During a long trip to Abu Dhabi, I had the opportunity to check out a few Singapore Airlines lounges at their hub, Changi Airport. In recent years, Singapore Airlines has completely redesigned its Terminal 3 lounge.
This time I would like to review Singapore Airlines’ First Class Lounge. Despite its name, this is not actually the airline’s “real” first class lounge. I reviewed Singapore Airlines’ The Private Room. This is actually Singapore Airlines’ most premium passenger lounge. Just to be sure, I also reviewed Singapore Airlines’ business class lounge.
What is Singapore Airlines’ first class lounge like? Well, that’s hard to say. What are we actually comparing it to? This lounge is a difficult lounge to benchmark because it primarily caters to some elite members and first class passengers on partner airlines.
The lounge has an impressive buffet, a nap room, and a nice bathroom and shower suite, but other than that don’t get too excited about this lounge.
Singapore Airlines First Class Lounge Singapore Location
Singapore Airlines’ most impressive lounge at Changi Airport is located in Terminal 3, where The Private Room, First Class Lounge and Business Class Lounge share a single entrance. The Singapore Airlines lounge is located in the center of the terminal, closest to the A gates. When you are in the central shopping area, you will see an escalator that takes you up to the floor to the lounge.
The easiest way to locate the lounge is to look at Singapore Airlines’ batik-inspired art glass installation. It contains 105 pieces of handmade art glass and measures 12 meters wide by 3.8 meters high, so it’s hard to miss.
You will arrive at the lounge’s central reception area. The entrance to the Business Class Lounge is on the right and the entrance to the First Class Lounge is on the left.
Singapore Airlines First Class Lounge Singapore Opening Hours
Singapore Airlines’ First Class Lounge is open 24/7, so it’s never closed. This is the same policy as Singapore Airlines’ business class lounge, but the private rooms are closed for three hours from 2:30am to 5:30am each day.
First class lounges are expected to be busiest in the early morning and late evening hours, but are a little quieter after midday and late night flights.
Singapore Airlines First Class Lounge Singapore Entry Requirements
Singapore Airlines’ First Class Lounge is a Star Alliance First Class Lounge and is therefore available to the following passengers:
- Anyone traveling in Star Alliance first class (such as Lufthansa or SWISS) can access this lounge with a guest.
- Singapore Airlines PPS Club Solitaire members can bring guests into the lounge
Of course, Singapore Airlines suite and first class passengers also have access to this lounge, but the private rooms are much better and available to these passengers as well. Suite class or first class passengers use this lounge for two reasons. Either because you are staying between 2:30am and 5:30am (when The Private Room is closed) or because you want to use the Private Room. Guests (not allowed in private rooms).
Singapore Airlines First Class Lounge Singapore layout and seats
Singapore Airlines’ first class lounge is 1,100 square meters (approximately 12,000 square feet) and has 130 seats. The first thing you’ll notice about this lounge is the lack of natural light or windows. You can see the apron from the business class lounge and the terminal from your private room, but you can’t see anything from the first class lounge.
As you enter the lounge, a curved bar with beautiful finishes catches your eye. There are some high seats at the bar, a communal table next to the bar, and rows of chairs across from the bar.
Toward the back of the lounge is the main dining area, which includes a dining table and booths, each seating 2 to 4 people.
Next to the dining area is an open kitchen concept buffet and self-service drinks station.
There are some semi-private seats along the walls in this area, which I always immediately associate with Singapore Airlines. Because this airline has these kinds of seats in its lounges all over the world.
At the very back of the lounge is the final main area, with rows of seats facing each other in a traditional lounge layout.
There is also a soundproof booth for telephones at the back of the lounge.
There is also a children’s room, with TVs showing programs aimed at younger guests.
Singapore Airlines First Class Lounge Singapore Food and Drinks
While The Private Room offers a fully à la carte menu, Singapore Airlines’ First Class Lounge primarily serves buffets, with a “chef station” concept where guests can order specific dishes directly from the chef. can do. Although not as impressive as The Private Room, the quality of the food is still excellent.
The main buffet included everything from dim sum to various soups, Asian and Western dishes ranging from vegetable biryani to steamed vegetables.
There’s also a chef station where you can order eight freshly prepared dishes. During my visit, options included signature laksa, fried Hokkien prawn mee on opae leaves, Indian flatbread and fish or chicken curry, Iberian pork burger, chicken satay, fried carrot cake, Wagyu beef sliders, It included spaghetti aglio olio, muachi, truffle mushrooms and more. pizza.
Next to the main buffet is an area with all kinds of drinks and other snacks. This area has self-service wine, liqueurs, beer, soda, water, coffee, tea, juice, and more.
There’s also a small area with fresh fruit cups, finger sandwiches, and small sweet treats. Some of these look like they’re packaged as a grab-and-go concept to be portable, although I’m not sure if that’s actually the intention.
I can get very confused here and seem unnecessarily strict. The lounge has a beautiful bar, but opening hours are very limited.
- Barista coffee is available from 6am to 10am
- You can drink cocktails made by our bartenders from 5:30pm to 1am
I think this is really puzzling for an international airport. So what if you want a decent cup of coffee at 10:30am? And what if you want a bartender-made cocktail at 4pm while traveling from Sydney to London via Singapore? , are we lucky? I don’t know, because these lounges are incredibly well staffed. This seems very strangely prescriptive to me. Anyway, getting off my soapbox right now…
Singapore Airlines First Class Lounge Singapore Bathroom and Shower
Singapore Airlines’ first class lounge has toilets and showers located at the far end of the lounge.
As with The Private Room, the bathroom is elegant and clean, with the men’s toilet complete with a sink, urinal and stall, and a full range of toiletries. There is also a washbasin and toilet for children.
The lounge also has six shower suites, which are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Each shower suite is equipped with a sink, toilet, and walk-in shower, and ventilation inside the room is fairly good.
One thing that seemed very off-brand for Singapore Airlines was the lack of branded toiletries in the shower suite. I was a bit surprised for an airline that pays such attention to detail.
Singapore Airlines First Class Lounge Singapore Nap Room
Singapore Airlines’ First Class Lounge has four nap rooms, as well as The Private Room.
Each nap room is equipped with comfortable twin beds and a desk. However, unlike The Private Room, not all rooms have recliners, so there is a maximum of 1 person per room.
The nap room can be used for 2 hours. However, if there is no one waiting to use the nap room, it is possible to extend the usage time of the nap room.
Note that the nap room has exactly the same features as the nap room in The Private Room.
- Each nap room door has a window, so there is no privacy in the bedroom and anyone can peek in.
- The lights in each nap room just turn on randomly at regular intervals, and it seems to be an ongoing problem.
- Rather than being completely dark, the nap room is equipped with bright panel lighting along the ceiling and walls.
This is still a nice amenity, but don’t expect your sleep to be interrupted for long periods of time.
conclusion
Singapore Airlines’ First Class Lounge can be confusing because it’s not actually the airline’s top lounge (The Private Room). Instead, this lounge is for Singapore Airlines’ top class elite flyers and Star Alliance carriers’ first class passengers.
With that in mind, this lounge is more or less what you’d expect. It’s more upscale than a business class lounge, but not as upscale as a private room. On the plus side, the lounge has plenty of food, a nice shower suite, and a nap room. However, this lounge has no natural light and has no notable facilities other than a nap room.
Even if you have access to the First Class Lounge, if you’re visiting during the day and want some natural light, you might enjoy a trip to the Business Class Lounge.
What do you think about Singapore Airlines’ First Class Lounge?
