Surprise surprise – I’ve written a lot on this blog about Singapore Air Business Class, First Class and their First Class Suites, but until now I had never sampled their Economy Class product. That all changed this year π . So let’s dive into if Economy on this airline lives up to the rest of its plane classes.
- 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
- Review: 33 Hours In Singapore Air Business Class – $7,734 of Flights for $75 [Part 1]
- Review: 33 Hours In Singapore Air Business Class – $7,734 of Flights for $75 [Part 2]
Booking
In a surprise to no one more than me, booking this flight was uneventful π . Most of my other post-pandemic Singapore Air flights have involved a lot of drama because of cancellations and rescheduling issues, but not this one. Perhaps that means the post-pandemic madness around airlines changing things every 10 seconds has calmed down. I hope so anyway.
All I did to book this flight was transfer points from my Chase Sapphire Preferred card to Singapore Air’s KrisFlyer points and then I went on their website, logged in and used those points to book this flight. Easy π .
Pre-Flight
Traveler Declaration
So I’m all about planning ahead and being organized, but sometimes things get past me. On this trip, my Partner had mentioned before his flight took off to meet me in New Zealand, that he had filled out a Declaration form for New Zealand.
I had no memory of having to do that when I visited NZ in October 2024 so it hadn’t been on my checklist. Just to make sure, I re-read my own post to see if I had filled that out previously (it’s hilarious how often I have to do that).
Curiously, I didn’t have to fill out a Declaration Form when I visited before, but it’s possible there are different rules since I had been coming from their neighbor country of Australia instead of from Japan like I was this time.
So I went to the NZ Traveler Declaration website and it claimed that I could fill out this form on the NZETA app, which I had previously used to get a visa to visit New Zealand. However, when I opened my app I didn’t see an option to fill out that form.
Instead I went back to the NZ Traveler Declaration website and filled it out there. Luckily it’s open up to 24 hours in advance of your arrival so I was just within the window. Phew!
Baggage
Different airlines have different rules about how many bags you can check, how many you can bring onto the plane, and how much each of those bags can weigh. Previously I had only flown Singapore Air from the US, so I was used to that system of checking 1 bag in Economy and 2 bags in Business, each up to 50lbs, for free.
However, flights that originate outside of the US work a little differently. Instead of limiting the number of bags, Singapore Air only limits the total weight of your baggage with no limit on the number of bags. Cool!
The exact weight you are allowed depends on your cabin class and the level of ticket you bought. For example, I bought a “Standard” Economy Class ticket so I was allowed 30 kg or 66 lbs of baggage. My 40L Backpack usually weighs 24 lbs so I was way under that limit and just checked the bag anyway.
Checked Baggage Allowance
Lite and Value: 55 lbs (25 kg)
Standard and Flexi: 66 lbs (30 kg)
Premium Economy: 77 lbs (35 kg)
Business Class: 88 lbs (40 kg)
First Class and Suites: 110 lbs (50 kg)
In addition to checked baggage, this Singapore Air flight allowed one carry-on and one personal item with a total weight of 15 lbs (7 kg). However, I suspect that I’m the only one that abides by that rule because I saw a lot of people bringing full roller-board bags onto the plane that definitely weighed more than 15 lbs. But whatever – I’m a rule follower so I’ll keep just doing me over here π .
Flights Details
These are the details for this journey. I’ve indicated the specific information for this flight leg in blue since the Points Used and Taxes covered this flight and one to Auckland, New Zealand, my final destination.
- When: February 2025
- Where: NRT-SIN-AKL
- Flight: SQ 11 and SQ 281
- Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER and Airbus A350-900
- Flight Time: 7 hrs 40 min and Β 9 hrs 50 min
- Seat: 51K
- Distance: 8,531 miles
- Points Used: 45,500 KrisFlyer Points
- Taxes: $74.16 USD
TOKYO NARITA (NRT) AIRPORT
Check In
I was dropped off by the Crowne Plaza Narita shuttle at 3:40pm after leaving the hotel at 3:20pm. Once I entered Terminal 1, I followed signs to International Departures.
This terminal is split into North and South and next to the escalator that will take you to each, are multiple TVs. The TVs on the wall show each of the upcoming flight numbers and which part of the terminal it’s in.
The TV on the left has all of the flights leaving from the South wing and the TV on the right has flights leaving from the North. However, if you’re like me and have arrived more than 3 hours before your flight, the TV to the right of these wall mounted ones might be helpful.
This standing TV shows which airline in general is in the North or South wing. From there I learned that Singapore Air uses the South wing of this airport so I headed there. The escalator floor indicated that South is on Floor 4 so I went up all of those escalators until I arrived.
After stepping off of the escalator into the South wing, I saw another TV. This one showed that each airline had specific letters you needed to find in order to check into your flight or drop your bag. On that day, Singapore Air was in Section G so I headed across the terminal to G.
When I arrived, there were kiosks with a sign saying for Economy Class passengers to use them to check in. So I did. To do so, these machines asked to either scan my Passport or scan my Boarding Pass Barcode, which I had in my Singapore Air App so I used the latter.
I checked in and printed my Bag Tag. I then proceeded to the line that said Bag Drop, which had employees there asking me which flight I was going to. They directed me to a specific line and then I waited in a short line before handing over my bag and heading to security.
Security
This part of security actually had two lanes, but it was not clear and looked like one glob. However, once an employee pointed out the two lanes, it became more organized and the line moved quite fast.
Once I was at the front of the line, there were kiosks to scan my boarding pass (face up) and then the gates opened. Then there were lines for the security check where signs said I should take out my laptop and take off my jacket. So I did both and put my things in a bin, pushed the bin onto the belt and went through the security scanner.
During this process there were employees everywhere to help direct people, which I found helpful since it was hard to see what was happening with so many people in line. However, despite the confusion in the beginning of the security process, I was through security by 4:08pm.
Immigration
I then headed to immigration, which was separated into two lines based on where you’re from. As an American I went to the left and stepped up to a machine that had me scan my Passport (face down) and then it scanned my face and let me through.
The Gate
There were moving sidewalks to get to my gate. Just a heads up that if you’re sitting next to these moving sidewalks, they might drive you batty because they just repeat “end of the walk ahead” in English and then Japanese…over and over…and over again π .
So I sat away from the moving sidewalks and near the window and also behind a wall which muffled most of it π . I then relaxed while enjoying the free airport Wi-Fi and abundant outlets.
THE JOURNEY
Boarding
I was waiting at another gate and then decided to head to my gate 5 minutes before boarding was scheduled to start. When I arrived at my gate, I found…basically everyone was goneπ€£.
They were almost finished boarding! Despite it being super early and there not being an announcement that I heard, when I arrived 5 minutes before boarding, almost everyone was on the plane already and there was only a small line left for Economy passengers. Oops!
While I was in line, an employee checked my passport against my boarding pass and made a mark on it. They then said I only needed my boarding pass going forward. When I got to the front of the line, another employee took my boarding pass, scanned it and welcomed me onboard.
The Flight
Before getting on the plane, there was a basket of headphones and I’m glad I took one because as I mentioned, this was my first time in Singapore Air Economy and I didn’t know that the seats have a 2 jack headphone port that my 1 jack headphones wouldn’t work with.
So I got to my seat and despite thinking I would be early, the overhead bins were almost full when I arrived so I was thankful I’d used my free checked luggage allowance to check my backpack, though I usually wouldn’t have done that on US carriers with higher carry-on weight limits.
When I got to my seat, I saw that I was given a pillow and blanket – nice!
And then the FAs came through with a warm towel for everyone – I didn’t expect that in Economy π .
Then we had an announcement that we had a 15-20 minute delay because there was congestion taking off, but we ended up pushing back from the gate right on time. Then the safety video came on and we took off.
Once we hit cruising altitude, the FAs came around with a Pea and Cracker Snack. I hadn’t seen that before, but it tasted fine.
I then signed into the plane’s Wi-Fi, which you can use for free in Economy for the entire flight if you’re a member of their frequent flyer program, KrisFlyer. It’s free to join and I obviously am a member because I had to book these flights with KrisFlyer points π . So I enjoyed free Wi-Fi for this entire flight. It was a very nice perk that most airlines seem to charge for.
Then the FAs came around with the drink cart. I ordered a (free) whiskey on the rocks. I didn’t know until recently since I don’t usually fly Economy internationally, but on Singapore (and a few other airlines) you can order alcohol for free even in Economy. They served me Johnny Walker Red. Not bad at all π .
Then there was an announcement at 8:05pm that dinner would be served soon. They started by serving the specialty requested meals, so if you’re often hungry, you might want to ask for one of those types of meals in advance when you’re emailed a flight reminder. Singapore Air lets you choose that stuff right in their app or under Manage Booking.
However, I didn’t choose a specialty meal (though maybe I should have gone with their keto option π ) and my dinner arrived at about 8:20pm. I was asked if I wanted beef and potatoes or chicken and rice and I chose the beef.
I was then asked if I wanted another drink and I ordered another whiskey. The FA said it might take 5-10 minutes and I said that was no problem and they came back with it quickly.
Anyway, the food was good. There wasn’t a lot of it, but it was filling, hot and tasted yummy so wins all around. My eyes might have been bigger than my stomach.
While eating I was surprised that we got actual metal utensils. I thought I remembered plastic utensils from my time in international Economy in my 20s.
In addition to the main meal, there was bread with butter, noodles with noodle sauce on the side, water, crackers, cheese, seaweed strips and a small creamer (which I assume went with the coffee they were also offering as a drink).
When we were finished eating, the FAs took our trays and came around with cute little HΓ€agen-Dazs containers. Yes please! That was understandably delicious.
At this point I noticed that the two loud kids in front of me had been watching Finding Nemo on repeat (and Spoiler: they would continue to do so for the whole 7 hour flight). Mad respect.
Now this part of the flight is when things got a little weird. On long flights I like to stretch my muscles and do exercises to keep my blood flowing. To do some of them, I take off my shoes (of course I was wearing socks you heathen).
This has never been a problem on any long haul flight I’ve been on previously, but this time something strange happened. I was in my socks with my shoes off to do stretches because my legs were getting stiff, and I felt a pain like something went into my foot.
I looked down and there was a needle sticking out of my foot. I was like “WTF?!” and pulled it out without thinking. I then took off my sock to inspect the damage and then put my sock back on to catch the blood. However, it was bleeding a little through my sock and my bandaids were in my checked bag so I asked a FA for a bandaid. I didn’t want to bleed on their floor π .
Surprisingly they asked me what happened and kinda freaked out when I told them and handed them the needle. I was just gonna slap a bandaid on it in my seat while trying to not freak out my seat mates.
And I was trying that when the FA manager came by and asked if I wanted a doctor to look at me in Singapore and I said I think I’m good. Then he asked if he could bandage me up himself, so I had to get up (awkward). Maybe he wanted to see if I was lying or something? No idea, but he took pictures of the blood and bandaged my foot.
He then said that he could give me a hotel room when I land (I mean sure if you want to, I have a 7 hour layover). He then offered me a drink for my troubles and I went back to my seat.
So that was kind of them. Since I had Wi-Fi this whole flight I was texting my Partner and after I explained to him what had happened, he said that the FA manager probably wanted to bandage it himself and take a picture to cover them in case of a potential lawsuit. So I guess maybe it wasn’t all kindness, but I was still happy with how they handled it.
I joked with my Partner “Well I’m still impressed. I assume United Air would’ve told me “No” to a bandaid and then stabbed me in the other footπ€£.” (I crack myself up).
A bit later, the FA manager came over again and asked me by name how I was feeling. He also brought me a pair of Singapore socks to replace my bloody ones and offered me another drink (trying to buy my good graces? It’s working π ).
Later on, FAs started walking through the cabin with trays of water routinely so no one got parched. Meanwhile, I was staring out the dark window and realized I could see some constellations from 34,000 ft, which was awesome!
Then I got some sleep for about 2 hours and when I awakened, there was an announcement that we were landing. The FA manager came by and told me to wait in my seat while people left the plane and that he’d escort me off – alrighty then. I texted my Mom and Partner expressing skepticism that I’d actually get the hotel room he mentioned and in a surprise to no one…I was proven right π . So let’s see what happened next.
SINGAPORE CHANGI (SIN) AIRPORT
Deplaning Debacle
The FA manager escorted me off of the plane and then handed me over to the Ground Crew. He was there one minute and gone the next and in the meantime, one guy was gesturing to me to get in a wheelchair. I said I was fine and could walk, but he asked for my boarding pass and then insisted that I sit in the wheelchair. Alrighty then.
He wheeled me to one of those moving cart things and asked me to get on. The woman who was driving then told me that going to a doctor would cost some amount I don’t remember. And I replied confused because I hadn’t asked for a doctor and had told the FAs I didn’t need one. Also if they were insisting that I go when I didn’t want to (which is what it sounded like), why would I be paying for it?
She told me again I would have to pay for a doctor and I tried to explain again that I never asked to see a doctor. She then asked why I was there then – I don’t know lady! This guy was wheeling me wherever he wanted!
I then explained that they told me something about a hotel stay and she said ok the hotel will be this many hundreds of dollars. And I explained that they implied it would be free, but if it’s not I was good, thank you and goodbye.
Overall the entire interaction was uncomfortable and less than ideal. So after being wheeled around everywhere against my will, I was told to get out of the cart and move along. Happy to!
7 Hour Layover
So because I’m me I did a lot of research on places to go during a long layover at Changi Airport before I arrived. I’ve also been to this airport a few times in the past.
During those layovers I’ve used their in-airport hotels and Business Class Lounge.
And one time during a travel fever dream π , I visited the First Class Lounge called: The Private Room.
However, this layover was relatively short (my layover when I used the hotel was 12 hours long) so I was curious if I should buy a pass to enter a lounge or see what other options Changi Airport had. I also discovered that since I was landing in the middle of the night, a lot of the lounge amenities that I would happily pay for, such as the food buffet, might not be available. So when I saw that Changi offered several places to comfortably sleep within the airport for free, I was curious.
I learned about those places (called “Snooze Lounges“) from the cool website SleepingInAirports here and also directly on the Changi Airport website here. My plan was to check out these lounges and if they didn’t provide what I wanted, I would roll up to a lounge and buy a pass.
I also learned about which lounges I would be able to do that for from the Changi Lounge section within that same SleepingInAirports article. And if I was super tired, I would check out the airport hotel.
So I had a plan and a lot of options! I went to the Snooze Lounge first, but I had a bit of trouble getting there. I found the maps of this airport confusing because this place is huge. However, I ended up finding it by wandering around until I found and followed helpful signs to “Snooze Lounge”.
When I arrived, I saw that the official Snooze Lounge chairs are basically all recliners that you can’t change the pitch on. I wasn’t sleepy yet so I instead found a plush seat nearby where lots of people were already asleep and I settled there.
Everyone around me was sleeping or quiet except for one dude who was playing YouTube videos out loud. Classy. Luckily he left after a bit and it was calm and relaxing once again.
Next to my seat was a USB I suspected was for charging, but it didn’t work (though I moved to a nearby seat a bit after that and the USB next to it worked). However, the free Wi-Fi at the airport was lightening fast so that was awesome. So I got comfy for my layover and starting writing this very post!
Curiously at 3:30am, police officers came in and asked to see our passports and boarding passes. They even awakened people sleeping to do this. I’ve never seen this happen during my previous layovers in other parts of the airport, so I’m curious if it’s just a Snooze Lounge thing.
I did get a little sleepy then and had an hour nap and then I felt ready to rock! At 5:30am the food places near the Snooze Lounge started opening so there was more noise as people started getting breakfast, but it wasn’t that loud.
Overall my layover was wonderfully uneventful. I finished a book, wrote some of this blog post with the fast Wi-Fi, stretched and then set out to explore.
I watched one of the Koi Ponds, checked out the indoor trees and then explored the abundant food offerings before peeking into the free Movie Theater and Butterfly Garden. This airport is wild π .
I then headed off to the second leg of my flight. As I was heading there I noticed that Singapore Air had sent me an email asking for feedback, which is a standard form I’ve received from them on every flight I’ve been on. I’m happy to see they do that for all customers, even those in Economy.
THE REVIEW
So that’s what happened, but now let’s get into the actual review portion and what I thought of the experience π .
Customer Service
As always, customer service on Singapore Air was fantastic and I was so happy to see that is also the case in Economy. I was also obviously impressed with the FAs and the FA Manager’s response to my random plane injury.
The customer service of the Ground Crew was lacking, but I expected that based on my past experiences. I’m still wildly impressed with the customer service of this airline overall and am happy to keep flying them.
Seat
Since this was my first time in Singapore Air Economy, I was worried that I wouldn’t find the seat comfortable (#bougie π ). However, that wasn’t the case. The seat was comfortable for me and it had an adjustable headrest, a good amount of legroom and enough width in the seats that my wide-hipped self was fine sitting for almost a whole workday.
There was also a good amount of storage space under the seat in front of me. I also really enjoyed the small space this aircraft has between the leg of the seat in front of me and the side of the plane. It was the perfect size for my foot and I felt snug as a bug π .
There are also no seat legs between my window seat foot section and the middle seat foot section, so there feels like there’s more room for both of our stuff because that barrier isn’t there. There’s also a coat hook on the seat back to the left of the TV, which is nice to see.
I also really enjoyed the separate drink holder that’s above the food tray as well as the fact that the tray folds in half and has a drink section and a little mirror on that half side. Cool! There was also a full charger on the base of our seat in between the seats as well as USB charging located on the TV.
Food
The food was good! I was pleasantly surprised by the food and the fact that I was originally underwhelmed by the portion size, but I was totally full after I ate it. I also greatly enjoyed the ice cream, so this entire food experience gets a thumbs up from me. In fact, it might be the tastiest long haul Economy food I’ve ever eaten, but that’s not a hard race to win π .
In-Flight Entertainment
I’m still in love with Singapore Air’s in-flight entertainment. The TV in Economy is huge and you get the exact same giant catalogue of movies to watch as other cabin classes. On my flight, there were 385 movies and 208 TV shows available to watch.
And they weren’t random titles I had no interest in. There were dozens of films that I really wanted to watch and I had the opposite problem to most airline film options: I didn’t have enough time to watch everything I wanted to see even on these long haul flights.
The TV also had a remote you can remove under it to control the TV, which is interesting. I never used it and just turned that handset off, but it was interesting to see.
I also enjoyed that the TVs seemed to have some type of coating that made the screen appear darker to a person that’s not looking directly at it, so if your seat mate is watching something in the dark, it doesn’t feel like their screen is blasting you in the face with light. Nice!
I also very much enjoyed and appreciated the free, unlimited Wi-Fi for KrisFlyer members. That was clutch and allowed me to text my Partner and Mom throughout the flight, including for emotional support when I got stabbed π .
My only note about the entertainment is the one from above, that these TVs do require a two-prong headphone jack so be sure to grab the headphones provided before you enter the plane or if you forget, ask a FA for them. FAs might also come through the cabin to hand them out. I also saw a FA offer a kid a child-sized version of those headphones which was lovely.
CONCLUSION
So overall I had a great time! I was a little wary of flying in Economy on this airline where I’ve experienced all of their luxury offerings previously, but the Economy seat was comfortable with enough storage and I felt well taken care of despite being 1 of 180 people in Economy.
The needle incident was weird and less than ideal, but I was impressed with the FAs’ response and unsurprised with the lack of the ground support’s follow through unfortunately so it’s all good. Overall I was still very impressed. We’ll see what my next, longer flight on this journey was like in my post next week!
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These reviews make me want to fly Singapore Air. I hope they’re paying you well for your endorsement. π
I saw some TikTok videos of Changi Airport that looked spectacular, especially the giant indoor waterfall. I want to go there someday just to see that. The Supertrees in Gardens by the Bay would be incredible to see in person too.
Ha – I wish. Talk about a dream ‘job’ lol. And yeah Changi is the prettiest airport I’ve ever seen. The Supertrees are cool too π .