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Tahsir recently flew Singapore Business Class for twenty hours and was blown away by the service.

I recently had the opportunity to fly on Singapore Airlines Business Class from Houston-Singapore via Moscow. I was excited for this trip because of my last trip with them in which I flew in their Suites cabin.

Singapore Business Class

When I booked this trip, I made the reservation using the Avianca website as I described in this post.

So how was the trip?

I found availability for the Houston-Moscow-Singapore flight and knew that would be the one I was going to take. The benefits of taking this flight are that it is mostly daytime when flying so you can get great views from outside and that you can fly close to 20 hours in Singapore Business!

Fast forward to the day of departure. I made it to Houston with 3 hours before my Singapore flight. I landed in Concourse C and from the display monitors, I learned I would be departing out of Concourse D. I’m not very knowledgeable about the Houston airport, so I boarded the inter-terminal train.

It turns out it would have taken me five minutes to walk to my new gate as I had landed at C-16 and my new gate was at D-4. To make matters worse, the agent let me know that I was welcome to use any of the United Clubs at the airport and the closest one was by gate C-16. After my quick lesson about the layout of the airport and a stop by the United Club, I headed back to the gate.

 

Singapore Airlines SQ 61

Houston-Moscow-Singapore

Flight Time: 20 Hours 30 Minutes

Boeing 777-300ER (Star Alliance Edition)

Business Class Seat 11K

Boarding was already underway by the time I got to the gate so I was able to walk on board without waiting. When I entered, I was surprised to be greeted by name at the door and be taken to my seat. Others have also experienced this, but I just don’t know how they did it given that the plane boards with one door in Houston and that I was walking in with economy passengers!

Impressed, I was directed to my seat, which was right behind the First Class cabin. The 777-300ER has a split Business Class cabin with 8 seats in the mini-cabin and the rest behind the galley.

The Business Class Mini-Cabin is Rows 11 and 12, image from seatguru.com

As soon as I sat down, the steward who helped me asked for my pre-departure beverage. With a glass of Ginger Ale in one hand and my camera in the other, I began snapping away. I was the first passenger in the mini cabin and there was no one in First Class yet either. One thing that I’ve been trying to wrap my head around is why Singapore Airlines made the Business and First Class seats so similar. They are essentially the same width and size with the exception of a footrest and larger TV in First Class.

First Class
Business Class

 

After taking a few more pictures, I sat down, and the doors closed. We pushed back right at the departure time and the captain came on air to let us know that the flying time to Moscow would be around 10 hours 30 minutes. “The more the merrier,” I thought to myself. We took off and I have to say, it’s been a while since I’ve heard the amazing roar of the GE engines on a 777!

We reached 10,000 feet pretty quickly and the steward came by to refill my Ginger Ale. In addition, he took my dinner order. It was a little hard to choose between the Chicken Biriyani and salmon, but I ended up choosing salmon. I was patting myself on the back because the food was excellent!

Shrimp Starter
Salmon Main Entree
Cherry Ice Cream

After dinner, I thought about a movie on the extensive Krisworld system, but drowsiness had prevailed.

I attempted to recline the seat into a bed position, but the Singapore Business seat doesn’t recline like other airplane seats. This bed folds down like the back of a car and then has a topper on the other side. At first, I was a bit confused but a stewardess saw me from the galley and helped me make the bed. It consists of a topper and a damask sheet cover. Touted as the widest bed in the sky, it surely isn’t the longest. In fact, you have to sleep diagonally to really stretch flat. I looked around and saw that no one was really able to sleep straight.

Bed
Damask Sheets

While laying down, I also noticed that this plane has had a ton of wear. The storage cabinet doors by my seat were broken or breaking off and my table cover wouldn’t shut. In addition, there were a ton of scuffs and scratches all over the seat. In fact, my footrest didn’t even work!

Wear & Tear

The seat itself consisted of an almost enclosed space that had a 15 inch TV upfront with storage areas around it. To the right of the TV was an enclosed power outlet & 2 USB charging ports. Above that was a place to store your charging equipment. To the left was a personal vanity mirror and under that was a drink holder.

 When the seat becomes a bed, there are two lights that you can use in addition to your reading light. The controls are to the left of the seat and the remote control is hidden under a small cover. Headphone jacks are on either side of the seat, and the noise canceling headphones are in the main storage compartment to the right of the seat.

I was able to get about 5 hours of sleep and when I woke up, we were 3 hours away from Moscow.  As soon as I got up from the bed, a stewardess was at my side with orange juice. The service on this portion of the flight was wonderful. Singapore Airlines is the only airline that I can say has attentive service, bordering on “scary” for those not expecting such attention. I love it, and I’m constantly amazed at how they predict what I want before I ask.

Breakfast was now being served, and I chose the fresh hotcakes. The stewardess kept emphasizing that the hotcakes are made fresh onboard. If the first time didn’t convince me, the second surely did as she recommended I couple it with an Iced Milo! My day was made, and it had barely started.

 

After breakfast, we landed in Moscow and were told to report back to the gate eighty minutes later for boarding. I didn’t realize it yet, but I managed to get off the plane so quickly that I beat the agent who was handing out the transit cards. When I got to the transit counter, a woman asked me for my transit card to which I had no reply. Uh-oh!

Luckily, the agent came and handed me a card so I could get through. After I got through, it was a straight shot to the Business Lounge.  Singapore contracts a lounge in Moscow and doesn’t have one of it’s own. It struck me as a little odd that they didn’t partner up with one of their Star Alliance partner’s lounges as I saw a Swiss & Lufthansa lounge. Either way, my impressions of the lounge were that it was okay. It was nothing outrageous but it did offer free Wi-Fi and a comfortable place to relax instead of the crowded terminal outside.

About 60 minutes later, I headed to the gate to board again. This time, it was utter chaos. People were all over the place and everyone was just rushing towards the door. I eventually got in and boarded the plane. Again, I was greeted by name and welcomed back. Astonishingly, the NEW steward came around with a Ginger Ale in hand. Apparently the old crew leaves notes to the new crew for continuing passenger preferences. It’s another example of great service and how the little things go a long way!

The service was generally the same on the flight from Moscow to Singapore so I will just post pictures of the food! The flight itself was 10 hours long.

Snack Spread

-BMG

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