380Flyer

As the headline suggest, interesting article from well respected Runway Girl Network relating to Singapore Airlines outdated regional business class and disappointment service.

I for one as SQ PPS Club Solitaire member for the past 18 years have seen SQ service decline and I don't think they are No.1 anymore. The Travelling public has spoken with their outdated seats on A330 that SQ uses on 6 hours medium haul flight and the service across the board disappoints.

https://www.runwaygirlnetwork.com/20...ce-disappoint/

gilbertaue

Even for a short-haul SIN-CGK I'd rather fly GA than SQ now - regardless of J or Y.

380Flyer

I have to agree with gilbertaue that I would also rather fly with Garuda at a fraction of the price of what SQ is charging on SIN-CGK.

SQ's service on this sector has a lot to be desired and them charging twice to theee times what Garuda is charging is ridiculous. There isn't anything special with SQ flights these days. All I can see is cost cutting left, right and centre.

As a PPS Club Solitaire member, I am very disappointed with SQ these days! I've started flying on Qatar Airways to Europe rather tha SQ as QR provides better service and pricing and I love the DOH transit along the way.

sqyf

I read the review of the trip in the link the OP attached. Reading the service descriptions rather than the sentiments of the writer, I would be hard pressed to figure out exactly why the writer felt so disappointed.

Negatives:
- When called, the contact center gave an incorrect timing for check-in open by 30 minutes.
- The shared lounges in Fukuoka Airport were not top notch.
- Meal service on the flight took a little longer than expected.
- The red wines did not appeal to the writer.
- Zodiac Regional J seat was not state of the art.
- Krisflyer screen mounted a little too far away.

Positives:
- On time departure and arrival (I would assume so, otherwise I suspect the writer would have mentioned it, given the hair trigger criticism of everything else)
- Good boarding experience
- Decent champagne (Is there such a thing as lousy champagne? )
- Good catering: satay, starter and main all tasty
- A properly cooked steak (Any airline that can do this deserves a medal!)
- Nice selection of fruits
- A slanted lie-flat seat, while not ideal, is better than short-haul 737/A320 J or even CX new regional J
- Decent cabin service, perhaps even friendly
- Huge Krisworld program selection. Not sure why the writer says the selection is limited because the Krisworld on the A330 is pretty extensive (Compared to refitted 772/773's etc) and similar to what you get on Krisworld on the A380 and 77W.

In short, I strongly suspect if I were on that flight, I would have come off it a happy customer!

Maybe it is just a matter of expectations. The first time I flew SQ F in the nose of a 744, the flight was fabulous, but at the back of my mind I was maybe slightly disappointed that the whole flight did not take place in soft focus and wines did not pour out of the bottles into the glasses in slow motion like the TV ads...

I do agree, though, that the current SQ regional J seat is average, and subjectively I do seem to encounter superlative cabin crew on a less regular basis (Although still more regularly than other airlines). I also do think SQ is pricing themselves a little too high on many sectors.

gilbertaue

380Flyer, you're based in London, you should ONLY be flying GA F (a la SFO777)

380Flyer

I fly Cathay Pacific First Class from London to East Asia often and if I am in Singapore and need to go down to Jakarta, then I usually take Garuda now.

From Singapore, I also take Qatar Airways back to London depending on my schedule requirement. Otherwise, it's Cathay Pacific via Hong Kong.

demue

Personally I don't have any issue with the regional J seat on the A330 for routes under 6hrs as actually the lounge position is much better on that seat. However, those KIX, NGO, FUK, ICN ones I would like the fully flat ones, especially when overnight as sleeping is better (though angled unless bulkhead).Same goes to HND or NRT if they use 777s with the regional J. YMMV.

SQ319

Agree with this totally. If it's an overnight flight, I definitely would want to have a fully flat bed.

SQ325

Thanks sqyf for the good summary.

Other than the complaint about the hardware I see nothing really substantial (that the lounge is underwhelming is a known fact on outpost particulars if there are limited international flights and not necessarily SQ fault).

While I agree that a fullflat with aisle access is the definitely the better seat, we should be fair and keep in mind that most asian airlines currently can't offer a full flat product consistently over their fleet.
And, SQs fleet is currently in a transition and the A350 will take over more and more regional flights. The A330 is on the way out, no matter what.

TravelwhileyouEat

I wish they would do something about the B777-200s they use on regional routes, the J seats on those are ancient in terms of airlines of SQ's caliber. The service is spectacular but the seat is narrow at only 20" vs. the 24" on the A330.

demue

I forgot about this part. The SQ A330 regional J seat comes from Weber and not Zodiac, which in fairness the original author does state correctly.(http://www.aircraftinteriorsinternat...p?NewsID=11012)

ranad

Bulkhead seats distance vis a vis the screen on the A330 is poor. Perhaps can change to an armchair based screen if possible? Have expressly stopped booking the bulkhead seats in J as a result of this. Overnighters are tiresome on this seat especially given flying time on A330 rarely exceeds 5.5 hours. Day or evening flights though are just fine to Japan / Korea.
I suspect a few flyers may be disappointed if not prepared in advance for the equipment , since a few flights on the same routes are on 773 or 380

mapleg

I wonder why anyone would show up 3 hours early for a business class flight out of Japan, regardless of airline.