Review: Singapore Airlines First Class Suites (A380)

Flying in Singapore Airlines’ A380 Suites had been the final item on my checklist of the “big three” A380 first class experiences. Having already flown Etihad First Class Residence and Emirates A380 First Class, Singapore Airlines Suites was the last piece of the trifecta. That made this flight the centerpiece of an entire trip, with nearly everything else planned around the opportunity to finally try it for myself.

While I don’t think anything can surpass Etihad’s The Residence, Singapore Airlines’ A380 Suites come remarkably close. In many ways, it delivers about as perfect an onboard experience as you can have, combining exceptional service, outstanding dining, and one of the most spacious and luxurious first class cabins in the sky. Better yet, Singapore Airlines’ A380 Suites are generally much easier to book than other competing first class products, making this an aspirational endeavor that is actually attainable for many points and miles enthusiasts.

Booking Singapore Airlines First Class Suites on the Airbus A380

First Class	Aircraft	Route	Flight Duration
SQ 830	Airbus A380	Singapore to Shanghai	5 Hours 45 Minutes

I booked this flight through the Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer program for 112,500 KrisFlyer miles plus SGD62.50 in taxes and fees. While that is undeniably a steep redemption for a flight of less than six hours, I still found it to be an acceptable cost to duration ratio. By comparison, Singapore Airlines’ A380 flights to Europe often cost upwards of 250,000 KrisFlyer miles one way.

If you’re interested in booking Singapore Airlines First Class with points, I wrote a detailed guide covering the entire process. The TLDR version is that you’ll need to use Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles, as First Class award space is not available to partner programs. Since the airline operates the A380 on only a handful of routes and Saver award availability is exceptionally scarce, you’ll often have to book the more expensive Advantage award rate instead to unlock additional award space.

Earning Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer requires you to have access to U.S. credit cards, as no Canadian credit cards earn KrisFlyer miles directly or allow transfers from a Canadian flexible points program.

Fortunately, all the major U.S. transferable points currencies transfer to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer at a 1:1 ratio, including American Express Membership Rewards (U.S.), Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, and Capital One Miles.

Ground Experience – The Private Room at Singapore Changi

Passengers traveling in Singapore Airlines First Class and Suites are granted access to The Private Room, the airline’s flagship lounge reserved exclusively for First Class passengers. It offers an elevated ground experience with à la carte dining, private shower and nap rooms, and a quiet atmosphere that never feels crowded thanks to the limited number of eligible guests.

There were fewer than five other passengers in The Private Room during my visit, but the lounge has enough capacity for dozens of passengers. The Private Room offers a wide variety of seating options, including relaxed armchairs, individual private pods, and dedicated dining tables.

Once I was seated at a dining table, one of the lounge attendants brought over the menu for the table service. Since my flight was departing at 9:30 AM, the lounge was serving its breakfast menu during my visit.

The waiter recommended the lounge’s signature dish, Singapore Laksa with lobster. I didn’t need much convincing after that, and as expected it was excellent. 

Along with the items available from the menu,  a small breakfast buffet featuring a selection of cold cereals and pastries was also available.

Other amenities of the lounge include shower and nap rooms, which are available on a first-come, first-serve basis.

The Private Room at Singapore Changi Airport is on par with the very best first class lounges I have visited, easily standing alongside the likes of the Etihad Airways First Class Lounge and Japan Airlines First Class Lounge. It strikes all the notes that defines a great first class lounge experience, including outstanding dining, premium amenities, and, perhaps most importantly, a quiet and uncrowded environment to relax in before a flight.

Cabin Arrangement

The Singapore Airlines A380 first class cabin has six seats on the upper deck of the aircraft, arranged in a 1–1 layout. At the front of the cabin are two extremely spacious lavatories; however, unlike the A380 First Class products offered by Etihad Airways and Emirates, Singapore Airlines doesn’t have an onboard shower in its most premium cabin.

The Singapore Airlines Suites cabin immediately reminded me of Etihad’s A380 Apartments cabin, with its single-aisle layout and tall walls creating a highly private environment around each suite. However, Singapore Airlines takes the concept even further by fitting about half as many seats into a similar amount of space, resulting in a significantly more personal space for each passenger.

I chose seat 3A because the seats in row 3 are individual suites. The suites in rows 1 and 2 feature a divider between the seats that can be lowered to create a larger shared space, making them the ideal choice for passengers traveling with a companion.

Seat

The First Class Suite on the Singapore Airlines A380 is an enormous enclosed space featuring a separate leather armchair and a dedicated bed. Upon first glance, the suite makes an incredible first impression. The amount of personal space is remarkable, and the premium materials and elegant finishes create a truly luxurious atmosphere. Despite these suites being several years old, the cabin was spotlessly clean and still in immaculate condition.

The armchair has plenty of functionality. It can rotate to face different directions, making it easy to dine at the tray table or turn toward the entertainment screen. The seat also reclines and features an extendable leg rest for added comfort.

The console beneath the windows included several storage compartments along with the connectivity panel for the suite. On the opposite side of the seat, a side table housed the stowable tray table, keeping it neatly tucked away when not in use.

Along the front wall is the foldout bed that is tucked neatly away when not in use. On request, a flight attendant will extend and prepare the bed for you.

Adjacent to the seat were three padded storage bins, providing ample room to place a few personal items. One of the storage bin lids included a small backlit vanity mirror.

Right beside the storage compartments was a detachable touchscreen tablet that could be used to operate all the functions of the suite. From the tablet, you could adjust the window shades, control the lighting, browse the entertainment library, and view the interactive inflight map.

The connectivity panel included a universal power outlet, USB-A charging port, HDMI input, and a contactless card reader.

The armrest on the seat flipped up to reveal a control panel for adjusting the seat recline, controls for changing the viewing angle of the entertainment screen, and the handheld remote for the inflight entertainment system.

For takeoff and landing, the entertainment screen must be stowed flush against the wall. Once the aircraft reaches cruising altitude, the screen can be extended on a powered arm and angled toward the seat for a better viewing angle.

Once the chair is rotated into the dining position and the screen swiveled out, it’s at the perfect angle for watching a movie while enjoying a meal.

Built into the suite wall along the aisle is a small closet with several hangers, offering enough space for a backpack and possibly a smaller carry-on bag. Since there are no overhead bins in the first class cabin, larger carry-on items may need to be checked if they cannot fit inside the closet.

When it comes to privacy, the Singapore Suites are about as good as it gets when compared to other first class seats. Like the Etihad Apartments, each suite features a full height sliding door that encloses the space, creating a disturbance-free environment.

Overall, the Singapore Airlines Suites are an exceptional product that takes luxury to the extreme, combining an incredible amount of personal space, impressive technology, and unmatched privacy. A suite of this scale is unlikely to become common, as the concept is only truly practical on a superjumbo aircraft like the Airbus A380. It’s fascinating to see what airlines can create when they push the boundaries of first class travel.

Bed

Following the meal service, a flight attendant prepared the bed for me. The sleeping setup is nothing short of fantastic, featuring a mattress pad, two duvets, and two pillows to create one of the most comfortable beds you’ll find in the sky. The bed is firm, which may not suit everyone, but the overall setup is about as close to an ideal sleeping experience as you can get on an aircraft.

The TV could then be swiveled toward the bed, creating the perfect setup for relaxing and watching a movie from the comfort of the bed.

Amenity Kit

Singapore Airlines offers passengers a choice of amenity kit between male, female, and unisex versions, allowing passengers to select the kit that best suits their preferences. The male amenity kits were provided by Lalique and came in a stylish blue faux leather case. 

The contents of the male amenity kit were a face mist, hand lotion, lip balm, and a fragrance. 

Other amenities such as dental kits, eye masks, and earplugs were available from the staff on request. 

Also provided was a set of Lalique sleepwear and a pair of slippers.

Bathroom

At the front of the Suites cabin are two huge bathrooms. The larger bathroom is on the right side of the aircraft and has a toilet, sink, and vanity table.

Despite the lack of a shower, which both Emirates and Etihad have in their first class bathrooms, this is still one of the nicest airplane bathrooms I’ve seen.

The bathroom on the left side of the aircraft, while still very nice, isn’t quite as large.

Dining

During the predeparture service, the flight attendant confirmed my preordered meal and asked if I wanted it served shortly after takeoff. 

As this was a morning departure, breakfast was scheduled as the main meal service. Since airline breakfasts are often the least impressive meal served on board, my preference was to have one of the lunch and dinner meals instead. 

Fortunately, there’s an easy workaround for this. By preordering your meal, you can choose from the full selection of Singapore Airlines’ lunch and dinner entrees instead of being limited to the breakfast menu.

I highly recommend preordering, as all Singapore Suites flights offer access to Singapore Airlines’ Book the Cook program, which features dozens of premium dishes that aren’t available on the standard inflight menu.

Singapore Airlines is famous for its Lobster Thermidor, which I was seriously considering ordering. However, after reading plenty of recommendations on Reddit, I decided to go with the Wagyu Yakiniku instead. I’m happy to say it was the right decision, as the dish was excellent.

The inflight drink and dining menu is very comprehensive, offering an almost endless variety of drink options, along with the standard breakfast menu as well. 

Since the main course was the only part of the meal that could be substituted through preordering, the standard breakfast starters listed on the menu were served first.

The meal began with a fresh fruit plate, and I ordered a cup of tea to drink.

The second course was just a simple bowl of strawberry yogurt.

Lastly, the main course featured Wagyu Yakiniku served over rice, accompanied by a bowl of seaweed soup and a small dish of kimchi. While the seaweed soup wasn’t quite to my taste, everything else was genuinely incredible. The wagyu, in particular, was some of the best I’ve ever had, and despite the relatively basic starters, the quality of the main course more than made up for it.

I’ll quickly highlight the flawless first class cabin crew on this flight. Singapore Airlines is well known for its outstanding service, and the crew on my flight exceeded those already high expectations. The two attendants assigned to my suite were incredibly warm, attentive, and detail-oriented throughout the journey, perfectly illustrating why Singapore Airlines has earned such a strong reputation for its service level.

Entertainment

Entertainment Console

Each suite has a 32-inch HD flatscreen TV, which is among the largest entertainment displays on any airline. 

The entertainment system featured an extensive library of movies, TV shows, music, and games available in multiple languages, ensuring most passengers could easily find something enjoyable to help pass the time.

Along with the handheld controller, you can also use the detachable tablet to browse the entertainment library. The tablet also functions as a secondary screen where you can monitor flight progress, control the suite lighting, and adjust the window shades.

I didn’t use the provided Bang & Olufsen headphones, but they appeared to be very high quality.

Wi-Fi

Singapore Airlines offers free Wi-Fi to all KrisFlyer members, regardless of status and cabin. Connecting to the Wi-Fi required entering your last name and seat number.

The Wi-Fi speeds were good. I had no trouble doing some basic browsing and messaging. However, the speed wasn’t sufficient for streaming audio or video.

Conclusion

Having now flown the “big three” A380 first class products currently available, I don’t think it makes sense to try and rank them against each other. Each one offers a different experience, but they’re all amazing in their own way. You’re almost guaranteed to have an incredible flight.

Part of what makes these experiences so special is that they’re exclusive to the A380, but that also creates a sense of urgency. Aside from Emirates, few airlines continue to operate the aircraft, and its long-term future is uncertain. There is no guarantee we’ll see another aircraft deliver this same level of first class experience like the A380 can.

Like many first class products, they are far from necessary. In many ways, they represent an excess of luxury, pushing the boundaries of what a single person could realistically need, especially as business class products have become increasingly competitive and capable. However, that’s kind of the point, and when it comes to iconic first class products like Singapore Suites, it absolutely lives up to the hype and is absolutely worth the splurge even just once. Singapore Airlines Suites is also one of the more accessible A380 first class experiences to book using points, making it one of the best uses for your Singapore KrisFlyer miles.