Singapore Airlines reinstating non-stop Seattle flights

Good news for travellers who have been missing the non-stop link between Singapore and Seattle in the USA, with SIA planning to remove the Vancouver stop on this popular route and reinstate the 16-hour flights from June 2022, for the first time in over two years.

The service will offer one less weekly frequency than currently available (three per week, down from four), but cutting out the stop in Vancouver will shorten the journey time by two hours in each direction.

Meanwhile SIA will continue to serve Vancouver three times per week with its own dedicated flight, with service to the Canadian city loaded until the end of the summer season, having originally been planned as a short-term seasonal operation from December 2021 to February 2022.

The current schedule

Singapore – Seattle flights currently operate four times per week via Vancouver, using three-class Airbus A350 Long Haul aircraft.

Singapore Vancouver Seattle
Flight Schedule
(Now – 31 May 2022)

	SQ28 A350 Long Haul		Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
SIN 09:15		YVR 08:30
YVR 09:40		SEA 10:30

All SQ27 and SQ29 flights from both Seattle and Vancouver back to Singapore are designated VTL services , for quarantine-free travel.

Seattle Vancouver Singapore
Flight Schedule
(Now – 31 May 2022)

	SQ27 SQ29 A350 Long Haul		Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
SEA 12:00		YVR 12:45
YVR 14:15		SIN 22:05*

* Next day
= VTL

These four times weekly services continue to operate through to 31st May 2022, with slightly amended timings from late March for the northern summer season.

The new schedule

From 2nd June 2022 the SQ28/27 Seattle flights switch to non-stop operation, but reduce to three times weekly, with departures from both Singapore and Seattle on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Singapore Seattle
Flight Schedule
(2 Jun – 29 Oct 2022)

	SQ28 A350 Long Haul		Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
SIN 09:00		SEA 08:45

All three weekly SQ27 flights from Seattle to Singapore remain designated VTL services .

Seattle Singapore
Flight Schedule
(2 Jun – 29 Oct 2022)

	SQ27 A350 Long Haul		Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
SEA 10:20		SIN 17:30*

* Next day
= VTL

The news also means that Singapore Airlines’ shortest passenger flight on the network, between Seattle and Vancouver will now revert to the more traditional Singapore – KL service.

Seattle route performance

Before the pandemic, Seattle was proving to be a big hit for Singapore Airlines with four times weekly flights recording up to 90% load factors.

Singapore Airlines
Seattle Route Performance

Month	Passenger Load Factor
	Singapore Seattle	Seattle Singapore
Sep ’19	93.4%	83.1%
Oct ’19	87.3%	90.2%
Nov ’19	88.1%	86.6%
Dec ’19	89.3%	90.3%
Jan ’20	95.3%	87.1%
Feb ’20	83.1%	65.0%
Mar ’20	64.8%	43.6%

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics

COVID-19 put a stop to that early success of course, as the figures reflect from February 2020 onwards, but the airline must have been buoyed by the demand it was seeing to and from the US “tech town”.

Seattle had already witnessed significant non-stop international flight expansion from other Asian carriers like ANA and Cathay Pacific in recent years, before the pandemic hit.

SIA was even scheduling a fifth weekly non-stop service to the city from March 2020, before the route had to be suspended.

The airline will no doubt be hoping for a similarly positive performance as it transitions back to being a non-stop service this summer.

Vancouver schedule

From 2nd June 2022 Vancouver flights are renumbered to SQ48/47 and also operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays in both directions, the same as the Seattle route despite being separate flights.

Singapore Vancouver
Flight Schedule
(2 Jun – 29 Oct 2022)

	SQ48 A350 Long Haul		Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
SIN 07:00		YVR 06:45

All SQ47 flights from Vancouver to Singapore are designated VTL services .

Vancouver Singapore
Flight Schedule
(2 Jun – 29 Oct 2022)

	SQ47 A350 Long Haul		Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
YVR 08:35		SIN 15:45*

* Next day
= VTL

Do note if you’re booked on a flight between Singapore and Vancouver from June 2022 onwards, the departure time is now two hours earlier from Changi and a full six hours earlier from Vancouver.

Singapore Airlines will inform you of the change, but you may need to replan your travel arrangements slightly if you were aiming to connect to or from other transport.

For example, driving down from Whistler on the morning of your departure to Singapore was a perfectly good plan with a 2pm departure, but probably won’t work now that the flight goes wheels-up at 8.30am!

Of course if you were booked to fly on either of these routes (Vancouver or Seattle) in either direction on a Friday after June 2022, SIA will now have to provide an alternative for you, since there will no longer be a service.

KrisFlyer awards

These are the one-way KrisFlyer miles redemption rates for flights between Singapore and Seattle on these SIA flights, which also apply to the Vancouver route.

KrisFlyer Redemption Rates
	SIN ⇅ Seattle Saver (one way)	SIN ⇅ Seattle Advantage (one way)
Economy	38,000	70,000
Premium Economy	68,000	n/a
Business	95,000	125,000

If you intend to book a firm ticket in an eligible booking class, here’s how many miles it will then cost you to upgrade one-way, assuming saver upgrade award availability in your proposed cabin class.

Upgrade using KrisFlyer miles Singapore ⇄ Seattle
Upgrading to →	Premium	Business
Existing booking ↓
Economy Standard (Class: M, H, W)	52,000	89,000
Economy Flexi (Class: Y, B, E)	34,000	70,500
Premium Economy Standard (Class: P)	→	63,500
Premium Economy Flexi (Class: S, T)	→	50,000

Seattle lounge

Singapore Airlines directs its lounge-eligible passengers to The Club at SEA (South Satellite) in Seattle.

Nothing too special to look forward to here – the facility is also available to Priority Pass holders. Shower facilities are not available, though the morning departure for SQ27 means most passengers will have freshened up at home or in their hotel anyway.

Unfortunately SIA passengers will not be eligible to use the British Airways or Delta Air Lines lounges in the South Satellite, with the only other Star Alliance option, a United Club, located in the (inaccessible) domestic concourse.

Travelling to the USA or Canada

Both the USA (Seattle) and Canada (Vancouver) allow fully vaccinated travellers to arrive from Singapore quarantine-free, though both do require a pre-departure test taken at the following timings:

• Canada: PCR within 72 hours of departure or ART within 1 day of departure*
• USA: PCR or ART within 1 day of departure*

* 1 day means you can test on the day of departure itself, or any time on the preceding day (e.g. depart Tuesday, test anytime on Monday or Tuesday)

Be sure to check our regularly updated list of the cheapest pre-departure test options in Singapore, for either PCR or ART swabs, if you’re planning a trip.

You can find the latest list of requirements for international travellers arriving in these countries at the following links:

🇨🇦 Canada int’l arrival eligibility / process
🇺🇸 USA int’l arrival eligibility / process

Singapore Airlines is decoupling its current Seattle and Vancouver services from June onwards, instead operating dedicated non-stop flights to and from both cities using its Airbus A350 Long Haul aircraft.

It’s a positive sign for both routes that the airline is willing to operate a total of six weekly services to and from the two cities, compared to four at the moment, especially for Vancouver which was only intended to be a short-term seasonal connection when it launched only three months ago.

All six of these flights, three from Seattle and three from Vancouver, will operate as designated VTL services to Singapore, though by June we’re hoping to have seen the back of this scheme anyway.

Those heading to and from Seattle will clearly benefit most, with two hours shaved off the journey in each direction, while the heavily-retimed Vancouver – Singapore flight, soon departing six hours earlier than now, may require some travellers to adjust their end-of-vacation plans!

(Cover Photo: Stephen Plopper)