Review: 33 Hours In Singapore Air Business Class – $7,734 of Flights for $75 [Part 1]

A series of unfortunate events happened to my Mom and my Singapore Air flights to and from Australia/New Zealand in the fall of 2023.

As I mentioned in previous posts, we had planned to enjoy 24+ hours in the wild Singapore Air A380 First Class Suites, but instead, because of changes to Singapore’s fleet, we experienced their First Class for the first time, had a shorter visit in the First Class Suites and then experienced this fascinating 33 hour itinerary in Business Class.

Here are reviews of all those flights in case you’re interested in that:

• Review: Singapore Air First Class Suites – A $4,280 Apartment In The Sky For $26
• Review: Singapore Air First Class (JFK to FRA) – A $15,000 Flight For $27 [Part 1]
• Review: Singapore Air First Class (FRA to SIN) – A $15,000 Flight For $27 [Part 2]
• Review: The World’s Longest Flight – 19 Hours In Singapore Air Business Class

Instead of being frustrated that our plans were partially foiled, I took this as an opportunity to experience a new airline product (Singapore First Class) and see if 33 hours in my beloved Singapore Business Class would be a good or challenging experience (Spoiler: It was great – the time flew by in a way that was shocking 🙂 ). So let’s dive into an adventure that took me across 4 continents.

Flights Details

• When: October 2023
• Where: AKL-SIN-FRA-JFK
• Flights: SQ286 and SQ26
• Flight Time: 33 hours
• Seats: 20K (AKL-SIN) and 12K (SIN-FRA-JFK)
• Distance: 15,454 miles
• Points Used: 145,500 KrisFlyer points
• Taxes: $75.63 USD

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by A Purple Life l Early Retiree (@apurplelife)

AUCKLAND (AKL) AIRPORT

Check In

My Mom and I arrived at the Auckland airport and headed to the Singapore Air section. Where the Business Class check-in line started was a bit unclear 🙂 .

So we kept looking and found our way to the Business Class lane. There was only one couple in front of us and it seemed like in general, there weren’t a lot of people here 2.25 hours before an international flight. We waited less than 5 minutes and then were checked in. They tagged our checked bags and confirmed they would be sent to our final destination (JFK).

They also gave us fancy “Business Class” bag tags, which I haven’t experienced before. We were then given our boarding passes and told that there was an Express Security Lane that we could use.

Security

We headed towards security and saw that the regular line was to the left, but there was a sign for the Express Lane straight ahead and we headed towards that despite almost missing it. Luckily my Mom spotted the sign 🙂 .

There were two boarding pass kiosks where we had to scan our boarding passes ourselves. Then we walked forward and there was an attendant next to a passport check machine. We scanned our passports and were asked to take off glasses and masks and then take a picture.

Once all that was approved, our Express Lane dropped us off at the front of the security line. Awkward.

We were then gestured forward and told to take out our laptops and Kindles and take off any jackets. We put everything in bins that were available at the front of the line and then walked through the scanner.

We then emerged into the terminal and followed signs to the lounges.

The Lounge

After walking through the duty free section of the airport, we continued following signs to the Air New Zealand Lounge.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by A Purple Life l Early Retiree (@apurplelife)

We were welcomed in after they checked our boarding passes. We also asked how long it would take to walk to our gate and were told 15 minutes.

I then set out to explore this (large) lounge. There were a lot of different seating areas, a buffet, barista and multiple places to get drinks.

I looked through all the seating options before finding a secret: at the back of the lounge, through a sliding glass door was an almost empty area. Ahhh sweet silence.

This section was also surrounded by windows so between that and the climbing plant wall, it seemed like the ideal place to chill for me.

After setting down my bags with my Mom, I headed out to get us some refreshments.

I went to the hot foot bar and grabbed some apps for us to try.

I then headed to one of the bars and checked out the local wine selection.

After that I headed back to my Mom with my spoils to relax until it was time to head to our gate.

15 minutes before our boarding time we left the lounge, passing all the different types of seating options along the way.

I really enjoyed my time in this lounge and hope our paths cross again.

So we left and walked the 15 minutes to the gate.

THE JOURNEY

Boarding

When we arrived at the boarding gate they were already boarding. Business Class had a separate boarding lane that was empty so we joined it and were checked in immediately.

Then we had a separate lane on the ramp and a separate entrance into the plane. Fancy!

The Flight

So we got on the plane and found our seats. We had intentionally chosen to be in the second, smaller Business Class cabin, but that section does have a small downside. It’s right behind the door everyone uses to board so people pass through to get to their seats in Economy.

However, having only 4 rows and a max of 16 passengers in the second section makes it worth it to me. And during our flight, there were only 10 total people in our section – nice!

I was then given a hot towel, which was hilariously too hot so I put it down for a second and then it was cool. Woe is me right 😉 . Not a big deal at all, but it made me even more impressed that our Singapore First Class experience had perfect temperature hand towels.

A Flight Attendant (FA) then asked if I wanted a take off drink of champagne, a bellini or juice. I asked for champagne and then seamlessly connected to the plane’s Wifi.

Then it was time for take off! After we reached cruising altitude, the seatbelt sign went off and my Mom came to visit my seat and showed me where a blanket was stored in it. I do love a blanket.

Later the FAs came around to officially introduce themselves and interestingly called me “Mr.” – I had no idea the dress I was wearing was giving such masculine vibes, but that’s cool.

They then asked for my drink and food order. I responded that I had already chosen my food on the Singapore app in advance via Book-The-Cook, but apparently that hadn’t worked.

I was a bit bummed about that only because my Mom and I had some real trouble getting the app to accept our choices and spent a while getting it to work, which was apparently…all in vain. Oh well 🙂 .  So I tried to remember what I wanted and ordered again.

I also then asked for an amenity kit because you have to request them now (per the above). It was cute as always. I’m always curious what color case I’ll get since they often change. I currently have this brown version along with a cream one and a green one. Gotta catch ’em all 😉 .

I also enjoy grabbing these because the lotion and face spray does help a lot with how dry airplane air feels after a couple of hours. Also their chapstick is the best I’ve ever used – it’s my go to during my travels.

I was then brought a drink, a chicken satay appetizer and a hand wipe. Singapore Air is known for this satay, but I found it a little too sweet for me.

Luckily it wasn’t long until my shrimp appetizer came out and I was offered bread a little bit after that. It wasn’t warm (seriously First Class spoiled me y’all), but it was all yummy.

When I finished, I was given my main course of salmon. The fish was good, but the broccoli and potatoes were under-seasoned.

And then out came dessert – you can’t go wrong with Häagen-Dazs ice cream 🙂 .

After I was done with my meal, I went to the bathroom and grabbed a dental kit while I was there.

I then tried to put my own seat down into the lie flat position and quickly realized my hubris. Oops! I had to ask an FA to put it back for me. Since that awkward encounter got my blood pumping, I gave up on resting and instead got out my laptop and finished writing a post for this blog.

I was then asked if I wanted an official turn down service and I said yes. A FA made my bed and I went to sleep for about 4 hours.

When I awakened, I watched another movie and a FA came around asking if I wanted a snack. I was still full from my last meal so I turned it down.

I fell asleep again for a bit and when I awakened, I was offered another bottle of water. So kind 🙂 . Then 2.5 hours before landing, the lights came up a little and I was offered a hot towel before our final meal of the flight.

The food was all fine. Afterwards I was asked if I wanted a coffee and I asked for a mocha, which was good, but it was so hot that I burned my tongue 🙂 . I’ll be more careful going forward.

And with that, it was time to land in Singapore! We grabbed our stuff and headed out one of the two door options available to us.

SINGAPORE (SIN) AIRPORT

Transferring

We then emerged into Singapore’s Changi Airport. The first thing we did was check the TVs to see what terminal our connecting flight would be in and I was glad we did because it was different than what was on my ticket.

We then took the airport train to Terminal 1 where *cue horror music* I didn’t see signs to a Singapore Air Lounge 😉 . It turns out that they don’t have a lounge in this terminal. I didn’t check this beforehand and it took us about 20 minutes to get to this new terminal so I wasn’t going to backtrack just to have maybe 30 minutes in the lounge with it taking longer to get there and back.

So we settled into seats in front of the gate. Curiously there were very few of them. A lot of people were sitting on the floor waiting for the gate to open. There was also an alarm going off at a nearby gate for some reason and the AC didn’t seem to be working properly so it was quite hot in that area.

At this point my body thought it was 3am and I admit, the relatively little amount of sleep I got mixed with the early hour, temperature and constant alarm blaring, started to get to me. I was not having a relaxing time 🙂 .

My previous experiences with Changi airport were immaculate and this was less so. Oh well.

Security

Luckily we only had to sit in all that for less than an hour before the security at the gate opened an hour before take off. There’s a security check that had me take out my laptop, checked my ticket and handed me a number that I held as I went through the scanner and returned when I reached the other side of it.

We were then let into the much more spacious gate seating area where everyone had a seat. We took a seat near the boarding gate and waited to get on our second flight of this journey.

THE JOURNEY

They started boarding on time and people started walking through the doors. Curiously I didn’t hear an announcement for Group 1 (us), but I did hear one for Group 2 so we headed down the boarding ramp. There were two boarding doors – the first one for First and Business Class and the second for Premium and Economy.

We headed in the first door and into the smaller Business Class cabin once again. Ahh it was good to be back 🙂 .

The Flight

We got settled into our seats and then the FAs came around with warm nuts, take off drinks and hot towels. Cheers!

After we were at cruising altitude, a FA dressed my table and I noticed my new tablecloth had a grease stain on it. Oh well.

They then brought out my meal, which I had picked before the flight on their Book-The-Cook option. I had done the same for all of my flight legs, but so far this is the only one that worked. No idea why 🙂 , but luckily it worked this time and the food was yummy.

A FA asked if I wanted my bed turned down and I said yes. They said they would be right back, but didn’t come back for a long time and I was getting sleepy so I turned the bed down myself (I learned how to do it properly after watching on the last flight after my previous failed attempt).

So I snuggled into my bed and slept for 4 or 5 hours while listening to a Relaxation Playlist that was on the entertainment system. Perfection!

While getting ready for this slumber, I also realized that there are leaves I can put down over the electric socket next to my head so I wasn’t distracted by the lights on it. Nice!

When I awakened, I got out my laptop and worked on a blog post. While doing so I noticed that the wifi wasn’t working. No big deal – I tried to use it again a bit later and it was back. After that hard work 😉 I was sleepy again and slept for another few hours and got at least 8 hours of sleep in total while on this flight.

About 4.5 hours before landing, I heard the FAs moving around in the bigger cabin and realized I was hungry so I got a snack from the basket in the galley and then went back to sleep.

2.5 hours before landing in Frankfurt, the lights started slowly coming on. My Mom helped me put my bed back and then it was time for breakfast. At this point, I was absolutely stuffed and declined breakfast. Eating three course meals for almost 2 days straight had caught up to me 🙂 .

Landing in Frankfurt, Germany

Shortly after the meal service was completed, we deplaned and followed signs for Connecting Flights, which led us up escalators that were to our left when we exited the boarding ramp. There was an employee at the end of the escalator directing us and asking our final destinations. When we said JFK they directed us to the right, which led us directly to our next flight’s gate.

Someone then checked our boarding passes and passports and said we would be boarding 15 minutes before the flight. Alrighty then! So we made our way towards the lounge before embarking on the rest of our journey.

We were about 25 hours into this flight journey and had an 8 hour flight to NYC to go. Stay tuned for the final leg of this journey and my review of the whole experience 🙂 .

What was your favorite flight experience?