AKA Pit Stopping in Tokyo before flying to Singapore

While in lock-down in my home office, I’ve been re-editing some of my YouTube videos. Among them is Singapore Airlines flight 11, Los Angeles to Singapore. Singapore Airlines Flight 11 is actually two flights, one from Los Angeles to Tokyo, and a second from Tokyo concluding in Singapore, albeit on the same aircraft and under the same flight number.

Overview

We are flying to the Maldives for our epic holiday, already in posts and pages on this blog. I don’t think anyone would be surprised to know that getting to our Maldivian resort, Baros Maldives, from Idaho is a long journey. Here’s a list of the segments:

• Boise to Los Angeles – 2.5 hour flight
• Layover in Los Angeles – 8 hours
• Los Angeles to Tokyo – 11 hour flight
• Tokyo to Singapore – 7 hour flight
• Layover in singapore – 13 hours
• Singapore to Male’ – 4 hour flight
• Male’ to Baros Maldives – 20 minute speedboat

If you add it all up it is close to 46 hours from first flight to resort arrival! It can be done faster, by the way. I booked this itinerary to provide plenty of breaks. I don’t want to arrive in the Maldives and have to sleep my jetlag away!

Today, I’m focused on the flight from Los Angeles to Singapore, Sigapore Airlines Flight 11. I’ll cover Tokyo Narita and the flight to Singapore in a future blog.

Tom Bradley International Terminal

Most international carriers use the Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport, including Singapore Airlines. The Tom Bradley International Terminal or TBIT, opened in September 2013. Filled with open space, it is a nice way to prepare prior to seating yourself in a metal tube for hours and hours.

The central area of the terminal is filled with several high end and duty free shops. If you are flying through the TBIT, arrive early and check it out! I really enjoy the various video features inside the central area. My favorite is this video board below, in this shot showing an aircraft departing.

While not the largest airport terminal I’ve visited in terms of the number of gates, only 28, these TBIT gates serve some of the largest passenger aircraft, such as the Boeing 747 and Airbus A380. Today we are flying on a Boeing 777-300ER, my first time on the type, operated by Singapore Airlines.

For readers that have flow on a Boeing 777-300ER, do you remember the first time the engines started? At first, I thought something was wrong and the engine was flying apart, it was so loud! For readers that haven’t yet flown on a Boeing 777-300ER, be prepared. I think it is normal.

If you want to see what my camera captured, you can find the engine startup and takeoff for this flight and many more on my dedicated AvGeek airplane channel, Trizity Loves Airplanes.

In-Flight Experience

Singapore Airlines has limited their Boeing 777 to 9 across in economy, configured 3-3-3, while some competitors have gone for 10 across with 4 seats in the middle section. While I don’t enjoy long haul economy flying, one less seat results in a wider seat with a 19 inch seat width and 32 inch seat pitch.

My seating area features a large touchscreen monitor, remote control with a touchscreen, and a folding/sliding tray table. Singapore Airlines has a huge number of in-flight entertainment options, including movies, television, and music. I set up the main screen to show a movie and had the travel details on the remote control screen. Pretty fantastic technology!

After settling, the flight attendants provide menus to each passenger. As a gluten free traveler, I’ve pre-requested gluten free meals, therefore, my meal will be off menu. For the Norms (people without food allergies), here’s what you could select:

You can see what my wife selected in the video, by the way.

Two full airplane meals are served today. First up for me, is a gluten free breakfast, scrambled eggs with spinach, tomato, and potato, yogurt, fresh fruit and juice. Everything was tasty, if a bit bland.

My second gluten free meal (some guessing since it isn’t on the menu) is roasted chicken with rice, rice cake, and fresh fruit. Another good meal, but I would call this one a bit under seasoned for my taste as well.

One last in-flight highlight for me was our flyover of the Aleutian Islands near Cold Bay, Alaska! Great views!

That’s a wrap, kinda…

The flight to Tokyo Narita from Los Angeles is approximately 11 hours. Singapore Airlines Flight 11 pauses here for just under two hours. It provides the passengers continuing to Singapore the chance to walk around and get a good leg stretch before another 7 hours to Singapore. Many of the passengers went wild duty free shopping during the layover! I have enough stuff to travel with, I don’t need more, so I passed on most of the shopping.

As I mentioned above, we’ll finish up this Singapore Airlines Flight 11 next time! Happy Travels!

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