SIA ultra long haul from the crew rest: the Singapore to New York and Newark 18 hours, the rest rotation on the A350 ULR
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#1 SIA, and the SIA ultra long haul thread on here is from a few years ago. The A350 ULR (the ultra long range version) flies the Singapore to New York and Newark routes at around 18 hours and the SIA crew who do them have a specific experience that James's Qantas thread and Jim's United thread describe from their airlines. Here is the SIA version.
The flights
Singapore to New York JFK and to Newark, around 18 hours, the longest scheduled flights in the world, on the A350 ULR with a premium economy and business only configuration (no economy, which changes the crew's day), and a crew complement that is augmented for the rest rotation. Singapore to Los Angeles and San Francisco on the same aircraft at 15 to 16 hours.
The crew rest
The A350 ULR has the class one bunks and the rest rotation is three groups across the 18 hours, each with a long rest (around five hours) and the service phases between. The Chief sets the rotation at the briefing and the fairness over the month (Chris's thread) is the Chief's responsibility and the crew's complaint when it fails. The first rest after the first service is the one nobody wants, as everywhere.
The service on a premium only aircraft
No economy means the whole crew is premium trained and the service is the business and the premium economy dine when you want across 18 hours: the first meal, the long middle with the snack menu and the water runs, the second meal, a third light service on the longest ones. The pad and the sequencing Layla and Ruby described, for 18 hours, with the crew rotating out and the handover at each rotation as the thing that goes wrong when it goes wrong.
The body after the longest flights
The 18 hours and the twelve hour time difference: the body in no time zone for a week, the New York layover of 48 hours that is the recovery and not the sightseeing, the Singapore return with the same 18 hours, and the days off after that the airline's rest rules provide and the body needs. James's body budget and Paul's fourteen year thread apply at the SIA scale with the longest sectors on earth. The crew who do the ULR monthly have the SIA fatigue management's attention and the blackout curtains and the no alcohol rule as survival.
Why the senior crew bid them
The allowances, which on 18 hours and a 48 hour New York layover are the largest on the network. The days off after. The New York, which is the layover the SIA crew treat as the prize of the whole roster. And the specific pride of flying the longest flights in the world for the airline that flies them. The junior crew get the ULR when a senior drops it and they learn the rotation on the hardest sector there is.
For the SIA crew bidding the ULR
The rotation fairness is the Chief's and ask for it. The handover at each rotation is where the service breaks and do it properly. The New York 48 hours is the recovery first. And the body budget is real: the ULR monthly for years is the Paul thread at the far end. The allowances are why and the body is the cost.
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#2 SIA Chief, and I set the ULR rotations and the fairness over the month is the thing the crew complain about when I get it wrong and never mention when I get it right. The handover at each rotation is where the audit catches the cabin. Evelyn has the ULR from the rest.
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#3 Qantas Melbourne, and the SIA 18 hours is the sector the Qantas ultra long haul crew compare ours to: the Dallas at 17 and the Perth London at 17 against the New York at 18. The body budget is the same budget. The SIA crew have the longest one and the allowances to match.
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#4 United SFO, and the SIA crews at the Newark hotel after the 18 hours are the ones who understand the SFO Asia crews' body clock better than anyone: the twelve hour swing on the longest sector. Evelyn's 'the New York is the recovery not the sightseeing' is the ULR truth.
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#5 SIA, year one, and the ULR is the sector the year one crew get when a senior drops it, as Evelyn says, and I have not had one yet and the seniors describe the rotation handover as the thing to learn before it comes. The hardest sector on earth as the learning ground. Noted.
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#6 Air NZ purser, and the three group rotation across 18 hours with five hour rests is the thing I would study if I ran a ULR: the fairness over the month at that scale is the hardest purser maths there is. Grace's spreadsheet must be a thing of beauty.
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#7 Virgin, and the body budget at the far end is the SIA ULR crew and Evelyn has placed herself there honestly. The allowances are why and the body is the cost is the ultra long haul in one sentence at every airline that flies it. Fourteen years says the body wins eventually.
