Review: Singapore Airlines Business Class

In June I flew Singapore Airlines business class from Sydney to Singapore on a 777-300er and then onto Bangkok on a 777-200.

Booking my ticket

I booked the ticket using some leftover Avianca Lifemiles that I’d purchased during a buy miles promotion and then paid the balance at the time of ticketing using their generous cash + miles option. In total, the ticket cost me roughly AU$1000 including the purchased miles, the extra miles needed at checkout, taxes and fees. So, I was pretty happy with that as it’s a massive discount off what a revenue ticket would have cost.

Flights from Sydney

Singapore Airlines fly 4x daily from Sydney to Singapore, twice on their A380 product and twice a day on 777s. I knew that at least some of the 777 services were operated on aircraft with the newer business class product but couldn’t figure out if my flight would have that or the older seats, similar to what’s on their A380s. I actually called Singapore Airlines and was assured I would be flying on the newer product so I was pretty excited to try it out. As it turns out, I was on the older product which I have absolutely zero problem with but I did feel a little pang of disappointment when I stepped onboard.

Silverkris Lounge in Sydney

The lounge in Sydney airport is a massive step up from some other carriers’ offerings there, such as Qantas’ business class lounge and has a nice view over the tarmac out to some of the overnight bays. The view isn’t quite as good as Etihad’s lounge which has the tarmac pretty much at eye level but it’s definitely a great place to kill an hour or two. Even though this was an 8:00am departure, we got into a couple of glasses of sparkling wine and watched the sun come up, which was a great start to the trip.

Bulkhead seats

Regardless of which product I was flying on I really wanted to try and jag a bulkhead seat as they have a bunch of extra space where you’re feet go. Rather than having a footwell in the back of the seat in front, the bulkhead seats have a bench that folds down, meaning you have the full width of the seat the whole way down when you fully recline the seat into bed mode. The seats on Singapore Airlines’ business class are ridiculously wide as well, so it makes a massive difference getting the bulkhead.

Trying to book these seats ahead of time without any relevant status is pretty much impossible though. I tried booking them over the phone several times prior to the flight and was always told that they were blocked or occupied, depending on who I got on the other end of the phone, so I just booked the row behind the bulkhead. As soon as the doors closed and I had checked with FAs it was okay, I just moved one row forward into the bulkhead seats as not a single one was occupied and the rest of the cabin was full. I noticed other passengers doing the same thing until all the bulkhead seats were occupied. Seems like a strange policy really. I can understand blocking them off for elites but they should probably free them up 24 hours prior to departure or something.

777-300er

The older 777-300er business class product is definitely looking a little worn but it’s still just a fantastic, comfortable bed and seat. Unlike many business class seats, in order to recline it into a bed, you need to get up and manually fold down the back of the seat. I did actually ask an FA to do this for me the first time but watched closely as I knew I would probably go from seat to bed a couple of times and it’s actually dead easy.

The amenities in Singapore Airlines’ business class are fairly unexciting. Rather than handing out amenity kits, they just have a small selection of toiletries available in the bathroom. In fairness, this surely must cut down on waste substantially so it’s probably the way forward.

As this was an early morning departure, the first meal served was breakfast and was one of the best breakfasts I’ve had on a business class flight. I just had eggs benedict with a croissant but it was so fresh and tasty it wouldn’t have been out of place at a Sydney cafe.

For lunch I used the Book The Cook service and had salmon with vegetables and pasta and that was an awesome dish.

Singapore to Bangkok

I didn’t get to visit a lounge in Singapore as we got sidetracked shopping and it was a short transit so I can’t comment on the offering there. Pretty disappointed with myself for that but it is what it is. Next time I guess.

The flight from there to Bangkok was amazing! Even though it was only a ~2hr flight, the crew were awesome and I used the Book The Cook service and had lobster thermidor. Out of Sydney, this isn’t an option in business class, only in first, so I was surprised it was offered on the much shorter intra-Asia leg of the trip.

The seats on the 777-200 are angled flat and I can see why people might be a little underwhelmed with the product on the longer flights they use it on such as the new Capital Express to Canberra and Wellington. On a 2 hour hop though, it’s more  than comfortable enough.

Conclusion

All in all, the trip was fantastic and an awesome use of Lifemiles. I’ll definitely look at doing the same thing next time I’m going to Asia and just hope next time around I get to have a ride on the newer product.