I try my best to fly Singapore Airlines First Class at least once a year, to stay current with the airline’s flagship cabin (no one ever said this job was easy!). My previous trip was in June 2025, and so last week I headed to Melbourne — on a pre-devaluation First Saver award— to catch some of the Australian Open.
This flight was operated by a B777-300ER with the 2013 First Class seat. I won’t be doing a full review of that, since I’ve already covered this product in detail several times before:
- 2020: SIA B777-300ER First Class HND-SIN
- 2021: SIA B777-300ER First Class FRA-SIN
- 2022: SIA B777-300ER First Class SIN-CGK
But while the seat may be the same, there have been changes to the soft product— the lounges, the food, the onboard amenities — which I feel are worth highlighting.
(1) The Private Room: Getting better!
The Private Room is Singapore Airlines’ flagship lounge, and even if it doesn’t quite match the over-the-top First Class ground experiences offered by Air France in Paris, Lufthansa in Frankfurt, or Qatar Airways in Doha, it’s still worth coming early to the airport for.
The highlight of the experience is no doubt the dining room, which serves an a la carte menu paired with fine wines and champagne. The menu rotates each week, so I got to try one set on the outbound flight, and another on the return (remember, Suites and First Class passengers can visit The Private Room upon arrival in Singapore too).
On the other hand, the drinks list stays largely the same. All three champagnes are excellent, but the “true” Private Room champagne is the 2013 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne, since the other two are also available in the First Class Lounge.
Now, I’ve historically not been all that impressed with the food at The Private Room. It’s not bad by any means, but the execution can feel a little uninspired and incoherent, like it was assembled by a caterer rather than created by a chef.
This time round, however, I was pleasantly surprised. There’s been a notable improvement in the quality of food, as well as its presentation.
Yes, it was a little comical to see the same garnish on everything, almost like someone had a lightbulb moment and said “Hey, you know what would elevate everything? A stalk of pea shoots!” This felt especially gratuitous when it was haphazardly applied to an a la carte order of steamed lobster tail.
That said, the flavours were good, and one prime example of how the food here has matured is the roast duck rice. When I last had it in May 2023, here’s how it was presented.
And here’s the all-grown-up version, which wouldn’t be out of place in a fine dining restaurant (yes, there’s a pea shoot again).
Likewise, the pasta dish used to feel very modular. Lobster pasta is not lobster + pasta; you have to cook the two together to marry the flavours.
The reworked dish, a chilli crab capellini, feels much more sophisticated. It’s not necessarily groundbreaking, but the pasta blended beautifully with the sauce, feeling like one cohesive dish instead of two items thrown together.
On the whole, The Private Room’s dining still can’t match the Qantas First Lounge in Terminal 1, but it’s definitely on the right trajectory.
(2) SIA’s B777-300ERs are really showing their age
In an ideal world, Singapore Airlines’ 22 Boeing 777-300ERs would already be disappearing from the fleet by now, replaced by new arrivals of Boeing 777-9s.
Well, we all know how that turned out. Originally slated to arrive in 2021, the B777-9 is now delayed until at least 2027 (and since SIA isn’t the launch customer, it could be an even longer wait!).
The B777-300ERs are now the oldest aircraft SIA has by some margin, with an average age of 15.7 years. The oldest operating aircraft, 9V-SWB, was delivered in November 2006, making it a veritable Methuselah in a fleet that averages 8.6 years.
| ✈️ SIA Fleet by Age |
||
| Aircraft | Number | Average Age |
| A350-900 (all variants) | 65 | 6.8 years |
| A380-800 | 12 | 12.0 years |
| B737-8 MAX | 20 | 5.4 years |
| B777-300ER | 22 | 15.7 years |
| B787-10 | 27 | 5.3 years |
And it shows. I flew on 9V-SNA to Melbourne, and the cabin was creaking like crazy. I don’t know what exactly it was, but during the taxi and take-off, the overhead bins, seats and partitions were making the nosiest din I’ve ever encountered, which I imagine might be quite disconcerting to a jittery flier. And to think, this is actually the third youngest B777-300ER in the fleet!
Coincidentally, on the way back to Singapore I was on 9V-SWH, the third oldest B777-300ER in the fleet (delivery: February 2007). While the seat was perfectly functional, it also showed visible wear and tear, with nicks, scuffs and peeling finishes aplenty.
With the cascading delays to the B777-9s, however, it’s highly likely some of these B777-300ERs will continue flying into the early 2030s. At the rate they’re aging, can they really go the distance?
(3) Beef yakiniku might be the best BTC item
Forget lobster thermidor. If someone asks me to recommend a Book the Cook item, it’s going to be beef yakiniku all the way. This dish (referred to as “Wagyu Yakiniku” in the First Class selection) is described as:
| A tantalizing dish that showcases the finest Japanese wagyu beef. Grilled to perfection in the traditional yakiniku style, the succulent beef is served alongside a medley of assorted seasonal vegetables, kimchi, wakame seaweed soup and a warmed steamed rice. |
Oh boy, does it deliver. Steak on a plane is usually a risky proposition, but these beef slices had more than enough fat to withstand the reheating process. They had a wonderful chew and oozed flavour, and my only wish would be that the sauce be served on the side (I tasted something like fermented bean paste inside, and I don’t particularly like fermented stuff— wine aside!).
I also loved that they included a small side of grated wasabi— not the imitation playdough-style horseradish, but real wasabi japonica. The accompanying wakame seaweed soup helped cleanse the palate and prevent it from getting too weighed down by the richness.
Incidentally, I’ve also tried this in Business Class (where it’s called “Gyu Yakiniku” in the selection), and it’s largely much the same dish, minus the wasabi, kimchi and soup.
Do note that beef yakiniku is only available on medium and long-haul flights (I think the cutoff is 3.5 hours), and isn’t available for selection on flights during breakfast time.
(4) Small improvements to the meal service
I noticed a couple of small enhancements to the meal service in First Class.
Isigny Sainte-Mere butter is now served out of Singapore, which I hold in very high esteem. This butter, sourced from Normandy, has a distinctive golden colour and creamy texture thanks to the cows’ diets, as well as the slow churning method of production.
From Melbourne, Pepe Saya butter was served— another top-notch option.
After the meal, individual boxes of Laurent Bernard chocolates were distributed. I much prefer this over the previous tray-based presentation, because some people just reached in with their bare hands to take a piece, which feels a little gross.
(5) LEO internet can’t happen soon enough
Singapore Airlines has announced that Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite internet will be coming to its fleet (Starlink hasn’t been explicitly mentioned, though it does seem the most likely vendor), and if you ask me, it can’t happen soon enough.
The current system of Geostationary (GEO) satellites offers rudimentary connectivity at best. These circle the globe at altitudes of more than 35,000 km (versus 160-2,000 km for LEO), so in terms of connection quality, LEO is like talking to someone across the room. GEO is like shouting to someone on a faraway mountain!
| LEO Satellites | GEO Satellites | |
| Orbit Altitude | 160-2,000 km | ~35,000 km+ |
| Latency | 20-40 ms | ~600 ms+ |
| Connection Speed | Faster | Slower |
| Coverage Area | Smaller | Larger |
| Applications | Real-time communications, IoT, remote sensing | Broadcasting, weather monitoring |
For my trip to Melbourne, the outbound aircraft had the Panasonic system (9V-SNA), while the inbound aircraft was equipped with SITAONAIR (9V-SWH). The latter was slightly better, but in both cases the speeds were middling, and the connection inconsistent. It had an annoying habit of timing out at crucial moments, which made it difficult to do things like download files, update blog posts, or complete multi-step transactions like purchasing tickets.
LEO, when it finally arrives, will be a gamechanger. It would make inflight internet as fast as home broadband, enabling passengers to watch Netflix and YouTube, play multiplayer games, attend virtual meetings (though hopefully not!), backup their photos and videos, or use platforms that require low-ping connectivity, like remote desktop or live trading.
LEO would also make Wi-Fi available at every point of the journey, from boarding to disembarkation— though on this flight I was surprisingly able to use the Wi-Fi well into our descent into Singapore (anyone knows why?).
(6) New sleeper suit and amenity kits
For as long as I can remember, the sleeper suit in Singapore Airlines First Class has been an all-black Lalique ensemble.
So I was surprised on this flight to open up the bag and find a blue set inside!
It’s more than just a colour change, because the Henley-style top has been replaced by a crew-neck with no buttons or chest pocket. And I don’t know if I’m just imagining it, but the blue set feels like it breathes better too. With the old set, I’d often wake up mid-way sweating from under my armpits.
Another thing that’s changed is the amenity kit. For flights out of Singapore, passengers receive a men’s or women’s kit. Here’s what it looked like previously…
…and here’s what it is now.
The Encre Noire range has been replaced by Encre Indigo (which would also explain the change in sleeper suit colour). However, it still contains a 50ml perfume, 30 ml body lotion, 20 ml facial mist and 6 ml lip balm.
On the flight back to Singapore, a unisex kit was distributed. This is how the kit looked last year…
…versus the latest one. The main difference, pouch aside, is that the 30ml room spray has been replaced by a 30ml reed diffuser.
(7) Don’t drop (the ball on) the soap
While we’re talking about amenities, SIA’s First Class lavatories offer Lalique Neroli, but I really wish they’d invest in the hand soap too, because this ugly bottle sticks out like a sore thumb.
Speaking of which, I also found it odd that at The Private Room, some of the showers had the ugly conditioner bottles from the First Class lounges, instead of the regular Como Shambhala ones. Come on guys, presentation!
(8) The SilverKris Lounge in Melbourne badly needs a refresh (and is getting one!)
Singapore Airlines has been progressively renovating its overseas lounges network, but while most lounges have been upgraded either to the Home Away From Home concept (Bangkok, Seoul, Sydney) or the latest unnamed concept (London, Perth), Melbourne and Taipei have been strangely neglected.
This is particularly surprising given the importance of Melbourne (five daily departures, two with First Class). The Melbourne SilverKris Lounge is located in the notorious “lounge dungeon” in the basement of Terminal 2, along with the AMEX Centurion, Air New Zealand, Qantas Business and Plaza Premium Lounges.
As the nickname suggests, this space lacks windows or natural light, which coupled with the tired decor and dated aesthetic (the lounge was last renovated in mid-2013), gives it a rather gloomy feeling.
There’s a light at the end of the dungeon tunnel though. SIA is planning an all-new SilverKris Lounge for Melbourne, which will be 30% larger than the current facility, and perhaps more importantly, in a new location.
According to Points Hacks, the current lounge dungeon is set to be redeveloped into an expanded arrivals area in the future, which will see the existing lounges relocated. The timeline is currently unclear — late 2026 to early 2027 is what I’ve heard — but if the new-and-improved Perth lounge is anything to go by, there’s good reason to be excited.
As for the current lounge, the F&B is alright I guess. The First Class section has a menu with small plates, salads, mains and desserts, and you can order as much as you like. I didn’t like the garlic prawns (bland, frozen prawns), but the prata was not bad considering where we were.
And, in what’s surely a cardinal sin for Melbourne, there was no barista-made coffee!
(9) Ballers gonna ball
Someone once told me that the mark of a true baller is someone who shows up at the Lufthansa First Class Terminal and says “just water, please”.
Now I’ve witnessed it in real life. On my flight, there was a gentleman who repeatedly declined the sleeper suit— despite the crew’s best efforts— saying that he was connecting to London and would take one on that flight instead. At mealtime, he skipped the caviar and just had a salad. Aside from the welcome drink, the only beverages he had were beer: one can of Tiger and one of Heineken (and there I was trying to psyche myself to try all three champagnes).
Never before have I seen such a flagrant and off-putting display of affluence!
Conclusion
With Singapore Airlines’ First Class seat already a generation out of date, the soft product has to play an outsized role in keeping the overall offering competitive.
For what it’s worth, it does that job admirably well. Three excellent champagnes, Lalique sleeper suits and amenity kits, and an improved dining experience at The Private Room can help cover for the shortcomings of the seat, all the more important as the replacement isn’t scheduled to arrive until 2027!
Those of you who have flown SIA First Class recently- have you noticed any other changes?
I recently flew SIN-LHR in SQ First and you’re absolutely right, the soft product is what’s keeping it afloat. On the non-Suites aircraft, the hard product is definitely showing its age; it feels like it’s slowly drifting into ‘world’s best business class’ territory rather than true First. The Private Room is still a bit underwhelming for a flagship lounge, though it seems to be improving.
Honestly, I could have booked The Residence on Etihad for significantly less, but I decided to stick with SQ just to tick this specific experience off my list.
“world’s best business class” is an interesting tag actually, especially since the 2013 F seat is structurally so similar to the 2013 J. And to think I only associated that label with BA’s first class…
I wish more passengers were understated. The scariest ones are those that want to try everything, take wefies with everyone and have multiple gopros rolling from every possible anfle