This flight is actually a continuation of an earlier sector from Los Angeles. The trans-Pacific 5th freedom route from Los Angeles to Tokyo Narita is a popular one, and for those travelling all the way onwards to Singapore, the pitstop at Tokyo is much appreciated.
All passengers continuing on to Singapore on SQ11 will need to disembark the aircraft for security reasons, and the aircraft will be cleaned out entirely during the stopover. After another round of security checks, we headed to the ANA Lounge for some light refreshments, which I will cover in another post.
When it was time to reboard the aircraft, the gate was only just a short walk away from the lounge. Arriving at the gate, zones were clearly marked out for passengers to queue according to their class of travel.
As usual, First Class passengers were invited to board ahead of everyone else, followed by Business Class and PPS Club passengers.
The process was smooth and before long I was back in my seat in bulkhead row 15.
No surprises here as the aircraft was thoroughly cleaned by the ground staff here in Narita, as per the strict cleanliness standards that the Japanese are known for.
I took the chance to once again admire the extra legroom afforded by the bulkhead row seat assignment.
For my pre-departure drink, I decided to try the featured mix called New Leaf. Available only on flights from Japan to Singapore, it is created by Yoshihiro Murata of Kikunoi, Kyoto. The cocktail is concocted with grapefruit juice, Yukari and Calpis, topped with soda. It was a truly refreshing beverage.
All passengers were settled in their seats on time, and we pushed back for a timely departure.
The climb out was smooth and the cabin crew were quick to commence the dinner service, first starting with an after-takeoff beverage. As usual, I went for the Hanakoireki Japanese option, as I always have full confidence in the catering standards for Japanese meals on flights departing out of Japan. But before that, the crew served up some of Singapore Airlines’ signature satay, a must-try on board SQ flights!
And now onto my starter, where I had some prawn terrine, fava beans, and lily bulb. This was accompanied with pickled flat fish, bracken and radish, as well as conger eel, mountain vegetables, and sardine simmered in plum. There was also sakura soba with rapeseed and pickled new onion.
For the main course, there was some fried bamboo shoot and sea bream eggs with egg yolk, Japanese butterbur, kinome and carrot. There was also squid, udo and lily bulb, paired with steamed rice and dried whitebait and Japanese sansho pepper.
To round up the dinner, I had a refreshing scoop of sakura ice cream.
Given the relatively short flight time and that I had slept quite a lot in the previous sector, I spent most of this flight entertaining myself on KrisWorld. The crew came around with some sake and green tea throughout the flight too, which was a nice touch.
We were pretty much on time when we commenced our descent into Singapore. It was great that I stayed up so that I could plan for more sleep ahead given our early morning arrival into Singapore. That definitely helped to combat the slight post-trip jet lag.
Flight SQ11 continues to be my preferred route of travel from Los Angeles to Singapore, despite there being a non-stop option available. The stopover in Tokyo Narita offers passengers the opportunity to stretch their legs and stock up on some lovely Japanese snacks from the duty free shops at Narita too.