Flight Review: Singapore Airlines A350 Business Class SIN-JFK

Today is somewhat of a bucket list trip: Singapore Airlines A350 in Business Class. We’re finally finishing the last leg of our round the world trip with the longest flight in the world. The end of a vacation is always bitter sweet, but at least we’re traveling home in style with Singapore. This Singapore to New York route has been flown for many years, I’m glad to finally get to experience it.

Lots has been written about the SQ A350 Business Class product, I’m excited to share my opinions on this flight between Singapore and New York. This plane is unique, these A350s are configured with 75% of the plane as business class and the remaining portion as premium economy.

Bottom Line: Looking back, we really loved this experience. Singapore Airlines is consistently voted the best airline in the world, after this A350 experience, it’s easy to see why. Singapore’s Business Class is top notch and I hope to ride with them again soon.

Singapore Airport

We arrived to the Singapore Airport via taxi about 2 hours before our flight to New York.

The Singapore Airport is wonderful and beautiful. It’s also a little odd, but I’ll get into that later.

With our flight on the board, we headed to the departures area. We didn’t need to check in at the counter as we already had our boarding passes via the Singapore Airlines App.

We headed for departures here at Singapore, however this is where SIN is a little odd. When you enter the departures area, you don’t clear security. You go through passport control and are “air-side” but you don’t pass security until you get to the gate.

So here, we’re what would normally be in the secure part of the terminal, however her at SIN we haven’t passed thought security yet. Not everyone can walk in, you still need a boarding pass, but this is where the lounges and shopping are located.

After spending some time in the fantastic Singapore Airlines Business Class Lounge at SIN T3, we took the Skytrain over to T2 where our flight to New York will be departing from.

Singapore Airlines Boarding Process

Here at SIN, each individual gate has it’s own check point, it’s a little odd, but works out just fine. The display boards throughout the airport will tell you when it’s time to head to the gate.

After passing through security there is a small gate area. It’s not recommended that you get here early, there’s not much to do. Basically, in my opinion, this area is just for passing through on the way to board a flight. You don’t want to spend time here when the rest of the SIN airport is so fantastic.

Our Singapore Airlines A350 was waiting at the gate to take us all the way to New York.

As soon as we passed security, we boarded the plane. I really like when jet bridges have glass walkways, so much more fun than solid metal.

Singapore Airlines uses 2 jet bridges to board their A350. While this plane doesn’t have First Class, Business Class starts at row 10, those between row 10 and 17 board via the front door. Those 18 and higher board through the second door. The vast majority of the floor plan on the SQ A350 is business class.

Singapore Airlines A350 Business Class Cabin

We found our seats on the right side of the plane in the forward business class cabin on the Singapore A350. My first impression is really good. The cabin looks amazing, is spotlessly clean, and the flight attendants are very welcoming.

An interesting thing about the Singapore A350 Business Class seats is their colors alternate by row. Every other seat is purple or taupe.

My window seat is one of the taupe ones. The seats are trimmed in leather with a pillow waiting in each seat.

The center section of the SQ A350 doesn’t have overhead bins, it makes the cabin feel much larger. Here in Business Class that doesn’t matter for storage either, there’s plenty of space for everyone’s bags.

Singapore Airlines A350 Business Class Seat Review

The seats on the Singapore Airlines A350 are extremely comfortable and very wide. These are some of the widest seats I’ve ever sat in on a plane.

The Singapore Business Class seats are not without their quarks. The main body of the seat faces forward, but the footwell is off to the side. Due to the width of the seat it isn’t uncomfortable, you just end up sleeping at an angle across the seat. Another thing to note is that these seats do not recline into a bed, they fold forward, but I’ll get into that later.

The Business Class seats on the A350 are loaded with features. Starting with the In Seat Entertainment. The screen is huge, especially when sitting this close, it’s massive. The selection of movies and shows is one of the biggest I’ve ever seen.

If I had to get picky to find a negative, it would be the remote for the entertainment. The main screen is not a touch screen and you must use the remote to make selections. Little odd on such a modern system, it does work well, I did find myself occasionally touching the main screen through.

Over my right shoulder is a storage cubby, reading lamp, power port, USB power, and jack for headphones.

On my left shoulder is a second set of lights for the seat. These aren’t reading lights, more like area lights.

On the right there is a cubby with a bottle of water and then a set of headphones. I used my Sonys and didn’t try the provided headphones.

Next to the screen for the entertainment was another small cubby.

Below the cubby is also mirror and then a small shelf. The seat is certainly not lacking for storage or features.

Singapore Airlines A350 Business Class Seat Controls

On the lower right side of the seat there is another headphone jack. There’s also all of the controls for the seat. There’s one thing here to note again, this seat does not recline into a bed, you must get up, fold the rear of the seat forward. I don’t prefer this style of seat, but I’ll get into that later.

Singapore Airlines A350 Business Class Departure

As we readied for departure champagne was distributed. We got nicely settled into the cabin as the flight attendants introduced themselves.

I love the wing on the A350. It’s such an elegant shape.

The great thing about a having a large plane with mostly business class is that if boards very quickly. We were all settled in and ready to depart in about 25 minutes.

We pushed back from the gate right on time. The pilots gave their welcome. There are 4 pilots on this flight due to the length.

We made a short taxi to the runway.

And we’re soon airborne leaving Singapore.

This is one of my favorite views and something that’s relatively unique. Singapore is one of the busiest shipping ports in the world, all of these ships are coming and going from the shipping terminals. It’s really an amazing sight.

As we climbed we got some great views.

As we climbed out, we soon lost track of the ground within the clouds.

Singapore Airlines Free In-flight Wifi

Singapore Airlines offers free wifi to those sitting in business class along with those who are Krisflyer members. Today I’m both, so as we climbed out of Singapore I signed into the Wifi.

Singapore Airlines Business Class Menu

In each seat there is a menu. I didn’t chose my meals from here though, I used Singapore Airlines’ “Book the Cook” meal pre-order program.

Singapore Airlines Business Class Menu.

Singapore Airlines Business Class Menu

Singapore Airlines Business Class Menu

Singapore Airlines Business Class Menu

Singapore Airlines Business Class Menu

Singapore Airlines Business Class Menu

Singapore Airlines Business Class Menu

Singapore Airlines Business Class Menu

Singapore Airlines Business Class Lunch Service

Cabin manager came around, super great guy. He thanked us and then even added thank you for contributing to their bonus. SQ had a fantastic year and as such gave all of their employees a 75% pay bonus. I think that’s fantastic. The employees deserve it, SQ is the best airline in the world for a reason, it’s their people.

The business class meal service started about 45 minutes into the flight. This is a noon departure so lunch is very welcome. The first item distributed was nuts along with our beverage choices. I first had a champagne, then just a Coke.

Table cloths were distributed and the tray tables were extended from in the arm rest. I like that you can get into and out of the seat with the tray table in use.

The Singapore Airlines Business Class first course was a duck breast. The cabin smells great at this point. I really hope it’s my lunch, but we’ll see.

I really loved this dish, it was a cold dish and the duck was delicious. Breads were passed from the head flight attendant. Seriously, he could not be a better ambassador for the Singapore Airlines brand.

For my main dish I had Kok Kee Wonton Noodle. Char siew pork, dumplings, and bok choy over soy sauce noodles. This meal was delicious. I rarely think that plane food is genuinely good, but Singapore Airlines is the exception.

Val had the Soon Heng Bak Chor Mee Soup. This is a pork broth, with meatballs, dumplings, and noodles. She reports that, just like my meal, it was just fantastic and very filling.

There were a few options for deserts, I chose the ice cream.

Val had the tart with berry compote. I can report that the Business Class meal on Singapore Airlines is as good as a meal you’d receive in a restaurant. It’s rare for me to really like a meal on a plane, I usually find them good and adequate. But this one was really exceptional. The meal service took about 90 minutes from start to finish.

Singapore Airlines Business Class In Flight

After our meal we had passed over Vietnam and we’re on the way towards the Korean Peninsula and Japan.

The remote for the In Seat Entertainment displays the progress in flight when not being used for controlling the entertainment options.

After dinner the cabin lights were dimmed and most people settled into a movie or show. I was no exception.

I reclined my seat and didn’t quite want to go to sleep yet. It’s still early and I’m not really tired so I just put up my foot rest and watched a movie.

The flight attendants passed through the cabin again to offer drinks, I decided to have a Singapore Sling.

Within the hour, the windows were all shut and it became very quiet here in the forward Business Class cabin on the Singapore A350.

Singapore Airlines A350 Lavatories

There are several bathrooms on the Singapore A350, they are all a very good size and were kept very clean throughout the flight. This lavatory is the one near the second boarding door.

The ones in the rear of the plane have a slightly different layout and are a little bit more cramped, but not small by any means.

Singapore Airlines Business Class Bedding Review

After watching 2 movies I decided I should attempt to get some sleep. We’re about 6 hours into this flight and I asked the flight attendant for help getting my seat turned into a bed. The controls were a little different than I expected. She soon had be all set up. What I really like about the Singapore Business Class seat is the bedding. There’s a mattress cover, sheet, duvet and then 3 pillows. This is much more any pretty much every other airline will provide in business class.

I found the bed to be extremely comfortable. You do have to sleep slightly pointed away from the entertainment screen, but the seat is so wide it’s very pleasant.

The business class seat on the Singapore A350 has a second seat belt for use when you’re lying down.

Because I’m an idiot, I put on a 3rd movie and didn’t really get much sleep, way to distracted and it’s only 7pm back in Singapore so I’m not very tired yet.

Singapore Airlines Business Class Second Meal

After about 8 hours of darkness on the plane, 11 hours total into the flight, the lights were slowly brought back up.

I flipped my seat back to the regular position as I thought we were going to receive a small snack.

A few minutes later, chicken satays were passed around. I mistakenly thought this would be the entire snack, we still have about 6 hours left in the flight.

I was wrong, so I decided to do something a little different. I wanted to get a little more sleep on the comfy bed, so I put my seat back into bed mode.

About 10 minutes later I discovered I could put the tray table out even with the bed folded down.

There’s a little height adjustment button on the tray table that allows it to lift up to the height of the bed. So while a little weird, I decided to have the second meal while in bed.

So even while bucked into my seat, with the bed laying down, I’m able to have my tray table extended.

My table was soon set. I will say I am a little surprised at the timing of this meal.

The appetizer course was another cold dish. This time it was seared tuna. I really loved this dish, I think I like it more than the duck from the first meal.

Next came my main course. With the Book the Cook, I chose the Makhan Wala Murgh. This is an Indian butter chicken curry. I really loved this dish, it was just absolutely huge though. We’ve done a lot of eating on this flight already.

After the meal we have just about 4 more hours in the flight to New York. I was able to get a good 4 hours of sleep, and with all the cabin lights and commotion, I wasn’t able to get back to sleep after my meal.

Outside it’s a beautiful smooth day for flying.

Singapore Airlines A350 Business Class Arrival

The pilots announced that were just about an hour from landing into New York. We’ve been in the air for just about 16 hours and I’m really amazed at how good I feel.

Outside we had slowly begun our decent into New York.

I put my seat back into it’s seat mode and then stowed away all of the pillows and duvet. Some of them go nicely behind the seat, others I put into the foot well.

The cabin manager came around and said thank you to all of us passengers. This crew was really amazing the entire flight. Just so polished and professional the entire flight. At this point the cabin was prepared for landing.

As we approached JFK we got a really nice view of coastal New York, but on approach to the airport, you’ll get a better view of Manhattan on the other side of the plane.

Looks like amazing weather here in New York.

And on the ground here in New York. We’re just about 20 minutes early with a total flying time of right around 17 hours and 45 minutes.

Singapore Airlines A350 Business Class In Flight Schedule

When looking at longer flights I’m always curious as to what the order of events is on the plane in flight. Here’s how the Singapore Airlines handles the longest flight in the world from SIN-JFK.

Hour	Activity
1	Welcome, departure, meal order
2-3	Dinner and Desert
4	Dim quiet cabin, After Dinner Drinks
5-11	Cabin lights off, windows closed, sleeping time
12-13	Second meal
14-16	Quiet Cabin with lights on
17	Prep for landing
18	Arrival into JFK

Singapore Airlines A350 Business Class Final Thoughts

Singapore Airlines knocks it out of the park with their Business Class on the A350. This is the longest flight in the world and it just doesn’t feel that way. Everything was so well taken care of for the entirety of the flight. From the second we walked onto the plane, the cabin crew could not have been better hosts and ambassadors for Singapore Airlines.

I didn’t really know what to expect out of such a long flight, I’ve done my share of long haul flights, but I’m usually tired and ready to get off the plane by journey end, but not this time. Starting with the Business Class seats on the SQ A350, they are huge and comfortable. I was of mixed opinions of forward folding seats, but Singapore does it differently. These seats are great and because of the included mattress, sheet, duvet, and multiple pillows it’s really a great place to sleep.

The meals that were served on Singapore’s Business Class are truly top notch. I wouldn’t mind getting these options at a restaurant at all. Everything was served with such professionalism too. Nothing was left out and everything had a place.

If all of that wasn’t enough, the in flight entertainment options are some of the best I’ve ever seen. Hundreds of movies, shows, and even live TV is available on The Singapore A350. To top it all off, Wifi is included for free for Business Class passengers.

So yes, even after flying the longest flight in the world for nearly 17000Km, I’m not exhausted, worn out, or desperate to get off the plane. I’m mostly just glad to have experienced this amazing Singapore Airlines flight. I would encourage it to anyone, what a great way to travel.

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