Reviewing the Singapore First Suite
It’s an understatement to say that we were looking forward to this flight on Singapore’s A380. Sometimes you just get lucky with availability, and we actually found two options for flying the First Suite: from Europe to Singapore or from Shanghai to Singapore. Given that we live in the UK, it made absolute sense for us to choose the Shanghai option….
How we booked this flight
We booked a flight for September 2025 in November 2024, which is ten months before the flight date.
Two First Class suites from Shanghai to Singapore cost us 196,000 Singapore KrisFlyer miles, and a grand total of £20.67 in taxes. We fly a lot with BA and Qatar, where the taxes can easily reach over a thousand pounds. Getting to fly in a First suite for £20 felt like a steal.
To get the required KrisFlyer miles, I transferred American Express reward points from both a standard UK GBP card and a USD card. The latter has a better transfer rate (1 MR point to 1 KrisFlyer) compared to the GBP cards (3:2).
One thing to bear in mind with transferring Amex points to Singapore Airlines is the length of time it takes. The quoted time is 15 working days, which is the longest out of any partner. Delta, for example, has a 30-minute transfer time.
The reality was that the points landed in five days, but it’s still nerve-racking waiting for the points to land to secure your rewards seat. There’s always the chance that your ideal seats go, and you’re left with hundreds of thousands of points sitting with an airline that you can’t use.
Checking in at Shanghai
We got to the airport just two hours before the flight, which is very unlike us. We’re usually so punctual (and by punctual, I mean very very early for our flights) that I half expected to get turned away. The reality was that we weren’t that late, and check-in was a breeze.
As we were travelling in First Class, we used a dedicated line that had a grand total of zero people in it. It took a total of four minutes from arriving at the desk until we were walking towards security.
The staff member told us to head to the China Airlines lounge, which was directly after security, and virtually opposite the gate we were due to board from.
We were given beautiful printed passes that said FIRST SUITE on them. I might be alone in this, but I love getting nice-looking boarding passes, and I have a load on my wall as mementoes.
My heart sinks when I get handed a wafer-thin piece of wax paper that’s been through a 1980s dot matrix printer. They barely survive the journey home, and the ink starts to fade after a year on my wall.
Security at Shanghai
After check-in, you go through passport control first, and then your bags are scanned.
There is no priority lane for passport control, but there is a first-class and business-class lane for the bag scanning. This line was just as busy as the economy line, and it was a very slow process.
The bag scanning process was strictly one person at a time. They invite you to walk up to the conveyor belt, put your bags on, scan your boarding pass, walk away from it and then the next person is allowed to enter.
It took around ten minutes to get through the scanning, and then we went straight to….Shake Shack.
I had a feeling that the lounge wouldn’t have much food on offer, or at least nothing we wanted, and if it was going to be three hours before our next meal, we needed something.
I am happy to report that the Shake Shack at Shanghai Airport was excellent, and it’s located on the second floor next to the lounges.
The Singapore Airlines lounge at Shanghai
Singapore doesn’t have its own lounge at Shanghai Pudong Airport, they utilise the China Airways lounge. This is also the lounge for a ton of other airlines, including AA, Air Canada, Lufthansa, Finnair, Swiss and Turkish Airlines. Despite that – or maybe because of our flight time – this lounge was not swamped.
The China Airlines lounge is a perfectly functional set of two lounges: one for first and one for business. They are wholly separate, and we were granted access to the First space. This isn’t really first class, just like the British Airways First lounge at T5 isn’t truly first class. This was a slightly elevated Business Class.
I don’t want to be overly critical of the lounge. If you want a quiet place to sit, some basic food, and clean bathrooms, then it’s a credible option. It was well-staffed, not overly busy and a decent spot to park.
There’s food and drink, with some Western options (howdy, pizza). It’s clean. There are sleeping rooms and a massage chair. Sadly, that chair tilts, but it doesn’t massage. There’s a TV at the back that was playing movies. There’s a self-service luggage storage area.
It is a perfect functional lounge, it’s just not first class.
We went to the gate at the required time, but found there was a thirty-minute delay. There wasn’t a lot to do in the terminal, some shops and restaurants but not enough to pass half an hour, so we ended up going back to the lounge for a second, short, visit.
Boarding
As boarding was delayed due to a slightly late inbound flight, we ended up missing the boarding time for First Class, and got to the gate just after they had called economy. There was a dedicated line for First Class that was still open.
We showed our tickets to a member of the Singapore Airlines team, and they greeted us as if we were A-list celebrities. Another staffer, whom I assume to be senior, was walking past and he warmly greeted us by name. We never saw him again; he was just very excited that we finally turned up for his flight.
A third staffer was called, and they jogged over to us as if we were royalty. They walked us onto the plane, chatting professionally but warmly, before handing over to a member of the cabin crew. It was a warm, welcoming and overall enjoyable boarding experience.
We did, however, board via the wrong jetbridge. If you want to be picky, and I do not, then this was the only negative about this experience. That says a lot about how good this flight was. I actually enjoyed walking up the stairs to the correct floor; it brought back memories of boarding the 747 when you’re sitting in the upstairs hump.
Meeting our crew for the flight
We were taken to our suites, and we met the two cabin crew who would look after us during the flight. If you’ve read my review of Emirates First Class (TL;DR, excellent), then I talk about the many, many people who came to see us once we had settled in that suite, to tell us their names and positions. Singapore, with its two dedicated crew members first, was much simpler.
We were sitting in 1A and 2A. These suites can be turned into a large, single suite suitable for couples. Or colleagues who like each other, or who are having an affair.
They had already lowered the dividing partition. My wife and I actually have different surnames, so they made an assumption about our relationship that turned out to be correct.
The first cabin has just six suites, with two dedicated bathrooms. Four of the suites – the front two on each side of the aisle – can be joined up into a single suite, and behind those, there are the final two suites that exist in isolation.
Behind First is the Business cabin, which runs all the way to the end of the upper deck. On the lower deck, you have Premium Economy at the front, then standard economy at the rear.
The cabin
There is a wow factor to this suite that is almost incomparable. The Etihad Residence aside, most other First suites are a seat with a door. They are impressive, absolutely, and they scream luxury, but there is no wow like entering a room on a plane. And this is a room.
The first thing you’ll notice when you enter your suite is how big it is. After much thought, I believe this is down to: carpet. Bear with me on this.
We’d just flown in an Emirates First suite on an A380. This was huge, but there was a lot in that suite. A minibar, a desk, storage bins. It was a big suite, but somehow it felt like it should have been bigger. I could stand up in it, but I couldn’t walk around it. The carpet, or, if you like, the usable floor space of the suite, was small.
The Singapore First suite is full of carpet (and usable floor space). It’s the first time I’ve even really noticed carpet on an aeroplane. And since there’s so much of it, that means there’s space to walk around.
I thought that the suite would be fussy and complicated. You have a chair and a bed, and two table spaces. It sounded claustrophobic, but it was anything but. It felt more spacious than the Etihad Residence, though it was missing the bedroom and bathroom.
Sometimes airlines try to do things differently, and it goes wrong. Virgin have had some sub-par business class seats over the years (like the one where you sit facing other passengers). Singapore took a swing at a different kind of suite, and they’ve succeeded.
As you enter the suite, there’s a wardrobe, and it’s one of the largest I’ve seen on a plane. It sits between the outer wall of the suite and the inner wall that houses the TV.
Inside, you’ll find slippers, a sleep suit, and a lot of space to hang up your clothes and put away your bags. The suite itself lacks storage space, but that’s fine because the wardrobe can seemingly handle everything.
It’s wide enough to take a carry-on suitcase, and deep and tall enough to store a case and a bag. There are no overhead bins in the First cabin.
The walls of the suite do not go reach the top of the cabin, I’d estimate that they go around 75% of the way up. That is more than enough for privacy; no one passing the suite in the corridor (the suites are 1:1 with the walkway between them) was able to see in.
The Seat (And the bed)
This suite is unique in that you have both a bed and a seat.
For take-off and landing, you have to be seated. It’s also the best place to be when you’re dining. It’s a comfortable seat with controls that recline and move the seat as well as extend or contract the leg support. The controls are next to the IFE controls, located to the side of the seat.
When you’re sitting in this seat, there’s no shell around you. At first it feels disconcerting, as in every other aeroplane business or first class seat you’re cocooned in. It feels more like a seat in the real world. There’s also a feeling of floating in the seat, rather than being connected to the plane itself.
The bed will be folded upwards when you enter the suite. This creates a small, waist-height wall between your suite and the adjoining one. There may be a wall above this separating the suites. Ours was down as we were travelling together.
The crew will make your bed for you, which means they pull down the bed, turn the seat to face the front, and then put the bedding on the seat. There’s also a seatbelt that goes over the entire bed, around shoulder height.
It’s advised to put the seatbelt on if you’re going to sleep, so the crew won’t wake you if there’s turbulence. It’s not an overly tight belt, and it was easy to forget it was there.
This is a deeply comfortable bed, akin to a real bed and as good as the bedroom in the Etihad Residence (albeit narrower for one person). Our flight was only six hours, but we managed to doze off for about an hour after finishing our food.
When the suite divider is down and you have both beds laid out, then you effectively have a double bed. The bedding is still for a single bed, but you can turn and face your partner (or colleague).
The second, larger TV screen is situated so that you can watch TV in bed. It was fairly comfortable with the pillows propped up against the wall of the plane, but certainly not as comfy as being in a chair.
The screen that you face in the chair is tiny. It feels abnormally small, but it’s just there so you have something to look at when you’re taking off or landing. The second screen is 32inches, which is still best-in-class despite the age of the plane and the suite itself.
The IFE and Wifi
Singapore has an excellent IFE system with a good selection of movies and TV shows, and it includes some live channels. Singapore do a great job of previewing the shows that you’ll get on your flight.
The IFE is easy to navigate and responsive. Neither of the screens in this suite is a touchscreen as you’re too far away from them.
The wifi wasn’t particularly fast, but it was passable. Most airlines’ A380s are still using older connectivity systems, and whilst this wasn’t up there with Starlink levels of download speed, it was fine for what we needed it for.
If you’re flying in First, you get complimentary wifi on up to three devices, which is generous. British Airways and Emirates allow only one device, although you can swap them.
The amenity kit
Lalique provides the amenity kit. The leather pouch has just four items:
- A room spray
- Body lotion
- A bar of soap
- Lip balm
They’re generously sized, and it’s clear they’re meant for taking home more than just using on the plane. The bathrooms are stocked with everything else you might need on your trip, so there’s no need to double down on toothbrushes or combs.
Food and drink
We were really looking forward to the food and drink on this flight as Singapore has a great reputation.
A long time ago, when we started flying Business Class on BA, passengers could choose their food before they flew. If my memory is correct, this was a few weeks out from the flight, and it gave us a reason to get excited about the journey when we were still a fortnight away from boarding. That feature of the BA travel experience is now long gone, but Singapore replicates it (and goes one better).
For selected First and Business class flights, you can “Book The Cook”. You get to choose from an elevated menu before you fly, giving you even more options versus the standard menu. These options will not be available to you if you order on the plane; they’re only for pre-order.
The Book The Cook availability is based on where you are flying from, and in this case (flying from an outstation, Shanghai), it wasn’t possible. On our next flight from Singapore to Manchester, it was.
Despite there being no Book The Cook, the menu was still outstanding. Food orders are taken before take-off.
The dish we were both the most excited about was probably the most basic: Chicken Satay. It gets mentioned a lot in other reviews. It’s well presented, delicious and filling.
The drinks menu is unsurprisingly extensive but it’s just as focused on soft or healthy drinks as it is on alcohol. I opted for a mocktail (The Royal Sparkle), and my wife had a Pineapple Daiquiri.
For food, I was more than happy having just the starter, but my wife opted for the caviar to start and then the cod for her main.
Finally, we were both given a small box of two chocolates. Both, as you would expect, were delicious
The Bathrooms
Welcome to the second-best bathroom in the sky. Come in, take a walk around and enjoy the free amenities.
The benefit of the A380 is space and some airlines have used it to create luxurious bathrooms in the sky. Emirates has its giant shower suites, Etihad have its single shower room, and Singapore has its own elevated bathrooms for first class passengers.
There are two bathrooms at the front of the A380, one large and one small. Neither has a shower, but they are both much bigger than your standard plane bathroom.
In the larger space, you’ll find a dressing table, complete with two mirrors, a comfortable seat and a well-stocked amenity drawer. Apart from the size of the bathroom, that’s the significant difference between the smaller and larger spaces on the A380.
The smaller bathroom, which is on the left-hand side of the plane, is still big enough to walk around in.
The Singapore crew
Flawless, friendly and efficient, from start to finish. This was our expectation of the Singapore staff members, and they were absolutely on point. From gate to gate, they were excellent.
Everyone was happy to engage in conversation, and they straddled the line well between professional and personable.
I remember all of the excellent service I’ve had over the years, and I’ve mostly forgotten the bad. I also recognise the skill and effort needed by staff members to deliver that service, especially towards the end of a long-haul flight.
We cannot praise the two cabin crew enough on this flight; they were there when we needed them, and they made the whole experience better. Just after boarding, they even asked my wife if she was cold, and then covered her with a blanket.
To subtly foreshadow a future Singapore Business Class review, the level of service does not degrade when sitting in the cabin one step down. That experience was also outstanding, to the point of a crew member gently asking my wife if they could wake me up so that I didn’t miss breakfast.
The Verdict on Singapore First
Is this better than Emirates or Etihad? In a way, yes. It’s a suite on a plane, but it feels so fundamentally different that it’s unfair to compare it to any other airline.
Firstly, if you’re travelling as a couple, then this is going to create one much larger suite. It’s far more connected than, say, BA First, where you drop a divider. There’s no standalone bedroom or private bathroom like the Etihad Residence, but each of those three rooms felt a little cramped. The Singapore First Suite felt roomy and open.
Emirates First is a stunning suite. The service is outstanding, the food and drink are some of the best in the sky, and there’s a shower. The Singapore staff are on par with the excellent Emirates crew. The food and drink range on a Singapore flight feels smaller, but the Emirates menus are frankly ridiculous. You could eat non-stop in their First Class and barely get through half the menu on a long-haul.
Like a lot of elevated, truly First, experiences, comparisons are possible, but not necessary. If you flew Emirates, Etihad and Singapore First, then you would have an amazing experience. The goal for all points collectors should be to fly in them all.
These A380s won’t be around forever, so I’m happy that we got to fly in one of the best suites in the sky before it retires.
We loved it so much, we’re already planning a trip late next year to try it out again.
Singapore – First Suite Rating
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