Flying SilverJet: The Verdict Is In
It took me nearly two hours to get to Newark Airport from Midtown Manhattan on Friday evening. Had I not been flying with Silverjet, I would have missed my 7:30pm flight– after all I arrived at the check in desk at 7:18pm. If you’re thinking to yourself “are you kidding me?” I’m not, at all. SilverJet, the new business class-only flight to London from Newark advises customers to arrive 30 minutes before the flight — 45 if you have bags to check. They hand-carried my last checked bag onto the plane and with 12 minutes to spare, encouraged me to dip into their private lounge for a drink. I hadn’t even flown on the plane yet, and I was already in love with the whole terminal experience. Full review continues after the jump!
As far as the in-flight experience, I found the cabin environment fantastic. Major lights were left off the entire trip and there were no ‘overhead’ lights, everyone had personal reading lamps that extend off the side of the seat. The food was actually quite good and served on actual plates and platters, rather than on individual trays. In-flight entertainment units were handed out — it was fun not to have to stare at a suspended screen but really lay around with the unit in hand. The selection of films were slim (thanks to licensing issues, I’m sure), but it did the trick to pass a few hours of time before a nap.
The seat was nothing to write home about, and I’m actually little confused how Conde Nast gave them an award for best business class seat in the air right now. While it’s a ‘flat bed’, it’s not a ‘lay flat bed’ — two very different descriptions. It makes the seat completely flat, but you’re still forced to sleep at a slant, constantly feeling like you’re sliding towards the ground. This new trend in ‘flat business class seats’ is weird and unfortunate. I guess all those extra inches end up adding a few seats (revenue in the long run). It’s still beyond me how this beat out the new British Airways Club Class I flew a few weeks ago, a completely flat and insanely comfortable bed (horizontal to the airplane floor) in a cocoon-like structure, with amenities like a touch screen LCD with dozens of movie selections.
The verdict? SiljverJet is about as close to getting on a private jet (even with 100 other people) as you can get for around $2,000 US anywhere in the world. I’ve flown on almost every option to London, and this is easily the best cost-per-flight deal going, hands down. It’s also carbon neutral which helps my eco-conscious. At this price, I’ll surely be on this flight again!
