FlyerTalk Forums - Trip report ... *A to SIN

I'm hoping it will help inform all those people who say "that's the last time blah blah blah" when they are thinking of moving alliances.

Context.... I always wanted to try a proper F trip and, thanks to FT, in 2023 for booking into 2024 was a LH 'special fare' and we booked HEL-SIN via FRA return for £2700 each. The long-haul flights were on SQs A380 First and with two of us, we got the 'double bed suite' for what seems a very low price. Rather than doing a positioning affair, we decided to make a weekend in HEL beforehand so managed to get LHR-HEL both ways on an A350. So this was designed to be flight (if not the trip) of a lifetime.

And, it was. The SQ F experience was so far ahead of BA, it is really hard to make comparisons but let's have a go.. in a highly subjective listing that *might* or might not reflect the FT readership

1. Champagne: three ~£150 to choose from whilst in the air (note the Krug ran out, with lots of apologies); and yes proper wines alongside. A small but good collection.
2. Group 0 boarding: no... it was more like Group -1. On leaving FRA someone was at the gate with a sign with our name ... to let us board immediately, On the return, we dawdled in the lounge (see next point) so arrived when Group 5 was boarding. Met at the security and escorted through a new door so we didn't have to join the line or be seen to push in.
3. CCR vs The Private Room (TPR). Aside from the fact that there were about 6 people in TPR in a space the size of the CCR (not inc the terrace), the food was outstanding; proper restaurant stuff
4. TFW vs the First entrance. Again, this was no comparison. Departing from the First entrance is like arriving at VS upper, the taxi drops you at the door and then.... porters take your luggage, the attendants your passport, and then you are taken to a private emigration area (no other passengers at all). You then have to self direct 20m across the main terminal up one escalator to the SQ lounge area. Your gold edged ticket (hand written) is spotted by the lounge attendants and you are in shown to TPR. I don't know the opposite of a lounge dragon, but this was it.
5. Food on board was excellent. Satay, caviar, starter, main, dessert, cheese, coffee etc etc. One example was that one course was way way too salty. They took it away and promised us something else... there was no way that we were going to be left having a dinner we didn't like.
6. Service. I love the BA flight attendants - they all do so much, despite the failings of the organisation they work for. But crikey, anyone who works in the F cabin needs to go on a flight with SIN. The service approach is so superior, even with the suites and their doors.
6a. Personal touch,,, we were always called by name, boards to meet us at FRA for our connection and, on the return, a personal escort from the arrival gate to the departure lounge. Despite the vastness of FRA there was no getting lost here (and indeed, our attendant opened a few lines for us).
7. Hard product... well, three TVs an armchair and a separate bed in an A380 (upper deck). Six suites in total in, I would guess, a space just slightly smaller than the BA A380 F cabin. I could complain that 1A's seat alignment and the window wasn't great or that you couldn't do buddy dining or that it wasn't a true double bed but crikey that really would be super critical.

So that was the main feature. I think I will struggle to pay for BA F now; genuinely thinking that the J experience is good enough.

But wrapped around this was some LH experience, which, not to repeat many of the threads are summarised by the sum of the parts being better than BA. Not least was the LH SEN lounge (equivalent to Galleries First) being so so much nicer in ambience. The food (which we didn't need) wasn't the same as the all-singing-BA-buffet but better for it. The only downsides were the LH contract lounge in HEL (a PP lounge) and then on return not being able to use the SEN lounge (and ending up in the business lounge) because annoyingly I didn't have my Amex Plat. Seems very odd that on an F+J ticket you get the worst option.

I've actually done quite a lot of *A flying in 2024 and am one flight return away from SEN achievement and I wouldn't hesitate to pick *A again; many aspects of our travels have been so much better than OW experiences (side bar .. two MH economy flights were like a LCC) but I think that at a personal level, the relative ease of achieving status on BA will mean I'll stick with them. But it's certainly closer than I thought it would be.