature I thought the seat had is its bed mode—when you fold the back of the seat down, it reveals the bedding and sleep pad. Bed mode also has its own seat belt that’s more generous for putting around your blanket and self. See Sleep section below.

Speaking of bed mode, the footwell is kind of small, and I think taller people would have issues with this (I am 5’ 8”). This is also probably the most frequent complaint about this seat on the Internet. Another issue I had was if I used the pillow for lumbar support, it would push me too close to the tray table’s edge when deployed. It didn’t seem like the tray table had much forward-aft direction movement, but it is height adjustable. Lastly, when I tried to relax in the seat in a reclined position, I couldn’t use the footwell very well because of the angle and how the back of the seat remains facing forward.

Amenity Kit on Singapore Airlines A350-900ULR Business Class

So unlike most other airlines, the amenity kit on Singapore Airlines has to specifically be requested. I missed the boat having boarded in the last half of Business Class, and they had run out of Business Class amenity kits by the time I got settled in my seats.

Even still, the flight attendants were able to give me a Premium Economy amenity kit. Contained within that kit were slippers, lip balm, and an eye mask. A flight attendant did give me the Business Class slippers at least, and those seemed more robust. I didn’t take pictures because the kit was underwhelming, and the materials felt like it used recycled materials, which is great, but also didn’t feel Business Class-caliber.

While it seems like that isn’t a lot of stuff within the amenity kit, Singapore Airlines does stock its premium cabin lavatories with more items. Toothbrushes, razors, sanitary napkins, and motion sickness bags are provided in them or they can be requested from the flight attendants.

Service on Singapore Airlines A350-900ULR Business Class

I am not sure how to describe the service provided by the flight attendants other than it was efficient but also a frenzy? Seemed like there was a good handful of flight attendants serving everyone in Business Class.

I’ve been starting to time the flow of things with these flight reviews. 10 minutes after takeoff, they started with the drink service. At about 22 minutes in is when I received my red wine and warm nuts. At 1 hour and 4 minutes, I got my appetizer and a refill on my drink. Within the next 20 minutes, I got bread from the bread basket as well as my main entree. Just under 2 hours from takeoff, my tray was taken up, and almost immediately after that, they turned down the lights. All in all, the main meal service was done in about 2 hours.

During boarding, a flight attendant came around to confirm everyone’s orders for the dinner service. Apparently my pre-selections didn’t save! However, I was still able to order the same thing I pre-ordered. Later on the flight attendant apologized saying it was a mistake, and reconfirmed my pre-orders. Whew. I wasn’t worried about this at all and knew that whatever meal I ended up with would be delicious either way. And I didn’t pre-order anything super specialized or anything.

Overall, I thought the service was efficient but perhaps maybe not as attentive as my previous experience in Suites Class with Singapore Airlines.

The other meal times were more relaxed as they didn’t require as much set up and plating as dinner.

Mid-flight meal happened around 8 hours into the flight.

Pre-Arrival meal happened at around 10.5 hours.

Food and Drink on Singapore Airlines A350-900ULR Business Class

Singapore Airlines has a “Book the Cook” option for premium passengers like I mentioned in the Booking section above. When you manage your booking online before departure, you have way, way more options of food to preorder than the ones that’ll be in the published menu for the flight. 

Either way, here are pics of the menu, including chefs, amenities, and food.

And here are the pages of the menu featuring alcoholic drinks:

And if you don’t want anything alcoholic, there are many options here too:

I didn’t pre-select anything too far off the main options for “Book the Cook” as I wanted to try what was intended for this flight.

Dinner Service

While the flight attendants were heating everyone’s main dishes, some flight attendants were going through the cabin and giving everyone their selected drink along with mixed nuts. For my drink, I selected the 2019 Chataeau La Cordonne red wine to eventually pair that with my beef cheek. The red wine tasted great with notes of oak spice, dark red fruit, and some earthy tones. The mixed nuts weren’t salty, which was nice.

For the starter, the smoked trout was delicious, and it paired well with the vinaigrette used on the salad. The trout definitely tasted smoked and sour overall, but deliciously so!

The garlic bread is also a popular Singapore Airlines meal accompaniment, and I found it to be soft and buttery.

Now, the braised beef cheek in the red wine sauce was very nice and tender. Somewhat fatty, but also some pieces were dry but the sauce helped. The tomato butter added complementary flavors and a fatty base to the meat resulting in deliciousness. To balance it all out, the cornbread was pretty great. And the spinach and carrots were great as well.

For dessert, I had the chocolate cherry mogador. I found it to be decadent and light with a good balance between chocolate and cherry flavors.

Overall, I loved how dinner was light. I didn’t feel heavy, bloated, or uncomfortable after consuming all this food and drink, haha. 

After dinner, I stayed up for a little while then got ready for bed (see below).

Mid-Flight Meal

Somehow I slept like a rock for 4 hours and woke up hungry. But not too hungry. Seeing that I was awake, the flight attendants offered me tea and a snack, which I selected a banana. Had to have some potassium going.

After making notes and watching some episodes of The Simpsons, I ended up ordering the noodles with braised beef at about 8 hours into the flight. It was basically like a hearty soup with a big chunk of braised beef. The broth and beef were very flavorful, but I found the noodles to just be okay. I suppose they’re difficult to keep hours into a long flight.

I also ordered a SilverKris Sling, which is Singapore Airlines’ speciality cocktail that is a variant of the famous Singapore Sling. It reminded me a lot of a mimosa but with more…flavor? Alcohol? Lol.

Same thing as dinner service–I thought it was all light and good and didn’t feel uncomfortable eating all this food afterwards.

Pre-Arrival Meal

About 10.5 hours into the flight, they served the pre-arrival meal. For this meal, I selected the golden marinated chicken. 

But first came a salad with some shrimp, blackberries, and way too many croutons, haha. It was still good. The FA’s also came around with the bread basket, and I selected another garlic bread and a darker bread.

I thought the golden marinated chicken was really good, but the couscous and veggies didn’t have a lot of flavor to them. 

The dessert for this meal was an apple cake served with berries and sauce. It was very good, but the cake was kind of dense. Almost as if it wasn’t made with traditional flour.

Pre-Arrival Snack

With several hours left before landing, I ordered an actual Singapore Sling.

It was fruity, and I didn’t even taste the alcohol!

And I also went to the galley and grabbed a tomato and cucumber sandwich. I forget what dressing it had, but I found it to be kind of dry except for the veggies within.

All in all, I enjoyed everything I ate on board this Singapore Airlines flight from JFK to SIN. It’s always nice to be able to enjoy finer dining at 35,000 feet! Just lacking caviar, but that’s more of a First Class/Suites Class experience on Singapore Airlines, haha.

Entertainment and WiFi on Singapore Airlines A350-900ULR Business Class

The 18” monitor houses all the entertainment content. I just found it weird that the screen isn’t touch at all despite being close enough to touch! The controller in the seat controls everything on the screen. However, even with the controller I found the system to be very responsive and easy to navigate and flip through.

For content, I saw there were 401 movies, a handful of Live TV channels, 190 TV show episodes, 784 music tracks, and the in-flight shopping channel. Of course there were also flight maps, in-flight menu, WiFi info, and more.

The movies were split up into different genres and categories as well as by languages or countries. Similarly for the TV shows.

The music channels had a wide variety of music in different languages as well.

I didn’t check these out, but games and audiobooks were also available on the system.

Lastly, I don’t think you can connect Bluetooth headsets to the system, but I do not know that for a fact. I utilized my own Bose QC20 earbuds, and didn’t use the included noise cancelling headset.

WiFi

Apparently the WiFi system doesn’t work until cruising altitude. And wandering around the entertainment system, there’s a disclaimer that the JFK-SIN route loses satellite signal over the Arctic for about 2 hours. But we didn’t fly up there due to…not flying over Russian airspace.

How much is WiFi on Singapore Airlines A350-900ULR Business Class?

It’s actually free if you’re seated in First Class, Suites Class, or Business Class. And depending on your KrisFlyer status, it can be free as well.

Otherwise…

• $15.99 USD for the full flight
• $8.99 USD for 3 hours
• $3.99 USD for 1 hour

How fast is WiFi on Singapore Airlines A350-900ULR Business Class?

I ran a speed test and found it to be:

• 56 mbps download (dang, that’s really good)
• 5.52 mbps upload (kinda poor…)
• 785 ms ping (yikes, that’s …laggy)

I didn’t really use the WiFi much except maybe attempt to send friends texts or doomscroll a bit on social media lol.

Lavatories on Singapore Airlines A350-900ULR Business Class

This is kind of crazy, but there are only two lavatories closest to the front Business Class cabin located at Door 2 (or in the galley area that splits Business Class). The one closest to me was the left-hand side lavatory, and it was basically right behind me. 

Unfortunately the sink in this lavatory closest to me was inoperative the entire flight, but the flight attendants provided large water bottles for hand washing.

As mentioned above with the amenity kit, standard amenity kit items are stocked in a drawer in the lavatories for Singapore Airlines.

I did use the lavatories quite a few times throughout the flight. A few times before we took off (lol I had a lot of water before boarding) and once before dinner service. I saw that the lavatories were pretty clean at these times. And then throughout the remainder of the flight, I saw that both lavs were kept clean with things always refilled (including the water bottles, haha).

In Flight on Singapore Airlines A350-900ULR Business Class

So what did I do during the flight?

I watched a few things:

• The Flash during dinner
• The Simpsons during mid-flight meal
• Demolition Man during pre-arrival meal
• The Acolyte on my iPad in the last several hours of the flight

Obviously I also ate food! And drank drinks! And used the lavs lol.

I also slept…which leads me to…

Sleep on Singapore Airlines A350-900ULR Business Class

I did intend to sleep on this flight. With it being such a long flight, I knew that even falling asleep for several hours (perhaps multiple times), I’d still have time to enjoy the amenities and features of the flight.

The first time I went to bed was about 3 hours into the flight after dinner service. When I started getting ready for bed, the flight attendant helped convert my seat into a bed. It’s really cool because the back of the seat flips down to reveal the pillow, blanket, and bedding. And once the seat is in bed mode, there’s a separate seat belt you can put over yourself and blanket. Most lie-flat seats I’ve experienced use the same seat belt!

To get comfortable, I changed into sweat pants and a t-shirt. I also rearranged the pillows in different configurations to find something more comfortable, but they were big and firm, which I like a lot. 

The one struggle I had with sleeping was the footwell. And this seems to be the most frequent complaint about these seats too from other passengers/travel bloggers. The footwell is at an angle, but the seat stays facing forward so you’re at a weird angle. And the footwell is kind of small. 

Other than that, I was able to sleep pretty solidly for 3 hours after dinner. The bed was comfy enough and firm, but not too firm. Also the cabin wasn’t noticeably warm, which I find to be the case on American Airlines or Japan Airlines flights. I never felt too cold or too hot at any point during the flight.

I did try to sleep again after the mid-flight meal, but it was maybe like 1.5 hours that I was able to fall asleep.

Stories to Share

So you know that somewhat recent travel trend of people “raw dogging” flights? Apparently it was a tiktok trend because OF COURSE. Raw dogging flights is where you don’t do anything on really long flights. Like, stare at nothing. Or similar. With all that said, the old man sitting across the aisle from me watched the flight maps like the entire time he was awake. I mean, as an aviation geek, I can appreciate that, haha, but still…

There was a point where the purser of the flight came and introduced himself. We were able to chat about sleep, long layovers, and Frankfurt. Pretty cool. I love having more personal interactions with crew like that.

Flighty was showing me that this flight goes over the Arctic and down and thru Russia and China before going down to Singapore, but in reality we didn’t do that. We actually flew eastward towards Europe, through the Middle East to India, then downwards towards Singapore. I wasn’t sure if Singapore Airlines had permission to fly over Russia, but either way I’m glad we didn’t.

And lastly, how did I feel after being up in the air for 18 hours? I ended up feeling kinda bloated despite not feeling too burdened by all the food and drink. Surprisingly I was not tired when we landed and whatever sleep I got was high quality enough. Honestly, the flight didn’t feel terribly too long probably because I was comfortable and everything I needed was fairly convenient. At the end of the flight, I also used the lav to refresh myself: brushed my teeth, washed my face, shaved, etc.

Arrival at SIN

We were scheduled to arrive at about 5:30AM Singapore time. An announcement came over the intercom at about 17 hours and 12 minutes into the flight that we’d be landing in about 45 minutes. 

The “prepare for landing” announcement came at 4:49AM local time. 

I couldn’t see out the window because it was dark at the time, but remembering my last flight into Singapore back in 2018, I know that the approach into Changi International is pretty cool with various islands and boats and such so it’s a shame that I didn’t see that again.

We touched down at 5:06AM. The landing was a little shaky but not abrupt. Then we arrived at Gate E22 at about 5:17AM.

Deplaning didn’t take very long as I was at the back of Business Class, and the boarding door was right behind me. And going through Customs at Singapore Changi was pretty easy as they now use automated gates. I was out of the airport and ready for my Grab taxi probably within 10 minutes of deplaning.

Takeaways from the World’s Longest Flight

I have a few takeaways from the world’s longest flight. The flight was long, and probably a few hours longer than the previous longest flights that I’ve ever taken, but between the aircraft, food, service, and seat, I was able to endure this flight comfortably.

Now, I did have one major anxiety about this flight, and that was whether we’d actually be flying over Russia. Given recent geo-political tensions, any flight path through or around Russia is enough to make one wonder. And it certainly didn’t help when Flighty, the in-flight flight map, and other flight maps online showed that this flight as going through Russia. Thankfully, that was not the reality, and despite avoiding Russia, the flight time still maintained its approximate 18 hours.

Despite the really long flight, I never felt cooped up with cabin fever or anything. Admittedly, I have spent a lot of time in the air over the past several years often in less-than-Singapore-Airlines-Business-Class situations so my barometer for flight comfort is more skewed than a typical passenger. Apart from getting up to use the lavatories, I didn’t feel the need to do stretches or anything awkwardly in the aisle or exit door areas. Looking around at other passengers, I think most of them slept through much of the flight, and I saw a few who did laps or stretch. I would imagine that if I had the Premium Economy seat in the back, I probably would have needed to stretch out more.

Looking back, I could have done a better job at keeping myself properly hydrated throughout the flight. That would have helped with the discomfort I felt towards the end with bloating and such. It would not have been a problem to bother the flight attendants for more water or other drinks. I probably could have eased up on the alcohol too, but I wanted to try the cocktails on board! Lol.

Would I recommend this flight to others? Absolutely! I know the flight time is intimidating, but with proper preparation and onboard self-care, I think it can be a pleasant and comfortable flight and dare I say even joyfully enjoyable!

Bottom Line

The world’s longest flight is currently Singapore Airlines’ flight between New York JFK and Singapore. Using a special configured A350-900ULR, the flight comes in at 9,537 miles and about 18 hours of flight time, which is an incredible amount of time to spend up in the air.

Despite the lengthy flight time, Singapore Airlines Business Class provides much to keep a passenger fed, entertained, and comfortable. Service included three delicious meals with an extensive menu of food and drinks as well as light snacks available in-between meal services. WiFi is free, and the entertainment system is packed full of various content to watch or listen. The full-featured seat was clever with its functions, and while it may have been uncomfortable in bed mode due to the footwell, the experience still allowed for restful sleep.

Lastly, booking Business Class with miles on Singapore Airlines A350-900ULR is a fantastic deal! It is incredible value if booking a Saver Award because Singapore Airlines delivers a delightful and comfortable experience on the world’s longest flight.

What do you think of this flight? Would you be wiling to fly 18 hours on a plane? Comment below!