This is an excellent product and one that KrisFlyer miles collectors should aim to fly on.
Fleet & Routes
This product is the most common one found on Singapore Airlines’ international flights and covers a large chunk of flights to and from Australia.
For up-to-date routes, see the guide below.
The cabin: seats & seatmap
All Business Class passengers have direct aisle access and lie-flat seats.
It is a very spacious cabin with no overhead bins over the centre seats.
The seat was wide enough to for me to sit cross-legged and not once did I get any pains sitting in any position during this long flight.
I must say, though, that the airbag-style belt when in seated mode is annoyingly thick – you can see it can see draped on the left-hand side of this photo.
In bed mode, you get a turndown service with a cushion built into the back of the seat, an extra, quite comfortable pillow and a perfectly thick/thin blanket. Thankfully, there is a lighter, more comfortable seatbelt for sleeping mode.
Most other bloggers have complained about the small foot cubby but I found it fine sleeping on my side as a 178cm-tall passenger.
Each seat has stunningly tall partitions, providing a high degree of privacy.
Centre seats have a retractable privacy divider, depending on if you are travelling solo or with a companion next to you.
The seats and cabin have elegant, subtle finishes:
and I particularly enjoyed the do not disturb button and multiple reading lights.
Also of note were two USB outlets, one for fast-charging your smartphone and the other a regular port.
Seat choice
There are 42 seats in 1-2-1 configuration across 11 rows, with seven in the front cabin (Row 18 has only two middle seats and no window seats) and four in the rear mini-cabin.
There are four bassinets located in Row 19 in the mini-cabin, so if travelling without children, I would recommend travelling in the front cabin to reduce noise.
As the main galley and two of the three toilets are located in between the two cabins, there is less foot traffic in the first half of the front cabin, which also gives you easy access to the sole toilet at the front of the plane.
The bulkhead seats in Rows 11 and 19 are my pick of the bunch as they do not have the awkward foot cubby that all other rows have due to the seat in front. However, note that there is no space for the inbuilt closet or drink rest next to the screen like in other rows, only the mirror.
Spot the differences between the bulkhead seat, with more legroom but no closet or drink rest:
and a regular seat, with the seat in front protruding but the closet and handy drink rest installed:
Do note that if you choose a bulkhead window seat, the curtain will be draped over the side of your seat for take-off and landing, which is temporarily annoying.
If you are in a regular (non-bulkhead seat) and prefer to sleep on your left side, then seat A or F is right for you as you will face away from the aisle; if you sleep on your right side, then choose D or K.
Solo travellers will probably prefer a window seat (A or K) and couples/friends two middle seats (D and F) but that’s totally up to you.
Service: food & drink
The dining table is easy-to-access and has a useful diagonal angle depending on whether you are watching your screen or not.
I found the food to be overall acceptable but not outstanding.
One big gripe I had was that I had ordered a special vegan meal and received the exact same one for both lunch and dinner. Luckily, the cabin crew were happy to modify the à la carte menu to provide more variety.
Whilst the food was beautifully presented, the food service was quite slow (with the full cabin being a major factor) and the cabin crew dropped cutlery and other things a number of times. There is room for improvement here.
You can pre-order your meal up to 24 hours before departure using the Book The Cook service in Manage Your Booking on the Singapore website.
I would highly recommend using this service as you have a much wider variety to choose from and can probably order off the à la carte menu too or instead if something catches your eye.
On the ground, I enjoyed the warmest and most professional check-in experience I have ever had.
Inflight entertainment
You have a large 18-inch screen which is very responsive, once you realise it is not a touchscreen (which took me a while to figure out). It tilts down for when you are in sleeping mode, which is very useful.
The remote control is comprehensive and has an excellent search function. It also allows you to skip through the 90-second ads at the start of a movie/show.
The noise-cancelling headphones are of excellent quality.
Amenities
The amenity kit is basic, with only standard socks, slippers and eyemask.
Other products like toothbrushes and toothpaste, moisturisers, perfume and razors can be found in the lavatory.
Even though the cabin was full, I only had to wait for the lavatory once.
Business Class passengers receive 100MB of complimentary wifi, with paid plans available after that data is used. I experienced acceptable speeds of between 2 and 4 Mbps for downloads and 1 and 3 Mbps for uploads over the course of the flight.
How to redeem points for this flight
Lounge access
Departing or transiting through Singapore Airlines’ hub at Changi Airport, you’ll get access to the SilverKris Lounge in Terminal 3.
Departing Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane, you’ll also get access to the SilverKris Lounge.
In San Francisco and Los Angeles, you’ll get access to the excellent United Polaris Lounge.
Our Singapore Airlines reviews
Summing up: why choose this flight?
Singapore’s A350 Business Class really is a solid product. You’ll get a very comfortable bed with direct aisle access and a private seat, excellent customer service, a great inflight entertainment system, a quiet aircraft and good wifi coverage and speeds.
Whilst the slow meal service and mix-up with my meals were downsides, they could have been one-offs, so I’m still going to give the flight a five-star rating with the suggestion that the airline work on its foot cubby design moving forward.
Just as an aside (and please don’t be offended), I was a Business/First flight attendant on QF for 10 years, and Veg/Vegan special meals were the bane of our existence. They cost the airline a fortune, are rarely of good quality and we couldn’t work out why passengers order them when there are so many other fabulous options on the menu (many of which you can easily remove the meat from if you insist) …
Just an insider’s view on how to make your journey more enjoyable 🙂
Happy travels.
Ross.
Thanks again for your reviews.
Nice review on SQ Biz Class.
Im happy when you said you are 178cm in height and had no problem sleeping. Other bloggers always condenming SQ about this seat when turning to bed because they need to sleep Diagonaly. Then i’m now quite happy and will book SQ J Class on this A350-900. Thanks for the honest review Matt.
Regards
I mean we still can see each other and not to separately?
As I usually travel solo, the original seat recommendations I made in this post were for solo travellers, so I have updated it to take into account people travelling with someone else (which is a lot of people).
Have a look at the photo under text “Each seat has stunningly tall partitions, providing a high degree of privacy” which partly shows how the two middle seats come together.
Sounds like the 155,000-mile quote is for a Standard award. Here is a post on the difference between Saver and Standard awards.
I do find these seats to be a cut above other business class seats, and agree the seatbelt is quite uncomfortable. Even when trying to sleep with the more comfortable belt, I find it in an awkward position too high up my body.
I also took a retrofitted 777-300ER with this product from Singapore to Hong Kong four days after my A350 flight and, for me, there weren’t any noticeable differences except for the 777 being a louder plane. Can you expand on how you found the two to be different (for both my interest and that of readers looking at the comments)?