SQ Business Class Experiences

[deluxeflyer]

I just wanted to share my experiences with SQ in Business Class, formerly known as Raffles Class. I’ve done 3 SYD-KUL trips this year on the B747 using points upgrades. (The A380 schedule is not good for the connection I need to KUL, so have not been on it)

I think everyone has heard of SQ’s legendary service, and it’s all true. They really go the extra mile to meet your needs. For example, when my brother and I decided we did not like our Book the Cook meals (and it was not enough anyway), we requested an additional main meal each, which we were happily given. We’ve also done the same thing in Y class, with the same results!

You also get real coffee ie espresso in Business Class, complete with a full menu of available blends. The flight attendants all knew exactly which one I ordered, and replenished it without asking.

There were 2 things which weren’t optimal:

The inflight headphones made my ears very sore after a couple of hours. I resorted to using my own noise cancelling headphones. Which is a shame because the inflight headphones are otherwise very good.

I found it very difficult to get the right (ie comfortable for me) position for my seat, with the way the seat adjustment controls are configured. This is the SpaceBed, not the new Business seats which are not as great as they are hyped to be, according to posts on other forums.

Stopover in T3 at Changi was great, a few hours in the Business lounge in T3. The ambience and comfort here is excellent, though in comparison, the lounge in T2 has a huge variety of alcohol and there is a smoker’s lounge within the lounge. That said, the T2 lounge does look very tired…unfortunately. You can access either of the lounges as long as you are in possession of a Business boarding pass – in your name!

I’d love to hear others’ experience of the product.

 

[munitalP]

I’d love to hear others’ experience of the product.

I recently flew SQ for the first time MEL/SIN/TPE rtn and my experience in J was exceptional until my SIN/MEL leg. As you mentioned the seats were ordinary. I think my experience of SQ J would have been slightly less if the majority of my travel had of been at night, lucky for my, I was awake most of my flights...

Taiwan Trip Report has comments and pics of my SQ experience.

Overall, I believe that the QF skybeds are the best J seat I have been in - my experience of other airlines is somewhat limited due to my loyality to QF - in saying that though, the cabin service on 3 of my QS legs was second to none...

Mr!

 

[trooper]

Have only flown in C on SQ once.... (and only in Y twice - one of which was a half empty 380 SYD-SIN!!) so not a real "sample".... but you asked!

ICN-SFO on the 77W.... Seats are very good... but I'd say that about ANY seat that lets me lie down!!:mrgreen: .. and I had 11A which gets almost uniformly excellent reports....

(I actually think I prefer NZ's Biz seat.. but these things are soooo subjective anyway....)

Service? Strangely enough (given the reputation) I thought the SQ service in C wasn't as good as recent flights on OZ and NH... (and to be honest the FA's in the UD Y cabin on the 380 seemed nicer and showed more "warmth" than those in C on the 777.... Of course having a cabin half full (or less) may have affected their attitude for the better!! )

Probably luck of the draw but I found the FA's on the 77W a bit hesitant/fumbly. and the CSM (or whatever title they have on SQ) was rather remote and autocratic....

The food was good too.. but, again, it would be hard to say it was better than on those same OZ or NH flights...... actually OZ gets the guernsey for taste... NH for presentation.... (and again - with a sample size of ONE that could just be personal preference at work)

So... for me the SQ experience has been good overall... but NOT a step above certain other airlines...

Am booking with them for future travel which is probably all I really need to say eh?? :mrgreen: ... and- I have just realised - will be flying with OZ and NH again just before the next SQ one.... Be interesting to see how the three compare a second time around!

 

[kpc]

I've flown both SQ J and QF J a bit over the years. My comments are based on the 747 seat on SQ (not the A380 or 77W) and the QF 747 J seat. I agree the SQ sloping seat is not comfortable, and I find that I keep slipping down; the QF J seat is much better, and it has little storage areas for shoes, water bottle etc which are very handy. However, the inflight service, meals (including "Book the Cook"), and inflight entertainment are overall much better on SQ than QF IMHO. My ongoing preference would be SQ J over QF J, but taking into account their respective frequent flyer programs, I'm flying QF more now than SQ.

 

[Keith009]

The down to earth QF approach wins it for me over the deferential and at-times sickly sweet, fawning SQ approach every time. And a matter of taste but I much prefer QF food and IFE (content not reliability). Most importantly QF's wine and champagne list is also far and away better than SQ's in both F and J - expensive wines do not necessarily = superior wines!

Anyway i did a review of SQ J, and comparison of the QF and SQ J products in my last TR:
http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/com.../city-hops-qantas-cathay-pacific-13711-7.html
(posts 61-63)

Or if you prefer not to read the whole thing:

The inevitable SQ and QF comparison thus begins (as I fly more JCL than FCL I'm doing this at this point):

- Seat: QF Skybed by far the more comfy option. There was more padding, and going by past experiences on the Spacebed (because I didn't turn it into a bed on this occasion) - the Skybed had a more comfortable degree of incline than the Spacebed.

- Crew: Both equally attentive, pro active and responsive. I like the fact that SQ has surplus crew which helped meal service proceed at a much quicker pace. However I've always found QF crews far more laidback and down to earth, and far more engaging - which made a QF flight more fun and relaxing to fly with than an SQ one. Service can be a bit 'much' on SQ - I feel bad when the crew help to carry my bags I am perfectly capable of doing so myself - I hope it's not a directive from management but I fear it is as they're so insistent on it even after my saying 'no.' Having said that there are individuals amongst the SQ crew whom can be just as cool as the QF lot, it's just as a whole I find SQ crews rather formal and less warm (though still better than the Japanese carriers).

- Food: Presentation pretty good on both, but I wish QF has proper salt/pepper shakers instead of the little plastic thingy. SQ is innovative with the BTC option, however the regular meals don't seem to have changed much over the years. QF meals seem more creative and well thought out. Quality of meals is excellent on both airlines, though QF far head in dessert and cheeses (with spiced pear paste to boot!).

- Drinks: They serve the same champagne in JCL, except QF varies it a little by throwing Lanson into the mix on certain flights which tastes better than the MEC on the ground. Premium Australia/NZ wines on the QF wine list gives them truckloads of brownie points for promoting decidedly superior local produce, again IMO. Coffee on QF uses Grinders beans - another yay. But I'm sure someone else out there would appreciate the French stuff and exotic coffee beans on SQ more than I do. Most importantly - both sets of crew are most eager in plying me with booze.

- IFE: More expansive on SQ but I don't really watch the foreign language options anyway so the availability or lack thereof isn't a factor of consideration for me. As far as the English language ones go, they are much the same but dig hard and you'd be able to find some fine Australian gems on QF that can't be found on other carriers.

In summary there's really no clear lead in the air, both are equally awesome in their own right and my only quibbles were relatively minor in the grand scheme of things. On a personal level, I have to admit the sense of familiarity with QF do give them a slight edge. Which must be why voting with my wallet was easy when SQ started falling behind with the cuts to PPS and ground services.

 

[deluxeflyer]

Thanks for all the posts.

At the end of the day it all comes down to one's personal preferences.
SQ works for me with getting to KUL, so QF just would not come into it.

With QF's cabin service, my experience is that I am treated like a mate, whereas in SQ, well, I am the boss. I know it's not politically correct, but if I am paying for JCL, I expect to be treated "deferentially".

That said, though, I don't agree that the service is sometimes fawning. I think it's just the understanding that the FA's are there to basically see to your needs, and even, your wants. (I have seen in flyertalk, the FA's being described as "robotic". :shock

 

[deluxeflyer]

I think my experience of SQ J would have been slightly less if the majority of my travel had of been at night, lucky for my, I was awake most of my flights...

Taiwan Trip Report has comments and pics of my SQ experience.

Overall, I believe that the QF skybeds are the best J seat I have been in - my experience of other airlines is somewhat limited due to my loyality to QF - in saying that though, the cabin service on 3 of my QS legs was second to none...

Mr!

Great TR, great pix too.
I agree with you about the night time travel. I try to take day flights as much as possible, as I can never sleep well enough, even in JCL.

I guess my loyalty is more to SQ. With QF I find the points redeeming too restrictive for a lowly Bronze. Furthermore, the redemption upgrades on SQ are just much simpler and achievable than QF.

 

[Keith009]

Thanks for all the posts.

At the end of the day it all comes down to one's personal preferences.
SQ works for me with getting to KUL, so QF just would not come into it.

With QF's cabin service, my experience is that I am treated like a mate, whereas in SQ, well, I am the boss. I know it's not politically correct, but if I am paying for JCL, I expect to be treated "deferentially".

That said, though, I don't agree that the service is sometimes fawning. I think it's just the understanding that the FA's are there to basically see to your needs, and even, your wants. (I have seen in flyertalk, the FA's being described as "robotic". :shock

I agree it's all about personal tastes. And when I pay JCL/FCL prices I want to have a comfortable flight (ie be treated as if i was at my best friend's BBQ or champagne brekkies) and not feel overwhelmed by stiffling formality. With SQ (as well as CX) FAs I'd have to make the extra effort to break the ice, and several FAs usually do respond v well (agree to drop any mention of 'Sir', call by first name etc). In more extreme cases, I almost literally physically convulse with revulsion at the subservience displayed. There was one flight when I was alone in F, I had to literally beg the FAs to leave me alone. However when I get a set of good crew (in my own definition ), SQ flights can be v social and lots of fun like QF.

I disagree about 'robotic' - that's the term I'd use for JL and NH but not SQ. However there was one trip report which made some comment about the 'husband hunting ways' of SQ FAs which I felt was totally spot on.

And no I don't think this is because of 'Asian service culture' as I've so often been told - I have not experienced similar problems with MH, another airline that I've rather enjoyed flying with.

And one more thing - unless Lee Kuan Yew himself is onboard, SQ FAs are usually v clueless when it comes to wine, unless they have 'sommerlier-trained' FAs onboard. In contrast all QF FAs have to go through some sort of wine training. That in itself goes far as far as my loyalty is concerned.

 

[dajop]

I haven't flown QF J for some time (12 mths), so am loath to comment on experiences with them, other than to say when I have flown with them, on the good days (with a good crew) they are best in the sky, on the bad days .... well say no more. I hope they have improved their consistency, as that was/is the biggest problem IMHO with QF. The other (albeit minor) issue I have with QF - they don't have coughtails on the menu (I avoid beer and wine on flights for various reasons, but am partial to a coughtail or two!) and they offer cheese OR fruit OR dessert - whereas many other airlines (CX, SQ, OZ) offer all three if you really want!

One thing SQ is good at is attention to detail in their service. I've done somewhere between 20 and 30 J sectors on them this year, and cannot fault their attention to detail. If I catch a day flight I will usually spend the day working on the laptop, and during the course of the flight have a Coke. On SQ, no sooner is the glass empty, than it is refilled, without asking, whereas many other airlines will just remove the glass when you are done. The food on SQ is quite good, as it is on QF (although some rotation in SQ's Book the Cook menu would be appreciated), but I recently had the opportunity to fly some OZ sectors and the beef I had on a couple of those flights was succulent and tender and as good as anything I've eaten at 35,000 feet.

As for service some examples of attention to detail ...

.... SQ ... I placed my coat (not a sports coat/suit coat, just a jacket) in the OH locker as loads of pax still boarding and in the way. As soon as the aisle cleared, SQ FA who had noticed me putting jacket in OH locker came up to me and offered to hang the jacket. Contrast to QF a couple of times, where I've sat with jacket on lap waiting for it to be hung (and has only been done after requesting).

Another example had a suit hanging in aircraft cupboard. Three sectors in a row.. AF, TG, SQ. Upon disembarkation on AF, could not find flight attendants, and ended up with four others (including Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs) searching through cupboards looking for our jackets/suits ourselves. Next sector - TG - upon disembarking, asked FA to retrieve my hanging suit. Three days later on SQ - before landing FA apologised that they were unable to return my suit until after landing, and then handed it to me as I disembarked. It is this sort of attention to detail that is really noticeable on SQ.

But at the end of the day in my experience - SQ, QF, CX, OZ, NZ - all very good, as I am sure is MH, although I haven't flown them. I am sure there are lot lot worse J experiences to be had (IB for one, but I won't go into that here ...).

 

[bokflyer]

Having recently relocated to Singapore, I have switched to SQ from QF for most of my business travel. In my experience, the type of aircraft determines how good SQ is. Yes, the inflight service tends to be very efficient, even if the pleasantness feels a little forced. But the real difference is the aircraft type. A380 and 77W new business class seats are in my view so far ahead of anything else in the sky. I love the width, love the aisle access for every pax, the TV size and entertainment systems are top notch. Food and drinks also very good. The skybeds on the 747s and some 777s are OK, probably not as good as QF. The worst is the regional business product, which is probably a seat similar to QF millenium. This is fine for an hour or two, but SQ still use this for the overnight flights back from India, a real disadvantage, especially compared to Jet which have good lie-flats seats. I also find SQ is great until something out of the ordinary happens, then they struggle to think imaginatively or beyond their rule book. QF agents generally more helpful and able to find solutions for premium pax than SQ. That said, service on SQ is consistent, QF either very good or very bad, either way, you're never in doubt when one of the QF flying dragons is having a bad day.

 

[dajop]

The worst is the regional business product, which is probably a seat similar to QF millenium. This is fine for an hour or two, but SQ still use this for the overnight flights back from India, a real disadvantage, especially compared to Jet which have good lie-flats seats.

I actually find the regional J seats most comfortable for day flights (if only they had power points). They're not as hard as the Spacebed or the new 77W/380 seats, so a quite comfy for sitting in ... but for night flights, not good at all. I will seriously have to reconsider using SQ when early next year they are reverting to 773's (and therefore regional seats) on both overnight flights SIN-MEL.:evil: This is quite ridiculous given that for years MEL has been serviced by a 744 on SQ227/8 which fly at the same time as QF's single flight between the two cities (which has skybed), (although there is upside for Y pax, as I am pretty sure the 773 seats are wider).