Following our ultra long-haul flight in Singapore Airlines Premium Economy from New York-JFK to Singapore, we had a few hours at Singapore’s Changi Intl Airport until our flight to Bangkok. We decided to spend that time at the SATS Premier Lounge at Changi’s Terminal 2, from where our flight to Bangkok would depart. This lounge is accessible with Priority Pass, which my husband has through the Citibank Strata Elite credit card. Note that there was also a Plaza Premium lounge, but we went for the SATS Premier lounge since it had a higher rating.
Briefly, the lounge was perfectly fine. It wasn’t particularly big, but the design was pleasant, and the selection of food was decent and of good quality. However, it was quite busy, so if you didn’t get a seat in the corner, it may not be the quietest place to sit.
Hours and location
This lounge is open 24 hours.
To find it, it really depends where exactly you’re coming from. We came walking from terminal 1. The signage at Changi is quite good, so it didn’t take long to bump into an overhead sign showing the SATS Premier lounge to be one floor up.
This sign was in the central departures area of Terminal 2, right after security and immigration, and here we found an escalator to ascend. Then, you’ll want to follow the signs to the SATS Premier lounge. From where we ascended, we crossed a bridge, and found the SATS Premier lounge essentially dead ahead. Ultimately you’ll find the Terminal 2 SATS Premier Lounge surrounded by the KrisFlyer Silver and Gold lounges.
The entrance is clearly marked with a large SATS Premier sign. When we arrived there was a sign indicating limited capacity, and although we were warned it was busy inside, we could still go in.
Access requirements
I could not find a full list of memberships that provide access to this lounge, but Priority pass is what we sued to enter, courtesy of my husband’s Citibank Strata Elite credit card. However, there are other lounge memberships out there that may grant access as well, and otherwise you can buy access directly with a day pass.
Seating and design
We entered the lounge around 7am. Our flight landed around 6:30am, and we proceeded to stroll through the airport in the direction of terminal 2 until we made it to the lounge.
The lounge consists of two main areas: a seating area and a dining area. You enter the lounge into the main seating area. overall, the lounge is on the smaller side, with limited seating available.
The seating area is nicely decorated, with several rows of lounge chairs that are all arranged in quads (sort of). In between the ‘quads’, on either side except for those chairs at the aisles, there are side tables that also feature power plugs.
I think you can see just how busy it was. Pretty much every seat seemed to be taken when we entered. While there was some fluctuation in the level, it largely remained this busy during our stay.
The far side of the lounge is all floor-to-ceiling windows and here is a slightly different seating arrangement. these are all still quads, but the chairs are slightly different and there are no plants here. Mind you, there is no view as you’re looking at the back of one of the terminal buildings. Also, I felt that the upholstering had seen better days, as there were some damages and stains.
Then the left wall of the lounge has a series of booths. These are all pretty much for one person, with a bench on the left and a table on the right. And opposite of those booths was a single row of chairs, each with a side table.
There were two rooms off the main seating area. One had a sign that it was a special VIP area, and this space seemed completely empty. I believe this may be for any first class passengers from airlines that use this as a contract lounge, but also for those that pay an extra fee for the service.
Otherwise there was also a room with massage chairs. I didn’t see anybody using these but also didn’t see a way to book or pay for their use, so it’s not clear to me what the intent is here.
Finally, in the back is the dining area. This space is perhaps slightly smaller than the seating area, but not by much. It’s arranged such that the full buffet is on the right half of the space, and various kinds of dining-style seating is on the left. You’ll find proper dining tables for two people arranged in different ways, for ex alle, on the windows side they are arranged perpendicular to the buffet, and parallel on the right of the area. In the center is a large communal table, and booths towards the back of the space.
All in all, this is a perfectly fine lounge space. I thought the design was pleasant, with touches of wood and ample plants. Certainly it would have been nice if the lounge would have been somewhat bigger because it was fairly crowded the entire time that we were there. Other than that, it has all the expected seating areas, the chairs were comfortable though a bit rundown.
Food and drinks
As mentioned, about half the dining area is dedicated to a buffet. The hit buffet is over to the right, and in the center there is a mix of cold options, including salads, cereal and breads.
The hot options has a good mix of local, Asian and Western dishes, so I think everybody should be able to find something they’d like. For example, there was a Singaporean style Laksa curry, which required quickly boiling a mix of noodles and some vegatbles, and then drowning it into the rich soup. This was a lovely dish! Besides that there were also meatballs, pancakes, scrambled eggs, congee and a variety of other things. All of what I had was tasty, but I thought the Asian dishes were better than the Western ones.
Over at the col buffet, there was a selection of Asian-style deserts, and a limited salad bar. The truth is that since it was quite busy, certain options were consistently running low, which included the fruits and cold cuts.
Further down there was a selection of condiments available, and around the corner a selection of breads. There was also a little oven to toast these items. I did try the croissant and thought it was just okay, so perhaps putting it through the oven would have been the better choice.
In terms of drinks, there was a selection of both alcoholic and non-alcoholic options, and I’d say neither was particularly extensive, though they got the job done. In terms of non-alcoholic options, there was a dispenser for cold water, a fridge with various sodas, and am espresso machine that made a variety of hot drinks. This also dispensed hot water for tea. Another fridge held milk and several juices.
For the alcoholic selection, there was a small selection of liquors: dry gin, whiskey and vodka. There was also one red and one white wine option, with the white placed in the fridge. The fridge with sodas also contained a rack full of can of Tiger beer, a local Singaporean brand.
Overall, I enjoyed the food selection and much enjoyed both the congee and Singaporean Laksa. otherwise, the Western options were nice as well, though the salads and reads were just okay. In terms of drinks, it really strikes me as though the lounge is cheapening out a little, given the rather lackluster choice of alcoholic drinks. Fortunately the selection of non-alcoholic drinks was quite a bit better. I did note that with the lounge being quite busy, some options were consistently running low, including the salads and juices.
Restrooms and shower
Off the mains eating area is a hallway that leads to the restrooms and showers. The showers are within the same space as the restrooms, which is not uncommon, but ideally those would be separated areas.
As you enter the restrooms, dead ahead you’ll find three shower stalls. All were occupied so I was not able to look inside, but for what its worth, it seemed to me that the shower stalls were the same width as the restroom stalls, of which I did make a photo which you can see below. So, if the showers are the same size as that restroom stall, they are not particularly big.
Turning left there are several urinals, though what’s the point of putting up panels to separate the urinals, if they are going to be glass and transparent? Anf finally, back by the entrance there were some sinks, and I appreciated the orchid which decorated the space.
Overall, the restrooms were clean and functional and nicely designed, which is all you can really ask from a restroom. While I wasn’t able to take a peek at the shower stalls, they struck me as quite small. Though, I suppose it’s nice that there even are showers to begin with…
Summary
The SATS Premier Lounge at Singapore Changi is a nice Priority Pass lounge, with a good selection of food, though drink options were somewhat limited. I did enjoy the Laksa and the congee especially. Otherwise, the space is not particularly big, but the design of the lounge is pleasant with a variety of seating options, though predominantly lounge chairs arranged in quads. One downside was that the lounge was generally busy, with many seats taken and certain food options running low. That said, I’d be quite happy to come back here.
Points to Seats 
Leave a comment