Business Class on Singapore Airlines During a Pandemic

Last Updated on April 7, 2024 by Adam Watts

Hi friends! We made it safe and sound to Singapore. Below is our experience flying business class on Singapore Airlines during this pandemic.

We’re now stuck in quarantine in a hotel room in the middle of Singapore, where we’ll be for 14 days.

Now, as if this is a movie, let’s rewind back to the start of our journey to see how we got here.

In the beginning, mommy and daddy loved each other very much and nine months later I was born. Okay, sorry, too far back.

We left our NYC apartment on Friday evening and checked into a hotel near JFK airport, where our temperature was taken and we signed forms to confirm that, no, to the best of our knowledge, we didn’t have Covid-19.

We ordered Applebee’s because in the six and ten years respectively we’d each spent in the US neither of us had had that particular brand of mediocre restaurant food. (And spoiler alert, it was impressively mediocre.)

Next morning we checked out and took an Uber to JFK, for our flight to LAX, our first time in an airport since the start of the pandemic. We were expecting more temperature checks, more health check-ins, more concern for the safety of us and all others.

As it turns out, none of the above happened. Masks were required everywhere and Delta spaced out seating on the flight (which was otherwise full) but even arriving in California where the Covid situation is most definitely not under control, there wasn’t a single temperature check or anything at all. We landed and disembarked and everyone immediately abandoned all attempts at social distancing.

In LA, we hung out with close friends for 36 hours before heading back to LAX for our mammoth 17-hour flight to Singapore. We were flying business class and while normally that would mean nice lounge access, in pandemic times all lounges are closed.

On the flight was another matter though. I was flying business class for the first time ever and business class on Singapore Airlines is classy.

For anyone familiar with Ryanair or easyJet, budget airlines in Europe, think of an experience as opposite to that as possible. The only similarities are that you’re in a vehicle in the sky and that with Ryanair you will most likely get to the destination you’re expecting (although not always).

Let’s start with the seating. Or in the case of Singapore Airlines business class, it’s more accurately bedding. As described on their website, it’s “handcrafted from Scottish leather and diamond-stitched, our 28-inch seat transforms into a 78-inch bed.”

If that sounds comfortable, you’re goddamn right it was. And if I’m honest it’s probably the worst part about this business class experience. It was a 16-hour flight and I slept more than half of that. If I slept that long in economy I’d be ecstatic, but in this case whenever I’m sleeping I’m wasting the opportunity to drink champagne or get a selection of teas to drink out of ceramic cups or watch movies on the biggest seat-back screen I’ve ever seen on an airplane before.

But I’m being silly. I slept 9 hours, completely flat, more sound asleep than I thought was possible for being 38,000 feet in the air and traveling 500 mph. It really is a middle finger to Mother Nature.

Because of Covid-19, the service was different than normal in business class. More sealed food rather than fresh and no pajamas and slippers and things I didn’t even know existed. The flight attendants were super apologetic about the above but insisted I call them if I needed anything.

In terms of food, eating with metal cutlery off actual plates really felt like luxury. I guess they trust that people in business class aren’t going to stab each other with actual sharp knives whereas the less said about what happens in economy the better.

On arrival in Singapore, like every time I’ve ever visited, everyone was super courteous, civilized, friendly, and a reminder of everything that LAX was not.

There were multiple temperature checks, then yellow stickers for us to signal that we were going to a special quarantine place, and before we knew it we were on a bus with half a dozen other quarantiners going to JEN Hotel. No fuss, no confusion, nothing but comfortable.

And now we’re here. At time of writing it’s day three of 14. We’re not allowed to leave the room at all. We’re only allowed to open the door to pick up 3 meals a day left in plastic bags on a chair outside our door, and again to put back an empty plastic bag of trash.

But come back soon to read all about our experience in quarantine in detail. I have literally nothing better to do than write blog posts for the next 11 days.

Update: read about our experience in quarantine here.