Review: Singapore Airlines A380 Suites (FRA-JFK)

Did the amenity kit also include the little glass art piece?

Great review, thanks! Also managed to score the same deal (2 Suite award seats on that same route), but in October, so I'm pumped 🙂 .

The double bed setup is interesting. I do wonder if they have the possibility to make it a "true" double bed by adding something in the middle, because if you go look at the marketing pictures online, that's how it looks like with a single comforter across the bed. Curious if you asked about it? I wonder if being a same sex pair of travelers could have otherwise been a factor and they may have not want to assume you were a couple.

@ Guy -- I remember that last time, but it wasn't in the kit this time, best I could tell.

@ Clem -- Going into the flight I was curious if we'd get any different treatment than an opposite sex couple regarding the double bed, but I don't think we did. Indeed the marketing pictures did show a single huge blanket that made it look like a single bed, but I don't think that actually exists? Sure would be nice. Then again, this is already the world's best first class for couples, so...

New school of wine - drink what makes you happy not what you're "supposed to have" Glad you liked it!

Take note that Book the Cook has been significantly scaled back during COVID, and while there is still a lot of options available out of Singapore, you can't order lobster thermidor out of most other cities any more, and for that matter the options available out of FRA and JFK are pretty underwhelming-sounding.

Not sure about the red, but they will definitively excommunicate you for having Dom with Dorritos.

Cod and beef cheeks are low grade 'cost cut' proteins - wonder if better are avail via book the cook out of FRA or JFK

Good wine goes great with any food. White only with fish is a myth and is wrong. So is red only with meat. I routinely host wine diners and happy hours and i will put out doritos/potato chips in a nice bowl next to the cheeses, meats and usual charcuterie board offerings and without fail people always gravitate toward the doritos and chips they go well with anything with alcohol.

Curious to know what the process is for passengers flying the entire length from JFK-SIN. Once you disembark in FRA, do you have to re-clear security either way or you're automatically directed to departures and you're free to roam around as you wish?

The “no red wine with fish” rule is passé.

Everyone knows you should always order whatever wine is most expensive.

Nothing wrong with having a Grand Cru red Burgundy with fish. Pinot Noir is versatile and goes certainly well with fish - especially when paired with sauces. You might have got lucky with the pairing choice, but that’s a wine worth drinking even with dessert. Good for you for venturing away from Champagne.

Do they offer face-to-face dining? I recall some (marketing?) pictures of them bringing a huge stool into your Suite.

I was able to book all 6 seats on miles for our trip this september. They initially had the 14 seater first class and then switched to the 6 and then confirmed all 6 seats. There are 14 of us flying so some of the kids will be on business, but I am sure since we have the whole cabin to ourselves, they wont mind if people from J will visit us in F. I'm sure we wont be sleeping due to the excitement, so we also decided to splurge and fly from Frankfurt to Paris with Vista on their Challenger 850.

Doritos and Champagne - many Somms and winemakers recommend this as a pairing - no joke no bs. You can of course substitute other chips or popcorn to get similar taste combo.

I drink red wine with fish - but typically cedar plank salmon. Nothing wrong with experimenting with different food + wine pairings.

I love a high end chard (Aubert) with Mexican fajitas. Say what you want… I’ve had some of best vino in the world. Just drink what you like - life is short

Would have been shocked if you did not go for the 2014 grand cru Burgundy.

Hi. Curious here. So, since Ben ordered the most expensive red on offer, does that mean that airlines list in order the most expensive to least expensive wine/champagne?

I am not sure now but I did this the other direction to SIN a year or two before Covid. We all disembarked and premium passengers could go to the lounge. It was a nice break and allowed for some actual walking around. I imagine it's the same now but not sure.

@ Stanley C -- I think that might have been a coincidence, as I don't think that's the system by which airlines typically organize their menus.

@ Wayne -- WOW! Enjoy, that sounds like quite the experience!

@ Rachel -- I don't believe there's any opportunity to dine face-to-face.

@ Mike O. -- As Stuart explained, you can roam around the terminal. I don't believe you have to go through security, though (since flights from certain regions don't require clearing security if connecting).

Ben: is there a good way to hold award space on Singapore airlines while you wait for miles to transfer? I recently booked business class CPT—>LAX on SIN and was nervous as heck as I waited for miles to transfer over. I tried calling Singapore airlines but gave up after 8:30 hours (no joke) on hold…

SIA's whole approach to their passengers' experience raises the bar for just about every other carrier. As I progressed through your review I could hear the echoes of 'First class on this B ritish A irline=world's best business class', esp. having experienced it.
The A380's engines are unbelievably quiet on the takeoff roll. A friend who flew AF CDG - JFK sat in the back on the upper deck and told me there's no sensation of movement during takeoff and rotation.

@ Cy -- The only way to hold is to call, and indeed Singapore Airlines' hold times are outrageously long at the moment, for whatever reason.

Ben, superb review. I hardly wait to try double bed option with in November, when we are flying to New York from Germany.
But I have on remark. It is regarding the wine. It does not bother me that ordered red with the fish. Selected wine is definitely a good choice. To choose wine according to price? Come on Ben, you do not order wine by price. I usually order wine that I like not by price tag. A bit shallow way of choosing wine.

@ MyWay -- Thanks for the kind words! I hear you re: the feedback about not ordering based on what's most expensive. However, I wasn't specifically familiar with any of the red wines, and my logic was that if I want to try new wines, I might as well try the ones that I'd be least likely to purchase otherwise.

In other words, if I could sample a $200 wine or a $20 wine, I should try the former, since I'd be less likely to buy that in the future at a restaurant or supermarket.

I by no means think that expensive equals good, but rather just that trying something you'd be less likely to otherwise pay for makes the most sense.

Agree with most of the sentiments and thank you for the report.
A few comments:
1. No airline will ever offer everything an av geek seeks (and radical acceptance of this will require long term, expensive therapy, which probably won't work anyway!!) because perfect will never exist on any airline and we are all obsessives who place a huge emphasis on control and perfectionism
2. The SQ food product is unlikely to rival F on long haul JAL (and possibly ANA), including the inclusion of Salon and Cristal on many flights and they do use instant noodles in F as part of their snacks menu.
Despite my reservations regarding the harsh kitsch faux wood/gold styling on Emirates (compare this to the minimalist new A380 F on ANA) their wine list is unrivalled in terms of ageing, on-board nose/palate and decanted carafe style service
3. The SQ "Private Room" was deeply flawed in design with 2 rooms with harsh overhead lighting promoted as relaxing rooms (interesting to see whether the new lounge probably opening in June, is any better)
4. The discrepancy between the woeful 777-300ER product and the A380 new suites (often with the same price!) raises ethical and fairness issues, which I accept are not relevant or important to everyone
5. Having said all this I flew in 1A and 2A with my teenage son from Syd-Lhr a few years ago and although I had to breathe deeply as he expressed his views (I blame iPhones!!) about this, the photos of the father son trip and the genuine warmth the crew demonstrated, will stay with me forever.

Thanks for the replies. Years ago with CX doing the HKG-YVR-JFK route, they would make you wait in a holding pen. It was eventually relaxed I think in 2018-19 until they eventually dropped the YVR-JFK leg. I thought a similar setup would be in place. And glad to hear you're doing well Ben, I've been trying to email you for years!

My husband and I don’t drink, and usually that’s not a problem on Qatar as there are very nice alcohol free drinks - would you know what’s available on SIA?

Really? Dozens of Book the Cook options? Maybe for some routes but according to SQ's website, there are 6-7 options, whether you are flying out of JFK or FRA (and TBH maybe only one of them sound appealing to me). Heck, their website lists the exact same choices for BTC if you were flying either J or F out of JFK or FRA.

I've got a flight on them later this year (same route in F) and if they only have these options I'll probably skip BTC. There were even more options when I flew SQ out of IAH 4 years ago in J... COVID cutbacks or just a yet-to-be-updated website?

Thanks for the thoughtful review. My partner and I were fortunate enough to snag two suite award seats in the opposite direction (JFK-FRA) on April 7th as the beginning of our first Europe trip since the pandemic. Our first time with Singapore and our first time on an A380. Every part of the experience was special and the staff made us feel so welcome. Looking at possibly booking this again between FRA-SIN next year as part of an Asia trip we’ve been trying to do since before the pandemic. Hopeful it will work out this time!

Passengers traveling in Suites were invited to take a seat in a roped off area so that they could board first. Sure enough, boarding started exactly as scheduled.

The roped area on the left on the counter is for passengers needing special services ( wheel chairs etc ) there is NO area for Suite passengers at all . Suite boarding is on the right totally the opposite site and the boarding process looks like more like a start of a marathon all mixed Suite Business PPS , star alliance gold if you re not fast enough to get there first you ll have to wait in line

Thanks. I flew these suites SYD - SIN IN 2019 RTW2.0. Very nice. For RTW2022 3.0 I fly these suites SYD - SIN - FRA - JFK FOR ABOUT 290,000 Krisflyer miles. I get to SYD via Qantas A380 First from LAX

Its a ridiculously large space, and not as private as most pics would suggest. The seats angle towards the door for meals because the tray comes out from the adjacent side table, and because the crew are coming & going with dishes etc, the suites doors stay open and you look almost directly at your neighbour across the aisle.

Of course Etihad did this separate seat/bed thing a few years ago with their Apartment, but almost any SQ crew in my experience will do a better job than EY at its best.

A problem for all airlines with F is that demand for seats is likely to be fierce in the near future and SQ have gone from a very comfy downstairs 12-seat F cabin to this fantastic but somewhat un-ergonomic 6 pack upstairs. So less revenue..

About to try the Emirates A380 F product Oz to LHR - 14 of us in the apparently same space as SQ have 6.

Some question about whether the EK onboard showers are open..

@Ben Fwiw, just did this flight (Suites FRA to JFK) and they directed me to the Air Canada Mapleleaf lounge. It was even printed on my boarding pass. The check in person said I could go to the Lufthansa one but mentioned Mapleleaf first.

It was perfectly acceptable and I got to see my plane taxi by while waiting.

Just did the supper service Suites SIN to SYD. Agree cabin is lovely but at 4/6 passengers shocked at how inept crew are with unbelievable noise from galley, stomping back and forth around cabin all night, service incorrectly explained or not explained at all, wrong items brought, unable to deliver breakfast properly, cabin way too hot and bed too hard. Really hard to believe this was Singapore service and not sure I can pass most off as COVID effects. Will not revisit!

I think that's a very sensible approach and FTR, that was a rather hearty fish dish; I see no issue with the pairing!

Simply put, Singapore Airlines is like the Tom Brady, the Peyton Manning, the Michael Phelps, or maybe even the Porsche 911 of commercial aviation. The #1. Then and now. The one that everyone else strives to be like. You can almost always count on them to deliver because they’re just that good at it. Yet even that is an understatement. Of course, no airline is really perfect, and I’m pretty sure they also have had their fair share of bad apples and not so great experiences for some passengers. But Singapore Airlines is just perfect as far as I am concerned. Every single step of the way. From their onboard product in all cabins, to their food, to their entertainment, to their crew, to their service, to their onboard music, to their safety video, to their hub at Changi airport, to their interior design, to their iconic and timeless yet pretty simple livery and branding, to their iconic and timeless FA uniforms, to their route network, to their highly organized and consistent fleet strategy, to how they are run as a company, even to how they run their LCC Scoot. Look at how well they have done their 737 fleet too. And when you think beyond aviation, Singapore, their home, is a wonderful, world-renown destination in and of itself, both for business and for tourism. A beautiful city-state where various Southeast Asian cultures, East Asian cultures, South Asian cultures, and Western ideals all converge and mingle. It feels a lot like the ultimate Asian city. (All that is really missing is the deep history that of course only places like Beijing, Rome, and Athens can really offer.) It’s true that Emirates and Qatar score just as high or higher on airline ranking systems and are arguably just as iconic around the world, but to me, not even they manage to do the whole package of factors I mentioned above so well. (Compare the economy cabins on SQ’s 777s with EK’s and QR’s, for example. And how many people go to Doha for business or vacation?) Other airlines people mentioned that could compare like JAL, ANA, EVA Air, and Cathay Pacific are great in and of themselves, but I do notice flaws in each of them that I just don’t notice on SQ. And one thing that makes me respect SQ more is how in spite of all this, they’re relatively humble, unlike say Qatar, Emirates, Etihad, or even Turkish Airlines. They don’t stick their names on football jerseys, stadiums, and billboards or overly advertise and brag to the public about how great they are. Their slogan, “A great way to fly”, may sound lame to some, but when you think about it, it’s straightforward, and represents exactly who they are and what they strive to be. Their greatness isn’t just limited to today. You go back to when people raved about their Megatop 747s and the Super Nintendo games on their old seat-back entertainment systems, a first at the time. When you or anyone else reviews or discusses any airline, I notice that besides maybe Emirates (mainly due to their A380s), SQ is the benchmark that they use. That says something. Then and now, they are the gold standard of commercial aviation and arguably travel in general.

I expected nothing less when I saw the title of this review. Singapore Airlines not only delivered, but today they reminded me about exactly who they are. I can’t wait to fly them, visit Changi, and visit Singapore for the first time sometime in the future.

I am typing this comment from the suites cabin of FRA-JFK SQ A380. Me and my wife finally made it on this bucket list award flight. We booked this flight last year and Singapore airlines kept calling me several times over the last few weeks to downgrade my suites booking to business class by saying that they switched the aircraft and they have less space. I kept on insisting that I want to stay in suites cabin and finally blocked their number. We got the double bed suites and the experience is amazing and better than Emirates suites.

Seems like flying with a loved one completely elevated the experience you had when you flew solo. 🙂

I was actually in a similar solo flight SQ222 flying from SYD to SIN just last week (and also in 2A). This was my first time on SQ's new suites and I was glad they sorted out the kinks like awkwardly facing a stranger during meals (reported by a few reviewers like yourself) by simply almost closing the door.

I think the only part about the old suites that was better was the ability to dine opposite a travel companion in the same suite. Otherwise, everything else was superior, especially the generous amount of personal space available and the wireless entertainment controls.

Several winemakers and sommeliers advise mixing Doritos and Champagne; this is not a joke. Of course, you could use different chips or popcorn to achieve a similar flavour combination. sgpmenu

Do any Airline for Singapore offer their local restaurant menus? Like if i want to add aapon restaurant menu can they arrange for me?