Review: Singapore Airlines First Class 777 Moscow To Houston

I'm most jealous of the bottle of cologne in the amenity kit! I finished off my normal size bottle today and would love that travel size bottle! I have my travel size Aqua di Gio from Qatar Air business class and love it!

Sad this route is going away. Although, SIN-DME will continue and will even get an A350 next year.

What is the aircraft in the 3rd of the plane pics? 3 engines in the style of 727 or Tristar ( but isn't either). A Russian plane?
That SQ product has not changed in at least 7 years, maybe longer. When it was first introduced people (half) complained about the seat being too wide and that they felt they were sliding around in it: that bolster thing appeared a bit later, IIRC.
I don't like being the only passenger in a cabin: had it 3 or 4 times in SQ F on award tickets ( usually Christmas Day, New Years Eve).

I have this flight booked for December and was so excited to read your trip report. Thanks for sharing!

@RCB
Could that Qatar bottle get any smaller? But nice. When SQ first introduced business class they offered 30ml bottles of Nina Ricci as part of the amenity: now it's some fly spray junk in the lavatory only.

Flew ICN-SFO last month in first, and we had the F cabin to ourselves (small 4 seat cabin). We had both satay & caviar. When we asked to do a tasting of Dom & Krug we were told the tasting was exclusive to Suites. They only catered 1 entrée of each menu item and 2 starters each. They dropped a salad so we had draw straws for the remaining one. There is a steady decline in the food quantity & quality with SQ.

@ SonomaWine -- Ouch! Wait, they told you that you couldn't try Dom and Krug? Did they not cater both of them, or they just didn't want to open both bottles?

@Paolo, it is definitely small, I wish it was closer to the allowable carryon size so it was a better travel cologne. I also wish it was a spray bottle instead of splash on as I hate putting any cologne on my hands since I wear contacts and don't want to risk getting anything in my eyes. All of this is definitely a #firstworldproblem though.

"the warm pear and almost tart."

Good review. Those flat (and ONLY flat) beds are terrible. Much like what VA has in UC.

@SonomaWine - wow that sounds like bad luck. I've flown SQ F/R a few times and they go out of their way to do anything you ask. They were more than happy to open 3 bottles of red for us to taste a bit of each even though we were the only pax drinking on the flight (they actually suggested it when we weren't sure what wine to have with our meal).

@Paolo - the aircraft is a Tupolev Tu-154. It's a copycat of the B-727. Aeroflot retired their fleet on TU-154's at the end of 2009.

@ Lucky —
Why no "book the cook"?

— JRL

What? No Caviar? That's outrageous.
Really don't understand why they put Krug and Dom together? Why not a Dom Rose as an alternative? Or a krug Rose? A lot of people like Rose Champagne.

So am I correct in assuming that if I were going to Moscow and only going to travel on SQ oneway you would suggest taking the IAH-DME flight vs the return...???

@ SEM -- Hmmm, not sure it's that much better out of Houston. I might do the flight from Moscow to Houston in first since it's a daytime flight so you can enjoy it more.

Lucky, were you able to get a sense of how full business and economy classes were?

Thanks for the reply...I just read the comment about book the cook [forgot about that] so yes, the daytime flight home to enjoy it more and fingers crossed for better food quality w/ BTC out of DME...

Book the cook is only for flights departing Singapore, Ive not seen it elsewhere. And as with everything in Singapore and on Singapore airlines you must understand Singapore is cheap.. the airline is cheap they want stuff that last longer and moving parts on a bed is not gonna last they dont want to spend money maintaining it... if you have to suffer for it too bad.. LOL if you closely examine how the function as I have u will see that is the case with everything.

I wish they weren't discontinuing it, I would love to go to Moscow, it just isn't in the cards for a couple of years. I prefer Krug too - I was surprised. 🙂 The Ferragamo lotion in the lavs is the same the Waldorf Astoria Park City has and I don't love it - the scent is fine, but I don't feel it actually moisturizes.

@SonomaWine What was the small 4 seat first cabin like? New seats?

Further to the comment re: the TU-154, it is easy to tell versus the 727 and Tri-star as the wings are inverted as our most Russian built planes. The wing tip is actually lower than where it connects to the body whereas on Boeing and Airbus planes, the wings rise to the tips. Interestingly the inverted wing has been shown to be less stable in the air.

Do they really "smirk" when they offer your choice of champagne? I would find that totally rude and obnoxious. I can understanding smiling, but not smirking.

Some of that food looks really good, especially the desserts!

Thanks for sharing!

Why are the FAs smug about the fact they have two kinds of expensive champagne? Is it that impressive? Couldn't anyone do the same with. Money??? Do they pull a rabbit out of a hat and make the rabbit serve it out of its mouth? Then I would smirk.

Also. What's cheaper to procure? Satay or caviar? Was this the worlds best satay?

Glad you had a great F flight on SQ. Your description of the trip was almost like being there too. How'd you like IAH Terminal D / E customs & immigration? I can't wait for SQ to start IAH MAN SIN.

Book the cook is not only for flights out of SIN. We used BTC for LAX-NRT, and NRT-SIN. We are still raving about the "Pan-seared pheasant with stuffed blini and vegetables" on LAX-NRT, and that was a year and a half ago. 😉

The "Lobster Thermidor with buttered asparagus, slow-roasted vine-ripened tomato, and saffron rice" on that flight, despite our trepidation about ordering lobster on an airplane, was a close runner up.

The "Veal loin stuffed with leek and taleggio cheese in a white wine and porcini mushroom sauce with fettuccine" on NRT-SIN was good, but didn't come close to the other two.

For me the really funny part was telling my wife about the trips reports on SQ Suites, and having her say "oh, come on, it's airplane food". Then watching her face as she tasted that wonderful Thermidor. 🙂

Google 'Book The Cook Singapore Airlines', and you will find the SQ page that lists not only departure points, but also menus for FC, J and PE from each location. FC and J have 20 departure airports with BTC, but notably Moscow is not one of them. PE only has 17, but presume that's just because not all of the departure airports have flights that feature PE.

I'm sure the "typical proud smirk" is simply imagined in lucky's alcohol-addled head. He always says this in every one of his SQ first class reviews. I think it's extremely unlikely that cabin crew with the training SQ typically provides would actually "smirk" at a passenger. Being offered Dom and Krug probably feeds lucky's ego more than anything else.

Thanks for this awesome write up Lucky. I will be taking this flight at the end of August after spending 3 weeks traveling around Europe. I just got my passport back from DC with my Russian Visa in it. I am not surprised about the food as I have heard that Moscow catering is not that great. I am just looking forward to experiencing the great Singapore Airlines first class service and product for such a great mileage redemption.

We have also flown the old first class on the 777, how does one know which planes have the 'new' first class? Thanks for the report, great writing as usual!

I am definitely going to try to buy the Hello Kitty next time I'm on Singapore Airlines.

Love the photo of the champagne tasting! haha

@Lucky I believe they had Krug on board. The two flight attendants were superb, so can't really figure out what was going on. What was really evident was how they scaled back the catering knowing the load was just 2. I have flown SQ F about 15 times now, and was really disappointed in the quality and lack of quantity in the catering!

@JK It was the old seats. I really liked the cabin layout, but it was a bit creepy the FA could walk behind the two middle seats. However, I am one of the odd ones that prefers the 777 over the 380 suites.

I flew FC on Aeroflot (OMG) as the sole flyer Moscow-Tokyo in the 70s. Unforgettable--and not in a good way. The beef was shoe leather, the rest room had a folding door, wine was dreadful, NO champagne or caviar but excellent vodka. By the way, the seats did not even recline. The only saving grace, if there was one, was that I did not for it. (at that time you flew Aeroflot out of Russia or you didn't leave)

You should watch '10 Cloverfield Lane'. It's a great thriller.

@Blake If you have this flight booked in December you are going to run into the same problem that I am having. Namely the flight is cancelled because they are eliminating the route after October. I am working with SQ and having a hard time getting them to cooporate and reschedule my wife and I for a first class flight from the States to Moscow. Is anyone else having any luck dealing with the same issue?

I sort of feel the transaero 767 looks more like a 777.......

I thought you were doing Aeroflot on your return?!

I once flew on an Emirates A380 out of Sydney to Dubai on Christmas Eve with only three of us in FC, all operational upgrades from J. All was great until they brought around J class menus in F class wallets. So no caviar etc. I queried that and after some discussion the F menus suddenly appeared instead. We all got our caviar but interestingly enough much of the rest of the menu was the same between F & J. So was the menu thing a genuine mistake or a try on as we were all upgraded, I've always wondered and I'll never forget it.

Does anyone know if satay or caviar is served from SIN-Frankfurt-JFK? It seems like neither is served based on the trip reports I've seen?

@Louis Chiu "Why not a Dom Rose as an alternative? Or a krug Rose?" Can't say for the Dom Rose, but Krug Rose is notably more expensive than Krug Brut, so that's why.

Choice of Krug and Dom Pérignon, that's a treat!
There are noticeable differences of quality of proposed Champagne, wines and spirits between companies in first class. I think the quality of the selection (or the lack thereof) ought to be noted in the reports ; some companies propose great Champagne, wines and spirits (Hennessy Paradis comes to mind, at around $1000 a bottle, no wonder it has been discontinued!), others serve good ones, but what I would call "business class wines."

when are you posting the fiji airways review?

@Paolo - it is a TU-154 (NATO code name "Careless"). It is similar to the 727 and Tri-star in look due to the period and technical know-how that existed at the time. Some believe that it was copied based on the 727, but the actual design of the aircraft beyond the surface was already placed in the RFQ by the Soviet Air Force in the early 60s and differed significantly than that of the 727. One notable feature about this plane: cruise speed of 610 mph. Faster than any commercial aircraft at the time and today (with the Concorde obsolete).

Hi there

how come that's only 59k KF Miles per pax only for this deal? mind to elaborate some?

As a Singaporean, satay is readily available everywhere, while you need to go to slightly finer restaurants to experience caviar. So if there were Singaporean passengers simply stopping at Moscow, the caviar would appeal more to them. Likewise for satay departing Moscow, I'm assuming this is slightly more exotic to the non-Singaporeans?

Pertaining to your Hello Kitty toy, you can visit krisshop.com and place advance order the next time you fly SQ.