Singapore Airlines Business Class : SQ825 Shanghai to Singapore

In recent years Singapore Airlines has introduced a regional business class pod style angled lie flat seat. It debuted on the airlines new fleet of Airbus A330-300 aircraft and since then many Boeing 777-200 aircraft have been refitted with the new seat. They are used on the longer regional routes (4-6 hours) out of Singapore to places like China, Korea and India. I recently  had the opportunity to try the product out of Shanghai on a red eye flight to Singapore. 

So, after arriving from Seoul I cleared immigration as a transit without visa passenger and headed back upstairs to the check-in hall for flight SQ825 to Singapore.

Shanghai Pudong Check-in Hall

Singapore Airlines Check-in

I proceeded to the business class check-in. It was pretty quiet as you can see in the pic. Business class was less than half full on this evenings midnight service to Singapore. Check-in was quick and bags were tagged with priority tags and I was on my way through  passport control once again. My total time land-side in China approximately 15 minutes!

Once through passport control it was onward to the Shanghai Airlines lounge which I had been given an invitation to during check-in. This was formerly a Star Alliance lounge but Shanghai Airlines recently defected to Skyteam to match up with it's parent company China Eastern. In the absence of any other Star lounge Singapore Airlines still uses this lounge as it's contract lounge in Shanghai. I wanted a shower so was handed a key to one of the shower rooms as I arrived.

The Shower Room at the Shanghai Airlines lounge

The room was nothing fancy but perfectly adequate and I emerged feeling fresh and ready for my flight. Food selection in the lounge was average, so I just had a coke and waited for the flight.

The Airport

Which VIP lounge to visit?

My bird for tonight - as seen from the lounge

9V-SQM is our aircraft tonight

It was already  past midnight and time to board the Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-200 Refurb for the flight to Singapore. This particular 777 was delivered new to Singapore in July 2004 making her 8.5 years old at the time of this flight.

Boarding was via door 1 and door 2, with door 1 being business class only. With only about a dozen or so business passengers boarding was quick. It was mid December so you will notice some Christmas decorations in the cabin which is something Singapore Airlines do every year.

Business Class Cabin

Business Class Cabin

The seats look really nice and are done in leather in a pod style. Perfect when traveling in pairs they are nice and wide and offer an angled lie flat bed for sleeping. This would be needed as I had a full day ahead in Singapore and I wanted to arrive as fresh as possible. As is to be expected on Singapore Airlines the excellent Krisworld entertainment system was available with thousands of entertainment
 options and quite large screens to watch.

Seated in Business

Big screen inflight entertainment and storage facilities

Soon enough a flight attendant came around with an offer of pre departure drinks, I  took a glass of the Henriot champagne.

Seat controls are under the armrest

Wine List

Supper Menu

Leg Room

Merry Christmas!

Pudong At night

We were soon on our way and climbing into the night sky, within a few minutes an after takeoff drink was offered. The orders had been taken on the ground so that the supper service could commence immediately to maximise sleep time.

Singapore Slings

Once the pre dinner drinks were completed supper service commenced with a starter of scallops. The presentation was lovely and taste fantastic. Bread was offered immediately and as usual I took some garlic bread.

Scallops

The mains were then offered....

The beef option

The lamb option

After the main course, cheese and fruits were on offer. I got a selection of cheese and crackers along with some strawberries and grapes.

Cheese and Fruit

During dinner my traveling companion started feeling sick with headache and also just generally feeling quite unwell. He felt sick enough to not eat his main course and the crew were incredibly good when we told them. They immediately cleared his meal tray and brought back a lovely bowl of soup as a lighter option. They also offered some painkillers which he accepted to try and get rid of the headache. They continued to check on him throughout the flight and they seemed genuinely caring and thoughtful. I was very  impressed! Fortunately after the pain killers and getting some sleep he felt much better.

The rest of the flight was in total darkness as we all slept through the night (only about  3 or 3.5 hours by the time supper was over). I found the bed perfectly comfortable and it seemed more flat than other angled  lie flats I've tried on Thai and Asiana. I managed a decent sleep anyway. Although amenity kits were not on offer you could still get eye-shades and socks and there was plenty of bathroom amenities in the lavatories.

We landed in Singapore in darkness before 6am and it was time to go find some breakfast before heading out to the city and Universal Studios! The entire flight was perfect in every way, the service is just that little bit more polished than you get on Thai Airways, and the food was significantly better than Thai and much more nicely presented.