Singapore Airlines

[ohmz52]

Chaps & Chapettes,

I hear SG airlines is good, I've not flown with them before.

How is it? Is their business class any good?

Tks

[PNGMK]

Chaps & Chapettes,

I hear SG airlines is good, I've not flown with them before.

How is it? Is their business class any good?

Tks

Emirates is better IMO. Singapore is good but damn expensive.

[Steve1960]

I have not flown Emirates for a long time so can't compare.

I do think SA Business Class is a very good service but not noticeably better than Cathay Pacific or British Airways. If there is an edge for me it is the food. I am not a lover of in flight food but SA (at least for me) is much better quality than others.

[Fortan]

Thai Airways has way better service and food but the seats in Business Class are not as comfy as the ones on SIA. Anytime I get the chance, I always fly SIA or Thai Air - my two favorite airlines globally.

[zzm9980]

I have not flown Emirates for a long time so can't compare.

I do think SA Business Class is a very good service but not noticeably better than Cathay Pacific or British Airways. If there is an edge for me it is the food. I am not a lover of in flight food but SA (at least for me) is much better quality than others.

Yes, if you have a refreshed long haul cabin I will give SQ the edge over Cathay on Business. Unfortunately a lot of the regional flights have the "big recliner" cabins, even things like 6 hour red eyes to India (the times I want to sleep).

If you're a frequent flyer though, go with Cathay or someone else. SQ will not upgrade you for free. The economy class can be sold out, and business empty, and they will still bump someone off the flight before giving a complimentary upgrade. As opposed to Cathay where with my Marco Polo Gold (not top tier) I've been bumped to first on 4 of my last 6 cross-ocean segments. Nearly every trip between here to HKG (their hub) is an upgrade also.

Emirates is kind of crappy if you're in economy. I know one person who's been upgraded one time by them, and he flew 3-4 times a year round trip SFO to BLR for a few years. So it can happen, just not often.

[sundaymorningstaple]

My daughter is a regular flyer on Emirates to/from Angola working a month on/moth off rotation with Maersk. She's been there for a couple years now and she occasionally gets bumped up to Business. In fact, she was bumped up on her flight back to Singapore last week. Her analysis is similar, economy nothing to rave about, but she says Business is rather nice.

[PNGMK]

I have not flown Emirates for a long time so can't compare.

I do think SA Business Class is a very good service but not noticeably better than Cathay Pacific or British Airways. If there is an edge for me it is the food. I am not a lover of in flight food but SA (at least for me) is much better quality than others.

Yes, if you have a refreshed long haul cabin I will give SQ the edge over Cathay on Business. Unfortunately a lot of the regional flights have the "big recliner" cabins, even things like 6 hour red eyes to India (the times I want to sleep).

If you're a frequent flyer though, go with Cathay or someone else. SQ will not upgrade you for free. The economy class can be sold out, and business empty, and they will still bump someone off the flight before giving a complimentary upgrade. As opposed to Cathay where with my Marco Polo Gold (not top tier) I've been bumped to first on 4 of my last 6 cross-ocean segments. Nearly every trip between here to HKG (their hub) is an upgrade also.

Emirates is kind of crappy if you're in economy. I know one person who's been upgraded one time by them, and he flew 3-4 times a year round trip SFO to BLR for a few years. So it can happen, just not often.

You'll never get an upgrade on SQ because some idiot PPS flyer sued them over not getting an upgrade so they have a 'no upgrade ever' policy now.

[ScoobyDoes]

Thai Airways has way better service and food but the seats in Business Class are not as comfy as the ones on SIA. Anytime I get the chance, I always fly SIA or Thai Air - my two favorite airlines globally.

I prefer Thai's new Long Haul seats, especially if you bag a window seat that feels like it's own private cabin. Comfort wise, 'acceptable' is all but considering I can price flights to Europe in Thai's A380 1st Class cheaper than SQ's Business Class it's really a no-brainer to consider SQ pricing themselves out of the competition (given their continued cost-cutting efforts as well).

On top of that, try to get SQ's website to work fault free.....now, that's a challenge!

[GSM8]

I flew Thai A380 on the Bangkok-Tokyo sector a few times and thought their biz class seats were more comfortable than United's long haul first class (got bumped up from biz class SFO-SIN recently). Emirates economy class can be claustrophobic, especially since their 777 is 3-4-3 instead of 3-3-3 and they seem to have achieved that by keeping the seat width same but narrowing the aisle, hand rest and insulation.[/i]

[Strong Eagle]

It really depends on the aircraft and the last upgrade. I've flown SQ in biz class with the 4 across seating... 777 and A380. You simply cannot complain about the room. Most everyone else is six across.

I've also flown in the recliner style business seats on the allegedly shorter flights, and they are no better and no worse than competing airlines.

I have found the food and service to be comparable on Thai, SQ, Cathay, and EVA, although EVA is a little bit quirky. I've also flown Malaysia airlines and while the service was good, the food was not up to par with the others.

What matters most to me is the seat type, and here Seatguru is your friend. Find a total lay flat for the most long haul comfort. Second are the almost flat (170 degree) seats with the problem that you tend to slide down them.

One place that SQ tends to be better is the biz class airline lounge (Manila excepted!!!). Thai lounges are great in Bangkok, OK in Paris, not much to look at in KL. Malaysia airlines probably has the worst lounges although the main KL lounge isn't too bad at all.

[Max Headroom]

Got upgraded once at SQ, but that was after reaching Kris Gold from years of to-and-froing between Europe and Singapore. The upgrade was nice... well the first 10 minutes of it anyway, as I'd already popped my Quaalude and was out like a light soon after taking my seat, which, by the way, was indeed substantial.

Generally, I was quite unhappy with SQ's online and phone desk performance, however. And when, on top of this, they started tapering their royalty rewards, I cut my losses.

[Strong Eagle]

Generally, I was quite unhappy with SQ's online and phone desk performance, however. And when, on top of this, they started tapering their royalty rewards, I cut my losses.

+1 on the website and phone service. Economy class gets a call center in India, and while they are pleasant, trying to actually get something done is another matter altogether.

I haven't been to their website in a year but it was so bad that it generated thousands of comments on Flyer Talk.

[Max Headroom]

This is something that, as an observer, has been blowing me away for the better part of the last 7 years or so. I mean, I've stopped flying SQ now, but, no doubt about it, in my experience, their cabin service is second to none, as is their on-time track record.

But, by Jove, how long have their phone and online troubles been dragging on? I heard their website was overhauled a while ago. But, yeah, it appeared to generate a lot of unhappy buzz again. Mind you, I was on their site, kicking the tyres a bit, a few months back, and at least their latency issues have been resolved.

I have no idea how this work, is it a tender system or do do they have a dedicated in-house IT team? I have no idea. And truth be told, I flew KLM last month and their call center was mind-numbing. But KLM isn't charging premium eh.

Amazing stuff.

[ScoobyDoes]

To balance the Thai books a little......they are also impossible to reach on the phone in Singapore.

Send them an email, though, and they'll call you back in a couple of hours and be very helpful.

[Brah]

KrisFlyer - never again - had accrued a lot of points, they all expired with their Draconian policy, and offered to maintain them by paying money.

Should have tagged the mileage to UA, I'd still have it.

For that reason I also avoid SQ wherever possible, easy due to their being overpriced.