We’ve always had mixed feelings about the Airbus A380 across all the airlines we’ve flown. When we first flew on the A380 in economy, it was a revelation. The seats were bigger, more comfortable and it was one of the few economy experiences that didn’t feel like you were being crushed into a tiny space alongside hundreds of others.
However, flying the A380 in business class was the complete opposite for us. Most airlines have chosen to use the entire upper deck for business and first class, which meant a lot more seats in each cabin which gives a very different feel to business class on other planes. It was still better than economy of course, but it was a lot worse than any other business class experience we’ve had.
Having had a great experience on the Singapore Airlines A350 from Mumbai to Singapore, we were optimistic about the second leg being even better. Sadly, that wasn’t the case.
Here’s our review of the Singapore Airlines A380 Business Class experience, and what you need to know before you book. Please bear in mind when reading this review that it’s an expensive flight, so we are going to be brutally honest.
Our route and ticket price
The route
Our flight was from Singapore to Sydney, the second leg of our journey from Mumbai to Australia. The flight was a night flight, and was scheduled to leave at 00:45 from Singapore and arrive in Sydney at 11:50am, a flight time of just over eight hours.
We picked this time as we thought that it would help combat the jet lag, with a night flight to rest up on before arriving and trying to stay awake until the evening.
The price of the ticket
We paid for our tickets in full, so you can rest assured that this is an unbiased review. However, the A380 flight was the second flight of two from Mumbai to Sydney, so we can’t tell you the value of the Singapore to Sydney leg in isolation.
The price of the ticket for the flight from Mumbai to Sydney was $1,750 USD per person, which was significantly cheaper than other 5 star airlines in the region, but more than the likes of Air India etc.
After searching on various comparison websites, we found that the average price for a Singapore to Sydney business class ticket with Singapore Airlines is a whopping $2,280 USD per person - over $500 USD more for this leg alone than we paid in total to go from Mumbai to Sydney.
What’s included in the ticket
The first thing to note about Singapore Airlines is that they currently don’t add on sneaky charges like some other carriers do. We were shocked to see that Qatar Airways had joined British Airways in charging for seat selection in business class (sometimes charging over $100 per seat!). This is something you can accept on a Ryanair flight when you’re paying $100 for the flight and $10 for the seat, but for business class…
Anyway, Singapore Airlines are pretty generous with their inclusions as the ticket includes seat selection, two pieces of checked baggage that weigh up to 40kg combined, two cabin bags of up to 7kg each, onboard wifi for the entire journey and a lounge pass.
All luggage is also designated as priority, so it’s first on the belt in Sydney.
Our experience flying business class on the A380 with Singapore Airlines
Cabin layout & space
The A380 has a 1-2-1 business class configuration which is a market leading layout. This ensured that all seats had a lot of space, and you really do notice the difference when compared to some airlines that offer a 2-2-2 layout, or even a 2-4-2 layout. Like the A350, the seats are designed for privacy with screens that block out the majority of the rest of the cabin. In isolation, it all seemed pretty good.
However, the problems come with the scale of Singapore Airlines’ business class on the A380, as each plane has a whopping 82-86 business class seats! That’s double the number on the A350 and when you step on board, you really feel it.
Firstly, the cabins feel more crowded, with 40 seats in a single cabin. This may be different in the smaller sections towards the back of the deck, but our cabin was huge. You can see on the seat map below the configuration for just one part of the business class cabin on the A380.
You will naturally hear a lot more noise - especially snoring - and the cabin crew on our flight really struggled to service this many people. This was one of the problems with the Singapore Airlines A380 business class, but not the biggest for us.
If you are a couple travelling, then I’d recommend booking the centre seats. On the A380, all of the centre seats have the option of dropping the privacy screen to make it into a double cabin.
The seat
For us, this was the biggest problem with the Singapore Airlines A380 business class, and it was a big surprise as many people were heralding this as a market leading seat. At first glance, it’s a great seat. Just like the A350, the seat has a screen for privacy, lots of room, storage, charging points and everything you’d want from a business class seat.
It’s styled very nicely and when upright, the seat is actually good. Granted, it’s a relatively hard seat, but when you’re upright and watching a movie or enjoying the food, then it was fine. For a day flight, the seat wouldn’t be too bad.
The major problem comes when the seat is fully reclined. Firstly, the firm seat becomes really hard when it’s put into the lie flat mode. The tiny cushion sleeve that you are given (no, not a mattress pad) doesn’t do anything to combat that you’re laying on a really hard bed. It’s not just a hard seat, but hard lining too.
This wouldn’t be great, but to make matters worse the orientation of the seat is also poor. Like the A350, the seat reclines into a footwell under the seat in front. But for some reason the footwell is on the bottom left corner of the seat in front when you are sitting on the right, meaning you have to lie at a diagonal angle.
This in itself wouldn’t be a major issue, apart from the fact you have to contort yourself around the storage space to get your feet in the footwell. For anyone who sleeps on their back, or wants to change the side they sleep on, your sleep will likely be fleeting. It is without a shadow of a doubt the most uncomfortable business class seat we’ve ever had.
Add in the noise of many more people in the cabin and the night flight was not particularly enjoyable.
Food, drink & service
This may have just been our flight, but the traditionally high quality food and service that you normally associate with Singapore Airlines seemed to disappear. Firstly, there was only one meal service on the flight, which was a pretty small breakfast served two hours before landing. This was a surprise for an eight hour flight, especially as many people had been transiting from other flights (which also served just a single meal).
The menu was unusual as well, giving the option of an egg omlette with sausage and sweet potato, seabass, dim sum, or beef rendang for breakfast!
As I was hungry upon boarding at midnight, I requested to have the rendang as a dinner, assuming it would be served about 1.30am. Unfortunately, the flight was delayed by over an hour and by the time we took off, I was told that my order had already been cooked and would be served at 2.30am and couldn’t be cancelled... Not ideal, but fine, there was nothing the crew could do.
That’s until I was served seabass and was told by the crew it was what I ordered. So all in all that wasn’t great, especially as the seabass wasn’t very good. Things became worse when I asked if I could have breakfast in thremorning as I didn’t particularly enjoy my incorrect and very late dinner, but was told that I couldn’t as I was only allowed a single meal on the flight.
Cat had the omlette breakfast and said it was pretty poor. A lot of airlines really struggle with breakfasts, but this one didn’t seem much better than economy food on a decent airline.
Generally, the service wasn’t great, which was really surprising for Singapore Airlines. The crew weren’t very friendly or attentive and seemed to struggle to cope with the amount of people on the plane. To get anything you had to wave someone down and then wait for a quite a while for something to happen. That was on top of being served the wrong food and being told we could only have one meal throughout the whole flight.
I hope this was an unusual experience, but the service and food on this flight seemed to be the complete opposite of the flight we had taken on our first leg.
Despite this, the alcohol and drinks menu was still good, serving a great variety of wines from Australia and New Zealand (my favourites) as well as cocktails, spirits and Italian style coffee.
The amenity kit
The amenity kits (on request) are also a bit sparse, containing only lip balm, hand cream and a facial mist spray. Unfortunately there were no eye masks in the amenity kits on this flight. We usually don’t need them, but for some reason the A380 business class had some orange mood lighting that stayed on for the entire flight, illuminating the entire cabin.
Add in the copious amount of snoring, the very uncomfortable seat and the general din from the cabin and it made for a pretty sleepless night.
Wi-Fi
Onto the positive stuff. Unlimited Wi-Fi is free of charge for all business class passengers. The onboard Wi-Fi is surprisingly fast, allowing you not just to browse websites, but also watch videos online while you fly. At 9mbps, it was actually faster than the hotels we stayed at in Mumbai.
The Wi-Fi was operational for the entirety of the flight and worked perfectly the whole way through.
In-flight entertainment
There isn’t much to say about in-flight entertainment nowadays as I find that the majority of airlines do a good job. The IFE on Singapore Airlines had a lot of movie choices, both Hollywood and other languages, as well as documentaries and TV series. It isn’t so important on a night flight like this, but on a day flight it really helps.
The screen on our flight was of good quality and a decent size. The noise-cancelling headphones they supply are also good, so you won’t have to struggle to make out the dialogue as you do with some headphones that airlines supply.
The lounge
We were directed to the lounge in Terminal 3, as this was where our next flight was departing from.
Our lounge was very good and has just about everything you could ask for. The food choices are the highlight, as not only do you have a pretty big selection, there are also options such as create your own pasta or noodle dish, which is then cooked to order.
There’s also food for whatever time zone your body is on; with breakfast, lunch and dinner options throughout the day. There are a lot of drinks options including champagne and stations set up to mix your own cocktails.
The seats are comfortable and large, with plenty of wireless charging, as well as plugs to charge your devices. The internet was also good.
There are showers in the lounge, but you need to book a time slot as they can get busy. We had to wait 45 minutes for our slots, which isn’t too bad if you have a long layover, but book quickly if it’s a short transit.
The only issue with the lounge is that it can get very busy and despite it being big, at certain points the seats filled up quickly. We never managed to snag one of the sofas, but the arm chairs were still good.
On an entertaining note, in true east Asian style, the toilet seats at the lounge are heated, which we definitely weren’t expecting!
The overall experience
Positives
Spacious seat and cabin layout
Decent for a day flight
Good in-flight entertainment and Wi-FI
Lounge is very good
Negatives
Very uncomfortable lie-flat bed without a mattress pad
Only 1 meal
Poor quality food and a strange menu
Light, noisy and crowded cabin
Meagre amenity kit with no eye mask
Very expensive if you fly from Singapore to Sydney
Is it worth it?
Based on our experience, I really don’t think flying on a Singapore Airlines A380 Business Class flight is worth it, especially if it’s a night flight. The biggest problem was the sleep set up, with the seat being incredibly uncomfortable and the cabin being surprisingly light and noisy. To our surprise, the service and food was disappointing as well, but even if this had been good, I still wouldn’t recommend it.
I would say that a day flight on the A380 may be better, however it’s hard to justify the $2,280 USD pricetag for what’s on offer. We’ve previously flown one way on business class from Sydney to London (a 22 hour flight) with Emirates, Qatar and Cathay Pacific for a similar price tag, all were a lot more comfortable and a much better experience overall.
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