
- The Private Room
- SQ26 SIN-FRA-JFK Suites
- Luftansa Senator Lounge
- New York Marriott Marquis
- The Ritz Carlton New York Nomad
- Kimpton Eventi New York
- Conrad New York Downtown
- SQ25 JFK-FRA Business
- The Westin Grand Frankfurt
- Sheraton Frankfurt Airport Hotel and Conference Centre
- Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge
- SQ25 FRA-SIN Suites
This was supposed to be Suites too but alas, my waitlist died. And I couldn’t bring myself to fly Y on this bucket list trip, I bit the bullet and splurged USD2.2k+ for this leg (yes, I know I know). But a small part of me was also excited because I’ve never flew in Business on this aircraft before. So YOLO it is.
And because I am so late in reviewing this seat, please excuse the lack of technical details because these are already available in so many other reviews ahead of me.
- Flight Timing – depart JFK 20:15 Arrive FRA 09:50
- Flight Time – 7hours 35mins
- Class of Travel – Business
- Seat – 19K
- Plane type – Airbus A380-800
- Price – USD2.2k+ = SGD3,200+. Hey, at least I get some miles and hit my Highflyer SUB at the same time.
I managed to pop into the Centurion Lounge at JFK courtesy of a friend, and because it was rather crowed, I could only manage to take some cursory pics so here goes:
Boarding was on time and I joined the massive Business Class queue while wistfully glancing at the Suites pax. Sigh. But some of that silent disappointement went away when I saw the super pretty cabin – purple is one of my favorite colors and the entire space was rather awashed in it. Nice!
But then, exactly because of the ambient colors and the fact that it was a night flight, the colors for this flight’s pics all turned out to be a little redish / purplish.
Seat – I picked 19K as it was great for solo pax, and somewhat in the middle of the lavatories and galley. The seat is Poltrona Frau leather (same as Suites. Thaaaanks) and decked in a glorious shade of purple and brown which I really liked. It made the already nice seat feel even more luxurious.
It is not the widest SQ Business Class seat around but plenty okay for my frame. In fact, I had plenty leg space. The seat also has superb privacy due to its wrap-around shell – I can hardly see my neighbour when seated which was great thing especially for a night flight.
The seat itself has good back support, and comes with foldable arm rest at both sides so you can decide if you are more comfortable with or without it. It also comes with a good-sized pillow which can provide extra lumbar support if need be.
Most of the seat features are located to the right of the seat – a personal reading light with a very cool lighted pattern, below which is a small mirror for self checking.
The console below contains your earphone jack, a retractable control pad for everything from in-flight entertainment to lights, a storage platform to place your barangs close to you, and a panel of touch-sensitive controls – pre-set seat positions, leg rest adjustments, TV on/off, D&D, call button and lighting modes.
This same console stores your tray with a button clearly indicating “push for table”: it slides out easily and you have options of having a half-tray or full during meal service.
There is a padded platform after this block which had an indent containing your in-flight literature, and at boarding where your menu, headphones and bottled water is placed.
Beside this is a small closed door which opens up to reveal a contactless payment pad and a USB port for charging your devices.
Your personal screen is obviously in front of you, and to its right is a hook for hanging random things (or jacket), and storage nook below it (but I think mine was faulty so the door to this nook refused to be closed – I tried.
To the screen’s left is a structured platform for drinks / cups.
The mattress padding, blanket, and pillow is placed in the storage nook below the screen console – this is the same spot where your legs will go if you’d like to sleep.
I was surprised to see that slippers, socks and eye shades were not already at the seat and requested for them.
As you may know, amenity kits in SQ’s business class are by default only given upon request so I did – and received the new color of dark blue – it contains Penhaligon lip balm, facial mist, and hand lotion. You also get a little card to redeem a small bottle of shower gel from Penhaligon’s stores in Singapore. Don’t lose that card!
I of course decided on Piper-Heidsieck Brut Reserve for drinks and it was served with a pack of mixed nuts. My Book The Cook main of Slow Roasted Beef Fillet order was also confirmed quickly.
Meals – Meal service started fairly quickly as it was already 9pm by the time we were in the skies and I presume that some would want to get the eating done with to get some sleep. The app shows the menu as follow:
The in-flight menu:
Appetiser was Hudson Valley Smoked Trout and Aerofarms Salads which was decent, followed by my Beef Fillet which was quite nice.
A dessert trolley was wheeled down the aisle thereafter and I made a mistake by selecting the Mocha Mousse Cake – it was not nice although the crew recommended it. Pfft.
I attempted to make my bed for a nap thereafter (there were video instructions shown on the screen earlier) but the crew kindly offered to complete it for me. I only managed a 2-hour nap or so of bad sleep – not sure why as I’ve never had an issue with having to sleep with my feet at an angle on the other biz seats. Anyways the seat in bed mode looks like tihs.
After a restless 1hour+ nap, I got up and watched re-runs to pass time.
Around 1.5hrs prior to landing, the crew came around serving refreshments and I picked the ham & cheese bagel – it was actually more than decent served piping hot with oozing cheese alongside a serving of sauerkraut.
In-flight Entertainment (IFE) – As usual, Krisworld never failed and by the time I took this flight, it has crossed into Dec 2022 and they had some new selection versus when I flew Suites from Singapore. An entire assortment of entertainment easily accessible wither by the retractable hand-held control or touch-screen TV.
Lavatories – I have to admit the lavatories seemed so much smaller coming from a Suite flight but okay I know, first world problems. As per seemingly every other business class flight post-pandemic, the business cabin was pretty full and there were 6 lavatories to share I think? There were at times a short wait and on one occasion, one was dirty so nobody wanted to use it, though I think the crew swopped in to clean it up afterafter (poor crew).
Penhaligon amenities were available at a side counter, and hygiene amenities were stashed in a pull-out drawer at the side but be warned that they run out quickly so bring your own if need be.
Service – this flight saw the same excellent SQ service as always despite having an almost-full cabin. I was prepared to expect a little dip seeing how many pax they have to serve but they proved me wrong! And I’m very happy to check this cabin off my list ~
The flight landed at FRA right on time, and so onwards I go to my next stop!
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