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After spending about an hour in the Adani East Wing Lounge, the lounge Singapore uses for its guests in Mumbai Airport, we had the longest walk one could have to the end of the T2 where our stunning A350 was. Unfortunately, the view was obstructed but we saw what we could.
BOM-SIN
26 December 2022
Airbus A350-900
I boarded through the forward door L1 and turned right into Singapore’s sleek business class cabin. Singapore has 3 different configurations for their A350’s. This one is used for regional flights in and around Southeast Asia mainly.
I made my way over to 17K which is a window seat on the right side of the aircraft.
Every seat had direct aisle access which should be the standard now. Given that this is Singapore’s regional configuration, it’s definitely impressive for a a business class layout given that this is the same type of seat many carriers use for their longhaul flights.
If there’s one thing Singapore is the gold standard for, it’s service above all else. As I started walking to my seat, a crew immediately asked for my seat number and took me to my seat, opened the overhead bin, and loaded my bag for me.
Another crew came around with a choice of pre-departure beverages from water, apple juice, and orange juice and I went with OJ.
Another crew member came and took drink orders for our post-departure meal.
Let’s take a quick look at the seat itself. There was a console with a dedicated space for drinks, and some more space to keep things on. In my particular seat, because I was in a seat closer to the window, the console separated me from the aisle and made the seat a touch more private. Whereas if you had a seat closer to the aisle, you would’ve had the center console between yourself and the window.
There’s a small storage space right above the center console.
Here there are 2 USB ports, one universal chart, and a credit card reader. There’s also the menu for the flight, headphones, and amenity kit here.
I commend SQ for providing 2 USB ports since people nowadays have multiple charging devices, however in this day, airlines would really shine if one of those ports became a USB C port, as that’s where the world is moving for device charging (as of when this post was written).
There was a pretty sizable screen which was also relatively high resolution, but hard to see here just because of the glare from the window.
Below the seat was a foot cubby and storage underneath to store any smaller items or even shoe placement when you turn your seat into a flatbed.
There’s a magazine rack/laptop/iPad storage lower by the floor.
There’s also a coat hook at the top of the seat.
Under the console, there is a touchscreen pad that allows you to control the in flight entertainment.
The screen is dark by default but once you press on it then a series of intuitive seat controls show up.
along the privacy shield on the seat by your head you’ll have reading lamps with a few different angles depending on whether your seat is reclined or not. The coverage of these lights is pretty comprehensive.
There’s also a mirror that comes out by the storage space. As you can see the reflection of the seat itself in the mirror, you’ll realize that while seated in your seat, you won’t have to contort your body to look at the mirror.
Right below the screen is a tray table that you push to release and a big table comes out.
The tray table can be folded to be fully open or half open depending on what you need.
It was a typical hazy day in Mumbai but the views were nice.
The bedding for this daytime flight was more than sufficient, a simple blanket and a pillow.
Eventually we pushed back and began our taxi towards runway 27.
After a quick taxi to runway 27 during this relatively uncrowded hour, we took off and turned southeastbound.
Let’s take a look at the menu for today’s flight.
About 30 minutes after takeoff, the crew came around with our drink choice for which the orders were taken from the ground. I went with the alspritzer. Growing up, on all my flights with Singapore Airlines, I would always take the Fruit Spritzer or Apple Bliss as its been called in more recent years. It’s nothing more than a mix of 7up and apple juice. Humble, but a taste that will always remind me of Singapore. That said, this is that drink except with Vodka added.
What used to be a satay cart pre-covid, has now turned into a pre-plated meal service that is then given by hand to each person. The satays were pretty good. Some of the pieces I got were moist, but one of them was dry. I would attribute this to just getting pieces in different parts of the aluminum tray.
The crew also provided a hand wipe with the satay which was practical.
While we wait on the rest of the meal, let’s take a quick look at the lavatory amenities.
There were some nicely laid out hand towels and some creams too.
Eventually it was service time and one of the crew members was walking around and setting tables,
Not that’s its a game changer, but it immediately became apparent that Singapore no longer has the nuts service they use to have with the first round of drinks, It’s straight to the appetizer.
The paneer itself wasn’t terribly flavorful but the texture of paneer well made always feels good on the palette. The chutney underneath wasn’t really spicy or fragrant in any way but it did have some savory flavors to it.
Shortly after crew came and set the appetizer tray and also asked if I wanted any wine with my app for which I went with white wine. Further, he offered me chardonnay or Sauvinon blanc.
As our appetizer trays were being set, the crew also took care of drink orders in this moment.
We also got a choice between naan’ pappad, garlic bread, and plain bread and the choice was pretty straightforward here.
Once I was done with the paneer, the crew came and brought our main dish which the crew took our orders for after departure. Since I was ordering the whole Indian meal, they brought the non-vegetarian main from the Indian choices.
This dish had lamb cooked in spinach based curry, a lentils dish, a corn dish and some rice. Wow this was pretty good across the board. The lamb was tender and the palak curry the lamb was served with was also flavorful. The lentils were fragrant and spicy which went well with the rice. I’m not a big corn eater and even that was good.
A few minutes after I was done, the crew cleared my plate.
I was offered a dessert choice between a raspberry mousse cake, a cheese plate, and fruits. I asked if I could start with the cake and have the cheese plate after and they were happy to do so.
The cake was good, but nothing special. That’s not to say it wasn’t good; it just wasn’t mindblowing, but it was sweet and satisfactory.
The crew did indeed come back to me with the cheese plate. This was definitely one of the bigger cheese plates I’ve gotten on a plane in business class I couldn’t finish it. I had a few bites of each cheese and some grapes and called it a day.
The meal was overall pretty decent. It’s nice that Singapore Airlines has special menu dishes from their panel chefs and they are decently executed at a mass scale for passengers to enjoy on board.
Moving onto the amenity kit, which was available at our seat at the start of the flight, it was basic but had everything we needed. This was a daytime flight so there really wasn’t a need for all that much. Anything else that you could’ve needed could probably be found in the lavatory drawers such as toothbrushes, eye masks, and more,
We were also given a water bottle afterwards.
The headphones were pretty good quality, but in classic Singapore Airlines fashion, they collected them at the end of the flight so people couldn’t take them home.
The rest of the flight was mostly views as we made our way down the Straight of Malacca between Sumatra and Singapore.
We did at some point begin our descent and I had asked the crew if it was possible to have a glass of hot water still, and they gladly brought me some, but brought it in a throwaway cup so they could store their glassware.
Eventually we curled around south of Singapore and over a few Indonesian Islands and lined up with runway 2L for landing.
Singapore Airlines is the standard of consistency. Across the board, the average flight will have a good hard product, good food, good everything in between, and to tie it all together, good service. The seat is very good for a regional flight and there’s direct aisle access from every seat which not all business classes have caught up to yet. This is heavily incorporated into their training to the most granular level of detail and this is truly where they differentiate themselves from the competition and have been doing so for many decades. I can’t recommend these guys enough if you have the opportunity to fly them. Well done on yet another wonderful flight.