After a fantastic 2 week holiday in the heat of South East Asia, it was sadly time to head home. After a 4:45 AM wake up, we headed to the Singapore Changi Airport. There were plenty of Uber cars available coming from the Orchard Road district area at 5:45 AM. Jerry collected us in a nice black Mercedes E Class for our 18 minute ride up the PIE expressway to the Changi Airport.

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This post is one chapter on our trip to Bali and Singapore. This trip was redeemed through Lifemiles, AAdvantage and through Starwood Preferred Guest (Marriott Bonvoy) loyalty programs. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.

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Review: SATS Premier Lounge, Singapore Changi International Airport, Terminal One, Singapore.

“The SATS Premier Lounge at Changi Terminal One provided above average food and a clean place to relax before a flight with strong wi-fi.”

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The Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 1 is the oldest or “original” terminal at Changi Airport. Despite it’s age, it’s still functional and semi modern with wide hallways and spacious areas. Furthermore, it’s been upgraded over the years with modern conveniences (wifi, art displays and duty free shopping). It’s serving all the other carriers outside of any alliance (Jetstar, Phillipine Airlines), the odd other carriers within an alliance (Qantas / Thai Airways), and others that I had never heard of (Ubekistan Airways).

Checking into Japan Airlines Business Class:

We checked in at Japan Airlines Business Class counters in row 11. We were headed off on Japan Airlines Business Class Singapore – Tokyo Narita followed by Japan Airlines Business Class Tokyo Narita – Vancouver today. There was no line at the check in and the service was friendly and prompt.

Our bags were tagged to Vancouver and we were given a small paper map for the SATS lounge.

Just off the check in, WT73Jr took a liking to the moving raindrop art display, proclaiming that “you could miss your flight just watching this”. Indeed, it was pretty cool and somewhat interesting to watch even for a jaded “been around the bend” traveller like myself.

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I later learned that SATS offered a business class check in for Terminal One located behind all the check in desks as you head toward immigration. It was nothing more than a small room with private sit down services. I used the room passage thinking that it would lead to private or expedited exit immigration. Instead, it just dumped us through a side hallway back at the regular immigration lines with no particular line advantage. It actually looked like a bad furniture store with some strange dated earth tone decor in there.

Locating the SATS Premier Lounge:

Singapore Changi Terminal One

After our check in, we cleared Singapore Exit Immigration. Singapore Changi Airport conducts security at each gate so instead of security after immigration, we were able to proceed onward immediately.

We headed up to the SATS Premier Lounge, which was situated on the second (labelled as third) floor after you passed through a sterile mezzanine area.

The SATS Premier Lounge handles all the Changi Airport lounge left overs – there was at the time of our visit a Thai Royal Orchid Lounge here, a British Airways Lounge and a Qantas Lounge here.

Accessing the SATS Premier Lounge:

The SATS Premier Lounge in Singapore Changi International Airport Terminal One is the lounge for all Terminal One carriers that need lounge access, but are not part of an international alliance.

At the time of our visit, it was the lounge for

Star Alliance Airlines

• Air China,
• Turkish Airlines
• Shenzen Airlines,

Sky team Airlines

• China Southern
• Xiamen Air

One World

• Japan Airlines

It also afforded access to odd leftover airlines such as:

• Air Niugini
• Myanmar International Airways
• Philippine Airways
• Regent Airways
• Uzbekistan Airways

The lounge is also a member of Priority Pass. As a result, access can be granted with a Priority Pass membership, or by possessing some select credit premium credit cards.

We were granted access today thanks to the class of service of our Japan Airlines Business Class Boarding Pass.

Inside the SATS Premier Lounge:

The SATS Lounge had recently been renovated thanks to apparent new organce furnishings. The SATS Premier Lounge designers had gone for the industrial look, with seating surfaces that were firm and high contact, meaning that they were brilliant in color, with surfaces that were highly durable, but weren’t all that comfortable.

The only drawback to the lounge seating were the small tables, which were small enough not to be able to set two sets of plates on them.

The lounge itself did not feature any day light windows, as it was situated in the middle of the Changi airport terminal. For those looking for seats with some sort of view, there were a few seats towards the rear that had floor to ceiling windows looking towards the no man’s land space of the upper concourse.

I ended up using the airport wifi in the lounge, which was made available by SMS code by entering your cell phone number. The wifi was strong and didn’t drop off.

There were also some sleeper reclining chairs in the lounge, although they were pretty much located just off to the side. As a result, I wouldn’t expect to get too much restful rest here.

There were also showers available in the back, which seemed to double as general bathrooms. 

The lounge featured some Asian magazines. While they were interesting to look at, I didn’t come away with anything thanks to that small language issue.

The lounge featured massage chairs, among other things.

Food and Beverage:

There was a reasonable buffet of western and asian breakfast. There was also a healthy corner of lettuces, dim sum. The offering was not too extravagant, but reasonable for a contract lounge.

There was a small wine selection – even at 6 AM on our visit. There was also the local Singapore Tiger Beer and the usual canned soft drinks

We didn’t stay too long. We took in a quick snack, but I didn’t find it a too remarkable place. We ended up heading over to the departure gate and security screening.

My Thoughts on The Premier Lounge:

The SATS Premier Lounge at Singapore Changi Terminal One was a clean, but highly average place to spend time before a flight. Unfortunately, it wasn’t anything like the nicer lounges that can be found over in Singapore Changi Terminal Three. It barely met up to the Silver Kris Lounge of Terminal 2 which Singapore Airlines houses it’s premium customers. It was perfectly satisfactory for a short stay, we stocked up on snacks and left a little fuller, than when we arrived.

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If you’ve visited The SATS Premier Lounge, did you find it as plain as I did?

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