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Details
- Made in Singapore
Overview
Redeeming your first business class flight is surely a milestone (pardon the pun). After all, not all of us can enjoy corporate flights and are born with a silver spoon in our mouths.
So I knew I had to write about it. As someone who only has premium economy to compare to, I hope this will be useful for anyone looking to save up, whether cash or miles, for the experience.
Before the flight (for departure at Singapore Changi Airport)
While you can check in up to 48 hours before your flight at check-in counters, you’ll be able to enter the transit area only up to 24 hours before, following airport security policy.
If you wish to check in at a time when counters aren’t open, kiosks and automated bag drop are available.
The business check-in counters are in a different row from the premium economy/economy ones. In my case, it was at row 6 for terminal 3, where row 4 was for economy.
Unlike row 4, the business class check-in row didn’t have a kiosk or automated bag drop. Four counters were manned when I arrived at 6 in the morning. As expected, there was no wait.
There wasn’t a difference in service level at the counter compared to economy check-in.
The Silverkris Lounge is available for passengers flying business class. You can technically come a whole 24 hours earlier and lounge in the lounge. I wouldn’t blame you because Singapore can get boring after a few visits.
Boarding
As a frequent budget and economy passenger, I never saw the reason you needed to board the plane first. It’s not like the plane could leave without you, or that someone would take your seat.
But after trying the BoardMeFirst service with Scoot, I could see how boarding first, which meant that you could cut in line, made you feel more relaxed. There’s something about waiting in queues that makes me feel stressed and frustrated.
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As a business class passenger, you get to board first and you'll need to avoid all side eyes from frustrated economy passengers who have been waiting for a while.
The business class cabin was about half filled, and with the same amount of overhead compartments, you would never have to jostle for space in them.
Seat and its features
There are different types of business class seats based on the aircraft. For this review, I flew on the Boeing 777-300ER, which is one of the nicer ones.
At 6 ft (approximately 182 cm), leg space, or the lack of it, is my biggest dread with flying. With ample leg space in front, my knees won’t even reach the front if I slouch as much as I can.
There is a cave to the right for your legs to stretch. You can adjust the seat to the front and raise the leg rest (or thigh rest, really), but this doesn’t feature a lay-flat bed. At the maximum settings, your upper body is still raised at about 45 degrees, while my feet would reach the end of the “leg cave”.
Display
The display is huge and measures about 19 inches (48 cm) diagonally. It comes with the same movies as the other classes. One downside is that, unlike economy, the screen isn’t a touch screen, and you have to control it through the remote.
There’s a button above the display that you can release allowing you to lean the display about 5 degrees forward, which I didn’t see the point of.
You can enjoy movies with the provided noise-cancelling headphones, which come with disposable covers.
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Storage
To the right of the display, there is a storage space which was perfect for my Outlier Nexhigh Carry.
Below it is a ledge and that’s where the cabin attendants will place your drinks. It can hold about two glasses nicely. It slopes upwards slightly to prevent glasses from sliding off during turbulence.
In the panel next to your seat rest, there is a slot. You can’t have anything here during take-off and landing, but it is a great place for anything temporary. I put the provided slippers, headphones, and amenity kit here.
Below the leg cave, there’s another space for your bag. It fits my GORUCK GR1 but just barely. I like how there is a raised platform instead of having you put your stuff on the ground.
To your right, there is a space that hides the table and a hole that has a bottle of water and noise-canceling headphones.
The hidden table is big and can be adjusted left or right and up and down. It comfortably fits my 16-inch Macbook Pro and more.
There is also a small slot where you can find leaflets, a safety manual, and a menu.
Others
Below the left (depending on your seat) armrest, there is one port and 11 buttons. From left to right, you'll find the:
- Headphone jack
- Do not disturb
- Cancel attendant call
- Call attendant
- Legrest down
- Legrest up
- Seat back
- Seat front and leg rest up at the same time
- Seat forward
- Nightlight
- Reading light
- Monitor on and off
Food and drinks
The food on business class flights is often raved about. It pushed my expectations up but unfortunately, maybe they were too high.
Post take off, all passengers are served 3 sticks of chicken satay, oddly accompanied by two sticks of raw onions with no sauce to dip into. No rice cakes. The chicken tastes good but can’t compare to freshly grilled ones at Lau Pa Sat.
There is a full menu which tells you can choose from two menus. For my flight from Singapore to Tokyo, I could choose between an international menu and a Japanese one.
I was going to stay in Japan for a long time after this so I went for the international one which started with a prawn salad for appetizers. Warm sauce was poured onto it by the stewardess for a touch of service. It tasted rather bland but wasn’t bad.
I chose the herb-crusted Australian black Angus beef fillet as my main.
It was cooked medium to medium well, probably due to being reheated, and slightly too well done for my taste. The sauce was flavorful but the meat tasted a little gamey. The sauce also went well with the accompanying asparagus. I didn’t quite enjoy the side of fregola with pumpkin puree and carrots but could be just personal preference.
I chose the pistachio and almond bavarois with sour cherry compote cake. It tastes pretty much like the desserts you get in economy, just with a better presentation.
Besides the better presentation with a tablecloth on a larger table, the food was underwhelming for a first-time business class passenger. But, it could just be that I’ve been overhyped with pictures from my fellow award travelers.
There is an array of drinks available throughout the flight. I’m a few months shy of being a year sober and went for the mocktails. I enjoyed the Midsummer Breeze, which is a concoction of apple, orange, and pineapple juice, topped with Sprite.
Service
Having flown Singapore Airlines multiple times, it’s one of the few things that I am proud of as a Singaporean. The service was as impeccable as economy, but much more attentive due to the attendant to passenger ratio.
Finished dishes and trash get cleared immediately, and any requested refills are fulfilled almost immediately.
My pilot friend told me I should ask for macadamia nuts, which I did. They unfortunately didn’t have any and gave me two packets of granola instead.
Others
If you have a weak stomach or bladder, an underrated benefit of business class is how the washrooms are always available. There’s also a great scent and decent amenities to freshen yourself up.
The aisle is noticeably more spacious too, but not enough for you to slip past the dining cart. However, thanks to the seldom-filled cabin, there are many more empty seats for you to pop into for the cart to pass.
A green Penhaligon's amenity kit was provided on request. I wasn't too excited by it and they, of course, can't compare to something like the Aesop kits on New Cathay Pacific first-class flights.
Is business class worth it?
Many business class passengers fly on their company’s dime. If you are thinking of paying for one out of your pocket, then you might wonder if it is worth it. If you aren't rich enough to have to wrestle with this question, then most likely the answer is no, except for certain conditions.
If you are paying for a ticket with cash, for a regular flight, then you are unlikely to get your bang for the buck.
A low fare on Singapore Airlines from Singapore to Tokyo in economy class is S$719.20, while a business class seat on the same flight is S$2,762.20. Ignoring all the extras you get like the lounge and priority boarding, you are paying S$2,043 more, or approximately S$306.75 per hour for comfort.
This, of course, varies greatly depending on the length of flight as longer flights tend to cost less per hour. Whether this is worth it depends on how much you value comfort and your financial status, but I’d say this is a luxury for the majority. I wouldn't mind paying for premium economy on a long flight, although most of my travel sticks to nearby countries.
I mentioned that there are exceptions, and this is where redemptions come in. Saver and Advantage redemptions for Singapore Airlines are available at lower miles.
I redeemed this saver flight for 52,000 miles, plus S$65.20 in tax. If you take the widely accepted value of a mile as S$0.015 per mile, then this flight effectively cost me S$845.20 or S$126 more than the previously quoted low fare. That’s about an extra S$18.91 per hour, which I’d say is easily worth it.
There are even programs like Singapore Airline's KrisFlyer Spontaneous Escapes that let you let you redeem flights at 30% fewer miles than Saver flights.
Compared to redeeming economy flights, redeeming business class and above is widely regarded as a better use of your miles since you are exchanging your miles for a costlier ticket.
Conclusion
Business class on Singapore Airlines is an experience to have. Compared to first class, it can be much easily attainable if you have money to burn or know how the play the mile game, or both.
But if you can’t afford it normally but thinking of shelling out full price to give it a try, I don’t think it is worth it.
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