Singapore Airlines B787-10 Business Class BKK-SIN
This would be my third attempt to fly Singapore Airlines new 787-10. I had ticketed reservations last summer from Tokyo to Singapore and earlier this year from Singapore to Osaka. Both cancelled or changed. Spoiler alert: fantastic aircraft, unforced error by SQ for avgeeks who love the 787 windows.
Arriving on CX751 in Bangkok I exited immigration to get some fresh air as I had a decent layover. But most importantly now was the critical moment when my Swiss First Class redemption is validated. Would I get a boarding pass?
Yes!
Suvarnabhumi Airport is a bit of a mess when it comes to security so it took quite awhile to back inside. Since my last flight out of BKK on Singapore they have opened a new Krisflyer lounge. The prior one was very small. The new one is just small. And it was crowed today.
Yet it is a very functional lounge with a center bar where special drinks along with special coffees and teas are served.
There is also a common dining table along the back wall where the washrooms are located.
Of course I had to have a refreshing coconut water.
Plenty of food was available, this is just one photo. All in all, while still small, this is a nice lounge. Very comfortable seats with power plugs, good food and drink options along with the bar for sitting to eat or drink.
Before long it was time to board so I headed down to the gate. I was dark and raining so I had no opportunity to get a photo of the brand new 787-10. Boarding commenced shortly.
My seat 12K. We will come back to this photo in a bit. Maybe you can figure out the “unforced error” I mentioned.
The overall space of the pod is maybe a little below average.
Aisle seats are exposed, at a minimum your arms and legs are susceptible to bumps from aisle movement.
Center seats have a privacy divider but probably don’t need it because of the wrap around pod design.
Privacy is pretty good with this configuration.
The footwell however is good size and duals as a storage area that is also plenty big.
More than enough room for your feet. Yet I didn’t recline the seat to a bed so I can’t say how well you might fit when trying to sleep. The most important take away is this is the only J class seat in Singapore’s fleet that you don’t sleep on an angle.
Row 11, seats A and K have a bassinet table.
Although these seats have the appearance of having a narrower footwell.
No air vents on this 787-10 aircraft.
Boeing standard lavatory with a nice feature of a step lever to open lid on the trash receptacle.
Smartly designed storage compartment complete with a supplied bottle of water. NFC ready along with 2 USB charging ports and standard power.
Seat controls. Initially mine didn’t work, they had to reset them. Teething pains on a new aircraft.
Seatguru has the seat width at 30 inches which is obviously a mistake. It’s more like 20-21 inches with the ability to add a couple more inches by lowering the armrest.
The wrap around part of the pod has light controls imbedded in the side, which to me defeats the purpose. Why have a padded wrap around which presumably is used to rest your head and then place a piece of metal in the center?
The opposite side has a headphone hook.
While the monitor is small, it is crisp and frankly sized properly for the seat. Plus you can easily use touch to control.
Your tray slides out from below the monitor and folds out.
On the back of the pod facing you is a coat hook and placard holder.
Now to the unforced error as I call it. One of the nicest features on a 787 aircraft is viewing out the oversized windows which uniquely have a multiple dimming feature. Not on Singapore’s 787. ALL true window seats have the pod shell blocking your view. You can only lean forward and look out the window as shown below. From my experience you really can’t see much out of this window except for blue sky (or darkness). Also note, row 16 doesn’t have a window at all. For people who really want to gaze out the window, the aisle side seats have a better view.
Service was extremely slow on this flight. Bangkok to Singapore is a 2 hour flight. On the climb out we encountered typical summer thunderstorms delaying the crew to begin service by 10-15 minutes. After that they were very slow. I think I was served my meal around a 75 to 90 minutes into the flight. In fact I was finished just about the time we began the decent into Singapore.
The crew did not serve a pre-meal drink. I was able to get a glass of wine when the meal was served. There were plenty of crew to serve the 36 passengers in business class. My guess is they were unfamiliar with the galley as it could have been their first flight on the 787-10 as well. But Singapore has been flying this plane for almost a year. Whatever the reason, they were slow.
Small single tray meal with a coffee cup and coffee was never offered. And the “wide” selection of bread rolls and gourmet breads with equal portions of sauce and protein.
This so called “crepe” was more like a tortilla.
The rest of the meal was edible.
Except this dessert is one of the few failure desserts I’ve had on a plane.
Carrier: Singapore Airlines
Date: July, 2019
Route: Bangkok - Singapore
Flight #: 983
Aircraft: Boeing 787-10 9V-SCK
Configuration: C36 / Y3011
Seat(s): 12K
On Time: Yes
Reward Flying Rating: 6.8 out of 10 ✈
Cabin: ✔︎ Singapore chose the new Stella Aerospace Solstys III seat for their regional Boeing 787-10 aircraft. The pod is (mostly) well thought out as it’s comfortable, private and has storage space. Those are the positives. The negative, as I’ve rambled on about, is the wrap around shell blocking the window. I also felt it was smaller than United’s Polaris seat in their 787-10.
Cabin/Seats Rating: 7.5 out of 10 ✈
Food/Amenities: ✔︎The food was average for a two hour Asian flight. And much better than you’d find on a two hour US domestic flight.
Amenity/Food rating: 5 out of 10 ✈
IFE: ✔︎ Nice touch screen monitor with decent content. You can use the SQ app to control the monitor if you download and connect on the aircraft, which I did not.
IFE rating: 7.5 out of 10 ✈
Flight Attendants: ✔︎This Singapore crew was friendly but slow. I’ve been on Asian flights that have a 1 hour flight time (HKG-TPE for example) where a full meal is served with time to spare. If this flight were an hour nothing would have been served.
Flight Attendant rating: 4 out of 10 ✈
Aircraft: ✔︎Boeing 787-10. This aircraft was Singapore’s 2nd to last delivery, about 6 weeks old. Gotta love new aircraft smell!
Aircraft rating: 10 out of 10 ✈
