For the last leg of my ‘European Whirlwind’ trip, I flew from Frankfurt FRA back to new York-JFK in Singapore airlines business class. This is a fifth freedom flight, meaning that Singapore airlines is allowed to sell tickets on the FRA-JFK segment, despite not operating from a country other than Singapore, where they are based.

This flight is the last leg of a longer vacation where I first flew Air France business class from New York-JFK to Paris CDG, and then from CDG to Lyon LYS. I later met my husband back at Paris CDG, and we flew to Zurich. After touring Switzerland, we flew from Geneva, where I reviewed the Horizon lounge to Amsterdam. Here I reviewed the Aspire lounge (Shengen) when we flew from Amsterdam to Frankfurt. Before our flight to New York, we were also able to visit the Frankfurt Lufthansa Business and Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounges.

Briefly, this flight was absolutely delightful. While the seats are getting outdated, with the entertainment screen not being touchscreen, the seating surface is wide and comfortable. You do have to sleep at an angle, and while I can see this would annoy some people, I didn’t find this an issue. Best of all was the service, which was stellar. Flight attendants were personable, professional and felt genuine in their interactions, taking pride in providing excellent service. I truly can’t be anything but praiseworthy of the service on this flight.

Specifically, I will be reviewing flight SQ26, departing Frankfurt FRA at 7:35AM and arriving at New York-JFK at 10:10AM.

1. How I booked this flight
2. Check-in at Frankfurt Airport, FRA
3. Boarding experience
4. Singapore Airlines’ spacious business class seat
5. Singapore Airlines’ extensive selection of business class amenities
6. Departing Frankfurt
7. Singapore Airlines business class lavatories
8. Personalized and genuinely friendly, still efficient: Singapore Airlines’ wonderfully choreographed meal service
9. Singapore Airlines in-flight WiFi
10. Entertainment system on Singapore Airlines
11. Taking a nap: business class seat in lie-flat mode
12. Pre-landing meal service with a first-class twist!
13. Arrival at New York-JFK
14. Singapore Airlines: the best service in the sky!
15. Summary

How I booked this flight

I booked this flight for both my husband and myself for 60.000 points and $273.50 Canadian in taxes and fees per person. We transferred these points from my husbands Capital One account to his Air Canada Aeroplan account. Aeroplan continues to have attractively priced transatlantic flights at this price (the saver level).

We booked this flight within 2-3 weeks of the schedule opening. Researching this flight, I found that Singapore Airlines tends to consistently release 2 award seats on this flight, but you better grab them when the schedule opens. We had originally planned to fly the JFK-FRA flight at the start of our vacation, but unfortunately found that when we went to book, 1 seat had already been taken. Since we hadn’t booked anything else yet, we were free to turn our plan around and instead take the FRA-JFK return flight instead, so that’s what we ended up booking, and what I’ll be reviewing here.

Check-in at Frankfurt Airport, FRA

We arrived bright and early at 4:00AM at Frankfurt airport, FRA. We were dropped off at Terminal 1A, although check-in was at 1C, so we walked over there. There were separate lines for first class, business class, premium economy and economy.

An agent was standing at the start of the line doing a basic document check before allowing you to continue to the check-in agent. Fortunately we were in the separate business class line and were checked straight away and allowed to proceed to the check-in agent. I did feel like the many people in the (premium) economy lines were a bit much to handle for a single agent, who constantly had to ask people to step back and wait while he was checking our documents.

Once at the check-in agent, she was quick and efficient, and generally friendly. The whole affair went by without much of an exchange of words. She did highlight that we were eligible to go to the Lufthansa or Air Canada lounges, and told us how to reach those. We asked which she recommended, and to my surprise she actually recommended the Air Canada Lounge! We asked why, and she explained that it would likely be less crowded. We then asked whether we could visit both, and she said yes – in that case, her suggestion was to have a peak at the Lufthansa Lounge and then head for the Air Canada Maple leLf lounge until it was time to board.

Following check-in we made it through security and passpot control swiftly and without issue. I will say that Frankfurt Airport is a little bare-bones and depressing on the departing side. I’d previously only transited through Frankfurt, so never got to see the land-side parts of the airport.

Boarding experience

I have posted full reviews of both the Lufthansa and Air Canada lounges, so I will not go into detail here, but suffice it to say that we visited both, and did as the check-in agent suggested. We stayed at the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounges until it was roughly time to board, and then made our way to the gate. Once there, the 777 that was going to carry us to New York was already there.

I took a quick lap around and saw that each class of servce had its own boarding line, and passengers were spread around throughout the gate area, waiting for departure. Alas, soon after we arrived it was announced there would be a delay of 10-15 minutes, owing to the aircraft having arived behind schedule.

After that initial delay, boarding did eventually start with people needing extra time to board being called first. Then first class followed, and then business class. As we passed the gate agents, they did a quick document check before allowing us to approach the automatic ticket gates and having us beep our way through the gate. Soon we were in the jetway.

Since Frankfurt had a double jetway at our boarding gate, we were able to board through the forward door and as we entered the 777, we were welcomed by a friendly flight attendant who invited us to turn right. We walked through first class and arrived into the forward business class cabin. This is a fairly intimate cabin with only 4 rows of business class seats in a 1-2-1 configuration. The bulk of business class seats are located between doors 2 and 3.

Singapore Airlines’ spacious business class seat

Singapore Airlines has different business class seats throughout it’s fleet, but the one I’m sharing here is present on the 777 and long0-haul A350 fleet. On the A380 and 787 fleet, you’ll find different seats.

I had assigned myself seat 14A, the last windows seat in the forward business class cabin on the left side of the fuselage, while my husband was in seat 12A, in front of me. You will notice that the seats are not staggered, and all of them are closer to the aisle. As such, there is no ‘true’ window seat in Singapore Airlines business class, which for some may be a bit of a letdown.

Suffice it to say that this seating configuration is unconventional, especially for today’s standards, where herringbone seats or staggered seats are the norm. It is also the reason that in fully flat mode you have to sleep at an angle: after all, directly in front of you is another seat, so you have to put your feet in the console just to right (or left) of the seat in front of you.

Despite the slightly odd configuration, first impressions of the seat itself were fantastic. The sheer size of the seat is the first thing I noticed. The seating surface and backrest are significantly wider than other business class seats I’ve had the pleasure of trying so far. This may come at a bit of expense to the amount of storage at the seat, though, with there being an open, deep shelf to the left (or right) of the headrest, and then a deep compartment in the armrest. There’s also a smaller compartment, perhaps good for personal items, such as phone wallet, beside the entertainment screen.

Waiting at the seat was also a nice selection of amenities. I’ll get into more detail on these later, but briefly, placed on the seat were a substantial pillow and a blanket, as well as slippers, socks and an eye mask, and a bottle of water was waiting for me in the compartment in the arm rest.

Sitting down, you get a good view of the entertainment monitor. To my shock, this is not a touchscreen monitor. I found myself tapping the screen like a fool for a few minutes in an attempt to activate it, and nothing would happen. I then realized that I had to use the controller to my left. I don’t remember the last time that I was on a plane that didn’t have a touchscreen entertainment monitor… I also didn’t like that there was a plastic cover in front of the screen that had quite a bit of glare. With the window shade up, it was sometimes hard to see the screen through the reflections, as the picture clearly shows.

To the left of the screen was a compartment with a horizontally sliding door, potentially useful to store small personal items. Below that was a little mirror, which could be covered with a slider as well, and there was a cupholder. I found the placement of this to be odd, as it’s a little bit far and you need to lean forward to grab a glass that is placed here.

If you then look to the bottom left, you see the footwell. As I had mentioned, this is one of the few seats I can think of where you have to lie down at an angle since the passenger in thr row in front of you is sitting directly in front of you. In more conventional staggered seating arrangement, the passenger in front of you would actually not be sitting directly in front. Rather, in front of you would be their console/arm rest, so that when you put your seat in full flat made, you legs would go straight ahead, rather than at an angle.

I would also say that the footwell seemed fairly shallow, and I wondered if there’d be enough space for me to fully stretch out when lying down. That turned out not to be a problem. You’ll also notice a lighted space under the ottoman: you can place items there for storage, but it’s not the easiest place to access.

Just to the left (or right, depending what seat you’re in), is a spotlight for reading, power and USB outlets, and a fairly large storage compartment. The plugs are a great reminder of how old this seat actually is! Besides the universal power plug, there are a serial port for an iPod (which I haven’t sene in over 10 years), what looks like two USB-A ports but one is specifically for charging a device, and there is a HDMI port as well. Who these days carries a HDMI cable with them though…?

Then, along the armrest, on the side of the plugs and footwell, you will find a deep-ish storage compartment that held a blue pouch that contained the headphones, as well as a water bottle. Just above the compartment was the handheld controller, which is fairly standard for the average business class seat, and turned out to be a critical piece of equipment…

Then over on the other side, just below the other armrest, are a series of buttons to control seat functions. That includes a button to turn the entertainment monitor on or off, buttons for the overhead light, seat controls that included moving forward or backward, and separate buttons for the foot rest, and then there were crew call buttons. You’ll also see the triangular port: that’s for the headphones, and those of you truly eagle eyed will have spotted it over at the light on the other side of the seat as well.

Note that the seat position buttons don’t provide full control over the backrest: there is no way to mechanically move the seat all the way into full flat mode. Instead, the backrest is folded down to reveal a mattress and blankets, as you’ll see later in this review. This may surprise, since there are in fact buttons with arrows and a seat in a flat mode. However, while they bring you into something of a recline, it doesn’t go nearly all the way.

Above the series of controls, besides the headrest, is yet another series of lights, each of them angles a different way, for total customization of how your seat is being lit.

Then, finally, for the tray table, there is a flap by the storage compartment that you folkd up. That reveals the tray table, which has to be pulled up. The tray table is heavy, but not terrible so, and a spring mechanism helps you lift the table up. You then fold it down. Once in that position, you can change the angle of the table to fit how you want to sit: lounging with your feet into the footwell, or seated straight with your legs down.

One last thing: there are no individual air nozzles, which is unfortunate. Sometimes cabin crew keeps the cabin quite warm, and air nozzles can really help you cool down.

All in all, I thought this was comfortable seat, albeit from a bit of a different era. I liked how wide the seating surface is, giving you plenty of space to get comfortable and feeling quite luxurious. I also want to commend Singapore Airlines on the sheer number of options yopu have: there are three different lights, with different strengths and angles, multiple places to plug in your headphones, various positions for the tray table… I don’t think I’ve encountered seat features that are quite so customizable as here. There’s also a number of places to store items, which is nice. I don’t like have to get up all the time to grab stuff from the overhead bin.

That said, there are some pain points as well. Number 1 is that this is clearly an older seat with older tech. For the most part this is not really an issue (the serial iPod port is ‘funny’ retro), but the no-touchscreen entertainment monitor was honestly quite annoying. I can also see why others may not like the footwell being at an angle. While lounging, having your feet up to the left, but the screen right in front, can be a little bit uncomfortable in the long run.

Singapore Airlines’ extensive selection of business class amenities

Singapore Airlines’ amenities are myriad, but note that not all of them are provided to you from the start of the flight apparently, which rather surprised me. See below the selection of amenities that are available, and of these the slippers, eye mask and socks were at the seat upon boarding. The amenity kit was provided to me by a flight attendant almost by conincidence… I’ll get to that.

At the seat were an eye mask, socks and slip[pers, all in the brown color of Singapore Airlines’ business class seats. The mask came with a little pouch, and was velvety on the inside but otherwise unremarkable. The socks were quite nice as well, but the slippers were better than my expectation. Specifically, all slippers Iv’e ever received on a plane were too small for my feet. This is the first time the slippers were actually my size! Plus, they were quite pleasant on the inside due to some padding, and were of better quality than what Iv’e received on other airlines.

As I was making pictures of these amenities, suddenly the flight attendant dropped by and gave me an amenity kit! She said she had noticed that I was making pictures and thought I’d enjoy having the kit as well. This proactivity caught me off guard, frankly, and was the first sign of the exceptionals ervie I was about to experience on this flight.

The amenity kit is from Le Labo, a premium perfume and cosmetics company. Inside were a facial must, lip balm and hand cream, all of very nice quality. The air on aircraft can get pretty dry, so I especially liked the moisturizing lip balm, and facial mist was pleasant as well. The actual pouch itself is very nice as well, made of a touch, jeans-like material. It’s unfortunate that it’s on the small side, or I would have liked to use more generally as a wash bag.

There was also a pair of Singapore Airlines-branded headphones. These were of fine quality, and came with a new set of plushy covers. it’s kind of nice that these can be replaced from one passenger to the next.

Finally, there was the bedding, which consisted of a substantial pillow and a blanket. The pillow was wonderfully thick and soft, but a little small in width. That’s fine, because this pillow is really only for support while sitting upright, for example if you’d like to lounge in your seat you can use it for lumbar support. Eventually it turned out there was a whole other pillow hidden in the seat, but I’ll get to that later.

Singapore Airlines has a lovely set of amenities, which generally are of good quality. I liked the eye mask and socks, but thought the slippers were especially good. For one they were my size, and second they were a little bit padded. The headphones as fine, the pillow was wonderfully plush, while the blanket was pretty good as well.

Departing Frankfurt

After getting comfortable in my seat, I explored the seat functions and entertainment system for a bit. Soon after I had sat down, a flight attendant came by and introduced herself as Rianna, and offered a welcome drink: the choices were orange or apple juice, and water. No champagne, unfortunately, but I was struck by how lovely the flight attendant was. Rianna seemed happy to be there. It can really change the course of a flight to have a flight attendant working your aisle who’s happy to be doing her job. And honestly, her colleagues appeared to share her enthusiasm!

Soon after, another flight attendant passed by and introduced herself as Angel. She confirmed my lunch order (which I had selected through the website prior), and also took a drink order for after takeoff. I went with Champagne and a glass of water. Currently Singaproe Airlines serves Charles Heidsick Brut reserve, so that should be very nice!

A little later another attendant, who did not introduce themselves, brought a warm towel to freshen up a little before departure. By this time I had also unwrapped all my amenities, and Rianna had come by and provided me the amenity kit, which I already discussed above, but they took this opportunity to remove the r=wrappers and get rid of any trash.

Since boarding had started late, we also pushed back late. I reckon it was around 8:50am that we pushed back, when the departure had supposed to be at 7:35am, so over an hour delay. As you can see, the departure time on the entertainment controller was listed as 9am at this point, thought the flight duration was also listed as being 45 minutes shorter than planned (7:43 hours instead of 8:35 hours).

Frankfurt is a fun place to taxi, because of all the difference airlines from all over the world. Of course there are endless Lufthansa planes., but sometimes you’ll something more exotic, such as Iran Air or something from that region.

We taxied out to what I believe to be runway 25C, which gave me a good view of the brand-spanking new terminal, being built right across from the current terminals 1 and 2, on the other side of the double runways. By 9am we were cleared for takeoff, and we liufted off shortly after, rocketing into the blue Frankfurt sky.

After takeoff, the flight attendants stayed seated for perhaps another 10 minutes, and then they sprung into action,. closing the curtains between the business class cabin and first class, and business class and the galley, which was right behind me. It took another 20 minutes from then on for the first service to start, with drinks. This was the order I had put in on the ground, and the champagne was indeed lovely!

About 15 minutes later we received the first bit of food on this flight: Singapore Airlines’ signature appetizer, the chicken satay. I’ve often read about this in other reviews so it was nice to finally try it for myself. It was indeed tasty, with the chicken being surprisingly tender.

So far, despite the not insignificant delay, the interaction with the crew, the quality of the seat and the amenities felt like this was going to be a very memorable flight, and for all the good reasons! I was definitely getting excited and was looking forward to the meal service…

Singapore Airlines business class lavatories

The actual meal wouldn’t start until a bit later so I took the opportunity to visit the lavatory. Business class has lavatories around the galley area around the second set of doors. These lavatories aren’t particualrly spacious, but they were kept clean, tidy and very well-stocked with amenities.

As you can see, there was a nice flower decoration on the back well, and there was also a long mirror there, for a full view of yourself. Then, the front mirror had a series of bright lights along the edges, which oprovided soemthing of an even lighting. Along the right side, by the door, was an upper compartment with actual cloth towels that were felt rather luxurious for an aircraft, as well as paper tissues in the middle. At the bottom were a selection perfume, facial mist and hand lotion by Penhaligon’s Quercus, which for as far as I can tell is a middle-to-premium brand based in London.

Otherwise it didn’t seem like there was much in the way of amenities, until I noticed a suspicious drawer to the left of the sink. When I opened it, I found a whole other treasure trove of amenities, from shaving cream, to toothbrushes to combs.

I thought the Singapore airlines lavatory was pretty great. It’s not spacious, but it is very well stocked with amenities. Between the personal amenity kit and other amenities at your seat, and what’s available in the lavatory, you should not be missing anything. Very nice!

Personalized and genuinely friendly, still efficient: Singapore Airlines’ wonderfully choreographed meal service

The menus had been distributed on the ground, and I had the opportunity to look through them at that time, but, here they are below. Interestingly, the menu comprised the meals and snacks available for the entire itinerary of the plane, not so much my flight on it. Meaning, I was able to take a look at the meals for the flights from Singapore to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to New York, and then new York to Frankfurt, and Frankfurt to Singapore. What struck me was that for the inbound and outbound flights between Singapore and Frankfurt, there was an a la cart ‘delectables’ menu, allowing the anytime ordering of those foods. This included noodle soups and sandwiches, mostly, as well as handful of different snacks, such as chocolate bars and pastries.

The menu also encompassed drinks, which features a lineup of several alcoholic and non-alcoholic options. For the alcoholic options, there were champagnes, wines, a decent selection of spirits, and beers. There were also a single cocktail and aperitif options. For non-alcoholic options, there was the usual selection of soft drinks, teas and coffees. The latter is in partnership with Illy. I’d say for that that like coffee, the selection appears very good, with a variety of Arabica and specialty coffees available. I liked that Singapore Airlines highlighted the strength of the coffee with coffee beans on a scale of 1 to 10.

Similarly, the tea selection was also expansive, as you ought to expect from Singapore Airlines, in partnership with TWG Tea. From standard British blend, such as Earl grey, to the South Africas Rooibos and a selection of Chinese, herbal and infusion teas, I gather everybody can find something good in this selection.

I had already selected my meal way before departure, as part of Singapore Airlines’ ‘book the cook’ service. This allows you to select a mela from a large variety of options that are available online, while a smaller selection is available on the plane. This is mostly true for the main dish, mind you, as there is no additional options online for starters and desserts online.

As to be expected, meal service started with the flight attendant assisting with setting up the tray table, spreading a substantial white table cloth, and providing butter, a side plate for bread, cutlery, salt, and a glass of water. I would add that I really liked how this was a ‘true’ salt shaker, not one of those throw-away ones that you commonly see with some other carriers.

I want to specifically point how the beautiful choreography of the meal service setup. I’ve never seen something like this. The flight attendants Rianna and Angel came down the aisle together with a cart, and while Rianna was serving the passenger seated to the front right of me, Angel was serving me.

Imagine this: Angel was smiling and inquired with me in a calm and pleasant tone how my flight was so far, and asked what I’d like to drink, and also explained the meals service and what was about to come. All at the same time, she smoothly setup the table, while also handing items to Rianna and receiving other items in return without needing to exchange a single word. I was truly impressed with the smooth and efficient service flow!

For the starters there weren’t any options, so everybody received the same thing: a salad with tomato, mozzarella and Iberico ham. I had also requested another glass of champagne, as it was very tasty the first time around.

I’m not a cheese person but I decided to have the cheese regardless, in order to get the ‘full experience’. This dish was pleasant, and with the ham and pesto, tasted very nice.

Once I finished, the plate got removed quite quickly, and I appreciated how fast that service happened. I didn’t wait long for my main dish either, which the flight attendant brought out on a tray and then served me the plate directly onto the table cloth, as if you’re in restaurant.

This is the dish I was able to order in advance, which was a beef stew with gnocchi, which was absolutely delicious! I loved how tender and red winey and dark the sauce was. The gnocchi were soft and chewy, pretty much he way I like them. The only thing I could have asked for was a bigger portion, as I would have loved to have more of this!

The side plate is empty in the photo, I realize, but that’s because I love bread and ate it pretty much as soon as it arrived… sorry! You can see there are crumbs on the plate, though…

When I finished, the plate was cleared quite quickly, and at that time the flight attendant asked how it was. I responded it had been delicious, to which she responded that dessert would follow a little later. It did indeed take a little bit for dessert to come around, and it the reason was that it all came from a cart that had a variety of options. Hence, I suppose for efficiency’s sake, they waited for more people to finish their main dish.

I fondly remember the interatcion over the dessert selection:

Rianna and Angel: “Would you like some dessert?”

Me: “Absolutely! What are the options?”

Rianna and Angel: “We have ice cream, a cheese selection, fruit, and a pastry. Which would you like to try?”

Me: “I’ll have the ice cream, thank you.”

Rianna and Angel: “Sure you want nothing else? You can have one of each! The ice cream and pastry, especially, are very good today. Other passengers loved it!”

Me: “Well, if you insist, I’ll be happy to have one of each, except for the cheeses.”

And so I ended up with three desserts. Now, I know it’s not uncommon on Asian and Middle Eastern carriers to be provided with anything you want. Heck, on Scandinavian Airlines I could have anything I wanted as well and they assembled the dish in front of me, which was a nice experience. What impressed me in this interaction was the genuine hospitality and the proactivity of offering additional items, plus the fact that both Rianna and Angel were involved in serving the desserts, together. I don’t think I’ve ever had two flight attendants attend to my meal service at the same time.

Oh, and they were right: the ice cream and pastry were both delicious, though, contrary to (apparently) popular passenger opinion, the ice cream was my favorite! Though the fruits were also very nice: fresh and sweet.

Once I finished the desserts, the plates were cleared, but that wasn’t the end of the meal service. As a final bit, a third flight attendant (Terence) came by with delicious chocolates. I had asked him if I could make a picture of the tray, and not only did he promptly reply ‘of course!’, he then proposed I make a picture of him as well!

I want to point out that his broad smile was not just for the camera. He was smiling and happy like this throughout the flight. He seemed to genuinely enjoy his job in a way I just don’t usually see among cabin crew. It was great to interact with him! And while Rianna and Angel were a little more reserved than Terence, I got the same feeling from them as well.

With that, the main meal service onboard this flight had concluded. The food was great – that was not a surprise, but of course still contributed to the lovely experience. What really stood out to me was that the crew’s ability to be both genuinely friendly, while still efficient. The service was personalized, prompt, helpful, and friendly. Truly a joy!

Singapore Airlines in-flight WiFi

Singapore Airlines offers WiFi on its Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, and there is a guide provided on how to connect. To Singapore Airlines credit, basically everybody on the plane should be eligible to connect for free: there is unlimited complimentary WiFi for:

• Anybody in a premium cabin;
• Credit card holders;
• Krisflyer members in Premium Economy and Economy (KrisFlyer is Singapore Airlines’ frequent flyer program)

So really, anybody on the plane should theoretically be able to connect.

The provided guide gives a good step-by-step explanation of how to do so. For me, I was able to connect to the WiFi network, but from there things went downhill quickly. As you can see from the right-most screenshot of my phone, I was able to load a status page to see some basic flight details and the water at destination, but unfortunately the network connectivity was rather poor for me and I was never able to get through the entire process. That is, I would have needed to fill out a form, receive a WiFi code, and enter it to activate my complimentary WiFi plan. As such, unfortunately I can’t provide much a review on this aspect of the flight.

Entertainment system on Singapore Airlines

Let me put this up front: the entertainment system was probably the only thing on this flight I was actively annoyed by and really needs an update. I guess I’ve become so accustomed to entertainment screens being touchscreen, that I was caught entirely off guard but this ‘normal’ entertainment screen. Like a fool, I found myself tapping on the screen and nothing happened, until it dawned on me that this was not a touchscreen. The only way to control the system was through the handset, which was placed just above the armrest.

Now, the touchscreen is like on any other business class seat ona ny other airline, for the most part. The center screen is a touchscreen, so you can use that to directly interact with the user interface, but you can also use the buttons to the left and right of the screen. I found the controller’s touchscreen to be a little finicky though, and not super responsive. That sometimes made controlling the enetrtainment system to be a bit of a chore.

Once you do get it to work though, you will find a fairly large selection of entertainment options opening up to you. From the controller you can quickly get to all the main categories, which include a ‘spotlight’ category with recommendaitons, movies, TV shows, music, the moving map (‘my flight’), games and a ‘library’ page. Below are some examples from the ‘spotlight’ page, and as you can see it includes highlights to what’s new in the system, and anything that recently got an award for some kind, among other highlights.

Then you can easily flip through the various pages, which will reveal thematic groupings of various movies and TV shows, including Singapore-oriented movies, Chinese movies, etc.

The ‘my flight’ screen has all the information about your flight that you may need, and the moving map is probably the most fun. However, there is useful information about arrival procedures and connections, as well as information of in-flight WiFi, food, and KrisFlyer.

You’ll also notice on the top of the interface a variety of buttons. Most of these are self-explanatory, but the one all the way to the right intrigued me: this allows you to connect your own devices directly to the system, and going there gives you some info on your options. You can connect through the Singapore Airlines app, the in-flight WiFi, and the HDMI port in the seat. I had not connected anything though, so there wasn’t anything here besides information. I do like that Singapore Airlines gives you this option.

As I said, for me the moving map is usually one of the more interesting features in the entertainment system, so I turned this on whenever I wasn’t watching a movie. Meanwhile, the controller shows you what gestures to make to control the viewpoint of the map.

While you navigate around the interface on the main monitor, the controller’s monitor will go through various pages as well, either for things that are specific to the controller, such as the selection of main categories, or for things that reflect things that are ongoing on the main screen. As you can see below, there are special pages for flight info, any movies, TV shows or music you may have favorites (and thus are added to your library), as well as a settings page.

Overall, the Singapore Airlines entertainment system has a lot to offer in terms of entertainment options, but I thought it was a major step into the past that the main monitor was not a touchscreen, Because the controller’s touchscreen was not super responsive, operating the system could definitely have been smoother than it was. Even so, it worked fine overall. But, I would say that this system needs a hardware update…

Taking a nap: business class seat in lie-flat mode

After dinner and finishing the movie I was watching, I decided to take a nap. After all, we had gotten up around 3am in order to ensure we were on time for our flight, and so I was quite sleepy by now.

I requester Terence to help set up the bed and he was more than happy to do so. It’s interesting: this seat does not have a mechanism to gradually lay yourself flat. Instead, Terence flipped the backrest down, to reveal a bed that had already been fully prepped! There sleeping surface had a cover, and there was full-width pillow that was a little bit flat. Personally I like a more substantial pillow.

To lie flat, you have to now place your feet into the footwell over to the left of the entertainment monitor, and so you’re lying at an angle. Some people really don’t like this, but personally I thought was absolutely fine. However, while I though the sleeping surface was sufficiently wide, it wasn’t particularly soft and no additional mattress pad was provided.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to fall asleep, and so I simply lay with closed eyes for a while. This is nothing new: I don’t generally sleep well on planes, and it seems sitting upright in economy or laying flat in business doesn’t seem to matter so much to my experience. To this day, the only time I was able to have a good sleep was with Japan Airlines on my flight from Tokyo on to Boston, when the crew provided me a mattress pad to soften the sleeping surface.

I slumbered like that for perhaps an hour or two, at most, at which point I decided to watch a TV show to pass the time. For that, I requested Terence (he just happened to be closest by) to help putting the seat back into it’s ‘seat’ mode. He did this swiftly, taking the bed-mode pillow and blanket and stuffing it in-between the backrest and the back shell of the seat.

Pre-landing meal service with a first-class twist!

With that, we were about an hour and a half away from New York and it was time for the pre-landing meal. My experience here wa syet another showcase of Singapore Airlines’ extraordinarily passenger-focused, proactive service.

This started when I called for a flight attendant, and nobody showed up for a few minutes (normally somebody will be with you instantly). Little did I know that the crew had already started prepping the pre-landing meal, when a flight attendant came to me from the front. I asked if there was any possibility to get something from the ‘delectables’ menu. As expected, he said this was specific for the legs between Frankfurt and Singapore, but he mentioned that they were prepping the pre-landing meal and pointed me at the relevant part of th menu.

here is where things got interesting: he asked if he could bring me something, which I thought was very nice of him given that he could have just said that the food would be out shortly, and then leave. In fact, I suggested this, but he insisted he could bring me something immediately, if I was hungry.

I then inquired whether the quiche had any cheese, since I don’t eat that. He said he wasn’t sure, and he went to inquire. He then came back to show me what it looked like, but that he couldn’t say for certain if there was any cheese in it.

Now comes the part where I was truly impressed: he looked at my hesitation for a moment, and then made a suggestion:

“How about I bring you something from the first class menu? We have sliders when I can make for you, without the cheese. What do you think?”

I was a little shocked, because truth be told, he could have simply offered me the noodle dish that was on the business class menu. Instead he offered to make me a special order burger from first class! I asked him about it, and he said: “Well, if you prefer, I cna ceryainly bring you the noodle as well. I asked him what he would recommend, and here was his answer:

“Let me take care of it, I’m sure you’ll like the result!”

How can I possibly say no to that? I agreed, and he left. Meanwhile Rianna, Angel and Terence came by to setup for the meal service, providing me a table cloth, utensils and drinks. I ordered orange juice and early grey tea. Funny enough, Terence came by and said:

“I heard my boss is going to make you a special first class dish, lucky you!”

I waited a little bit, but then the first class purser came back with the made-to-order sliders and side of chips. I was quite impressed with the quality he had been able to conjure here. Clearly these were made on the spot and the buns were slightly toasted and crispy. The patties themselves were a little bit dry, but still juice and the quality of the meat was good. As far as airplane burgers go, I thought this was a good one!

A little later he came back and asked how the burgers tasted, and I told him they were very tasty and I thanked him very much for his effort – I appreciated it very much!

And that’s what I’m left with, to be honest. Beyond the good quality of the food itself, I thought the service was the truly impressive thing here. To recap: because I was waiting for a few minutes the first class purser came to me to ask what I needed and, seeing as he wasn’t able to immediately satisfy my question about cheese, he went and made me a custom-order slider from the first class menu. This sort of proactivity and dedication to customer experience is, I think, unparalleled.

Arrival at New York-JFK

After the pre-arrival meal, I went back to watching the moving map as I was watching out the window. We were close to New York now, already flying over Long island having started the descent into JFK. The cabin crew was busy prepping the cabin for the landing, and came by to remove any service items and final pieces of trash.

One final tidbit of exemplary service occurred here: I had gotten very excited about the Singapore Airlines’ slippers, since they actually fit my foot and were padded, so they were the most comfortable airline slippers I had received so far. I asked Rianna if I could take them with me.She replied that yes of course, but suggested she could give me a fresh pair and immediately disappeared to the galley to fetch me an unopened pair. How wonderful – thanks Rianna!

We were now getting close to the airport and I was glued to the window following along with our descent and approach into JFK, which was essentially uneventful.

We touched down fairly smoothly, and with the rumble of the engines going into reverse, slowed down to exit the runway. Singapore Airlines operates out of Terminal 4 at New York-JFK (and uses the newly opened Capital One lounge to send its departing premium cabin passengers). As we taxied in, I got a nice view of several Delta planes and an Emirates A380 parked right next to us.

With this the flight came to an end. On our way out, the various cabin crew waved us good bye, and it was nice to thank Terence, Rianna and Angel on the way out the door. I sure hope I will run into them again sometime!

Singapore Airlines: the best service in the sky!

Before finishing this review, I want to comment on the service as a whole on this flight. I realize I still have a lot of products to experience, but I can also see why Singapore Airlines keeps getting awards for their service, as it was simply stellar from start to end:

• Consistently friendly: flight attendants were pleasant and personable throughout the flight. The flight attendant with the biggest smile and energy was definitely Terence, who was happy to crack the odd joke.
• Proactive: this is so important, and this is where the service on many airlines can be lacking. I was impressed by the level of proactivity on part of the cabin crew. For example, how Angel offered me an amenity kit when she saw me take pictures of other amenities, and then when they noticed I was traveling with my husband (and they have no way of knowing we are traveling together), to offer one for him as well.
• Generous: always happy to provide more, and ensure that the experience matches their standards. I was especially impressed by the offer to prepare me a first class menu item, due to concerns of cheese in the business class pre-landing meal. I also appreciated how Rianna went to fetch a new pair of slippers to take home – very throughtful!

So, a shout-out to the cabin crew servicing my aisle: Rianna, Angel and Terence, and the purser out of first class whose name I sadly never got: thank you for a fantastic flight!

Summary

In this post I reviewed my flight with Singapore Airlines, flying in business class on their Boeing 777-300ER from Frankfurt to New York-JFK. This was an unforgettable flight, easily the best I’ve experienced so far. The highlight here was definitely the stellar service, with personable, friendly, generous and proactive service from all crew members that serviced my section. Part of the great service was also the tasty food, from the chicken satay, to the braised beef to the delightful desserts.

I further found that the seat was very pleasant, with a huge seating surface that almost feels a little bit too wide. There is plenty of storage and I thought it was comfortable in bed mode as well. I can see why some may find the whole ‘sleeping at angle’ thing a bit weird, since you do have to turn your head to look at the screen while stretching out. What I didn’t like, though, was the lack of a touch screen entertainment monitor, which feels like it should be a standard feature these days, and I also wasn’t as much a fan of how you flip down the back rest to make the seat into a flat bed. I much prefer seats that mechanically go from upright to full flat.

Overall, this was a flight to remember, and I will certainly fly Singapore Airlines again. As a matter of fact, we had booked tickets in premium economy from New York to Bangkok via Singapore, so that will be an opportunity to see how the service standard of business class carriers over to Premium Economy. Stay tuned for the quick look of that sometime in December!