At the end of our trip to Thailand, which included a trip to Chiang Mai (with reviews of the Coral Executive Lounge at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi BKK and the Thai Airways Royal Orchid Lounge at Chiang Mai CNX), we made our way back to New York the same way we flew to Bangkok: we flew Singapore Airlines Premium Economy on the longest flight currently available: SIN-JFK.
While I won’t review the return leg, since it was almost the same as the JFK-SIN leg, I will review the lounges we visited at BKK and SIN. I already published reviews about the Miracle Business Class and First Class lounges that we visited in Bangkok Suvarnabhumi BKK. Here, I will focus on the lounge that we visited in Singapore Changi SIN: the Plaza Premium Lounge in Terminal 1.
Briefly, the Plaza Premium lounge at SIN’s Terminal 1 is a lounge of a good size with an elegant, pleasant design. There are plenty of different seating options, from dining to relaxing and ‘pods’ with walls for additional privacy. There is a full buffet with tasty hot and cold options, and there’s also showers for those that would like to freshen up before their flight. The major downside of the lounge is the crowding level.
Hours and Location
This lounge is open 24/7.
We accessed this lounge while transiting, so the way you get here will depend on whether you originate at Singapore Changi or whether you’re transiting, and if so where your previous flight arrived. Our flight from Bangkok arrived at Terminal 2, and so we walked the way to Terminal 1. Terminals 1-3 are all connected airside, allowing you to walk from one terminal to another (though you can also take a train).
The lounge is located near gate C1, one level up from the main concourse with all the shops. To get here, if you’re coming in through the Terminal 1 security checkpoint, you’ll want to take a left and continue until you bump into escalators. From Terminal 2 you’ll have to follow the corridors, following signage to Terminal 1 and the C-gates, walk past the Terminal 1 security checkpoint and you’ll get to the same place. At the escalators, go up and you’ll have the lounge entrance straight in front of you.
Access Requirements
You can enter the Plaza Premium lounge with Priority Pass using my husband’s Citi Strata Elite credit card, but also other lounge memberships, such as LoungeKey. While I think Plkaza premium is also a contract lounge where some airlines send their premium airlines, I wasn’t able to find a specific list for this. Otherwise, you can pay to gain entry as well.
Seating and Design
Once you enter the lounge you’ll find yourself in a 7000sqft space that has a few distinct ones. Immediately in front is a large seating area dedicated to lounge chairs and relaxation, with large, floor-to-ceiling windows. At this time it was already pretty dark out, so I couldn’t tell you what the view was actually like. The space overall was quite elegant, with large chandelier-like light fixtures and an emphasis on wood and earthy tones. You will notice it was quite busy, and at the entrance we were warned of this.
The chairs were all arranged in rows, with side tables with power outlets in-between chairs. I thought this was a nice setup, providing ample space to place drinks and plates, and never getting too close to any strangers that may be sitting in adjacent seats.
On each side of this space, against the walls, booths were setup. Each such a booth was equipped with a little table and a power outlet, and looked reasonably comfortable.
Turning left from the entrance there was a corridor of sorts with a large variety of seating options, which included small and large booths, as well as setups of tables and chairs. The booth specifically were nice and looked comfortable, and I liked how these were clearly designed for various purposes. Some, like the ones ion the below pictures, could seat entire families, and provided privacy from those sitting around you while still allowing plenty freedom of movement.
While on the other hands the cubicles below are smaller but allow much more privacy, thanks to the walls on all sides. All of these come equipped with a small table and power outlets, as well as a ready light. I did notice that the power outlets are the British style. Fortunately there were also USB plugs, or I wouldn’t have been able to charge anything in this lounge.
The two of us took a seat toward the back of this space. Here, tables were setup with comfy chairs of various kinds, offering a hybrid dining-lounging setup. I say hybrid because this setup is neither a true dining setup nor a particularly relaxing lounge setup, so it’s a little in-between. But if you want to eat something while sitting comfortably, this isa. good place to sit. The electrical plus here were also the British type, but also provided USB plugs, fortunately.
A true dining setup could be find opposite of the main lounge space, by the buffet. Here there was a true bar where you can order various (alcoholic) drinks. A little beyond the bar was the full buffet, as well as the dining seating. This consisted of a large communal table with power plugs in a center console. Behind that were a collected of dining tables with two chairs each. These looked elegant, but I thought it was interesting virtually nobody chose to sit here. Truthfully it was rather late and I’m guessing nobody was in the mood to eat (I know I wasn’t).
Overall, the Plaza Premium Lounge is an elegant lounge with a nice, earthy design and plenty of comfortable seating, of various types. I appreciated the extent of this variety, with wide, comfy lounge chairs, to various kinds of booths, to a hybrid dining-lounging area, to a proper dining setup by the buffet. However, it was rather crowded when we entered and it didn’t let down while we were there. This did somewhat diminish our choice in where to sit.
Food and Drinks
By the dining tables the main buffet was located. This was an excellent spread of food given that this is a Priority Pass lounge. There was a slection of hot and cold options
The hot options included Gong Pao Chicken, Teow Chew style fish, sautéed vegetables, tofu in sweet and sour sauce and claymore rice, all of which looked very nice. Though I didn’t have any of it myself, my husband reported that the quality was good. The chicken was flavorful and moist and the rice not too dry.
There were also two soups dishes, and a cold buffet with various raw vegetables and cold cuts. all this was pretty standard, without any interesting salads or the like.
In terms of drinks, the usual selections were available. There two hot drink machines that could make a selection of coffees, or just hot water for tea. However, one of these appeared to malfunction. otherwise there was a fridge was a variety of canned sodas.
For alcoholic drinks, you could go to the bar, which is shown above. Here you could get beer, wine and cocktails. I thought it was a nice touch that there was. Live bar for this, though admittedly it may have been more efficient to provide some self-serve options as well,O
Overall, it was a nice selection of food and drinks of rather good quality. Keep in mind this is a priority pass lounge as well, so to be able to access a lounge like with priority pass is pretty great.
Restroom and Showers
This lounge has both restrooms and showers. Unfortunately, don’t expect to easily get a spot for the shower and if you enter with priority pass, this is an extra charge. When we entered a priority pass guest reserved a spot on the schedule, and paid $100 for this.
Beside the corridor that leads to the showers is also a separate corridor that leads to the restrooms. The men’s restroom is at the end of the corridor.
The size of the restroom and the number of urinals and stalls seems generally fitting for the size of the lounge, and I’ve never seen a line form, despite the level of crowding in the lounge, further, the restroom was kept nice and clean throughout our stay. There were three urinals, two stalls, and two sinks.
I thought the restrooms were absolutely adequate, as they were kept tidy and clean and didn’t get too busy at any time. While I didn’t get to see the showers, if they were kept as tidy as the restrooms, it should be a nice place to freshen up if you so choose.
Summary
Overall, the Plaz Premium Lounge at SIN Terminal 1 is a pleasant lounge to spend an hour or two before your flight. Particularly keeping in mind that you can access it with priority pass, I thought it is among the better priority pass lounges out there and 8 also thought it was nicer than the SATS Premier Lounge we visited in Terminal 2. However, like that lounge, the Plaza Premium Lounge in Terminal 1 gets very busy. Still, with tasty food and tidy restrooms, I think it’s a nice place to spend some time.
Points to Seats 
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