Trip Report: Singapore Airlines A350 to Sydney Business Class
Singapore Airlines Business Class on the Airbus A350-900 isn't a normal Business Class seat. Oh no, it's been 'enhanced' to fit into the smaller cabin on the A350, with the width reduced, and some trimming of the length too. It's been around for a couple of years now, but it's really my first chance to try this seat.
I arrived off the overnight flight from London, which arrived one and a half hours late. This, in theory, gave me ten minutes to get from gate to gate, something that would have been amazingly easy, as the two aircraft parked side by side. However, I was determined to go into the main part of the terminal to check out the new lounge at Terminal 3. I saw that my aircraft would now leave 15 minutes late, which, if I ran, would give me five minutes in the lounge. I would need nerves of steel to make this work, and not miss my flight.
Singapore Airlines' all-new SilverKris Business Lounge at Changi Terminal 3
I was really looking forward to trying the Singapore Airlines Business Class Lounge at Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 3. And I wasn't disappointed. The old 1990s style lounge had bitten the dust - even though it was really only a decade old - and in its place there is a much larger lounge, with a home from home style. If that is your home is a vast warehouse filled with dozens of different styles of seats.
The brand new Singapore Silver Kris business class lounge is vast, one of the largest on the planet, with lots of space, and at last gives Singapore a modern flagship lounge, which I have extensively reviewed, with additional video: Singapore Airlines Business Class Lounge at Singapore Changi Airport Review
There is only access for those with a Business Class ticket on either Singapore Airlines or a Star Alliance carrier: Frequent Flyers and those on Star Alliance with status are sent to the new Gold Kris Flyer lounge, which is still rather down market.
The lounge is located on the upper level of Terminal 3, to the left as you enter after security. There is a rather obscure sign, towards the A gates, and then an escalator with a huge SilverKris lounge sign, and a flowery motif. Instead of turning sharp left to the Business Class lounge, you now walk straight ahead. Left is now the First lounge, while the Business lounge exists within the footprint of the old first class lounge and The Private Room.
However, I reconed without the staff telling me that it was 'Last and Final Call' for my flight, and "I had to leave now". I told them I would take the risk, and I'd only be five minutes, knowing that there was still a vast queue at the gate; they blinked at bit at someone who was desperate for a five minute lounge visit at the risk of missing a plane.
The new business class lounge now largely comprises of four main spaces, plus the bar area. The bar is immediately to your right as you enter, beyond which is an area that has a complex mixture of seats. Sofas, curved benches, high seats with stools, you name it they are there, and this new area of the lounge embraces natural light flowing from the apron.
To the left of the main entrance, ahead are the service desks, with staff to rebook your delayed flights, and then ahead is the main dining area.
This area is always the most busy of the new SilverKris Lounge at Terminal 3, comprising a space that's much more open than the previous business lounge, although it is still cluttered, with loads of different types of seats and dividers defining zones within the zone.
There's a distinct marble vibe, with marble floors and worktops, tables, and walls, plus a colours palate on the chairs and sofas of deep fried orange and blues.
The main dining area of Singapore Airlines' all-new SilverKris Business Lounge at Changi T3 is here, with firstly a wall of fridges, having the famous sandwich fridge among them, then the four hot serving areas, with momos, noodles, English, and Asia in the sections. At the far end of which is a self serve bar area.
Inland from these are the high dining benches, made of black marble of course, with high stools to sit and eat your noodles. It's not particularly comfortable, but it's bearable.
This area, as utterly modern and contemporary as it is, has a cacophony of noise, thanks to the hard metallic surfaces, and it's often much quieter to divert to the other two rooms, ahead, and to the right of this lounge. Ahead is a light bright modern and contemporary space, albeit with a heaviness of the same drab black and orange colour scheme and furnishings. There are some long benches here, and numerous examples of Singapore Airlines quotidian 'work chair'. This work pod has high wrap-around walls that offer great privacy, plus adjustable LED reading lamps and mains power, USB and wireless charging points.
There are some great windows here, and more of the same high long work benches.
To the right it is the same story, with another room having impressive long wide area with floral displays.
Quite distinctly in the lounge there was Singapore Airlines' new 'Batik Flora' signature scent.
Dining wise, you may have thought you've struck rock bottom when you see the famous SilverKris 'wall of sandwiches'. Having four different types of sandwiches, stacked floor to ceiling, it is so mundane, as to be only worth of note if you are from British Rail and hunting for a design for sandwiches.
However, Singapore Airlines has never skimped when it comes to dining, at least on the ground, and the centrepiece SilverKris lounge offers up a veritable plethora of dishes, reflecting destinations around the globe with a melange of Chinese, Malaysian and Indian influences at the forefront.
There are two 'touch down' bars by the dining area and in the quieter room, plus beer in the fridge, and an automated beer pouring machine, which tilts your glass to pour the perfect Tiger, and a wine dispenser.
However, it is the main bar area by the entrance that gets all the attention. This is designed as a 'sports bar' with large TVs above the bar, and stools facing it: alas this means it can quite often be difficult to get to the bar, particularly in the evenings when every seat is taken. However, if you do, it's a delight, where the barman will mix up cocktails on demand for you.
For many months, if not a couple of years, the Singapore Airlines SilverKris lounge at Changi was running in Covid mode, which meant you couldn't approach the food areas or bar, and everything was behind a barrier, with at seat service. However now, at last, Covid is over and full service has been resumed. Alas, as I was to find out, only on the ground, and not in the air.
However, I had a Sword of Damocles hanging over me: my flight was flashing last and final call, and I had just minutes to get to my aircraft.
After a pleasant six minutes in the lounge, it was time to run, at high speed, back to the gate I'd just left. Singapore is quite unusual in that security is done at the gate, and I counted on this to give other passengers a bottleneck to allow me to board with maximum time in the terminal, and indeed I joined the end of a queue of half a dozen stragglers and was pretty much the last to board. Indeed, so much so, the gate clinked shut behind me, and I rapidly made my way to my seat.
Singapore Airlines A350 business class
Singapore Airlines has no less than five different types of business class seats in its various cabins, and infuriatingly all of them are available on flights to Australia. It's a right hodge-podge. Thankfully on the way to Singapore from London I had scored the best variant, the latest retrofitted Boeing 777-300ER business class, with a wider, firmer, seat, having a full 28 inch width, and plenty of stowage nooks.
However, the cabin of the Boeing 777 isn't pressurised as fully as the more-modern Airbus A350 which along with the higher cabin pressure also has quieter engines, larger windows, and a fancy integrated mood lighting which would help with violently throwing my bodyclock across different timezones yet again.
Singapore Airlines' A350 regional business class seats come in a 1-2-1 configuration, which means solo pods along each side of the plane, and pairs of seats in the centre. It's a staggered layout, which means every second row sits close to the aisle, but still with a wrap-around shell for privacy.
The key differences between Singapore Airlines long haul 777s and the regional A350s are that on the Boeing 777s you gain 28 inches of width, whereas it is only 20 inches on the A350. That's quite a tight squeeze in business class terms, although it is bit better when you lower both armrests during the cruise, giving you a tich more space to snooze.
A major downside is that although the seat does lower into a bed, it is only 60 inches long, with a tiny 'nook' to rest your feet in, as opposed to 78 inches on the full long haul model. Even the IFE TV Screen size is somewhat smaller (18inches) on the regional A350, and there is no live TV, as opposed to the 777. The external cameras are also disabled.
Now it's still a fine seat, and if you aren't used to Business Class you may think it wonderful - as I overheard a couple of people comment as I boarded - however contrasting it with it's ultra long haul cousin, it's clear that it's a major downgrade, and is really only designed for short to medium haul routes. Unfortunately, Singapore Airlines classify Sydney and Melbourne as one of these shorter routes on which it runs a degraded product.
One other downside of the Regional A350 is that there is no premium economy, which was clearly a disappointment to some passengers who had bought a premium economy ticket 'all the way through' from the UK to Australia. The two-class aircraft offers 40 business class seats and 263 in economy. However, a notable quirk is that Singapore Airlines also run a 'semi-regional' A350 with premium economy, but the regional business seat. 42 business class seats, 24 in premium economy, and 187 in economy. These A350-900 aircraft are not to be confused with the Singapore Airlines A350-900ULR; these ultra long range aircraft have premium economy, but no economy! It's a confusing mix, even for the crew, let alone passengers trying to book the best aircraft.
Still, I'd opted for the two-class aircraft, which is used on medium-haul routes of eight hours or less; the east coast of Australia is its real limit.
The new business class seats are made by by Stelia Aerospace, are arranged in a forward-facing 1-2-1 configuration that offers everyone direct aisle access. Although the 20 inch width is 'squeezy', with armrests lowered it does inch out to 26 inches wide at it's widest part. Adjustable dividers allow passengers in the middle seats to chat if sitting as a couple, or not if alone.
I had a look back in economy and the seats, manufactured by Recaro, feature an ergonomically designed backrest, a six-way adjustable headrest, and an 11.6-inch HD touch screen plus a powered USB port. They are in a very standard 3-3-3 layout.
Singapore Airlines A350 inflight entertainment
There are noise reducing headphones, and the 18-inch high definition touch screen is powered by Panasonic's eX3 system. If only Singapore had fitted live TV and external cameras on these models.
There is a pretty decent selection of films on board, particularly if you have a heavy bent towards arthouse Asian cinema, or Hollywood blockbusters of a couple of years back. Current hits are rather few and far between, and there isn't that much from the UK. TV series on the other hand lean heavily towards the US, but with just a few random episodes of each one loaded. It's a little bit of a random pot pouri.
There are also a paid of very good noise reducing headphones.
There is free in-flight WiFi, but Singapore Airlines are Parsimonious in the extreme, with only 100MB allowed for free in Business Class. You can just about eek it out for an 8 hour flight if you are frugal but with very basic text messaging only. It's a bit stingy, but it's $16USD for three hours otherwise. There is even a video on the IFE about how to reduce your data consumption.
Singapore Airlines inflight service
Singapore Airlines are still running in a semi Covid mode on board. There was no welcoming drink, no menus, no amenity kits, no inflight magazine... the list went on.
I did ask if I could have an amenity kit as offered on the inflight wifi system, and got a look of total confusion from the crew. They initially told me they no longer offered those, until I showed them the web page. The cabin service director then went away to look at her manual, and finally came back with one. She commented I was lucky as today they had four loaded on board - for a full flight in Business Class.
It's tiny. The new Singapore Airlines business class amenity kit is in a small green leather bag, and made by Penhaligon's, the luxury perfume house. It consists of a small bottle of perfume, a slightly larger tube of hand cream, and a lip balm.
The crew also managed to find me a pair of slippers.
Singapore Airlines A350 regional inflight meals
Menus are available, but only via a roundabout route, and they are not even available on the IFE system. Hidden away in the IFE system you can bring up a URL for the menus. You then connect to the onboard wifi, enter the URL, and this will list the menu. It caused a lot of confusion for those on board, particularly as the crew didn't have a menu either: instead they walked up the aisle after takeoff simply saying 'we have a chicken dish, or fish, what would you like?' which didn't really help matters. Still, that was better than the wine, where instead of ordering from the list, as you would have pre-covid, the options offered were 'red or white' and you had to look up for yourself what they were offering on the trolley. Mind you that was irrelevant, as the wine on board didn't match the menu.
I'd not had breakfast yet, having had only 5 minutes in the lounge, and my last meal was 6 hours in the past with dinner offered at 3am (local time) as we headed towards Singapore from London. Hence I was looking forward to a traditional Singapore Airlines cooked breakfast. I was to be sorely disappointed.
On regional services, such as this, Singapore have scrapped the breakfast service, which is replaced with a 'light snack'. This is just six slices of fruit. And that's it.
There is also bakery on offer, with a small basket of half a dozen croissants. I took one, and later the crew came back offering jam. However, I had to specifically ask for butter.
With no pre flight drinks on offer, by this time I was wondering if Singapore Airlines still had a bar available in Business Class, and asked for a glass of Champagne. Which, with a shrug, the crew rustled up.
With little else to do, and being rather tired, I wanted to check out how flat the flat bed on the Regional Singapore Airlines A350 goes. Well, it does lower, but goodness the hole into which you have to put your feet is tiny. Thankfully the crew also found some slippers for me, but naturally there was no pyjamas.
I was exhausted, having had no really sleep for about 24 hours before that point other than a couple of hours before the 4am checkin at Heathrow, and an hour or so heading into Singapore. However, most of the other passengers were firmly into daytime, and as soon as the minute breakfast service was over, all the window shades were opened, and the cabin flooded with light. Clearly, sleep was going to prove an elusive beast on the way to Australia, which I would have to endure as stoically as I could.
Amongst blue skies and dazzlingly azure sea, the coastline of Australia came into view over Port Headland. It was to be the sixth time I've seen it over the horizon in four months, but it's always pleasant to see the land of drought and flooding rain come into view.
A clink in the galley and it was clear that the crew were going to make up for the tiny breakfast by serving dinner at lunchtime. And who knows what Singapore were going to serve up to the cabin - certainly most of the passengers didn't; a whisper went around to see if anyone had got the menu to load. Thankfully I had, and even better on the ground, I'd managed to 'book the cook' and pre-order my dinner.
If I hadn't, the following options were available for the main course:
- Roasted Free Range chicken breast
Buttered vegetable medley, polenta with spinach and chicken jus - Prawn Noodle Soup
combination of yellow noodles and rice vermicelli, immersed in flavourful prawn and pork broth accompanied with fresh red leg prawns and bean sprouts. A crowd favourite among Singaporeans - Kari Daging Curry
Indonesian style beef curry, spicy eggplant sambal, steamed rice, stir fried vegetables
We started off with canapes and cocktails.
The absolute classic Singapore Airlines canape is the Chicken Satay, with peanut sauce, and I can confirm it hasn't changed in well nigh on 40 years, and is one of the best.
This was followed by an entree, citrus scented crab salad, with onion, cucumber and peanut sauce, which scuttled onto my plate, and left it as soon as I could get rid of it. It was dreadful; no flavour whatsoever, even in the citrus fruit, and it was on the point of being frozen.
Thankfully, my pre ordered dinner had been loaded in time for lunch, and prime steak was the order of the day. On the book the cook menu this time was charcoal grilled beef tenderloin, creamy polenta, red wine sauce with seasonal vegetables.
It was superb: alas you can't request whether you want it raw of charcoal, as it always comes medium done, but it was lovely, with lots of flavour.
The starter and main course were plated in the galley, and brought over, however all the dessert options are loaded onto a trolley for you to take your pick. With, this being a regional service with a limited supply in the galley, that it was 'one or none please'.
I went for the lemon cheesecake with berry compote, which again had lots of flavour and was great. Indeed, I'd gone from starving to full in just two and a half courses.
However, just to check it was of the finest of quality, I also wanted to check out the cheese course. This was a bit of a stretch for the crew, and they asked me to wait until they'd finished serving all the courses before seeing if any remnants were left by laggards who couldn't get through it. Which there were. Curiously plated, with a small plastic cover, there were only a few biscuits, but some pretty nice cheese.
The main ones on the plate were Brie, tete de moine, and Morbido Rosso.
The semi-hard cheese manufactured in Switzerland, Tete de Moine, translates literally as 'Monk's Head'. The cheese contains raw cow's milk with a half cooked, half pressed paste
Meanwhile Morbido Rosso, a semi-matured cheese, is coated with red chilli peppers that gives it a reddish-orange crust.
Singapore Airlines should really be commended on the excellent and varied types of cheese on offer. Alas the presentation of the cheese platter & crackers is anything but. It was promised with fig paste, but actually turned up with a rather random walnut.
Singapore Airlines Wine
Singapore Airlines is also well known for its wine collection. Alas the wine on board bore no relation to the wine list, and the crew's knowledge was notable by its absence. Indeed, the only comment they could make about the wine bottles loaded on the trolley were that they had 'white, or I think that is a red'.
The other severe gap was that the trolley on one aisle was loaded with one type of red and white, while the other trolley was loaded with the other two types, rather than offering customers a choice.
In the random lottery that was Singapore Airlines service, I ended up with White Bourgogne Chardonnay wine, the Montagny Premier Cru. Described as frisky and alluring by the vineyard, it is limpid, pale gold colour with green highlights. It's basically a fresh white wine that is a totally uncomplicated representation of a classic Chardonnay.
There was also Pewsey Vale Reisling from the Eden Valley on the other trolley.
Again the reds had no connection with the menu, however I lucked out with the Teusner Riebke Shiraz from the Barossa Valley.
It has a rich, full-bodied palate and a fine, powdery tannin. Dan Murphy describe it as great value-for-money Shiraz.
There was also Teusner Riebke Shiraz from the Barossa Valley on the other trolley.
Cocktails are also available. There is the classic Singapore Airlines Singapore Sling, and I also tried the Grand Pineapple Daiqui (with rum, orange liqueur and pineapple juice) just before landing which was great.
Singapore Airlines A350 Regional Business Class review
It's Business Class, but not as you know it. The short haul alternative from Singapore Airlines flies almost longhaul to Sydney. However, the seat is notably a bit lacking, despite the almost brand new A350 aircraft, which is lovely. The brand new lounge at Singapore Changi is very definitely worth it. There is a full Business Class service. However, free flowing food and drink, there really isn't until dinner time. Some parts of the missing service can be explained due to Covid and the sudden increase in passengers, and flights. However, on the whole, even in this regional configuration, and allowing for the breaks in service, Singapore Airlines offer up a very good product never the less.
I paid a grand total of only a couple of hundred dollars for the flight, and this was in Business Class, return from London Heathrow to Sydney.
Singapore Airlines are notably stingy in allowing frequent flyers access to their inventory using points, and seats in the premium cabins are notably hard to come by. The only Star Alliance member which used to have full access to Singapore Airlines Business and First seats was poor old British Midland, and bmi bit the dust many years ago. For instance, if you try to book Singapore seats using United miles, you will generally be out of luck. Thankfully Virgin Australia, which is notably not a member of Star Alliance, has full access to all Singapore seats. I was able to book a return from London at only a month's notice, on the day I wanted it, on Singapore in Business Class. And it's not a one off, as I was able to book another return only the following month, in peak season, using miles I transferred from Coles supermarket loyalty scheme. It's a curious system, buying groceries in lockdown to gain peak season premium returns that are generally unavailable, but when it works you get some real bargains.
One other surprise awaited me. We left London and hour and a half late thanks to many passengers being unable to access the Australian digital passenger forms, which are a notorious nightmare that few passengers can actually use. However, we arrived in Sydney half an hour early, and I was able to jump on the train, and get back intime for tea, a mere 24 hours door to door from when I started. And finally, get some much needed sleep.
See the full Trip Report: Singapore Airlines A350 to Sydney Business Class video:
Lux-traveller paid its own way for this Trip Report: Singapore Airlines A350 to Sydney Business Class, and travelled incognito.
| Trip Report: Singapore Airlines A350 to Sydney Business Class | |
|---|---|
Lux-traveller.com rating:7 out of10  | |
| Seats: | 7 - Controversial squeezy Business Class seat, and tight on space |
| Food: | 6 - Basic apart from one main meal |
| Service: | 8 - Classic Singapore Airlines, professional, not exceptional |
| IFE: | 7 - Slightly small screen, but good content |
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