Here at lux-traveller we get to travel in the back of the bus occasionally: but sometimes we don't mind so much. Singapore Airlines have put on their brand new Boeing 777-300ER with the latest seats out of Melbourne to the Lion City, which is one of the best triple 7s in the sky, so it's time for a Trip Report with Melbourne to Singapore on Singapore Airlines in economy.
Oddly, this trip was much anticipated, which is quite rare for us: how often do you look forward to an eight hour flight in economy? But Singapore Airlines is the exception.
Singapore Airlines check in at Melbourne is a strange mixture of going back in time - with no train to the airport, it was a short journey on the Skybus. Oddly enough from the main train station.
And 40 minutes later, there I was at Melbourne airport, about to head into check in.
There were no queues at all at the Singapore airlines check-in counters, so thankfully my Virgin Australia Gold Card wasn't really in need of use, and I managed walked straight up to Business Class check in.
I was through and in the lounge within about 10 minutes. Lounges at Melbourne airport are in the basement, down a clankling and old escalator.
Normally economy class passengers don't get access to the Singapore Airlines lounge.
However, again, one waive of a Gold Card, and it was through to, well, a rather underwhelming experience. The Singapore Airlines Melbourne Lounge is not, perhaps, the most inspiring of airport lounges.
Out sister site Loungeindex has reviewed the Singapore Airlines Melbourne Lounge in detail: suffice to say the old basement cupboard is now looking larger than it once was, but it still doesn't have the wow factor of the Sydney lounge (if it ever did).
There is a good buffet however, and a decent (free pour) bar with excellent New World wines. Seats though, are lined up against the walls in an odd triangular pattern. Thankfully, the lounge was all but deserted.
I had three hours to kill, so also took a walk through Melbourne's shops and cafes: I'm delighted to say I found a lovely Spanish style bistro, called Bar Pulpo, which had some excellent tapas.
Boarding was soon called, and I walked through business class, which was at best half full.
Business Class on the Boeing 777 still uses the old really wide Singapore Airlines seats.
I was lucky enough to get the prime emergency exit seat at the front of Economy, which was also rather empty.
Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300ER economy class review
I was originally scheduled to fly out of Melbourne on their previous generation Boeing 77Ws, which was launched back in 2007 and is still pretty good. However, the newer 77W (Boeing 777-300ER) still has the same dimensions (32 inch pitch) but has better cushioning, and is equipped with a larger 11 inch HD touchscreen monitor with USB ports, and a touchscreen remote handset similar to those offered by Emirates.
However, one of the best features of Singapore Airlines is that they haven't gone down the route of other airlines, with ten abreast. Singapore Airlines 777s remain firmly 3-3-3, with nine seats in a row, and as such you get about 20 percent more width than other carriers, making the seats seem much larger.
The seats on this aircraft are also new, with a large 11 inch TV screen, USB charging, and the tray table has a built in vanity mirror.
Doors were closed and we pushed back ahead of schedule, and within half an hour the drinks trolley arrived, with the first drinks run of the meal service: at the front I was served first, but seeing the length of the aircraft, I can see if took some considerable time for passengers at the back to get a drink.
Singapore Airlines has a good drinks menu, but as I've found before, if you order anything on the menu, you'll be told 'the crew will come back to you' with that, and then after an hour or so wait, you have to take a trip to the galley yourself to get it as the crew automatically forget. The rule is simple - only order what is on the trolley, with the trolley, and if you really want something else, order it in the middle of the flight. Thankfully on the trolley is a made up bottle of the airlines trademark Singapore Sling.
Naturally, all drinks are served with some peanuts. Double wrapped, for safety, incase they pass by anyone allergic.
Singapore Airlines economy Meal review
Meals are good, with Braised Beef in red wine served on this flight, along with a Thai red chicken curry.
All meals came accompanied with a salad with salmon, a soft roll, and cheese and biscuits.
Singapore Airlines, thank goodness, still serve up good quality tasty food. There's plenty of variety on the tray too. A second round of drinks comes with the meal, but is even more basic than the first: only one bottle of wine is on the trolley, and while you can ask for the other wines on the menu, you will be told to wait, and ignored: again, the moral is clear. Just take what is on the trolley. In this case, cans of Fosters.
After the main meals, ice cream desserts come around - a sticky date pudding with toffee ripple. It is of course frozen hard, but if you leave it on your tray for an hour it becomes edible.
Another plus point is that Singapore Airlines haven't gone the way of Emirates in cutting on board meals to just one basic serving, mid way through the flight.
Indeed, there are snacks too. Noticing I was hungry, the crew came up to me with a tray of biscuits, which was a nice touch.
Instead, the old tradition of one hot meal and a snack continues (it is only Cathay Pacific which still has two hot meals on this length of flight). About 90 minutes before landing the second meal serving came around, of a hot meat pie.
I did ask what type of meat was in the meat pie, and the crew went to the galley to check. A little later they came back with a label that said it was 'mixed meat', which didn't really inspire confidence.
Trays were very quickly collected, and within an hour we were on the ground at Singapore.
Singapore Airlines IFE
Onto Singapore Airlines seatback TV - known as KrisWorld Entertainment. On the new Boeing 777 the seatback screens are high definition, and large (ish) at about the size of a mini ipad, but still more than adequate for the eight hour trip. There is also a good remote.
The earphones now on board are a significant downgrade from the headphones Singapore Airlines would provide before
KrisWorld is a good solid entertainment product. It is OK, with quite a few new releases, but it is very much geared to the Asian market now, with mainly Hollywood or Chinese films. There are only a few European films, and no British or Australian content, which is a shame. TV box sets are almost exclusively US middle ranking series of little note.
The latest upgrade means you can watch the aircraft moving map display while watching a film, which is a real bonus few airlines offer.
Singapore Airlines onboard WIFI is also available on the latest aircraft. But it's pretty expensive. Mind you Emirates, used to offer free onboard wi-fi in economy, but now charge even more than Singapore Airlines.
Singapore Airlines Economy Review
So how good is Singapore Airlines Economy Class? In general, still very good indeed. The airline maintains it's quality, there is more space in economy than on most of the competitors, food is good and the entertainment is among the best.
Niggles remain, in particular with the crew always, without exception, forget the drinks. But with some bargain fares from Australian to the UK around, Singapore Airlines remains one of our favourite airlines.
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