Our flight from the United States to Singapore was on Singapore Airlines A350–1000 aircraft in their business class cabin. Our flight was marked with many highs but also some interesting and notable lows. The service was excellent, as was the food and onboard wine program. On the low side, the business class seat was a little bit cumbersome, with some odd angles required for relaxing or sleeping. It’s also inconveniently designed t to fold the seat into a bed. Read on to see what it’s like to experience a long haul 15 1/2 hour flight across the Pacific in the world’s best business class cabin.

---

This post is one chapter on a trip with my 82 yr old mom from Canada to Singapore. For informaton on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Air Canada Aeroplan and Hertz Gold Plus Rewards. For parts of the trip, please see this index.

If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter “X” or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.

---

---

Review: Singapore Airlines Business Class A350-900, San Francisco International Airport – Singapore Changi International Airport 

“Singapore Airlines Business Class delivers terrific service, an engaging wine list in a quirky business class seat that’s has a few noteworthy design flaws “

Through some dedicated research, I was able to get to business class saver reward seats through Air Canada’s Aeroplan program. I booked Singapore Airlines Business Class San Francisco to Singapore returning on Singapore Airlines Business Class Singapore Los Angeles for less than Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer’s own frequent flier program offered this ticket.

This review marks the first leg of our Singapore Airlines flight segments.

Checking Into Singapore Airlines:

After spending the night at the Westin San Francisco Airport hotel we departed the hotel at 8 AM. Our flight was departing at 11:55 AM. I wanted to ensure that we had enough time to enjoy breakfast in the lounge. I was also travelling with my mom, so I built in a little extra time into the day.

Singapore Airlines uses the San Francisco International Terminal G concourse. We took the shuttle bus to the San Francisco International Terminal and found our check-in desk.

Singapore Airlines didn’t have any check in hours of operation listed on their website. However, I was plesantly surprised to see that on arrival to the desk at 8:15 AM (about three hours and forty minute prior to departure), that the check in desk was open and ready to welcome guests.

We had a friendly check in with Singapore Airlines. Our bags were accepted as checked baggage with a complimentary baggage allowance of 2 pieces at 70 lbs (32kg). Although we were slightly over 50 pounds, we didn’t have a re-balancing exercise like we did with our last flight with Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class. I have to complement Singapore Airlines for staffing it’s check-in counters conveniently early and not making its customers repack baggage.

Our boarding cards were issued. I was travelling with my 82-year-old mom and she was given TSA Pre-Check, courtesy of my Global Entry status. We had it over to the security checkpoint. Given that we were fairly early in the day, we had no wait to get through the security screening.

The Lounge: United Polaris Lounge

Singapore Airlines invited us to use the United Polaris Lounge San Francisco. The United Polaris Lounge was located after security screening, on the right hand side of the concourse.

There was so much to the United Polaris Lounge San Francisco that it’s worthy of its own separate review. During our visit in the United Polaris Lounge we enjoyed the dining room, relaxing in the lounge chairs and the bar and beverage service.

Needless to say, it’s worth getting to the United Polaris Lounge a little bit early, as it’s quite an enjoyable international business class lounge to experience. I was able to enjoy a glass of Lanson Père et Fils French Champagne, while I was in the lounge; a great start to any international flight.

After enjoying the United Polaris Lounge San Francisco, we headed to the gate. Knowing the excise tax of $88 SGD per litre on alcohol purchased in Singapore, I stopped by the duty-free in order to pick up some spirits. The duty-free purchase cut off is about one hour before flight, so you may want to make your purchases before heading into the lounge. With a kind smile, they accepted my purchase right at the cut off, to be delivered at the gate.

Boarding Singapore Airlines:

We wandered down to gate G5 where are Singapore Airlines Airbus 350-900 was waiting for us. The Singapore Airlines livery is still attractive, although quite traditional in it’s appearance. Aside from some pin stripe additions and font enlargements, it hasn’t had any major changes since 1987.

The San Francisco International Terminal departure gates are one level down from the main concourse. We descended into the open holding zone which was quite crowded with travellers.

In a typically typically well organized Singaporean fashion, boarding was announced with a large placard sign about five minutes prior to the time printed on the departure card. Ground agents started processing those that needed additional time to board, followed by Singapore Airlines Business Class, PPS Club & PPS Solitare Members followed by Singapore Airlines Kris Flyer Gold travellers all at once. The boarding was a bit “mayhem like” given the large group, and the limited space around the departure podiums.

I collected my duty-free and was pleased to discover we had double jet bridge boarding today. As a first time traveller in international business class, my mom was super impressed that we had our own dedicated jet bridge for business class.

Singapore Airlines
Business Class
SFO – SIN (San Francisco International Airport – Singapore Changi Airport Terminal Two)
SQ 31 – Business Class (I) 
11:30 AM – 7:10 PM
May 27, 2024
Booked: Airbus 350-900
Flown: Airbus 350-900

On Board Singapore Airlines Business Class:

Singapore Airlines Business Class offers a proprietary seat that is exclusive to Singapore Airlines. Despite this Airbus 350-900 entering service in the year 2019, Singapore Airlines opted to install a business class seat that has been around since July 2013. The seat configuration is a bit dated and this easily shows after you spend fifteen hours seated in the product. It especially pales in comparison when you compare it to new products like Qatar Airways Q – Suites Business Class.

The Singapore Airlines Business Class cabin is set up in a 1–2–1 configuration, split across two cabins of business class. I had assigned ourselves seats 14 K and 15 K on the right hand and shady window side of the aircraft. We self led ourselves to our assigned seats.

The Singapore Airlines Business Class cabin leaves a great first impression with colours of beige, dark browns and other soothing colours that pair well together. Singapore Airlines describes the seat as being hand crafted from Scottish leather and diamond stitched which adds an upscale look to it.

The seats in the Singapore airlines Business Class cabin generally offer quite a bit of exposure. This means that there is quite a bit of open space towards the aisle, which tends to lead towards a little less privacy.

This is the opposite direction from most other business class carriers that offer privacy doors or separate club suites.When seated, the seat configuration was fairly private. I didn’t feel as though other passengers were looking into my space.

My assigned seat 15 K offered a best in class width business class seat with high walls. There was a small armrest on the right hand side of the cabin, however it was notably smaller than most reverse herringbone seats that offer space for a full laptop to rest. The suite offered one single window and an offset cubbyhole for relaxing your feet

I got my mom settled in to her seat with the obligatory photographs. The seat looked absolutely massive against her smaller Asian frame. She looked quite comfortable in her new surroundings.

The side arm rest contained a compartment for the table rest, along with a small compartment that contained a bottle of water and some noise cancelling headphones. The compartment was exceptionally small by today’s standards, and was barely large enough to store a wallet and passport.

On the other hand, the entertainment monitor was quite large at 15.4 inches wide. The screen captured a few reflections throughout the flight when the window shades were open.

In the more puzzling and confusing parts of the Singapore Airlines Business Class seat is the highly criticized and debated foot rest area. The foot rest is offset to the right (or left- depending on your seat) requiring a traveller to to relax at an angle.

Many have criticized the small size of the foot rest which makes it harder for tall travellers. In the picture below you can see the offset nature requiring some contortionist movements. While I didn’t find it all that bad for relaxing, I found that it did take some getting used to when it came to sleeping.

It is also worth mentioning that the bulkhead seats in a row 11 features a larger foot well that runs all the way across the forward console. The seats are typically blocked up until 24 hours before travel for Singapore Airlines PPS club and PPS solitaire members. However you may get lucky getting the seats assigned on check in.

Underneath the foot rest was another storage area. I ended up storing my shoes down here when it came time to sleep.

The wall of the business class seat offered the empower chargepoints. In a suite that’s now showing it’s age, once plugged in, there wasn’t anywhere to really park your devices or computers other than the map or magazine pocket next to you.

The seat also featured a trio of lights that were designed to be used in the upright, relax or sleeping positions. I found that the icons were a little small for me to have figured this out while I was flying and would end up using the “guess and check” method for the light pattern that was best suited to my liking. I guess I’ll know for next time!

Waiting on the seat was the Singapore Airlines version of business travel necessities; a pair of slippers, a pair of socks and an eyeshade. These are distributed and provided to all passengers. Amenity kits are distributed “on request” for flights over six hours in length.

The seat controls for the seat were fairly straightforward. The Singapore Airlines business class seat is unusual as a traveller cannot recline the seat into bed mode completely on their own. It generally requires calling the flight attendant to assist in making it into a bed. It’s a bit unusual if you’re not expecting it. However I would imagine you would get used to it, if you were regularly travelling on Singapore Airlines.

Much like my other Airbus 350 flights on British Airways and Qatar Airways, the Singapore Airlines A350–900 do not have individual air nozzles in the overhead ceiling.

I generally enjoy having direct air on the seat as I find it makes travel more comfortable over the long haul.

Pre Departure Beverage Services:

While we were settling in, the flight attendants came around with pre-departure beverages. Today’s choices were water, orange juice, guava juice and champagne. Never one to turn down champagne before an international flight, I opted for a glass.

While the pre-departure beverages were being dropped off, we had a Captain’s announcement of himself as Willian Yeng along with his first officer’s. This included an announcement of a flight time of fifteen hours and twenty five minutes. There was a heavy emphasis on keeping the seat belt fastened while seated, as a result of the unfortunate turbulence incident impacting SQ921 from London to Singapore which had occurred just 5 days earlier.

The Captain’s announcement was followed by a personal flight attendant introduction. Flight attendent Caroline took my drink order along with my first meal order. She was super pleasant and easy to interact with.

The Amenity Kit: Penhaligon’s of London

Singapore Airlines typically stocks most business class amenities in the business class bathrooms. Recently, Singapore Airlines has started experimenting with amenity kits, which are available on request for flights over six hours in length.

During the initial flight attendant introduction, I requested an amenity kit which was promptly delivered. Singapore Airlines is presently partnered with Penhaligon’s of London who have a number of royal warrants for toiletries for the British household.

The Pehaligon’s amenity kits contained lip balm, facial mist and some hand lotion. The kit itself was rather small in size. However, it’s always useful to have a little lip balm available for travel.

The In Flight Entertainment System:

The Singapore Airlines Kris World in-flight entertainment was quite robust and comprehensive. Although it didn’t feature as many movies as Emirates, it featured a substantial amount of films as you might expect from a predominantly long-haul carrier.

Navigation of the entertainment system was, rather irritatingly, through a wired remote situated in the side console of the seat. Unfortunately, the screen was not a touch screen, which made navigation slightly more complicated than it needed to be. The seat design really started to show its age through the lack of a touchscreen, which has become the predominant navigation interface with everything from tablets to entertainment screens.

The flight also featured a next generation flight map that included three-dimensional flight movements, a forecast of our estimated rude and 360° displays. Unfortunately the plane was not equipped with tail cameras, which was a feature that was missing from other “like” aircrafts in this category..

In one of the more modern features of the Singapore Airlines business class is that Singapore Airlines now grants all business class travellers complementary access to the Internet.

I was required to provide my surname and seat number in order to connect. While there is no data cap on usage, I did find the Internet connection to be quite spotty, dropping off at several times through the flight. Aside from basic texting, I wasn’t able to send photographs or conduct social media posts.

While Wi-Fi was available on the flight, I wouldn’t rely on it if you had any important internet communications to take care of during your flight.

Departing San Francisco:

We had an on-time departure from San Francisco’s International Terminal. In super SQ efficiency, we were pushing back fifteen minutes before the departure time. We had a great view of several United Airlines wide-body aircraft as we crawled towards the runway. During taxi, the in-flight safety video was played.

We had a short wait at the runway whole line while we waited for an Alaska airlines Embraer 175 to land. We had an immediate takeoff after that, ascending over Millbrae, California. I did a little plane spotting of United Airlines’ aircraft maintenance facility, which is quite impressive at San Francisco.

Our travels over the coastline let us through some traditional San Francisco fog. As a result we didn’t get a view of the Golden Gate Bridge on our departure.

The First Meal: Lunch

During the climb to altitude, I took a look at the Singapore Airlines business class menu. The menu itself was multi paged and quite impressive. While they offered several choices of entrées they offered an excellent world-class wine selection.

The meal service on board was split into two formal services. The first service was shortly after takeoff. Refreshments and snacks were available throughout the flight, although I didn’t happen to enjoy any of them.

I have attached a copy of the menu here but they are also pictured below.

The second service was rather strangely positioned at five hours prior to landing. I found the time of the second service to be completely odd and I would have preferred to just sleep straight through.

Singapore Airlines puts a lot of effort into its wine program and tastes hundreds of wines at altitude so that travellers have the best possible experience. This commitment shows as the wine list was among the better ones that I’ve experienced in an international business class cabin, rivalling Qatar Q Suites and Emirates First Class.

In addition to several choices of wine, there are a few pre-mixed cocktails available on board. These included the Singapore sling which in the SQ airline form was tasting pretty sweet for my taste buds these days.

As if the alcoholic beverages weren’t enough, there was a whole host of mocktails, Illy coffees and TWG speciality tea’s.

The back of the printed menu offered a hint that the amenity kits were available on request. You would miss out on it if you weren’t paying attention.

At about 18 minutes into the flight, my first Piper Heinsieck champagne was dropped off. The champagne was properly chilled and nice and cold. These were presented with mixed nuts.

Singapore Airlines presents their champagne in a tall stemless cocktail glass. I didn’t find this to be traditionally super elegant and actually thought it was a bit of a low rent touch.

The first course was presented with orange roasted baby beats with heirloom tomatoes, pine nuts and fine salad. I paired this with Louis Latour Chardonnay, which was also properly chilled. The salad was citrusy and savoury at the same time.

While Singapore Airlines offers a “Book the Cook” pre-order service in business class, I thought that the menu offering looked much more interesting. As a result my main course was the golden braised chicken thigh, served with organic couscous, Pak Choy and honey glazed cilantro. I was really satisfied with this dish; it was lightly savoury with just a hint of sweet glaze.

Never one to turn down ice cream for dessert, I concluded lunch with Häagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream. It was elegantly presented scooped into a plate with a chocolate slice, as opposed to just being served in an individual container. This was an upscale way to present ice cream. Coming down to the taste, the ice cream was exceptionally hard.

In terms of portion size, the portions were about 65% of what I would expect a regular restaurant portion size to be. The portions were a little bit smaller allowing travellers to experience more different taste and flavours throughout their journey.

The Singapore Airlines Bed:

Shortly after lunch, I relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the movie “Sideways” with an offer of nuts and another class of Piper Heidsieck champagne. At around 4:45 PM Pacific Time, or six hours into the flight, I eventually decided that I would get some sleep and requested turn down service of the bed.

Singapore Airlines has an unusual bed in the fact that the seat folds forward from the top headrest towards the base. This is opposite from most other business class seats that just recline straight back. The bedding consists of a gray sheet, plush blanket and two pillows.

While I suspect through regular use you would get used to preparing the bed up yourself, as a first timer in Singapore Airlines long haul, I found this more complicated than convenient. Having to summon a flight attendant in order to go to bed is hardly something I look forward to coordinating when flying.

The sleep position on Singapore Airlines requires one to sleep on your side as a result of the compact foot well. As a tall traveller at 6’2″ or 187 cm in height, I found that you really had to sink your feet into the foot well which was a very tiny cavity. Considering that the average Singaporean is 5’7″ or 173 cm in height, the shorter seat would make sense to management.

While it didn’t bother me that much for the occasional flight, I could see how this would be a bit irritating for regular travellers. Ultimately, the seat and sleep position is not the strongest point of Singapore Airlines business class.

I ended up sleeping until about 9:45 PM, when I was awoken by the sounds of dishes with the start of the second service.

The Second Service:

Singapore Airlines places it’s second meal service in the last third of this 15.5 hour flight. Technically that means that the service is about five hours from landing at Singapore Changi’s International Airport.

It’s a bit strange having to wake up in the middle of your flight in order to enjoy dinner, then staying awake towards the end. I suspect Singapore Airlines feels that this is best served to accommodate circadian rhythms to combat jet lag going from east to west. Either way, I found it a bit odd and would have preferred to have the second meal within two hours from to landing.

The second meal was presented from the menu as follows. While I could have booked the cook for the second meal as well I thought that the braised lamb shank with chimichurri sauce sounded quite appealing.

The appetizer course was seared scallops with red cabbage and edamame salad, pea purée and pickled red onions. I enjoyed this with a traditional Singapore Sling cocktail which has gotten far too sweet for my older taste buds..

For the main course, I enjoyed braised lamb shank with chimmichurri sauce served with roasted fennel, tomato, cinnamon couscous and apricot almond condiment. The dish was exceptionally tasty and flavourful. I really enjoyed the couscous pairing with the lame as it was nice and light for airplane travel.

I ended up switching to the 2016 Chateau Marjosse “Entre Deux Mers” – French Bordeaux wine as the Singapore sling was a bit too much sweetness for me. I asked for Apple tart for dessert, but they had run out of it so I ended up with a form of Tirmasu.

A bottle of water was dropped off to conclude the meal. Aside from the initial bottle of water, this was the only other water service available during the flight.

Arriving to Singapore Changi International Airport:

As our 15 1/2 hour flight wound down, the flight attendants started to prepare the cabin for landing. The captain came on the public address system addressing us as “”ladies and gentlemen boys and girls” with the announcement that we would be arriving into Singapore an hour ahead of schedule.

We had an approach from the southeast over Indonesia and Batnam, which was eventually followed by a track northbound towards Malaysia, lastly followed by 180° “U” turn to land in the south westerly direction into Changi.

The view out the window as we approached the equator was nothing short of spectacular. The clouds in this particular part of the world where there is so much heat, are so different than the full wet clouds back home in North America in the Pacific Northwest.

We safely landed at Changi International Airport. We had the familiar flight attendant announcement “Welcome to Singapore and to all Singaporeans and residents -welcome home“. Their signature announcement is always a nice way to arrive in Singapore. I have missed it when I’ve arrived on other air carriers.

We had a long taxi over to our arrival terminal: Terminal two. I spotted a Singapore Airlines Airbus 380-8 on the way, along with being parked next to a Singapore Airlines Boeing 737-8.

We were among the first to disembark and had a short walk to Singapore immigration. We descended the escalators and used Singapore is brand new “E Gates”, in order to gain access into Singapore.

Our checked luggage was dispensed in the arrivals hall. Unusually for efficient Singapore, it took about 35 minutes to reclaim our bags. We had no issues with customs and entered into Singapore and were picked up by relatives.

Our experience on Singapore Airlines Business Class A350-900:

Our flight with Singapore Airlines was generally filled with highs and lows. On the terrific and spectacular side, the food and wine lists were pretty good to exceptional. The in-flight service was outstanding, pleasant and all of the flight attendants and staff were really easy to deal with.

On the negative side, the Singapore Airlines seat is just downright confusing. In addition to not being ideally configured for space to work with laptops, the seat footwell angles can tend to be awkward, the bed configuration is inconvenient to get into, the entertainment monitor tends to be reflective and not convenient to operate due to a lack of a touch screen. The seat has been around for 11 years and it shows.

Still, travellers could do a lot worse than flying Singapore Airlines. Thanks for a great Aeroplan redemption, this marked an excellent way to get from the United States to Singapore. I’d happily repeat this experience again, anytime.

---

If you’ve flown Singapore Airlines Business Class Long Haul, how did you find the seat ?

---