In November 2023, I flew Singapore Airlines business class from Singapore to Brisbane, Australia on the Airbus A350-900. The 7.5-hour red-eye flight was a memorable experience that still has me dreaming about chicken satay months later.
Singapore Airlines may be best known for their iconic first class suites, but their business class has earned its own accolades and boasts an amazing product that’s worth experiencing.
HOW I BOOKED IT
I booked this flight with points directly through Singapore Airlines. Singapore is a transfer partner with every major credit card company and this one-way flight from Singapore to Brisbane cost 68,500 points + $75 USD per person.
LOUNGE
Business class passengers have access to the SilverKris Lounge at SIN. It’s a nice lounge with all the standard amenities, food, etc. but in the Singapore Changi Airport, it’s not where I recommend spending the majority of your time. Changi is usually ranked the #1 airport in the world, offering everything from the largest indoor waterfall to a pool to free movies playing around the clock. If it’s your first time at SIN, go explore this amazing airport and then head to the SilverKris Lounge to rest and prepare for your flight.
There are actually multiple SilverKris Lounges in the Changi airport, but we went to the one in Terminal 3 as that’s where our flight left from.
BOARDING
As you’d expect, business class passengers are among the first ones invited to board. We’d normally take advantage of this perk and spend the time getting settled and exploring our seats. However, we were actually the very last passengers to board the plane because we didn’t realize we’d have to take an Airtrain to get from the lounge to our gate. Then at the gate we had to go through security again (including emptying our water bottles). What is normally a calm and relaxing process to board business class became chaotic and stressful, but I’ll take the blame for cutting it too close.
There were separate boarding doors for first/business class passengers and economy/premium economy. On this plane, you turn right after you board to access business class seats.
SEAT
I was traveling with my husband and we chose seats 14D&F in the center. The cabin is arranged in a staggered 1-2-1 formation with all seats facing forward, not angled. Every seat has direct aisle access and odd numbered window seats are closest to the windows. In the center, even rows have seats closest to each other, which is great for couples. However, there is a large divider between the seats, so if you don’t know the person next to you, you still have privacy.
Speaking of privacy, there are no doors on the seats, but I still felt the seats were quite private.
The seatbelt is a 3-point seatbelt, which I prefer over the bulky business class lap belts with airbags built in.
The in-flight entertainment system had a really large screen and could be tilted down for viewing while the seat was flat. It had a good number of American shows and movies, but if you watched a TV show, it didn’t auto-play the next episode. It’s a very small nitpick, but it was annoying. The headphone jack has 3 prongs, so you do have to use the provided headphones to watch anything.
The seat had 2 USB ports and universal charger, which were operable at cruising altitude. There was also a tap-to-pay feature in the cubby if you needed to make any purchases.
The seat control was very modern and easy to use. Just beneath was a touchscreen remote control for the IFE.
There was also a mirror could slide out next to the cubby.
Overall, there was limited storage space, but in lay-flat mode, I was able to keep my shoes under the footrest. Neither me (5’4”) nor my husband (6’1”) had any complaints about the size of the bed, even with the narrowed footwell. The cabin was warm and we didn’t have individual air vents, but I was comfortable in shorts and a t-shirt.
AMENITIES
Interestingly, there was no amenity kit offered on this flight. The IFE screen said that you can request one on flights over 6 hours, but when I asked, I was told they didn’t have any.
They still provided us with some of the basics. At our seat was a pair of socks, an eye mask, slippers, a water bottle, headphones, and a pillow and blanket. The bathroom did have some more amenities, including lotion, facial mist, and toothbrushes. Interestingly the blanket and socks were wrapped in disposable plastic, but the eye mask was in an eco-friendlier wrapper. All the items you could keep were unbranded. The blanket was the best airplane blanket I’ve ever come across and I was legitimately trying to figure out how I could buy one!
The best amenity of all (and one I still can’t believe so few airlines offer) was free WiFi. It’s actually free in all cabins as long as you’re a KrisFlyer member (which is free to join). More airlines need to take a page out of Singapore’s book!
FOOD
As soon as we boarded we were offered a glass of champagne and a hot towel, but the food/drinks only got better from there.
Singapore Airlines is well known for their food and their “Book the Cook” service, where business class passengers can pre-order extra special chef curated meals. For example, on flights from Singapore, you can pre-select Lobster Thermidor. I had fully planned to sleep the entire time on this red-eye, so I chose not to pre-order anything. Do I regret it? 100%. I guess I just need to fly Singapore again for the food!
I just chose from the regular options on the flight and it was still amazing. Here are the dinner and cocktail menus, custom to the specific Singapore to Brisbane route:
I rarely drink on flights but when I saw a Singapore Sling on the drink menu, I had to order it. When in Rome (er, Singapore), right? It tasted like it came from a pre-made mix rather than fresh, but it was still delicious.
The canapé was truly the star of the show – chicken satay with spicy peanut sauce. YUM! I think this is one of the best pieces of chicken I’ve had in my entire life. I could have eaten an entrée sized portion of it. I can’t handle spicy food, but my husband also raved about the spicy peanut sauce.
After that chicken satay, nothing was ever going to top it, but the salmon and mango appetizer was delicious too. For the main, I ordered the stuffed chicken, which was tasty, but between the lounge food, the appetizers and drinks, and how late it was, I was pretty full and tired, so most of the chicken went untouched.
Even my dessert stomach was too tired to finish the fruit, cheese, and ice cream tray. If you’re flying Singapore Airlines business class, you’re definitely not going to starve!
There’s even a “refreshment” course if you want food between dinner and breakfast. Here’s the menu:
My only complaint about dinner service is that it did take quite a long time, which cut into my sleep. I decided to skip breakfast to catch a little more sleep and ended up with about 4.5 hours of rest.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I would jump at the chance to fly Singapore business class again. With a solid hard product, amazing food, free Wi-Fi, and super friendly flight attendants, Singapore Airlines is certainly one of the better business classes out there.
They currently operate the longest flight in the world (SIN to JFK) and I think the 18.5 hours would just fly by!
