I love trying new airlines hard products. When Singapore Airlines launched its new cabin products for the 737-8 or MAX 8 in November 2021, I immediately set out to plan a trip to try the new business class. While narrowbody business class products are nothing fancy, SIA appeared to have a done solid job of introducing a product that should provide an excellent customer experience regardless of whether it’s a short 45min hops to Kuala Lumpur or 6h treks to Cairns. I was determined to road test the new seats, and was able to to do that on a flight up to Phuket in end-Mar 2022.
Did this seat live up to expectations? Read on to find out.
Planning and Booking
I started looking at possible destinations back in mid-Dec 2021. Back then, the number of MAX destinations was still fairly limited as SIA worked on the cabin refits. From the possible destinations, Phuket stood out as the most feasible destination, although the short flight time meant I wouldn’t get to fully test out the next seat.
I had initially planned to do it in mid-February and was able to secure a Business Saver redemption for 21,500 Krisflyer miles + SGD54.90 in taxes. However, this trip got pushed back when the opportunity to hit several “travel goals” came up in February (I promise I’ll get round to the reviews for that round-the-world trip!) I was able to find Business Saver in mid-March, but alas I had to reschedule yet again due to a bout of Covid-19 picked up during my RTW trip in Feb. As Thailand still required pre-departure and arrival PCR testing when I travelled in March, I elected to push back this trip by a few weeks to minimise the risk of returning a positive results on either of those PCR tests. SIA has continued to waive change fees up to 31 July 2022, so I was able to make the multiple changes without penalty, and very fortunate to find Business Saver availability on my travel dates.
I didn’t have much interest in hanging around Phuket though, so I opted to make it a quick 1-night stop, before flying on to Bangkok and return from there instead. Thus my full itinerary ended up looking like this:
- SIN-HKT SQ Business Class
- HKT-BKK Thai Smile Plus
- BKK-SIN SQ Economy
The Seat
I’ll just straight into the review of the seat here and won’t talk about the lounge or departure procedures. On the 737-8, SIA has chosen the Thompson Aero Vantage. This is a pretty widely-used seat (Aer Lingus, Malaysia Airlines, Jetblue original Mint, and a few others). I had tried this model of seat when flying Jetblue Mint back in 2019, so the base seat is something I’m familiar with. SIA has of course customised some aspects of the seat to create a visual that’s consistent with the brand and look of the latest seats on the widebodies. The result is clean and somewhat serious-looking design, brightened up with a few splashes of orange.
Since I was travelling alone, I opted for one of the ‘throne’ seats in row 12J on the right side of the aircraft, specifically 12J The 737-8 is configured 2-2 in rows 11 and 14, and 1-1 in row 12. SIA currently does not charge extra nor reserve the throne seats for PPS Club members. The ‘throne’ seats are great for solo travellers since you don’t have to worry about stepping over your neighbour or having them step over you. There’s also a little more privacy from anyone in the aisle with the tray table and storage compartment between you and the aisle. Plus of course you’re still pretty near the window. The throne seats have also a huge amount of storage and flat space to place stuff mid-flight:
One downside some people may find about the throne seats is the relatively narrow footwell. This is due to the fact that’s basically a tunnel with the centre console of the seats in front. I don’t personally have a problem with the size of the footwell, but I can see why some people may have problems with it. If you’re a side sleeper, it may also prove to be a greater inconvenience.
Another downside of the throne seat is the relatively narrow pathway for getting in and out of the seat. This is a similar issue with the true window and ‘honeymoon’ seats regional J seats on the 787 and A350, and could be an issue for a person of…size.
Besides the ample storage, the seat has all the usual touches expected of a modern seat, including 2 USB charging ports.
The touch seat controls are located just below the aisle-side shelf and pretty simple to use – 2 buttons to adjust the legrest and 2 buttons to adjust the recline. For the pair seats (rows 11 and 14), the controls are located below the shared centre console
The tray table is stored vertically at the side console (centre for paired seats). From my past Jetblue flight on these seats, I have not been a fan of the tray table mechanism. Releasing the tray table requires pressing a button on the exterior wall where it’s stored, which then pops out the tray table. The tray table then needs to be pushed down to the horizontal and unfolded to its full size.
The size is certainly large enough any laptop, though I can’t speak for the sturdiness as I didn’t do any heavy duty typing on it.
Of course, the main selling point of the seat is that it’s one of very few lie-flat products on a narrowbody. For SIA, this has finally enabled them to offer a consistent seat experience on all routes (or at least once all the 738NGs are gone). While the flight to Phuket was too short for me to test out how good it is for sleeping, I did of course put it into ‘bed mode’ to sample.
SIA claims the bed length is 193cm (76in), which should be sufficient for most. For taller passengers, the throne may not be the most suitable seat as the tighter fo otwell will restrict sleeping positions, especially if one prefers or need to curl up the knees when sleeping.
Overall in terms of the seat, I’d SIA has just about got it right by choosing the Thompson Vantage. It’s not the most cutting edge seat, and the lack of direct aisle access for all seats is a tad inconvenient. However, for some of the destinations served by the 737-8, this configuration could be more ideal because of pair seats that couples might prefer (e.g. Maldives, Phuket). While I would have loved to see SIA go something like the VantageSolo (also from Thompson Aero) instead, at the end of day for airlines it’s about economics – maximising floorspace and packing in as many seats as possible. I would also have preferred if SIA had installed a door for the thrones like Jetblue did, but that would have possibly made the throne seats superior to any other business class seat in the entire fleet.
If I’m travelling alone, I would have no issues taking this seat even on a 6h ride to Cairns, if I can get one of the row 12 thrones. For travelling with a partner, I might actually prefer this as it would allow us to have a window without being seated separately, something that’s not possible on the A350/787 regional J or the long-haul J. Lastly, a word of caution about row 11. I would avoid the row 11 if possible. The fuselage starts to curve in at row 11, no doubt narrowing the width of the seat or at least the footwell. I would stick to row 12 or 14 as far as possible.
Inflight Entertainment and Connectivity
With the 737-8, SIA has installed individual IFE screens for all seats, with the IFE system provided by Panasonic. . In terms of options, the system on the 737-8 is no different from any of the other Panasonic-equipped widebodies. Live TV is also available. Inflight Wi-Fi is available as well, also by Panasonic. As with the widebodies, business class passengers get 100MB of free allowance for the the whole flight.
Service and Meal
The 737-8 flights, I believe, are exclusively former SilkAir crew, and I have to say it shows. Well they have now all gone through the conversion programme, I would say the crew on my flight lacked a bit of finesse normally seen in SIA Business Class crew. Nonetheless, the crew were still very good. The Leading Stewardess took the time to chat with me during descent on my plans while in Thailand, and also discussed the various Covid measures the airline and Singapore had put in place.
Interestingly on all my SIA JCL flights since, I have not had the senior crew stop by to even introduce themselves. While this was not a practice pre-Covid for handling lowly KF Elite Gold like me, it did happen on all my flights during the VTL period. I guess with the pickup in passenger volume, it’s back to PPS-only.
For this short flight to Phuket, a light lunch was served on a single tray. The starter was a nicoise salad, while I opted for the Indonesian beef main dish. The salad was unremarkable, while the beef curry lacked sufficient punch and flavour. Dessert was sticky toffee cake that was a little too sweet for my liking, with no cream or ice cream to mellow it. Overall an average from SATS catering.
Overall Thoughts
With this new product, soon the days when it’s necessary to actively avoid the narrowbody on a route where SIA operates both narrow and widebodies, will be gone. I would be satisfied to fly this business class product anytime. Of course, the experience will also depend on what seat I could get, and travelling solo while stuck in row 11 or 14 would be slightly inconvenient.
Back in my old job, on a few occasions I had to take short 4h overnights back from India and China on the SilkAir 738s with recliners. They were torturous flights, and I remember wishing for a flat bed. This would have made those flights much more bearable.
In my opinion, SIA now has a narrowbody product that befits its brand and can provide a consistent experience across the network in terms of both hard and soft product. Now, if only they would hurry up and get rid of the 737-800NGs….
Anyone tried or trying the 737-8 Business Class soon? Let me know your thoughts on the seat in the omments!