Singapore Airlines (“SQ”) calls its First class product on its A380 superjumbos “Suites” and it’s widely regarded as one of the best First products in the air today. In 2018 they changed the design and layout from 12 Suites on the main deck, to just 6 more spacious Suites on the upper deck; the newer product being on all their latest delivery planes, and, progressively, on refurbished older A380s.  SQ services to LHR are flown in both types of A380; our flight today, the SQ317, was flown by the newer model.  So, in August 2019 I was fortunate enough to sample both types of Suites on a return flight between London Heathrow (“LHR”) and Singapore (“SIN”).

I’d actually booked return tickets in Business class (through to Indonesia, for £7141 for two), but I upgraded to Suites at check-in for £1800, as a special treat. I took the last Suite, so Mr A stayed in Business, just a galley and two rows behind me.  After our check in at 9am at a very busy and crowded LHR Terminal 2, we made our way to the SQ SilverKris lounge, and on into the First class section of the otherwise Business class lounge.  The lounge was compact but luxurious, with a separate dining area, but we sat on large armchairs next to the large windows, with a view overlooking a large hole being built, and beyond to the aprons.

The lounge offered a la carte dining, but we just had a glass of Champagne because we knew lunch would be served on board shortly after take-off.

We took a buggy to the gate and boarded our one year old A380 behemoth (registered 9V-SKY) at 11:00 through Upper deck door 2L, where I got a warm and friendly welcome and turned left.  I was shown to my Suite on the starboard side, 3F, and was immediately impressed by it; it was so big!  50 square feet big in fact, it held a leather chair which looked more like a luxury car seat than an aircraft one, there was a sideboard affair before the windows with lots of storage nooks, a space where the bed folds down from the wall, and a 32″ TV screen on one of the walls.  It was the most amazing space I’d seen on an aeroplane, and it made me feel fantastic.  The 6 Suites (3 on each side, in a 1-1 layout) means the two sides of the aircraft are separated by just one aisle; fancy that, a widebody aircraft with a single aisle!

For my pre-flight drink I had to choose between Dom Perignon 2015 and Krug 2004. I began with the latter and loved its rich and layered biscuity flavour. But surprisingly an FA took the glass from me at the start of our taxi to the runway.  The doors had closed at 11:22 (three minutes ahead of scheduled departure time) and we pushed back from stand at 11:40.   But it was’t until 12:09 that we got our take-off turn at the end of runway 09R.  But then it got interesting: the plane’s engines spooled up as normal, but when full thrust was engaged there was an odd noise on the port side and the captain pulled the throttles back and slammed on the brakes!  A few seconds later the skipper tried again, but once again he had to slam the brakes on.  Then he taxied off the live runway and we sat around for a few minutes, but it was quite odd that the Skipper didn’t make any announcement to tell us (or the cabin crew) what was happening!  It was a full 10 minutes before he came on the PA system to tell us we had “a technical problem” and we would have to go back to the gate to try to fix it.

I presumed we would be in for a very long delay, but remarkably the plane was fixed within 2 hours. It transpired it was a “throttle problem”. So the doors reclosed at 13:45 and we pushed back for the second time at 14:05 and enjoyed a normal take-off from runway 09R at 14:26.

I was surprised that SQ did not appear to offer “dine on demand”, as no-one asked me when I wanted to eat. But I was more than happy to have my lunch served after take-off, along with my fellow 5 Suites pax.  Lunch began with SQ’s signature Satay (lovely) and then caviar, which I think is a “must” in a good first class.  I moved on to the lighter-tasting Dom Perignon for this course partly because (apart from the Champagne) I found the wine list to be rather short and unclear (we have XXX or YYY; ask your FA).

I had a pleasant side salad with walnuts and then an asian style chicken soup, which was a pleasant broth spoiled only by the chewy chicken in it!

My main course was sweet & sour pork, with rice, carrots and mushrooms. Flavours were good, but the pork had far too much fat on it for my liking (but of course that style is to the liking of ethnic Chinese).

With the new Suites now on the upper deck, SQ, like other airlines, makes use of the space either side of the main staircase to provide two very spacious lavatories for its premium pax.  And it’s worth noting that the lavs are kept clean and tidy throughout the flight by the diligent FAs, which doesn’t happen on many airlines!

One of the FAs made up my bed while I was getting changed in the lav, and I proceeded to get some “shut-eye”.  The bed had an undersheet (with a whole where the seat belt is fastened, a comfortable quilt/duvet and two large, soft and plump pillows.  The shelf unit next to my head was handy for a glass of water.  But to be frank I didn’t find the bed to be very comfortable or sleep-inducing. I thought it was too hard and quite narrow, which was a disappointment.  On the plus side it was very convenient having a bed and a seat available for use at the same time, which is not the norm in First class.  The F&B offering wasn’t really to my tastes. One can “Book The Cook” for other set dishes on SQ, but only with more than 24 hours notice (ie not on last minute upgrades). Overall score 8/10

We landed at SIN at 09:26, some two hours late and 5 minutes after our connecting flight to Bali had departed.  As soon as we entered the terminal building from the air bridge we saw some stands set up by SQ to help pax with rebooked onward connections, which was commendable.  When I turned my phone on I saw that SQ had sent me a text message telling me we were rebooked onto the next SQ flight to Bali at 4pm, but then another text said we’d been put on a later flight that evening, which wouldn’t get to Bali until around 11pm. I spoke to SQ’s station manager who told me the 4pm flight only had economy class seats available and I told him we would take them because it was more important for us to arrive at a better time than in better comfort. (He had already checked for alternative airlines’ flights, but they were full).

The SQ Station Manager offered us a hotel room at the Crowne Plaza Changi, to rest before our next flight, which he said would be more comfortable than waiting in the First Class lounge, and he even walked us to the hotel reception. As compensation for being downgraded to economy he offered me a guaranteed upgrade to Business on a future ‘regional’ flight, but I told him I was unlikely to be in a position to take this offer up, so he then offered me an upgrade to Suites class on my flight back to LHR, plus a discounted (£3000) upgrade for Mr A to join me in that cabin. I accepted this offer.   The end result was that I was impressed and very satisfied with SQ’s service recovery, and I could enjoy my holiday in the knowledge that our homeward flight would be “special”.10/10

It’s a widely accepted truism that one can experience the best of any airline when flying from its home base.  Our experience of SQ’s best began when our hotel transfer car pulled up outside the exclusive First Class check in forecourt at Changi Terminal 3 just after 7am and we were greeted by two SQ staff while others gathered our luggage from the boot. We were escorted inside to chairs at a smart dining table height desk, where an elegant lady checked us in.  Because ‘manual adjustments’ had been made to my booking (ie the upgrade) I anticipated some delay, but no, it was all a very swift process and we were soon on our way through the special, dedicated emmigration route for SQ’s First class passengers.

After immigration we turned left and followed the signs to the Silver Kris Lounge. When the staff at reception saw our golden “Private Room” invitations, one of them then escorted us through the large and crowded Business Class lounge to the less crowded but busy First Class lounge, and then on to the exclusive Private Room which is strictly reserved for Suites pax.

The high-ceilinged room had comfortable leather armchairs arranged near floor to ceiling windows which overlooked the apron and runway, and a separate restaurant/dining area. We’d had an early pre-breakfast departure from our hotel, so we fancied something to eat, but being an ‘Avgeek’ I wanted to sit by the windows, and not in the dining room. That was no problem; we were given menus to study and small tables were brought to us.

And so I was able to enjoy a good Eggs Benedict, a Bucks Fizz and a cappuccino whilst watching the planes come and go outside; so civilised!  Not long after eating we were advised that boarding had started for our flight and we were offered a buggy to the gate.

On the buggy journey to Gate B2 we passed so many high end boutiques calling my name I was grateful for how much money the buggy ride had saved me!

As is the norm at Singapore Changi airport the main security screening is done at the gate, at the entrance to the Gate lounge. Once in that lounge an SQ lady somehow identified me as a Suites pax and escorted us to our own security guy for a final passport check and then onto the plane through door 1L, where we had a friendly welcome from the cabin crew.  Today’s flight SQ308 to LHR was operated by 8-year old A380 9V-SKM – one with the older Suites layout of 1-2-1 across 2 rows, plus solo seats on each side in rows 1 and 4; all on the ‘main deck’.

These older Suites are not as spacious as the new ones, but they’re still pretty big, with a very wide (35″) leather armchair which can extend into an ottoman, with ample furniture and storage space to the side. But the seat isn’t the bed: when you ask for it, an FA will fold the seat and the side furniture down and then a wall mounted bed is opened on top of them both.  On the wall above the ottoman is the video screen.

Doors closed 10 minutes early at 08:50 and we pushed back from stand at 08:59. Once again my glass of Krug 2004 was taken from me at the start of the long taxi to runway 20C, from where we took off at 09:17.  It really would be better if we were left to enjoy our drinks until closer to take-off time. 3/10

After take-off I slipped into the Lalique branded PJs given out (plus a Lalique amenity bag) in the standard-sized lavs.  To my surprise we were told that ‘Dine on Demand’ was operated (I was surprised because this hadn’t been the case on the outbound flight), so we asked for brunch after take-off, served in Mr A’s Suite 3F. (From the photo you’ll see 3F has 3 windows, compared to 2F’s 2 windows). Face to Face dining with your friends or partner is a great luxury in First Class, but it isn’t possible on the newer or refurbished A380s.

We had both chosen to have Lobster Thermidor from the “Book the Cook” extended menus, which is one of their most popular dishes. Mr A had ordered the “classic lobster Thermidor” online, but my request had been manually input by the Station Manager who’d upgraded me, and turned out to be “Boston lobster Thermidor”.

The Boston portion was a lot bigger than the Classic; that’s because the Atlantic blue lobster grows bigger and has big claws, but the Asian lobster doesn’t. Flavour-wise they were very similar, with the Thermidor sauce, asparagus and saffron rice.  A good dish 8/10

 

Whilst we ate, our personal ‘Singapore Girl’ Suzanna made up my bed.  And before I settled down for some sleep Suzanna took us on a tour of the aircraft. Behind Suites on the main deck was Premium Economy, then Economy. The upper deck was all business class, and I noticed that IMHO these older Business seats looked more favourable than those on the newer A380s.

IMHO the bed was more comfortable than in the new Suites – it seemed wider, longer and less hard.  I only slept for 90 minutes, because my body clock thought it was the afternoon, but then I lay dozing for another 3 hours or so because I was so comfortable.

I decided to get up at 10:30 BST to try adjust to UK time and Mr A and I told Suzanna that we would like our lunch served in his suite.  That’s when I realised SQ does NOT provide ‘Dine on Demand’, regardless of its claims to do so: it was 75 minutes before we were served our Satay, SQ’s traditional appetiser.  Even some pax who had only just woken up got theirs before us. 2/10.  An odd excuse, but I think the issue was that one particular FA was responsible for assembling the multi-course Japanese meal I’d chosen on “Book the Cook”, but that one person was the last FA to return from his rest period.

After the satay we had the caviar course, and then the Japanese meal which was quite substantial because of the number of different dishes served. But to be honest I didn’t enjoy it that much, partly because I had little idea what I was eating, as there wasn’t a list or menu.

Flying in SQ Suites is an amazing experience whether in the old or the new layouts; everything about the journey is an exciting pleasure.  I actually preferred the old layout in terms of bed and seat comfort, but the new one gives you so much more private space it’s incredible.  But I found myself just too far from the window to comfortably view outside.  Catering was of a good quality, but aside from the 2 vintage premium Champagnes, I thought the wine list should have been more extensive.  Although I didn’t watch any video entertainment, I saw that the selection on offer was (IMHO) far superior to other long haul carriers I’d been on in the previous year.  I find too many airlines these days opt for the lazy option of showing lots of American action and comic book films, which aren’t my cup of tea at all.  The Lalique-branded PJs and amenity kits were very good, but be aware that SQ does not provide either in Business Class.

I think SQ needs to properly provide ‘Dine on Demand’ in Suites (and even in Business, like Qatar Airways does), and it should re-look at the comfort of the new beds before they’re fully rolled out across the fleet.

As one would expect from their reputation, all of our FAs were very friendly and professional. We formed a good relationship with Suzanna, who told us she prefers the new Suites configuration because there are only 6 versus 12 pax to look after.  She was indeed very busy around the 2nd meal service, which might have contributed to  our delayed service.  I was amazed and very touched when, at the end of the flight and after learning that I had cancer, an FA called Danny gave me a saint’s amulet which he’d got in a French cathedral, to “look over me”. This was a lovely gesture from a very genuine man; not a robot FA.

Overall 9.5/10