Singapore Airlines Business Class A350-900

Route: Singapore to Hong Kong
Plane: A380-800
Date: Aug 11, 2024
Price paid: €1514 including a previous flight from Frankfurt (originally €4169)

Comfort
The seats are much narrower than on the A380, and the footwells are also narrower. The armrests can be raised and lowered for the armchair or the bed position and there is a separate storage cubby under the footwell large enough for a laptop bag.

The odd offset angle with the seat facing forwards and the footwell offset to the left made it an uncomfortable bed to be in, though it worked fine as an ottoman. There were three reading lights for the bed, reclined and eating positions—a nice touch. Storage areas are scarce with only a small cubby on the shoulder and a magazine rack.

In-flight entertainment
The large screen has a wide selection of Asian and Hollywood music, TV shows and movies. They even had BTS and Japanese drama. Neither of those appealed to me but I appreciated the multicultural selection that is typical of Singapore.

I watched a movie during dinner service with the included noise cancelling headphones. Free Wi-Fi is available for business class customers.

Food
Champagne was served upon boarding. About an hour after takeoff, I got a smoked salmon salad with mango salsa and another glass of champagne for the meal. I booked the cook two weeks in advance online so I could get lobster thermidor in the air. Flights departing from Singapore have up to 42 meal selections for pre-order.

For dessert, I got both the ondeh ondeh cake and a fresh fruit platter. Everything was just average with the exception of the excellent lobster. But even the main had soggy vegetables and a very dry mashed potato.

Service
Flight attendants address passengers by name, there is a hot towel service before meal service, and crew are responsive to customer needs. Amenity kits are not available on flights shorter than six hours. The menus are also available online through the in-flight Wi-Fi connection.

The service was impeccable, the flight attendant for my section called me by name every time even when she didn’t have her cheat sheet at hand. She took care of all my food and drink and toiletry needs so I could focus on working with the tray table open on the daytime flight.