Singapore Airlines has announced enhancements to its Premium Economy in-flight offerings, which took to the skies on 31 March. These enhancements include expanded and improved food & beverage offerings, and an amenity kit. The latter is a new addition to the overall Premium Economy soft product.
Let’s break down the various enhancements, and I’ll share my thoughts on them later in this post.
Enhanced Food & Beverage offerings
Singapore Airlines has made some significant changes here. In the past, Premium Economy meal service consisted of one additional choice, with the remainder being the same as Economy class. This is no longer the case with the revamp. Instead, Premium Economy will get a dedicated menu consisting of “premium main course options”, either international or Asian. Per SIA, new dish highlights include Beef Bourguignon served with bacon, mushrooms, vegetables, and potato gratin, Bak Chor Mee (minced pork noodles), and Thai-style Crab Curry served with a combination of jasmine rice and brown rice, and seasonal vegetables with egg. Apart from the standard route menu, Book the Cook options – at least out of Singapore – appear to have been revamped as well.
Meal presentation has been enhanced too, with Premium Economy meals now served in porcelain serviceware on a linen-lined tray. Some of the stronger Premium Economy products out there – such as Air New Zealand’s – were already serving meals in proper serviceware, so SIA is finally catching up in this respect.
In terms of beverage offerings, not much is changing here. Premium Economy will continue to get champagne – Charles de Cazanove Brut Tradition NV to be precise (3.5 on Vivino) – although it seems the wines have been improved. I rarely touch the wines, but I believe previously they were the same as Economy (the same beverage cart basically). At the very least, the specific wine label is now listed on the menu rather than generic “Red Wine” and “White Wine” as with Economy class.
New Amenity Kit
On flights blocked at seven hours or more, an amenity kit from Out of the Woods is available on request. SIA’s press release describes Out of the Woods is a “US-based manufacturer of eco-friendly and sustainable lifestyle products”. The kit will contain eyeshades and slippers made from recycled PET material, and lip balm packaged in biodegradable material. Like most businesses, SIA has leaned into the sustainability push in the last few years, so the focus on sustainability for the new amenity kit is no surprise.
My thoughts on the enhancements
I first got wind of the upcoming Premium Economy enhancements a few months back, and I’m pleased that most of my predictions came true, namely the amenity kit and porcelain serviceware. Singapore Airlines touts this as the first major revamp of the Premium Economy in-flight experience since its introduction in 2015. Given that almost a decade has passed, it was about the right time for some tweaks to the product offering.
In the past, the main differences between SIA’s Premium Economy and Economy were obviously the hard product, plus privileges such as dedicated check-in counter and priority baggage handling. In terms of in-flight F&B, the only key differences were an additional meal choice, and champagne. The meal options were typically the 2 Economy options, plus the additional Premium Economy-only choice. Of course, Book the Cook was available as well.
Given the minimal service difference, I’ve never really felt that Premium Economy represented great value. All the more so since I’ve held KrisFlyer Elite Gold since 2018, and all the on-ground benefits of Premium Economy – priority check-in, “priority” boarding and baggage tagging – already come with KFEG. There were instances where it did make sense to book Premium Economy, such as on the nonstops to the USA, and ex-Japan occasionally. In those cases however, it was because the price difference between Economy and Premium Economy was minimal, or for the nonstops because Premium Economy represented great miles-per-dollar earnings. (Assuming one can tolerate the 16-18h flight!)
The enhancements don’t really improve the value proposition in my opinion. The amenity kit is probably the item that I value most, but obviously not enough to pay over the top for. For me, Premium Economy still comes down to pricing. On most routes, SIA charges minimally a 50% premium for Premium Economy over Economy. It can even be double or more sometimes. That’s too much for me. The pricing then reaches the point where it might make more sense to shop around for a decent Business class fare instead. Pricing has always been a challenge for Premium Economy, and the economics of it are why some major airlines – even SIA – resisted or continue to resist introducing a Premium Economy cabin.
Overall, it’s great to see SIA make improvements to the Premium Economy product, but these won’t really factor much for me in the choice of cabin class for travel. I’ll probably have more of an opinion on these enhancements after I’ve had the opportunity to see them for real, which in a rather timely coincidence will be on the inaugural (resumption?) to Brussels.
Conclusion
Singapore Airlines is enhancing its Premium Economy onboard experience with improved food & beverage offerings served in porcelain serviceware and new amenity kits. This is the first major refresh of Premium Economy since its launch. It was about time SIA made some enhancements to a product that was basically just economy with a bigger seat and pitch, plus an extra meal option. I’m not sure the enhancements really move the needle much on the value proposition, but it’s good to see SIA recognise the need for some product enhancements. I’ll have the opportunity to sample the enhanced in-flight offerings on the Brussels inaugural end of this week, so I’ll be sure to report back on the experience.
Cover photo credit: Singapore Airlines