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Tag: Business Class

  • FLIGHT REVIEW: Singapore Airlines B787-10 Business Class, Bangkok – Singapore

    FLIGHT REVIEW: Singapore Airlines B787-10 Business Class, Bangkok – Singapore

    Singapore Airlines / 22 Apr 19 / B787-10 / SQ983 BKK-SIN / Business class / 14A

    I was redeeming my Krisflyer miles for a trip down to Perth, and I remembered that I could add on a leg within Southeast Asia for an additional USD100. As I had a trip to Bangkok some time earlier in the year, I decided to add on a Bangkok-Singapore flight to make the full use of my miles.

    Bangkok Survarnabhumi airport is a massive animal, but Singapore Airlines almost always depart from D gates. Singapore Airlines also operate a SilverKris lounge at the airport, right across from gate D7.

    Singapore Airlines Boeing 787-10 business class

    The aircraft

    The Boeing 787-10 is the new generation aircraft that Singapore Airlines have decided on for its short and medium haul flights. At the time of writing, the aircraft type is progressing replacing the A330-300s on several routes, including to Osaka, Taipei and Perth.

    The aircraft has a two-class configuration: business and economy class, with 36 and 301 seats respectively, for a total of 337 seats. In business class, the seat that Singapore Airlines have chosen is the STELIA Symphony, a brand new design that Singapore Airlines have decided on and announced with much fanfare back in 2018.

    In a departure from its previous regional configuration on the A330-300, Singapore Airlines have gone with a 1-2-1 seat layout, forgoing the wide seats its famous for and gone for the alternating pattern with a side console. This layout is similar to what other airlines such as Qantas have on their widebody aircraft.

    The seat

    The Boeing 787-10 I travelled on has 36 business class seats across 9 rows in a 1-2-1 configuration, which means that all seats have direct aisle access. At the time of booking, all the window seats with the side console dividing the seat from the aisle have been taken up, which was rather surprising.

    The 2018 regional business class seat

    At first seating, the seat feels a little tight. The seat comes with adjustable armrests on both sides, which one can leave up or push it down to level with the seat for a more spacious seating.

    Unlike the Qantas layout, Singapore Airlines have aligned the seats in the such a way that in alternate rows, couples travelling together can choose a pair of middle seats that is right next to each other.

    Alternating couple and aisle-siding seats for the middle section

    You will also notice there’s a sort of privacy divider between each seat and the aisle, making the seat feel really private as you will be avoiding any kind of awkward eye contact with your neighbours across the aisle if you happen to be just looking around from your seat.

    Privacy divider on every seat

    The controls on the seat have been very much updated from previous iterations of the Singapore Airlines business class seat. Loyalists will know that the previous iterations of the business class seats – especially the long haul seats – are built to be manually turned into beds upon request.

    Seat controls and entertainment handset

    For the Boeing 787-10, Singapore Airlines have adopted an electronically-controlled system. The seat controls are located on the side of the table-console. At a touch of the button, you will be able to recline the seat into a fully flat bed.

    On the side console was also a small compartment which contained the headphones, and also contained the power socket and charging ports. For take off and landings, the compartment needs to be closed, so effectively you won’t be able to charge anything during this time.

    Storage compartment on the side console

    One thing to note is that the foot well is rather small. When I tried it, the only comfortable position is when you sleep facing upwards. If you are a side sleeper like me, you will be more comfortable curling up your legs, rather than try to slot them into the foot well. If you are very tall, good luck to you.

    Tiny footwell

    The tray table is stowed under the in-flight entertainment screen in front of you. There is a button to eject the tray, which you then unfold into a larger table.

    For an extra perk, the two front row window seats – 11A & 11K – both contain an extra storage space that also serves as a bassinet space. If you manage to get those seats, the space is very handy to keep your bags within reach during flight.

    Bassinet space at seat 11A

    The service

    The flight time today was just under 2 hours, and a full meal was served.

    As usual, as the economy class is still boarding, the cabin crew came around with a choice of pre-departure drinks. As always, I’ve gone with a glass of champagne. The choice of bubbly today was the Charles Heidsieck, the choice of champagne that Singapore Airlines go for its business class.

    Shortly after take off, dinner was served rather quickly. The menu for the day read as below:

    Appetiser:
    Marinated fried tofu and cashew nut salad with thai chili sauce

    Main course:
    Seared kurobuta pork loin with bourbon sauce
    Deep fried sesame coated chicken with asian green, carrot, fried noodles and oyster sauce
    Hor Mok Pla, or thai style minced fish with coconut cream and spices, sauteed vegetables and fried rice

    Dessert:
    Raspberry choux

    Assorted bread rolls and gourmet breads

    Coffee and tea

    Given the short flight time, the meal was served on a single tray, rather than through a multi course presentation.

    Single tray service for short haul flights

    The only real choice you get on short haul flights are a choice of main course. For flights out of Bangkok, note that there’s also no Book The Cook options so you are pretty much limited to the menu choices.

    I decided to go with the pork loin, which I thought was the least bad options based on the choices available. At first bite, I was pleasantly surprised at how tasty it was. The pork was tender and the texture was in fact closer to chicken, rather than pork.

    The jus was pretty good as well, although I’m sure that would have been laden with sodium.

    The star of the meal was in fact the dessert. The cake was balanced in its sourness and sweetness, making it a perfect end to the meal.

    Along with the meal, there was also the usual choice of four wines, two whites and two reds. I went with the french red bordeaux (as opposed to the italian red), which wasn’t particularly memorable, although it wasn’t bad.

    Champagne barely half-filled

    I was done with my meal pretty quickly and soon enough the cabin crew came around to clear my tray. I then asked for another glass of champagne, which was promptly brought to me. I was rather amused at the serving though: it was barely one-third filled. I understand that service guidelines typically require most beverages to be filled to roughly about half, or two-thirds of the glass to minimise spillage, but one-third of a small, tall glass is kind of ridiculous.

    Needless to say, I had to ask for a second serving.

    Final thoughts

    It’s great that Singapore Airlines has finally moved to a 1-2-1 configuration for its regional business class seats, which is a much needed upgrade from the previous 2-2-2 cabin which I unfortunately had to experience when I went to Beijing.

    Having tried the seat for the first time, while sleek, I personally felt that the seat was rather tight. Even though it seemed like there was a lot of space, but in reality the seat width didn’t feel spacious, especially when the armrests are up.

    Fully flat bed at a touch of a button

    The screen also seemed like it was right in my face, although one may argue that’s not too bad a thing actually as I could actually touch the screen without stretching.

    The design of the seat could also use some tweaking. Realistically speaking, the compartment next to the seat which had a sliding door wasn’t much of a use. If I have placed some small articles in it, I had to shut the door in order to prevent the items from falling out in case of turbulence. A container-style compartment would have worked much better.

    In-flight entertainment

    The seat controls next to the seat was also often accidentally triggered by my resting arm when my armrest is down, which was rather annoying.

    On the service front, as usual it was impeccable, and a tray service even in business class is pretty standard for a short flight like this. However, I would really appreciate if there was a semblance of option, even for something as simple as desserts where some things such as ice cream are easy to uplift.

  • FLIGHT REVIEW: Malaysia Airlines Boeing 737-800 Business Class, Kuala Lumpur – Singapore

    FLIGHT REVIEW: Malaysia Airlines Boeing 737-800 Business Class, Kuala Lumpur – Singapore

    Continuing my journey from Ho Chi Minh City, the flight for the day is a short business class ride from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore with Malaysia Airlines.

    The Kuala Lumpur to Singapore hop is an incredibly short one, typically the aircraft only cruises for less than thirty minutes before descending.

    My ride today is on a Boeing 737-800, which Malaysia Airlines have plenty of. Between Singapore and all the Malaysian destinations it flies to, Malaysia Airlines only use the Boeing 737-800.

    The aircraft

    Malaysia Airlines’ Boeing 737-800 features 16 business class seats, laid out in a 2-2 configuration across four rows. In economy class, there are 144 seats, laid out 3-3 across 24 rows.

    Malaysia Airlines B737-800 business class

    The business class seats are recliners, which is perfectly fine for ridiculously short haul routes like mine. What you need to be aware of is that Malaysia Airlines also uses these narrowbody aircraft on some mid-haul route, including the Shanghai Pudong — Kuala Lumpur red eye service that I took some time ago, and also sometimes to Perth. So, always check the aircraft before you book.

    I’ve pretty much covered most of the seat in my review from Ho Chi Minh City to Kuala Lumpur, so there really isn’t much to add.

    The service

    Given that this was a ridiculously short flight with under an hour flying, one should not expect anything much.

    The business cabin was only half full when the aircraft door was closed. Only when the economy class passengers were all boarded and the aircraft door was closed then a cabin crew came around to offer a pre-departure drink of either apple, orange or guava juice.

    Pre-departure drink: orange juice

    One thing to note in case you don’t already know this: Malaysia Airlines have taken off alcoholic beverages from all flights under three hours for a few years now, that effectively means all domestic service, as well as most of the regional services within Southeast Asia, no longer carry booze.

    Shortly after I picked up the orange juice, the crew came around with a cold towel. Being pretty grossed out by the state of the cleanliness on my last flight, I used it to clean the armrests again.

    Soon we were on our way. The moment we are at cruising height, the cabin crew around to offer a snack: a choice between a tuna sandwich, or a curry puff. I decided to go with the sandwich, which was quickly brought to me on a tray, with a piece of Beryl’s chocolate.

    Spicy tuna sandwich

    It was… alright. I also asked for a glass of sparkling water, which was promptly brought to me, along with the rest of the bottle.

    After I was done with the sandwich and my drink, the cabin crew came around offering a choice of hot beverage, which I was pleasantly surprised at, given the short length of the flight. I opted for a green tea, which again, was brought to me rather quickly. I had at least another 15 minutes with the tea before it was being kept for landing.

    Final thoughts

    Given that this is an incredibly short flight, there really isn’t much to expect out of a flight like this. It’s ridiculous to expect anything to eat on a flight like this, and you are better off filling yourself up with food before or after your flight.

    The cabin crew is extremely efficient, which isn’t hard to achieve with only half the business seats filled.

    Spritzer sparkling water

    The aircraft is incredibly old, but good enough for a short hop from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore. I generally have no issues with old aircraft, but what really bugs me is the state of cleanliness of the aircraft. Fortunately, this aircraft was a lot cleaner than the previous one I took from Ho Chi Minh City to Kuala Lumpur.

    At the time of writing, a return business class ticket between Singapore and Malaysia is about S$700 from Singapore, or RM2,200 from Kuala Lumpur. If you are redeeming miles, that will set you back by at least 32,000 miles. No one should really be spending that kind of money or miles for a journey like this, and the only reason why you should fly this is if you are connecting on to somewhere else.

  • FLIGHT REVIEW: Malaysia Airlines Boeing 737-800 Business Class, Ho Chi Minh City – Kuala Lumpur

    FLIGHT REVIEW: Malaysia Airlines Boeing 737-800 Business Class, Ho Chi Minh City – Kuala Lumpur

    I was travelling from Ho Chi Minh City back home to Singapore, so decided to do a mileage run with a oneworld carrier given that I was trying to keep my frequent flyer status on Qantas for another year.

    Having done some research, I realised that Malaysia Airlines was my best bet given that it goes via KL, as that gives me two sectors and a lot more points and status credits with Qantas Frequent Flyer than travelling on a direct flight.

    Standby at airport: Go shows

    I showed up way too early at Tan Sohn Nat International Airport for my 7.10pm flight, and wanted to check if I could standby for an earlier ticket. I had done it pretty often with Qantas in Australia, or to some extent with airlines in US as well, so I thought I could try.

    While I tried to check in, I was told by the agent that the fare class for my ticket was ineligible for what they called ‘go shows’, and asked that I wait around to 4pm before my flight opens for check in. Obviously I wasn’t going to wait around for 2 hours to check my bag, so I asked to speak to the airport manager.

    When I later spoke to the airport manager, he explained that their customer management system has recently been changed and they are no longer allowed to put people on a different flight from what was booked.

    In summary, any sale tickets – whether in Business or Economy – will not allow you to show up for an earlier flight. From some online research the only exception seem to be out of Singapore.

    Having said that, the airport manager made an exception to allow me to do an early check-in (they do not offer ECI at SGN), and invited me to head to the lounge early.

    Security, immigration, lounge

    Note that the airport only offers dedicated immigration counters for Sky Priority members, a Skyteam initiative, as Vietnam Airlines is an alliance members. Unfortunately that also means that all other airlines customers, including premium passengers, will have to join the general line. If you are an ASEAN passport holder, fortunately the dedicated counter queue tends to be shorter.

    Once you have passed through immigration, you will see that there’s a dedicated business and first class security lane so feel free to use that.

    The lounge that Malaysia Airlines uses at Tan Sohn Nat International Airport was the Saigonnais Lounge, a third-party lounge operated by Sasco, the airport operator. In fact, all the lounges at the international terminal are operated by Sasco.

    Saigonnais Lounge, Tan Sohn Nat Airport International Terminal

    The aircraft

    After spending about three hours at the lounge, I finally head to the aircraft to start my journey.

    My ride today is on a Boeing 737-800, which Malaysia Airlines have plenty of – 48 to be exact. MH typically uses the 737-800s for its domestic and regional services, some as far as Taipei, Shanghai and Perth.

    Malaysia Airlines Boineg 737-800 Business class

    MH was expecting to bring in some MAX 8 and MAX 10 from this year onwards, but given the recent incidents around the MAX variants it remains to be seen if that will still happen. At the time of writing, MH has yet to make any changes to their order.

    Malaysia Airlines’ Boeing 737-800 features 16 business class seats, laid out in a 2-2 configuration across four rows. In economy class, there are 144 seats, laid out 3-3 across 24 rows.

    The business class seats are recliners, which is perfectly fine for short haul routes. The seats come with 42 inches of pitch, offering plenty of legroom. The seat measures 21 inches across, wide enough for even a fairly big sized person.

    Malaysia Airlines Boeing 737-800 business cabin with 16 seats

    Be careful though, Malaysia Airlines also uses these narrowbody aircraft on some mid haul route, including the Shanghai Pudong — Kuala Lumpur red eye service that I took some time ago. So if you want to have a good rest, either avoid overnight services altogether on MH, or check the aircraft before you book.

    The seat

    The seat has got simple mechanical controls: one button to control the seat back recline, another one for the legrest. Both of these have to be set to the default position for take off and landing. Note that this is a recliner seat, while it has a considerable recline, these are not flat beds – don’t expect to sleep well on them.

    The tray table is stowed in one of your armrest. In the middle armrest between each pair of seats, you will find the controller for your in-flight entertainment system.

    Controller for in-flight entertainment system

    As I was seated in row 1, the in-flight entertainment screen is also stowed under the middle of the pair of seats. To take out the screen, you will have to push it in first before it pops out. There was no instructions so I had to look around and fiddle with the screen before I could get it to come out, which was pretty frustrating.

    The service

    The cabin today was only about half full, so there was only about one person for every two seats. In the business cabin, there was two cabin crew, so the passenger to crew ratio was very good.

    There was also a variety of newspapers being put in every magazine holder in front of the seat: you don’t really get a choice, but every seat seem to get a different newspaper so you can always swap with your seat neighbour if you wanted something else.

    Pre-departure drink – no alcohol served

    As a pre-departure service, I was offered a couple of guava, orange or apple juice. I went with the pink guava (I may have gotten this wrong) and was pleasantly surprised at how tasty it was. I was then offered a cold towel to refresh myself.

    One thing to note: Malaysia Airlines have stopped serving alcoholic beverages on its flights under three hours for a couple of years now, so there was none available on this flight.

    Soon we were on our way, and the cabin crew came around handing out menu cards.

    Business Class menu cards

    There was a simple dinner service on this short two-hour ride. Despite the short ride, there was three options available for the main course:

    • Ayam Panggang Madu (Grilled honey chicken)
    • Pad Gra Pow (Thai-style stir fried beef with rice)
    • Pan-Roasted Garoupa with Tomato and Chilli Jam

    I went for the Ayam Panggang Madu, and everything was served on a single tray, including a side salad to start with, and an orange cake for dessert. One of the cabin crew also came around with a selection of breads. I decided to go with garlic bread which, to my disappointment, was cold.

    Dinner service – Ayam Panggang Madu

    While the meal didn’t exactly look very palatable, the surprise was in the cake: it was so delicious, and not too sweet, so I finished it all.

    After the meal service, my tray was promptly cleared and I was offered a hot drink. Checking the menu, I decided on a Rooibos tea, which took a while to come. However, the tea was pretty heartening and in my opinion a good way to end off the flight in absence of a glass of wine.

    Red Rooibos tea

    In-flight entertainment

    As I was in the bulkhead seat, the in-flight entertainment seat was stowed at the side of the seat. With no instructions on how to get it out, I struggled with the screen for a good while before figuring out to use it.

    The screen is a touch screen, but for the germaphobes, there’s also a remote control stowed at the side of the seat.

    In-flight entertainment screen needs to be upgraded

    Given it was a short flight, I didn’t bother watching any shows. I scrolled through the selection, which wasn’t huge but pretty current. The screen was quite small for a business class cabin, and the resolution of the screen was quite bad as well. There was a pair of headphones that was dished out at the beginning of the flight, but again, it looked like they have been in use for the last decade.

    Final thoughts

    Malaysia Airlines has a fairly large fleet of Boeing 737-800s, so if you ever need a hop in Southeast Asia, there’s a good chance you will have to ride one of these.

    Let’s face it: the business class product is not stellar on any Boeing 737s, including SilkAir’s (not until they get the flat beds). The other major issue with MH’s planes are the state of the cleanliness. While airplanes are rarely the cleanest place on earth, it’s really something else to have armrests as dirty as theirs.

    On the service end, MH obviously fared much better. The Malaysian hospitality is warm, the food tasted good, and everyone was pretty attentive and proactive.

    What I’m really unsure of is the removal of alcohol beverages on journeys under three hours.

  • FLIGHT REVIEW: Singapore Airlines 777-200 Business Class, Singapore – Beijing

    FLIGHT REVIEW: Singapore Airlines 777-200 Business Class, Singapore – Beijing

    It’s been a while since I last took a Singapore Airlines business class flight, so when the opportunity presents itself for me to make a redemption booking to Beijing, I decided to try to score a seat on the Boeing 777-300ER, as I have not tried the product before.

    In the first instalment of the permanent Spontaneous Escapes, Singapore Airlines ran a very generous offer: redeeming a business class seat at the price of an economy class redemption.

    Singapore Airlines operate 4 daily services to Beijing using a mix of aircraft, including the A380 and Boeing 777-300ER. I decided on a Friday evening flight which was operated by the Boeing 777-300ER featuring the 2013 version business class seats.

    Arriving at Changi Airport terminal 3, I made my way to the business class check-in counters. As I was checking in, the agent informed me that the aircraft has been changed to a Boeing 777-200 due to “operational requirements”, much to my dismay.

    I then went to the Singapore Airlines SilverKris lounge and drowned myself in champagne to ease the pain, before taking a warm shower to warm myself up for the road ahead.

    To add salt to the wound, my flight was delayed almost an hour. The newly scheduled time was about half an hour later, but we ended up taking off an hour later.

    A little more about the aircraft

    The Boeing 777-200 is a two cabin product, featuring 38 business class seats in a 2-2-2 configuration and 228 economy class seats in a 3-3-3 configuration. The business cabin is divided into two sections, a forward cabin between the first two set of doors, and another smaller cabin just ahead of the economy class cabin.

    The change of aircraft also means that there’s no first or premium economy class. I wonder what happened to these passengers as a result, would have been a terrible shame to be downgraded.

    For a bit of context, this aircraft is mainly plied on regional routes such as Bangkok, Manila and the occasional Hong Kong services. The aircraft is also regularly leased to Scoot to supplement the latter’s Singapore-Sydney services.

    Singapore Airlines is progressively phasing this fleet out, most recently retiring the last of the Ultimo seats (Mainly Miles has more details here) in August 2018. The airline now has seven of the Boeing 777-200 left.

    The seat

    The business class product was rolled out in 2009, as a regional business class product. Back in those days, the 2-2-2 configuration stood out amongst competitors who were offering a 2-3-2 (or even 2-4-2) layout.

    I was seated in 12A today, the bulkhead window seat. The layout for this aircraft is a little interesting, the middle columns of seats are slightly staggered from columns at the side, so if you turn your head you don’t actually see your neighbours across the aisle. Also, the first row – row 11 – consist of only two middle seats. If you ask me, avoid those seats at all cost because you will end up greeting everyone who comes through the curtains throughout the flight.

    The seat measured 20 inches wide, comfortable enough for me to sit cross legged on my seat (bad habit, I know). The seat width is technically narrower than the Emirates 777-300ER seat I had a while back (that one measured 20.5 inches), but this feels a lot roomier. As a bulkhead seat I got too much legroom. I could lie on the floor in front of me if I wanted.

    The seat is controlled eletronically, with the ability to recline to an inclined flat bed, which was okay for a day flight nap, but certainly not for a red eye service. The specifications has the seat at an angle of 172 degrees, but that’s also why you have a footrest to stop yourself from sliding down.

    In any case, the seat is of course not ideal today, however given the time of introduction 10 years ago, it was a pretty competitive product.

    The control panel is hidden under a flap on one of the armrest, and one of the signs of age is that the buttons aren’t that responsive anymore. I almost fractured a finger pressing too hard on the buttons.

    The service

    When the business cabin has more or less settled in, the crew came around with a hot towel, followed by a round of pre-departure drinks. My choice of poison to start the day was of course another glass of Charles Hensieck champagne.

    During the time while the aircraft was still at the bay, the cabin crew also came by to take my beverage order for after take off, as well as to confirm my Book the Cook order.

    Given the delayed departure, I barely finished my glass of champagne before it was collected in time for departure.

    Once in the air and the seatbelt signs have been switched off, the crew came around quickly with my choice of drink – an Italian red wine, the 2016 Fonatanafredda Briccotondo Piemonte Barbera, Piedmont, Italy.

    Not too long after that, meal service began with their signature satay service with a trolley. Each customer receives two sticks of chicken satay and one stick of mutton, although you can request to switch out any of the meats that you don’t eat. The skewers are served with a dressing of peanut sauce, as well as some cucumbers and onions.

    I always wondered why the service is designed such that the satays are served before dressing the table for a meal, especially when the peanut sauce can be a potentially messy affair. Of course, no such accident happened to me today as I was extra careful with the sauce, mostly by avoiding it and leaving it on the plate.

    After the satay is done with, the cabin crew came by again with another trolley to clear the satay plate, and laid out my table along with serving up the appetiser.

    The in-flight manager then came by with the signature bread basket, and without a thought I went for the garlic bread. If you are not a big fan of garlic bread, there are also plenty of other options for you, which comes with butter or olive oil.

    After dishing out a slice of the garlic bread to me, she proceeded to advise me of the new arrival time and also proceeded to apologise for the delay again, which I thought was a pretty nice gesture.

    Today’s menu read as below:

    Canape:
    – Singapore Chicken and Lamb Satay

    Appetiser:
    – Marinated Scallops with shaved fennel citrus salad and lemon basil vinaigrette

    Main Course:
    – Pan Fried Tournedos of Beef on Shallot Sauce
    – Singapore Nasi Lemak
    – Skinless Chicken Skewers Served with Barley and Porcini Salad, Light Sage Jus

    Dessert:
    – Strawberry Cheesecake

    Selection of Cheeses

    Fruit

    Assorted Bread Rolls and Gourmet Breads

    Fine Pralines

    Coffee and Tea

    Singapore Airlines in recent times let passengers preview the on-board menu online, so I had seen the main course options earlier in the week. Not impressed with the options, I decided to order a Book the Cook item.

    There was no choice of appetisers, so everyone got the scallops. I personally liked the citrus that came with the dish, and the scallops were pretty delicious too.

    My Book the Cook order of the Chinese style Cod with Fried Rice was quickly brought to me. As with many beef steaks, I usually have a hit-or-miss affair with fish: it can be overdone and end up dry and tasteless.

    As I took my first bite, the fear was unfounded, the cod was still juicy and hot, just like how it usually should. The egg fried rice was on point as well, although nowhere as memorable as the cod. Again, it didn’t take much for me to finish everything.

    For the dessert, again there was no options. Not feeling much for a slice of cake, I asked the cabin crew if they had any ice cream on board, which they regretably said no. I decided to then skip dessert and asked for a cup of decaf coffee instead.

    The coffee was served shortly, although I was slightly disappointed at how lukewarm it was. Not wanting to kick up a fuss I drank it up anyway while I continued watching my movie. Lucky for them they brought along some pretty delicious pralines.

    Shortly after meal service, there came around round of hot towels, which was pretty much appreciative if one was lazy to head to the lavatory to wash hands. Pretty soon enough, all remaining items were cleared, and lights were turned off for those who wanted to nap.

    The entertainment

    As I was in the bulkhead seat, my in-flight entertainment screen was mounted on the wall in front of me, which I generally prefer as compared to it being stowed in my seat. This preference arises from two concerns: first, it creates less bulk around the seat, secondly, it allows me to watch my shows during take off and landing as well.

    Also, given that the screens were now about a decade old, the resolution wasn’t that great, especially at the distance between my seat and the screen mount on the wall, so I had to wear my spectacles to have a better

    The headphones provided were noise cancelling, and the excellent condition of it made up for the experience.

    I browsed through the KrisWorld magazine and was slightly disappointed with the selection. I for one is not a regular Singapore Airlines customer, so I was pretty much expecting a wider variety of Asian content on the flight. I couldn’t find anything I wanted to watch, so I ended up watching Fantastic Beasts: the Crimes of Grindelwald.

    Final thoughts

    The Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-200 is definitely one to be retired soon. The age on this aircraft is definitely showing: failing seat controls, grainy in-flight entertainment screens and peeling seats. While this is still a great product for regional services under four hours, on slightly longer services, including those to North Asia, this will be pretty unacceptable especially if it’s a red-eye service.

    As a solo traveller, I have a strong preference for a 1-2-1 business class cabin given the higher level of privacy, so this configuration of a 2-2-2 cabin is not ideal. I could constantly peek over to my neighbour next door who was reviewing a contract through the flight, so this is also not ideal to get any work done on the flight.

    Nonetheless, the service remain tip top, although I do feel that the interaction between the crew and passengers have reduced over the years. I’m not sure if it is due to the profile of the passengers on this flight, or has there been a change to the operating standards.

    The equipment change to this product is definitely a bummer for me, and also highlights the issue of product inconsistency of Singapore Airlines: you get world class products on most flights, but there are also the odd occasion you end up with a product like what I had today for uncontrollable reasons.

  • British Airways unveils new Business Club Suite and it comes with a door

    British Airways unveils new Business Club Suite and it comes with a door

    British Airways is the latest airline to jump on the new seat bandwagon, revealing a brand new business class seat and layout for the new A350s that it will receive later this year.

    Direct-aisle access, flat beds, more storage, larger in-flight entertainment screens are some of the improvements BA mentioned that the new suite will offer, but the biggest win for this new product is a suite door which can be closed for more privacy, similar to Qatar’s Qsuite.

    The new A350 will offer 56 of these Club Suites, along with 56 premium economy seats – World Traveller Plus – as well as 219 economy class World Traveller seats for a total of 331 seats.

    The seat

    The new BA Club World Suite

    The new seat is a customised version of Collins Aerospace ‘Elements’ Business Class seat, which can be found on some other airlines including China Airlines and Virgin Australia. However, BA has gone a step further and is the first airline to install the privacy door, effectively calling it a suite.

    The suite comes with a door

    In a reverse herringbone layout, the seat faces either the middle or towards the window, and each seat will have its own overhead cabin space as well.

    In bed mode, the bed measures about 2 metres long (79 inches), but the end narrows into a V shape to take the space under the console of the seat in front.

    Some of the other features of the seat include charging sockets, more storage in the seat, and also electronic seat controls.

    Much needed upgrade

    Currently, BA’s Club World seats are amongst the worst in business class: a 2-4-2 configuration in an alternating front- and back-facing pattern, which forces customers in the middle and at the windows to climb over their neighbours’ legs.

    The current BA Club World cabin in a not very appetizing 2-4-2 configuration

    Contrast that to today’s norm of a 1-2-1 configuration with all seats offering direct aisle access, that is obviously a very lagging design.

    While BA was a pioneer in offering flat beds back in 2000, the lead was quickly lost as other airlines progressively refreshed their product over the years (some more than once) while BA left its business class seats alone for nearly two decades.

    Where will the news seats be on?

    BA will be taking delivery of several new aircraft and fleet types, including the A350-1000 and the Boeing 777-9, over the next few years. The new Club Suites will be available on all these aircraft, and also progressively retrofitted on the Boeing 777-300ER fleet, with the first two be fitted by the end of 2019.

    The new Club World suites will first serve trans-Atlantic services

    At the time of writing, Mainly Miles reported that at least six aircraft will feature the new seats by the end of the year, including four brand new A350-1000s, the first of which should be delivered by July 2019.

    The first couple of long haul routes the new seats will travel to, unfortunately, will not reach Asian shores as yet. The new A350-1000s will first be deployed to Toronto, and then Dubai. So I guess that leaves us with the older product for now, until BA takes delivery of more new aircraft in the coming years.