Review: Singapore Air First Class (FRA to SIN) – A $15,000 Flight For $27 [Part 2]

Hello again 🙂 . Last time we walked through the first leg of my trip, a First Class experience from NYC to Frankfurt, Germany. You can read about that in detail here:

• Review: Singapore Air First Class (JFK to FRA) – A $15,000 Flight For $27 [Part 1]

But in summary, I had a fantastic time in Singapore Air’s First Class and was excited to embark on an even longer flight: the 12.5 hours from Frankfurt to Singapore. So let’s see how it went! 

Flights Details

• When: September 2023
• Where: JFK-(FRA-SIN)
• Flight: SQ25
• Flight Time: 20 hours
• Seat: 1F (First Class)
• Distance: 10,244 miles
• Points Used: 243,000 Krisflyer points
• Taxes: $27.30 USD

This post is describing the second, bolded, 12.5 hour leg of the above flight path. However, the points and taxes listed are how much I spent for the entire journey from NYC all the way to Singapore. If I had paid cash for this entire route it would have cost $15,129. 

FRA AIRPORT

Lufthansa Senator Lounge

As I mentioned in my previous post, we left the plane and were met with a woman with a sign saying “First Class.” She then personally escorted all 3 of us to the Lufthansa Senator Lounge, which I recapped in this post:

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I was impressed by the offerings of this lounge despite the hot temperature 🙂 . The free wifi was helpful and the shower rooms made me feel like I had options. The space was also almost strangely quiet despite having a lot of people in it…until a kid wanted to watch a show without headphones 🙂 . But I’m still counting it overall as a surprising win. Maybe I need to spend more time in Germany if silence is the default 😉 – my introvert self loved it.

THE JOURNEY

Boarding

I was once again surprised that boarding was only 30 minutes before the flight departure time. We left the lounge and rolled up to the gate a few minutes later to find…chaos 🙂 . There were actually printed signs for First Class, Business and Economy (unlike JFK which didn’t have a line for First). However, it was a glom of people instead of lines like JFK.

So we waited as out of the way as we could and then when First Class was called, we made our way awkwardly to the front. We were told to go through and all of the crew said hello and knew us by name even though we hadn’t been introduced and were just walking toward the jet bridge. Impressive!

So there was a separate boarding door for First and Business Class, but it was at the very front of the plane (instead of in the middle like in JFK) so that means Business Class walked by us unlike on our flight from JFK, which had one boarding door behind First. This was not a big deal, but it burst a weird bubble I didn’t even realize I was under until this point that made me think we were literally the only 3 people on the plane like I felt during the first leg of this adventure. Woah 🙂 .  

The Flight

This leg is 12.5 hours to Singapore and once we arrived on the plane, we were greeted with all new crew members who surprisingly knew that we were on the first flight and changed what they said accordingly. Wild 🙂 . 

I was offered a drink and warm nuts, both of which were perfect temperature and delicious once again. I was then given the menu to order lunch. 

Once we were about to taxi, I was asked if I’d like a blanket, which I didn’t know existed on the first flight! I obviously said yes and they gave me this super soft blanket that wasn’t a part of the bedding I had used before. I didn’t know that was an option! I was taking off in style 😉 .

Next, someone introduced himself as the head of the flight attendants (FA) and told me that we were going to arrive an hour early and thanked me profusely for flying with the airline, which was very kind.

Later the pilot said that traffic on the runway delayed us 15 minutes…I don’t even think I’m even told about 15 minute delays on US airlines so I was surprised they said anything at all. 

Then the head FA came by with a hot towel for me to wipe my hands and then showed me a variety of snacks and I reached for one in a bag and the FA said, “I’ll put it in a bowl for you,” which I hadn’t experienced before.

Then the head FA came back and gave me a stuffed Singapore Air teddy bear saying that they don’t usually give this out in First Class, but I should have it. At this point I was starting to get suspicious about what was happening. No one else in First Class was given teddy bears…

So I asked my partner via text (with free, unlimited Singapore Air wifi 😉 ) and my Mom, (who was across the aisle), and they confirmed that this person was hitting on me based on his behavior – I’m really bad at reading this stuff so I was happy for their input. However soon after, he learned that I was traveling with my Mom and completely backed off. I barely saw him again.

On another note 🙂 , that’s when my lunch arrived and I interacted with the other amazing FAs on the flight. Once again I was asked if I would like the soup in addition to my appetizer – how could I turn down that type of question 🙂 ? Well, we’ll soon see that my decision bit me in the ass.

I had the famous Singapore Air Chicken Satay Canapé…and I didn’t like it very much. Oops!

I also had the Malossol Caviar:

And German soup – YUM!

Then it was time for my Beef Filet:

And that’s when I reached my limit. My Mom went on to enjoy their Strawberry Shortcake, which I asked them to save for me, but I was never empty enough to want it before we landed. I’m sorry Shortcake! It’s not you, it’s me. 

Once I was finished eating, I realized that the Wifi had cut out. This was about 3 hours into my flight and I only noticed because I had been so impressed with how consistent and fast the Wifi was on my flight from NYC to Frankfurt. However, we were warned that the Wifi might do that beforehand based on where we were in the world and it happened to be when people were going to bed anyway (was it planned that way? If so, genius!)

So I followed suit and asked for my bed to be turned down. The FA did that quickly and then asked if I would like to be awakened for breakfast. Despite my bursting belly I said yes – how could I resist? This was my last chance to eat in this type of Singapore First Class seat perhaps ever so I wanted to take full advantage.

When the FA was turning down my bed, I asked if I could keep my leather pillow to create the perfect nest like I did in Part 1 of this journey. They said yes and that it was no problem so I once again created the perfect pillow situation, which I appreciated since you can’t change the recline while the bed is turned down because it seems like it is actually flipped over like in Singapore Air Business Class instead of reclined into a bed like on other airlines.

I went to visit my Mom so I wouldn’t get in the way of the turn down service and came back to my bed looking perfect. I was also given earplugs, an eye mask and a water bottle. Perfection 🙂 ! I kept being blown away by the service at every step of this flight.

So I settled into my bed to sleep. I strategically made myself go to bed so I could be fresh for the next adventure of my trip – 20 hours in Singapore 😉 . I then awakened 5 hours later when the seatbelt sign went on and we experienced some turbulence.

When an FA saw I was awake, I was asked for my breakfast preferences. I chose the fruit, which was somehow wildly delicious – and I eat fruit all the time so I was confused with how it could be so different. It was so flavorful!

I had some freshly squeezed orange juice on the side and a yummy mocha. I was also asked to choose what kind of bread I wanted and I chose 1 croissant – and was given 2 🙂 . They were delicious and perfectly warm. Seriously, how is this a plane?!

After all that food I was literally more full than I’d even been in my life. I couldn’t eat another bite of food for more than 12 hours and felt like I’d never be hungry again. It was wild. So if your eyes are bigger than your stomach and you hate to waste food like me – be careful 🙂 . The portions are not small!

Anyway before I knew it, it was time to land! That was the fastest 12.5 hours of my life.

Landing

After we landed it took a bit to get to the gate. We were told that the jet bridge wasn’t working, but maybe 10 minutes later it was fixed and we were parked at the gate. Damn that’s efficient 🙂 . The First Class passengers left through the front door and I saw other classes exit through different doors. 

SIN AIRPORT

Immigration

Once we exited the plane there was someone at the gate pointing out connecting flight information. We followed “arrival” signs and knew that we had already submitted our arrival card application while staying at a day use hotel the day before.

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So we went to the “arrivals” line, which seemed to be a queue to talk to someone. However, an employee gestured us forward towards some machines instead. There was a separate worker there, which was good because I did everything wrong despite having gone through this airport before🤣. 

You’re supposed to scan your passport on the machine and then the next machine takes your picture and fingerprints, but I fucked it up somehow. So the employee came and helped me and I was through in seconds. 

Baggage Claim

After the passport check we entered baggage claim. I almost kept walking cause I had forgotten that my Mom checked her bag since I never do that.

So we waited there for a little bit and her bag came almost immediately. We then proceeded towards Customs signs indicating we had nothing to declare and walked into the sunlight.

Transit

We were looking for the location to pick up ride shares and discovered that there were signs indicating going down an escalator. We had called a Grab, which came immediately. Interestingly, since I haven’t used Grab in two years, my Chase Sapphire Preferred card now works on it perfectly. I’m glad I don’t have to incur foreign transaction fees on a random debit card like the last time I used that app. High fives all around!

The app also interestingly had an option to not have anyone speak during the ride, which I appreciated, but didn’t click despite my tendencies to need to be a hardcore introvert after flying across the world. So then we had a final interesting encounter of trying to remember to look right since the cars in Singapore drive on the left side of the street. I just look both ways always just in case 🙂 .

THE REVIEW

Seat

The First Class seat continues to be all the wonderful things I said in the first part of this review: it’s huge and can easily fit two people comfortably. I enjoyed having so much room that I could easily store all my bags right in front of me instead of having to fiddle with overhead bins, which don’t exist in this class of the plane.

I also still loved the bed this seat became. It’s comfy in either position and with my 3rd pillow trick by asking to keep my leather pillow gave me the perfect amount of cushion to sleep comfortably on my back or side.

The amount of storage once again blew me away. I could easily unpack everything I own and still have room left over in places. It’s wild. I also once again enjoyed all the lighting options that the seat had. Overall it’s a dream come true 🙂 .

Customer Service

Customer service with Singapore Air was once again immaculate. Minus the weirdness of being hit on for a small part of the trip, everyone was very professional, helpful and kind.

I would come back from the bathroom to see that my drink had been refilled or cleaned up. The bathroom was once again spotless and also, often had the toilet paper folded into a triangle like they clean after each guest that uses the bathroom.

Overall the FAs went above and beyond. They were so fast and anticipatory that I never felt the need to ask for anything. They definitely deserve their best airline award. This might be the best service I’ve ever experienced – even better than Emirates and Cathay First Class service. It’s definitely even better than the Singapore Business Class service I had last year, but that makes sense since these FAs are taking care of up to 4 people instead of like 90. 

The FAs also remembered all of my preferences – some from my previous flight so they must have been given notes about us since it was a different crew. They remembered that my Mom prefers sparkling water with no lemon and no ice without prompting. Madness.

After we left the plane, we were sent an online feedback form that was extensive, which I love if they actually listen to it 🙂 .

Food

The food was once again fantastic. Perfectly cooked and delicious. I ate myself into a food coma the likes of which I’ve never experienced before and though my stomach was uncomfortable for a bit…it was worth it 🙂 .

Entertainment

I mentioned how the wifi cut out briefly, but we were warned about it and the outage seemed perfectly timed with when we were going to sleep so it was in no way a big deal. The B&O headset that we were given was way more comfortable than the horrible American Air ones to Argentina, but not as comfy as the Bose on Cathay First Class. However, they did the job 🙂 . 

One weird thing that happened is that I watched Joy Ride and the movie skipped curse words and blurred people flipping off the camera, but the weird thing was what words they decided to skip. They cut out “shit” and “bitch”, but not “pussy” or “whore.” They also cut vomiting out of the movie, which I found interesting. Basically I couldn’t get a read on why that might be or what their criteria was and why this only happened with Joy Ride, not other movies I watched. If anyone has any ideas feel free to let me know.

CONCLUSION

So obviously, I wasn’t originally planning to experience Singapore Air’s regular First Class cabins at all, but I’m actually glad I did even if it was a downgrade for the points we paid 🙂 . That’s because I’ve ever had an experience like this – such a small cabin with so many attentive crew members, delicious food and a comfortable seat.

It was a fantastic way to fly. Soon I’ll be writing about the ridiculous First Class Suites that we were originally going to fly this entire trip and were able to enjoy on our flight from Singapore to Sydney, Australia. They’re basically apartments in the sky 😉 . Until next time!

What’s an unexpected flight that you’ve been on?