Premium airline products have gotten complicated with all the “best business class” rankings and sponsored travel content flying around. As someone who’s studied airline premium products and talked to people who actually fly Singapore First Class regularly, I’ve learned everything there is to know about what the experience is actually like — not the brochure version. Today, I’ll share it all with you.
Singapore Airlines First Class on the A380 is the kind of product that aviation reviewers run out of superlatives for, so they start inventing new ones. Let me try to cut through the hyperbole and tell you what flying in Singapore’s A380 First Class is actually like, what’s genuinely extraordinary, and where the reality falls slightly short of the marketing.
The Suite: What You Actually Get
The current Singapore Airlines First Class suite — the product introduced in 2017 and continued on the carrier’s A380 fleet — is a private cabin within the aircraft. The word “suite” gets applied liberally in airline marketing, but Singapore’s product is the genuine article: a sliding door, full enclosure (the first carrier to offer this on an aircraft), and a separate full-length bed that is separate from the seat rather than a seat that converts to a flat surface.
Probably should have led with the bed distinction, honestly — it’s where Singapore differs most from the competition. The bed can be made up with a proper mattress pad, duvet, and pillows by the cabin crew. The mattress is not a pad placed over a seat cushion — it’s an actual mattress that fits the flat surface of the suite. The difference between this and a flat-bed seat is noticeable if you’ve slept in both.
The suite also provides: a separate 32-inch touchscreen entertainment system (one of the largest in the sky), noise-cancelling headphones, a Givenchy amenity kit, pajamas on overnight flights, and personal storage space sufficient to store a carry-on bag without it cluttering the main living area. That’s what makes the Singapore suite endearing to us who study premium products — every detail was clearly thought through by someone who actually imagined using it.
The Food: More Than Expected
Singapore Airlines’ “Book the Cook” service allows passengers to pre-order from an extended menu 24 hours before departure. The standard First Class menu already represents restaurant-quality execution at altitude, but the Book the Cook selections are a step above: Singapore chili crab, Peking duck, beef tenderloin preparations that would be credible at a mid-range restaurant on the ground. At 35,000 feet, where taste perception is dulled by low humidity and reduced pressure, this is a meaningful achievement in airline catering.
The wine service includes access to wine and spirits lists that in some cases include bottles not offered on the standard catering list. The champagne — Krug Grande Cuvée is a consistent feature — is served correctly, meaning chilled appropriately and in proper stemware. I’m apparently one of the few people who finds the wine temperature management more impressive than the champagne brand selection.
The Service: What Makes It Different
The ratio of crew to passengers in Singapore Airlines First Class creates a service environment different from anything you experience in economy or even most business class products. On a typical A380 First Class configuration, you might have six passengers served by two dedicated First Class cabin crew members. The crew knows your name before they meet you, has been briefed on any preferences flagged in your customer profile.
The result is service that feels genuinely attentive rather than performed. Singapore Airlines selects and trains cabin crew carefully, and the First Class product represents those crew members who have demonstrated the judgment and composure that genuinely premium service requires. You are not interacting with someone doing a job — you’re being looked after by someone who is good at their work and takes it seriously.
Where It Falls Short
No airline product is perfect, and Singapore’s First Class has genuine limitations. The A380 aircraft itself is aging — Singapore operates an older fleet, and the cabin fittings reflect years of service use even when maintained well. Some suites show wear that the photography in travel press does not. The entertainment system, though large, runs software less responsive than current streaming services passengers are accustomed to at home.
More significantly: Singapore Airlines’ First Class product is only as good as the route and timing allows. A short intra-Asian First Class flight doesn’t provide time to use the suite to its potential. The product’s full value emerges on overnight routes of ten or more hours, where the ability to sleep fully and arrive rested justifies the price premium.
The Price Reality
Singapore Airlines First Class costs, at retail, somewhere between $10,000 and $18,000 one-way for long-haul routes. Redemption via KrisFlyer miles offers better value — the product is available for award bookings, and the miles required represent a meaningful discount from cash pricing. Travelers who accumulate credit card rewards and focus on high-value redemptions consistently target Singapore First Class as one of the strongest value opportunities in the premium cabin market.
Frustrated by the gap between the marketing and the reality on most premium airline products, finding one where the execution mostly lives up to the promise is rarer than it should be. Singapore comes closer than almost anyone else. The fact that this level of product is available on a scheduled airline — that this is what commercial aviation can offer — is itself remarkable.
