His Story: Proposal Planning

Having decided on the SIA Suites as the moment to spring the proposal, I now needed to plan the execution.

I had in mind the song "Time in a Bottle" by Jim Croce, which I heard during the movie Days of Future Past during the Quicksilver Kitchen scene (super awesome!). I found the lyrics meaningful and the guitar melody beautiful, and decided to learn to play that song. However, bringing a guitar on board presents quite a logistic challenge, and so I decided to learn the play the song on a ukelele.

I first sent out an email to SIA about a month in advance,

I'm planning a surprise in-flight wedding proposal in the Suites class section for my upcoming flight on the 14th April 2015.

I was wondering if I could reach out to the staff rostered for duty for this flight to make arrangements for some assistance before the flight, as well as to understand the limitations I might face for the plan, and also hopefully improve on my ideas with their input and expertise.

I missed their call as I was at work, and got an email back saying (niceties removed),

We would appreciate it if you could elaborate more on your plans for us to forward to the relevant department for their consideration. Please note that this request is subject to approval.

I thus explained in greater detail how I envisioned the plan,

I do need some help in surreptitiously smuggling a ukelele, a ring box and a bunch of flowers up the plane.

Also, it's meant to be a surprise (as proposals are wont to be), and my girlfriend has no idea we are gonna be on suites class until she arrives at the airport (she still thinks its Business), so some level of discretion might be needed.

The smuggling could possibly be handled by me arriving earlier to pass it to a member of the crew? I might pick the brains of the crew to figure out how best to bring it out during the flight.

Currently I'm planning for this to happen during the seat conversion to double bed period, and might need some assist for a short period (5 mins) if one of the crew could be spared.

There is some singing and plucking for about 2 minutes, but it shouldn't be loud enough to disturb our poor neighbours amidst the engine noise floor.

I got a call back from SIA soon after, explaining that flowers required approval due to passenger allergy and thorns (potential threat), and I needed to list out the full set of flowers I intend to bring on board. To make things worse, there is no white-list of flowers, nor is there a black-list, nor is there a suggested list. There was also no way I could possibly contact the rostered staff, nor meet them before flight to discuss, nor pass them anything to help bring on board, because of security reasons. They also could not allow me to sing a song on board.

While most of the rejections were understandable, I was really hoping for a more proactive stance from the SIA side to offer possible alternative solutions and not just road blocks.

I managed to dig up a previous proposal on SIA in 2014, and noticed that the bouquet had roses and what looked like Baby's Breath, and submitted those for consideration.

And finally some good news, SIA called and told me that the bouquet was OK, and I should probably arrange with the air crew when and if it was okay to sing.

On arrival at the airport, at the first class terminal, I tried again to see if they could help carry up the flowers on board, but they weren't able to help. They did however helped get me a more suitable bag to hide the flowers in, so I could bring it on board myself.

Finally, on the plane, I had several furtive discussions with the air crew, and learnt that as it was a night flight, my initial plan of the proposal after the bed is made cannot go through. However, they did suggest that either before breakfast and when Kris uses the washroom, or after breakfast and just prior to landing, might be two potential timings we could try. Kris woke up early before the cabin lights came up and used the washroom then, so that plan couldn't go through. After breakfast though, the timing worked out perfectly :)

His Story: Pre-flight

It was Dec 2012, when I got wind of the news that SIA has released the Suites class for Saver Awards miles redemption. That was when the plan for a Suite proposal was hatched.

More astute observers noted that only 1 Saver per flight could be redeemed for USA, but I didn't know it then, and that would have completely wrecked my plan; this changed somewhere in 1Q 2014, luckily.

I started signing up for all the miles credit card in early 2013. A class of them generates a large block of miles per year with payment of annual fee (ANZ Travel Visa, DBS Altitude, Citibank PremiereMiles), but does not offer the best conversion rates. UOB cards in particular, are rather valuable (UOB Preferred Platinum Visa - 4 miles / $ for (rather restrictive) online spend and Paywave spendings; UOB PRVIMILES which does generate the most miles for any other spend at 1.6/2.4 miles/$ for local/overseas spending; UOB Preferred Platinum AMEX gives 4 miles/$ for food except food in hotels, which I learned after blowing 1k on the card). Most of my spend actually went to the ANZ Travel card, at 1.4miles / local $ spent.

I couldn't possibly get all that miles from spendings though, so one of my main alternate strategies was also to find an online brokerage that accepts credit cards, and buy stocks with my savings. EToro was one of them (UOB PPV blocks them though, so try DBS Womens or PRVIMILES), though I should warn you that they offer stock CFDs instead of stocks (no dividends), and while deposit and withdrawal is free, you take a big hit from the credit card conversion fees (~10%), which is offset with their deposit bonus.

Between these and other random mile bonuses, I managed to scrounge together the 378000 miles needed for a date of a lifetime to the USA, around Feb 2014. 2/3 of them actually came from UOB, thanks to their generous mileage policy.



For more credit card mile accumulation advice, you could also check out Card Cow.

However, I can't just spring a surprise on her and say HEY let's go to the USA for a month next week! Would be quite hard to justify the long leave to her boss. So I toned down the surprise by offering her a free ticket on a Business Class to USA. I was hoping for the fact that we haven't flown that far together make it seem sufficiently special for me to spring a mini-milesurprise.

Note to whoever is thinking of pulling this off: Banks take a darn long time to process your miles conversion (I had to mail in my application to link my Krisflyer account for most banks) and it took me around 2 to 3 months before I managed to get everything settled, so do factor that into your plans.

I was then planning to fly in June 2015, so one year in advance, on June 2014, I started hunting for Saver Suites redemption to the USA. I then realised that there are quite a few seats available in April, and quickly jumped on the chance. One thing I didn't know then was that you could easily string 2 separate one-way trips together, and then buy stopovers at 10K miles per stopover. I wanted to do a round-world trip, SIN->LAX followed by JFK->SIN, but I saw no way to do it online. So I settled for a NYC trip plus a waitlist for SIN->LAX, which never materialised as we cancelled the waitlist once we started planning our trip.The interminable wait then began. And 10 months later, the trip is about to begin :)

Her Story Part One: A First-Class Surprise

It was almost 10pm, the plane was about to fly off in two hours, and I was sitting on my luggage with little luck getting it to close. The "pre-beginning" of the three week US-Canada-Sweden trip was a hectic Tuesday filled with work, last minute trip errands and packing. My dad gave me a strict 10 minute deadline to finish everything and rushed me to the airport.

While in the car, Junyi whatsapped me - he appeared to be working on some urgent insurance information and needed my dad's contact number. I didn't think too much and just replied him. Suddenly, my dad's phone, which was linked to the car's loudspeaker, rang. He received it up once we stopped at the traffic light, and Junyi was on the line! Before I could say hi, he started saying "Hello Uncle, I know you are sending Kris to the airport now." Then I blurted, "I can hear you!"

My dad who did not want to spoil any surprises from Junyi quickly said OK to cut the conversation. So unable to get the message across, Junyi messaged "u have to turn into the first class driveway, its before all the check in counters". At that point, I actually did not make the link yet with the rush and so many things running through my mind. Perhaps the Business Class (which was what Junyi told me the ticket was) check-in was done at the First Class area as well? My dad, on the other hand, seemed extremely and pleasantly surprised.

After almost missing the turn (the First Class direction board looks nothing like the other directions), we finally got there almost at 10:30pm. 1.5 hours before flight time. Two men in black came out to bring me in. They looked so friendly and helpful, and seemed like they knew me even though I did not say who I was, which was so unexpected that I thought I must have gone to the wrong place. I clarified if this was the right place and they assured me it was, still when they did not ask who I was. I wondered if the service was so good that they actually took the time and effort to memorise the faces of exactly who was going onboard the plane.

When I went in, there was Junyi all dressed up in smart purple Marcella (the first time he's wearing my Christmas gift!), black men's heeled shoes and contacts. And there I was in a comfy tank top, jeggings and sports shoes all ready for bed. We looked like an absolute mismatch though he assured me all was well. He then passed me my ticket to check in, and said, "Surprise! I didn't upgrade you to Business Class, I upgraded you to enjoy Suite instead!" I was absolutely shocked, excited, grateful, still tired, in disbelief at how he kept me in the dark all this while, happy.. Realisation and all related feelings hit me.

Junyi then urged me to bring up something nice to wear on the plane so that we could take nice photos. I obliged though I doubted I would actually wear my dress in the plane since I was so tired and would likely sleep once I hit my seat. We checked in, and walked past all the Business Class and First Class seats to reach a private area. Junyi said he hoped I was hungry. He then passed me a menu with a delectable spread, this was all included under the Suites ticket. I ordered a truffle spaghettini (something like that), and then wine was served. While waiting for the food, we had a little buffet of salad, cold veggies and dips, bread and soup, and oh, cake and chocolate!

The lounge was like a fine dining restaurant - made-up ladies and well-dressed gentlemen quietly studying the papers, jovial chefs walking around and a modern, snazzy ambience. Dining at the lounge was quite an enjoyable experience, and this marked a great start to the trip's "pre-beginning".

Her Story Part Two: The Suites

I'd never imagined getting a seat in the suites till maybe after hitting 50.

The closest to this was when I was flying solo with Singapore Airlines, and was sitting next to a sick man who needed to lie down. An air steward asked if I was willing to change seats to let the man sleep on my seat, and to my surprise, brought me up to Business Class. That was already good, with so much space, fully reclining seats and high class food.


Seats
But the Suites was way better. The seats were even more comfortable. Opposite the seats, there was another spot for either someone else to sit at (it can actually fit two people) or you could use it as a footstool. Our hand carry luggage would go under this multi-purpose seat, so it was extremely convenient to grab anything out of our bags. Once we got to our seats, even before the plane moved, we were offered non-alcoholic drinks and were given the choice of picking from a huge collection of magazines to read.


Cabins
Our seats were in private cabins, complete with doors and window blinds. Being seated in the middle, Junyi and my cabin was side by side, separated by a polished wooden ledge which doubles up as a table. At the side of our cabins, there is also a "hidden" door with three hangers for us to keep our jackets or clothes if we change into the airline pyjamas provided.


Service Extras
After the plane took off, we were offered warm cashews and walnuts, and drinks. I picked dessert wine, and it was so good I kept asking for more over every meal. We were also served warm towels at least five times if not more during the entire flight. A classy black SQ bag was given to us - the men's bag was elegant yet simple, the lady's bag was chic and slightly ruched. We loved the branded male and female fragrances and body lotion in our bags.


Entertainment
We were given Bose headphones omg! These headphones are noise-cancelling, so once we wore it on, it immediately cancelled out the gentle humming of the plane. While there was no special selection of movies, it was still pleasant catching our movies on a bigger screen.


Meals
The food was simply amazing. Junyi pre-ordered our mains weeks before the trip under a "Book the Cook" service, and these were specially prepared by top class chefs. He came over my cabin to sit opposite me for our meals. We felt like we were at a flying high end restaurant, with a white cloth draped across our table, with a selection of bread, butter and wine served before every meal. Out of all the food, I was most amazed with the ice-cream. Each meal was accompanied with the most interesting ice-cream flavours. We had cinnamon, basil and even goat cheese ice-cream! Goat cheese ice-cream is my personal favourite.


Beds
So all I thought about in-flight sleep was that the seats would fully recline flat. That would already have been way more comfortable than the Business Class bed. However, it was a much more elaborate affair than that. While we took our seats in one of the private cabins to eat, the cabin crew was busy changing our other seat into a bed! It was like a plane turn-down service, coupled with little soft toy bears to go along with our beds. Slippers were placed at the foot of our bed and our seats were all tidied up. Our cabin felt like a mini-hotel.

Her Story Part Three: The Proposal

We were going to be landing in about two hours. I was trying to convince Junyi to watch one more movie to maximise the Krisworld entertainment. Though to my dismay he kept refusing, so I thought he preferred to use the time on the suite to have a good conversation. At the same time, the air stewardess who was looking after our cabins kept suggesting for me to go to the washroom which I found was pretty strange - maybe that was normal for good service in the suites.

Junyi sat opposite me as we chatted. Suddenly, the air stewardess knocked at our cabin door saying "excuse me". An air steward stood next to her holding four little transparent goblets with red liquid, a bouquet of flowers and a yellow ukelele. My heart stopped and I suddenly knew what was happening - Junyi was buying time for the proposal so we could not start watching anything, and the "washroom suggestions" was a ruse to get me to leave my seat so they could do the set up.

Junyi passed my phone to the air stewardess to take a video, and the air steward placed the goblets which now started spewing wisps of white smoke from dry ice onto the table. Junyi handed the flowers to me, and then started to play the ukelele. I didn't even know he plays the ukelele!

He started strumming "Time in a Bottle" and sang it very genuinely. I was pretty impressed. It was also really touching on many levels. The song is very relevant to us in the sense that time is very important to Junyi, yet he wanted to dedicate something so precious to me. It also reminded me of how time is fleeting, and all that we have will be just but a memory. And all the effort to even pull this together was just amazing. We usually spend quite a lot of time together, so even finding time to plan everything, learn the ukelele and memorise the song is rather challenging. I was in a chockfull of emotions.

He then brought out the ring. I was surprised to see one because we once spoke about how we would not want rings for our wedding due to many reasons, cost being one of them which I felt would be better spent on our renovation. So the ring he brought out was a metal cast ring which he personally designed himself. In fact, it was quite a lot of effort as he had to first 3D-print a plastic mould with the shape of the ring hollow. Then find and melt metal into the mould, then after it cools, he would break the plastic mould and test if the ring size is correct. It was a way better price than those sold in shops, it was a great fit, and it was one of a kind - it was perfect.



Time in a Bottle by Jim Croce

If I could save time in a bottle
The first thing that I'd like to do
Is to save every day 'til eternity passes away
Just to spend them with you
If I could make days last forever
If words could make wishes come true
I'd save every day like a treasure and then
Again, I would spend them with you
But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do once you find them
I've looked around enough to know
That you're the one I want to go through time with
If I had a box just for wishes
And dreams that had never come true
The box would be empty except for the memory
Of how they were answered by you
But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do once you find them
I've looked around enough to know
That you're the one I want to go through time with