Qantas has an excellent lounge at Singapore’s Changi Airport. The combined Business & First class lounge features a seasonal dining menu, bar service, helpful staff and well-appointed showers.
Unfortunately, the Qantas Singapore Lounge can get very crowded in the evening. This has been a problem for many months. But lounge overcrowding has just become much worse as Qantas last week increased the number of flights and size of its aircraft flying to Singapore. Despite having enough room for almost 500 passengers, the Qantas Singapore Lounge is now operating at close to capacity most evenings.
Qantas recently made changes to its kangaroo route, switching the Sydney-London stopover from Dubai to Singapore. As part of the changes, Qantas now offers First class out of Singapore on A380 flights to London, Sydney and Melbourne. But unlike at Dubai, neither Qantas nor its partner Emirates have a dedicated First class lounge in Singapore. Qantas is therefore sending First class passengers to the regular lounge.
To make up for this, Qantas is giving some special treatment to First class passengers in the otherwise overcrowded Qantas Singapore lounge. A dedicated seating area is being reserved for passengers flying First. Here, attentive table service and real champagne is offered. Platinum One and Qantas Chairman’s Lounge members can also use the dedicated First class section.
My experience this week, the F treatment at SIN lounge consists of
– reserved seats, escort to these seats
– wait service at these seats (food & drinks), was fairly attentive (glass hardly empty before refill offered)
– special drinks (like LHR lounge)The area around to the left twice from reception. Nothing fancy, just less crowded than the rest of the lounge. And, as I said, enabled staff to provide wait service for food and drink.
According to Princess Fiona, a Platinum One member, this special service is not new. But Qantas has recently extended the service, previously for Platinum One and Chairman’s Lounge flyers, to First class passengers.
This is the same area with the same service as what was already provided to CL/P1 in the SIN Lounge.
Having experienced it, there’s nothing particularly F about it.
I have heard mutterings around the traps that QF is looking at what it can do to in SIN but it’s sounds from your experience as if nothing has actually happened yet.
I will be in SIN at the end of next month. Will be interesting to see what develops here.
In the meantime, eligible frequent flyers, Business class passengers and Qantas Club members can still use the Qantas Singapore Lounge. But expect it to be busy. And there have been some reports of Qantas Club members and those using one-time Qantas Club invitations being redirected to other lounges during peak periods.
If you’re a Gold or Platinum frequent flyer – or hold a Qantas Business class ticket – there are Oneworld lounges available in Singapore. Just a short walk from the Qantas Singapore Lounge is the British Airways Lounge. This is a comfortable space with reasonable food & drink options, and is generally much quieter than the Qantas lounge. A second alternative, for eligible Qantas or Emirates passengers, is the Emirates lounge.
With a queue to get in, and staff fawning over various PAX near the entry, I was brave enough only to have something done at the service counter, before heading directly to the [Emirates Business] Lounge. Peaceful, with good food and champagne, and a short walk to the C gates, it was a wise decision.
Qantas flies twice-daily from Singapore to Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, and daily to Brisbane and London. All Qantas flights depart Singapore in the evening.
Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: QF1/2 F pax experience through SIN
