Thinking about flying Singapore Airlines business class and wondering if it’s worth it? Already booked and want to know what to expect? Love reading what business class is like?!
Great! You’re in the right spot as in this full Singapore Airlines business class review, I share everything about my recent experience flying business between Singapore and Melbourne in an A350-900.
There’s always something special and wonderful about flying business class and Singapore Airlines nails this. It was my first time on this airline after my first independent trip overseas back in 2000 when the staff treated me horribly and I swore off Singapore Airlines. In fact, I only ended up on this flight because a conference I was attending paid for it.
However, I am glad I did as Singapore Airlines redeemed themselves and I would be happy to fly Singapore business class over and over again 🙂
I found myself in business class after I got an acceptable upgrade offer and I took it. Economy on the way over was fine, but not comparable. For $900, this was a fabulous experience.
Want to know what the fuss is about? Then keep reading as this Singapore Airline business class review includes the check-in experience at Changi, the business class lounge, boarding, my welcome on board, a full Singapore Airlines business class seat review, the food, absolutely everything.
It also has a full video where you can see everything for yourself.
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Contents
Singapore Airlines Business Class Review 2024
Details Of My Flight: Singapore Airlines A350 Business Class Review
I flew on an A350-900 from Singapore to Melbourne at 9:50pm at night, so it was an overnight flight. It was scheduled to take around seven and a half hours.
I was in seat 17A which was great, and I highly recommend it.
Full Video Of Business Class Singapore Airline Review
Want to watch a full video of this Singapore Airlines review business class? Go right ahead and watch the video below. It is filmed on this same flight and will give you a great overview of flying Singapore Airlines business class in the A350-900.
If a picture can speak a thousand words, this video will do it all 🙂
Check In At Singapore Changi Airport
Check in at Singapore Airlines’ hub at Changi Airport was easy and completely painless. The business class area was basically empty and I was on my way quick.
The immigration formalities are via automated gates now for many nationalities, including Australians. I didn’t see any priority area for premium classes, but this wasn’t busy anyway as I walked straight up to one. It took me maybe five minutes to get it to work for me though! It was a little frustrating but this is obviously not Singapore Airlines’ fault.
There is no security here and it all takes place at the gate.
Lounge Access: SilverKris Lounge
As a business class passenger, I had access to the SilverKris Lounge which I headed to as soon as I got through immigration.
I found finding this confusing as the lounge signs initially pointed the wrong way, but I soon worked it out.
The lounge itself, overall, was great although it did have some pros and cons.
First of all, it’s a huge lounge which lots of sections. I initially went to the nice looking bar area, but it was loud from some other lounge below where kids seemed to be working out and also quite hot.
Thankfully, the lounge goes on and on and other seating areas were calmer and cool, but the whole lounge was quite busy which affected the ambience a little.
As I had flown from KL right before this flight and had allowed a lot of time in between in case something went wrong, I had many hours at this lounge, and it did get very busy.
The good news is that this lounge maybe had the best food selection (and it tasted great) I have seen with plenty of options for Chinese, Asian and Western tastes. There’s also a made to order laksa bar. It was delicious.
Even though it was in the evening, there were also breakfast choices, so your stomach will be right no matter what time zone it is operating in.
The only thing that felt like it was missing was ice cream! I had really enjoyed some ice cream in the Qantas Singapore lounge a few weeks before and I would have loved it 😀 Obviously, that’s being super picky though.
There were lots of drink choices with the option to grab your own beer or pour your own drinks in the restaurant area. In the bar area, they would make you cocktails or whatever you wanted. The KrisFlyer Sling is great but strong!
The downside of the drinks is that these started running out in the restaurant area as it got busy and were slow to be replaced. The champagne stopped and I had to use their wine pouring machine which seemed to only give 30mL at a time. The bar area was just slow in general so I gave up and moved on to soft drink.
There were many power points around and you won’t have problems charging a device. The internet was good.
The bathrooms were nothing special and became quite crowded with long lines as the lounge got busier.
If it wasn’t for how busy it got, I would rate this lounge very highly, but I did find myself missing the Qantas Singapore Lounge as it got busy.
Boarding Experience
I always feel like part of the premium experience disappears when you have to do security at the gates as it seems so rare there is a priority queue, and this was no exception. Oh well.
The plane was a little late boarding so I hung out at the gate awhile before being called on. I was the first one onboard and I loved it.
The staff were so friendly on boarding that I felt incredibly welcome.
They walked me to my seat, put my bag up and talked me through how the seat operated. They even offered to take a photo of me in my seat.
I have flown a fair bit of business class and have seen this happen for others, but just about never for myself. I have always guessed it’s only for platinum flyers, but this is definitely not the case with Singapore Airlines since it had been 23 years since I had flown them!
This great service, going above and beyond, continued throughout the flight.
I had read before flying that Singapore Airlines don’t do a welcome drink which had me disappointed. To me, getting onboard and having a glass of champagne to decompress after dealing with all the airport formalities encapsulates the business class experience.
But thankfully, that information must have been out of date as I didn’t just get a welcome champagne (juice and water were also available), but I was offered a top-up. Like I said, I always felt well taken care of on this flight.
Singapore Airlines Business Class Seats Review
Next up in this review – Singapore Airlines business class seats! Let’s start by saying that overall, I loved them.
This was another area where I had a different expectation before I boarded that I was glad was wrong. I had seen online, seats that lay flat by folding forward that looked complicated and less private.
The flight attendant told me that those seats are on long haul flights. As this was “medium haul”, it was an eight year old plane and we had the older style seats. It suited me! The seats are narrower though, so it depends what’s more important to you.
The cabins are in a 1-2-1 configuration. The middle seats are best for people travelling together and the window seats for solo travellers. The window seats alternate their position each row. One row is directly by the window with the next row being right by the aisle. I had one by the window (17A) which was a great choice for more privacy.
The middle seats also switch between being right next to each other and being apart, so pick one together if you are travelling with someone else.
On arrival at my seat, I found a blanket and pillow waiting for me as well as the Australian immigration paperwork. I was glad to see that already there, so I could fill it in straight away and get more sleep.
The seat itself was comfortable and spacious.
The first thing I was happy about was the storage. There was room under the foot rest for my bag and a seat pocket for my laptop.
Next to my seat was a small table area with a little cupboard with door built into the wall next to my seat. In here was two usb plugs, a power point, a bottle of water, my menu and headphones.
The seat controls lit up when I touched them and were great. Below this was a remote, but I found I didn’t need it as I could reach the touch screen entertainment unit just fine.
It would be cool if the remote could look at something else, like the flight map, while I was watching the TV, but unfortunately it really wasn’t that useful to me.
There was a strange little mirror that pops out next to the seat. I say strange because the last thing I want to see is my reflection after a night on a plane 🙂
The tray table was great. It popped out from under the television and was a good size. It’s hard to exit the seat while using it though.
The entertainment unit had a great range of shows and movies and was very easy to use. I found a movie I had been watching on my previous flight but hadn’t finished and was able to easily navigate to the point I was up to. It’s crazy how hard that can be on some entertainment units.
All in all, I was very happy with my seat in this Singapore Air business class review. So how did it go overnight?
As soon as my meal was over, I put it in the lie-flat position. It was good, but could be improved. The end, especially, is quite narrow.
I am 1.64 metres tall and it was fine for me, but I wouldn’t want to be much bigger.
The bigger problem was the seat was a little uncomfortable when flat. What made it a comfortable seat made it a bit curvy for sleeping. I wish that it had some type of mattress cover as I think this is all it would need to be great.
In saying all of this, I actually had my best sleep on a plane ever. I usually struggle to sleep much at all on flights, even in business class. However, on this flight I fell asleep easily and woke up with just 40 minutes to go. Perfect!
Singapore Airlines Business Class Food Review
The menu, at least for dinner, for Singapore Airlines business class is great. If you log in before your flight, you can “book the cook” which gives you tons of options for your main course and this is what I did for a fabulous barramundi dish.
Otherwise, there were four great options to pick from. You can see the full menu in the Singapore business class review video above.
There were also tons of drink options you can see in the video too.
Before takeoff, they came around and confirmed my dinner order and asked what drink I wanted with it. I liked this approach to save time as my big problem with overnight Singapore/Melbourne flights is how much time can be spent on meal services so there isn’t much time to sleep.
The drinks came soon after takeoff and they brought me a water with lemon too which I appreciated, but the meal took awhile. There was turbulence at times, but even taking into that account it was looong when I just wanted it to be time to sleep.
There was a table cloth after my initial course. The food was great.
My meal started with fantastic chicken satay sticks, then a sesame crab mayonnaise salad was next. My especially ordered barramundi main was served next before they came around with dessert. I chose a great ice cream (was like a vienetta).
Everything was delicious and I thoroughly enjoyed the meal. They cleared up quick and soon I was able to sleep. Yay!
I had been surprised when I saw the menu that there wasn’t breakfast on there (although there was a snack menu). My flight was due to land at 8:15am, so I had expected a second meal like on other airlines.
I found out the next morning when I woke up right before landing that there wasn’t any breakfast.
While part of me loved this since I usually complain by all the meal service time taking from sleep time, it did surprise me and felt a little budget.
On Qantas, you get the choice of a full breakfast, a quick, light breakfast or no breakfast and whether to be woken up or not and this seems more suitable to me.
But either way, I feel this is something they should have told me. I didn’t realise until it didn’t happen.
Amenities
Amenity kits are not handed out on Singapore Airlines, but you can request them. The menu clearly showed this as well as the fact you could ask for slippers, masks, a hair brush, eye mask, ear plugs and socks. I like this as so often my amenity kits end up in the bin.
They actually brought around ear plugs “in case the baby cries” (as there was one nearby that was making a bit of noise) which I thought was handled very smoothly.
Unfortunately, there are no pyjamas on offer, but I wore my Qantas ones. I love in-flight pyjamas so take other airline ones when I know I won’t get them on board. I find it easier to relax and more refreshing to put fresh clothes on at the end.
The bathroom was nothing special except there were wash cloths which I liked.
Singapore Airlines Business Class Service
I really can’t say enough good things in this review Singapore Airlines business class. The service was spot on.
It was professional but super friendly, nice and calm.
From boarding, when I got the seat tour, to seeing if I wanted my light off when I was trying to go to sleep, I was super impressed.
It really made this flight.
Disembarking And Luggage
We arrived in Melbourne slightly ahead of schedule and were soon off and dealing with immigration, bags and customs. There’s no priority beyond the luggage but it was all very smooth.
My suitcase came out second so I was very happy with that! I was on my way and home before I knew it.
Final Words: Is Singapore Airlines Business Class Worth It?
I had a fabulous flight in Singapore Airlines business class on the A350-900. I found it completely worth it.
Of course, if I had paid the $4000 one way I saw it listed as before I left on this trip, I wouldn’t pay this. It is just seven and half hours and isn’t first class. However, it is a fantastic business class product and 100% worth the $900 upgrade fee I paid (and more on top of that).
Singapore Airlines has definitely been forgiven by my younger self and I hope I get to fly them in business class many more times.
I loved the seat, the sleep I got, the food and drinks, my experience at Singapore Changi Airport and, most of all, I loved the service. It was all just so good.
My only suggestion for improvement is a choice of breakfast dining. I still find that not being available weird. I also think the lounge overcrowding is a problem at Changi in the evenings, especially since there are still less flights at the moment as everywhere recovers from the pandemic.
Otherwise, I loved it all!
Singapore Airlines Business Class Vs AirAsia/Jetstar/Scoot Premium Classes
I fly between Melbourne and Singapore/Kuala Lumpur a lot so I have tried most of the options including Singapore Airline’s budget younger brother, Scoot, AirAsia and Jetstar all in their premium classes.
None of these options are remotely comparable and 100% pick Singapore Airlines business over them if you are able to.
Singapore Airlines Business Class Vs Malaysia Airlines/Qantas Business Class
I have recently flown all of Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines and Qantas business class from/to Singapore. They all can give decent business class service.
When it comes to how they compare, Singapore Airlines and Qantas have been far superior experiences for me over Malaysia Airlines. I am not a fan of Malaysia Airline’s seats. The service is better on the other two airlines too.
I am struggling to pick a winner between Singapore Airlines and Qantas though. I honestly loved them both. I do love that Qantas gives you pyjamas which maybe puts them slightly ahead, but then I love the Singapore Airlines “book the cook. The Qantas lounge won for me, but Singapore Airline’s would have had it not been so busy.
It may come down to the aircraft as I found the service on Qantas as good as Singapore Airlines on the A330 but wasn’t as impressed on the A380. The Qantas A380 seat wins over the Singapore Airlines one though… And the mattress cover on Qantas helps make the seats more comfortable for sleeping.
Shall we call it a draw?! I would pick whichever one was cheaper of those two options and be super happy either way.
I hope you have found this full Singapore Air A350 business class review useful. You can also read my Qantas business class review here, Malaysia Airlines business class review here, Emirates business class review here, AirAsia business class review here, Jetstar business here and Scoot Plus here. You can find all my planning guides (including flight reviews) here.
Planning a trip to Malaysia? Have any questions? Join our Malaysia Travel Planning Facebook group here now! It’s the perfect place to ask any questions and to be inspired!
