Review: Singapore Airlines First Class Lounge Singapore Airport (SIN)

During my long journey to Abu Dhabi, I had the chance to check out some of Singapore Airlines’ lounges at its Changi Airport hub. In the past couple of years, Singapore Airlines has completely redesigned its lounges in Terminal 3.

In this installment I wanted to review the Singapore Airlines First Class Lounge. Despite its name, this isn’t actually the carrier’s “real” first class lounge. I’ve reviewed Singapore Airlines’ The Private Room, which is the lounge actually intended for Singapore Airlines’ most premium passengers. For what it’s worth, I’ve also reviewed the Singapore Airlines Business Class Lounge.

So, how is the Singapore Airlines First Class Lounge? Well, it’s hard to say, because what are we really comparing it to? This lounge is primarily intended for select elite members and first class passengers on partner airlines, so it’s a lounge that’s hard to benchmark.

The lounge does have an impressive buffet, nap rooms, and nice bathrooms and shower suites, but otherwise don’t get too excited about this lounge.

Singapore Airlines First Class Lounge Singapore location

Singapore Airlines’ most impressive lounges at Changi Airport are in Terminal 3, with The Private Room, the First Class Lounge, and the Business Class Lounge, sharing one entrance. Singapore Airlines’ lounges are located in the center of the terminal, closest to the A gates. When you’re in the central shopping area, you’ll see an escalator leading up a level to the lounges.

The easiest way to identify the location of the lounges is by the art glass installation, featuring Singapore Airlines’ batik motif. This includes 105 handcrafted art glass pieces, and measures 12 meters wide and 3.8 meters tall, so it’s hard to miss.

You’ll then find yourself in the lounge’s central reception area. The entrance to the Business Class Lounge is to the right, while the entrance to the First Class Lounge is to the left.

Singapore Airlines First Class Lounge Singapore hours

The Singapore Airlines First Class Lounge is open 24/7, so it never closes. This is the same policy you’ll find in the Singapore Airlines Business Class Lounge, while The Private Room closes for three hours each day, from 2:30AM until 5:30AM.

You can expect the First Class Lounge to be busiest in the early mornings and late at night, while it’s a bit quieter midday and after the midnight bank of flights.

Singapore Airlines First Class Lounge Singapore entry requirements

The Singapore Airlines First Class Lounge is a Star Alliance first class lounge, so it can be accessed by the following passengers:

• Anyone traveling in Star Alliance first class (like on Lufthansa or SWISS) can access this lounge and bring a guest
• Singapore Airlines PPS Club Solitaire members can access the lounge and bring a guest

Singapore Airlines Suites Class and first class passengers can of course also use this lounge, though The Private Room is much better, and is also open to those passengers. The two reasons you may want to use this lounge if you’re in Suites Class or first class is because you’re there between 2:30AM and 5:30AM (when The Private Room is closed), or because you want to take a guest (which isn’t allowed in The Private Room).

Singapore Airlines First Class Lounge Singapore layout & seating

The Singapore Airlines First Class Lounge is 1,100 square meters (nearly 12,000 square feet), with seating for 130 guests. The first thing that you’ll probably notice about this lounge is that it has no natural light or windows. While the Business Class Lounge looks out over the apron and The Private Room looks out over the terminal, the First Class Lounge looks at… nothing.

Just inside the entrance to the lounge is the attention-grabbing curved bar, which has some beautiful finishes. There are some high-top seats at the bar, a communal table next to the bar, and chairs arranged in rows across from the bar.

When you go deeper into the lounge, you’ll find the main dining area, which features dining tables and booths, seating anywhere from two to four people each.

Next to the dining area is the buffet, which has an open kitchen concept, as well as the self-serve drink stations.

Along the wall in this area are some of those semi-private seats that I always immediately associate with Singapore Airlines, as the airline has this kind of seating in its lounges across the globe.

Then in the very back of the lounge is the last main area, which has more of a traditional lounge layout, with rows of seats facing one another.

In the back of the lounge there’s a soundproof booth for phone calls.

There’s also a room for kids, with a television playing programming for young guests.

Singapore Airlines First Class Lounge Singapore food & drinks

While The Private Room has an entirely a la carte dining selection, the Singapore Airlines First Class Lounge primarily has a buffet, with a “chef station” concept, where you can order certain dishes directly from a chef. While not as impressive as The Private Room, the food quality is still excellent.

The main buffet contained everything from dim sum, to a variety of soup, to several Asian and Western dishes, ranging from vegetable biryani, to steamed vegetables.

There’s also a chef station, with eight dishes you can order freshly made. During my visit, options included the signature laksa, fried hokkien prawn mee on opeh leaf, Indian flatbread with fish or chicken curry, Iberia pork burger, chicken satay, fried carrot cake, wagyu sliders, spaghetti aglio olio, muah chee, and truffle mushroom pizza.

Next to the main buffet is an area with all kinds of beverages and other light snacks. This area has a selection of self-serve wine, liquor, beer, soda, water, coffee, tea, juice, and more.

There’s also a small area with some fresh fruit cups, finger sandwiches, and small sweet treats. Some of these things almost look like they’re packaged as a grab & go concept so that you can take it with you, though I’m not sure that’s actually the intent.

Here’s something that confuses the heck out of me, and seems so unnecessarily rigid. While the lounge has a beautiful bar, it has very limited hours:

• You can have a barista coffee, but only from 6AM until 10AM
• You can have cocktails made by a bartender, but only from 5:30PM until 1AM

I truly find this so puzzling for an international airport. So if you want a decent coffee at 10:30AM, too bad? And if you want a cocktail made by a bartender at 4PM while traveling from Sydney to London via Singapore, tough luck? I just don’t get it, since these lounges are incredibly well staffed. This just seems so bizarrely prescriptive to me. Anyway, I’ll get off my soapbox now…

Singapore Airlines First Class Lounge Singapore bathrooms & showers

The Singapore Airlines First Class Lounge has bathrooms and showers in the very back of the lounge.

Much like in The Private Room, the bathrooms are elegant and spotless, and the men’s room has sinks, urinals, and stalls, along with all kinds of toiletry products. There are also special sinks and toilets for children.

The lounge also has six shower suites, available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Each shower suite features a sink, a toilet, and a walk-in shower, and the ventilation in the rooms is pretty good.

The one thing that seemed very off-brand for Singapore Airlines was that the shower suites didn’t have branded toiletries. For an airline with such attention to detail, that kind of surprised me.

Singapore Airlines First Class Lounge Singapore nap rooms

The Singapore Airlines First Class Lounge has four nap rooms, much like The Private Room.

Each of the nap rooms features a very comfortable twin bed, and also has a desk. Unlike in The Private Room, though, the rooms don’t all have reclining chairs, so there’s a maximum of one person per room.

The nap rooms are available for a period of two hours. However, if there’s no one waiting to use one of the rooms, then you can extend your time in the nap room.

Note that the nap rooms have exactly the same quirks as the nap rooms in The Private Room:

• The door of each nap room has a window, so there’s no privacy in the bedroom and anyone can look in
• The lights in each nap room just turn on randomly at certain intervals, and this seems to be an ongoing issue
• The nap rooms don’t become fully dark, but rather there’s a bright panel of lighting along the ceiling and wall

This is still a nice amenity, but don’t expect that you’ll be able to get interrupted sleep for a long period of time.

Bottom line

The Singapore Airlines First Class Lounge can be confusing, since it’s not actually the carrier’s top lounge (which is The Private Room). Instead, the lounge is for Singapore Airlines’ top tier elite flyers, as well as first class passengers on Star Alliance airlines.

With that in mind, the lounge is more or less what you’d expect — it’s more premium than the Business Class Lounge, but not as premium as The Private Room. On the plus side, the lounge has a solid selection of food, nice shower suites, and nap rooms. However, the lounge lacks natural light, and aside from the nap room, doesn’t really have any standout features that make it all that special.

Even if you have access to the First Class Lounge, you may enjoy wandering over to the Business Class Lounge if you’re visiting during the day and want some natural light.

What’s your take on the Singapore Airlines First Class Lounge?