The new The Private Room finally brings the SIA ground experience on par with the best globally, and befitting of the onboard experience.
After a Covid-induced delay, Singapore Airlines finally opened new The Private Room (TPR) and First Class lounges at the end of May 2022. When the opening was announced, I figured I should find an opportunity to check out the new lounges at some point. When the Krisflyer devaluation was announced, I knew it had to be sooner rather than later. The opportunity arose when I had to visit some relatives in Jakarta in early August. With Jakarta being just about the only destination where First Class saver awards could be found, it was the only choice anyway.
With access to the TPR strictly limited to SIA Suites/First Class passengers, the TPR is supposed to be the pinnacle of the SIA lounge experience. Having used the old Private Room a couple of times and as recently as late-2019, it was obvious a big upgrade was needed. After spending a few hours in the new TPR, it’s clearly a huge step up from the old TPR. It wasn’t quite wow or world beating, but at long last SIA has finally (partially) addressed the Achilles’ heel that’s the ground experience in Changi Airport.
Read on to see what’s great, good and not so good about the new TPR!
Planning my Visit to the TPR
Once I decided on Jakarta, it was time to decide on the flights. At time of writing, SIA operates up to 3 flights per day on 777-300ER aircraft with First Class – SQ950, SQ964 and SQ968 These depart at 6.20am, 5.20pm and 9.55pm respectively. Of these 3, SQ950 and SQ964 are daily, while SQ968 is 3x weekly. SQ964 was the best option, allowing me to get in a decent amount in the TPR during the day, while not arriving in Jakarta too late.
Since June was a break from travel after a hectic May, and my travel plans for July were set in stone with a trip to Koh Samui, the earliest was August. Fortunately, I was able to find a First Saver redemption for 1st August, and reasonably priced one way tickets back to SIN for later in the week.
The Private Room: Location and Entry
With all the new lounges fully opened, the route to the new TPR is familiar. It’s a straight walk from the First Class check-in, through immigration and up the escalator.
As one goes up, off to the left is the now-famous Batik Wall. I get that SIA is really pushing the whole Batik motif as part of Brand 2.0 (or is it 1.5 or 3.0?), but honestly I’m not fan of the Batik splayed across the wall in such large fashion.
Once at the top of the escalator, I was greeted by more Batik. The new SKL entrance is much larger and brighter than the old lounges. This is a welcome change, as the entrance could get clogged up during peak hours in the past.
I was quickly approached by 2 staff members, one collected my TPR invitation card while the other scanned my boarding pass. The lady who collected the card then invited me to follow her to the TPR, down a corridor to the left of the entrance.
Just the walk to the new TPR feels better than before. Unlike the old TPR, the new entrance to the TPR is separate from the entry to the First Class (FCL) SKL. It felt more like I was entering a proper, separate lounge, rather than some secret backroom of the FCL SKL like before. This is feeling is enhanced by the fact that SIA has installed a lobby where you first enter the TPR.
The highlight of the entrance lobby is the light dome. According to SIA, this light dome comprises 107 crystal flowers and metal leaves. It’s designed by Lalique, which SIA also currently partners for its First Class amenity kits.
While more flashy folks may lament the more discreet entrance of the new TPR, thus depriving them of envious glances of Solitaire PPS not in First Class , I much prefer this arrangement. The parade through the old FCL SKL was unnecessary walking in my opinion. In many ways, the entry arrangement reminded me of the Hong Kong SKL, which has the First Class section at the end of the separate corridor and hidden behind a dark glass door.
What I do miss is the natural lighting and apron views. With the new TPR taking over part of the footprint of the old Business Class SKL, it’s now positioned on the “inner” side of the overall SKL footprint. Thus the only view is that of the transit area and shops below. While the lighting issue is mitigated by the brighter décor compared to the old style, nothing can replace bright, natural light. At least SIA have done a decent job ensuring adequate noise insulation from the noise of the hoi polloi below. I’d still much rather be able to hear the roar of GE90s or Trent XWBs starting up.
The Private Room: Seating
The main seating area fills up most of the space, which you have to pass through to get to the dining area. There’s a wide variety of seating options, and for all group sizes.
Starting with the central space, SIA describes this area as being inspired by “nature, oceans and greenery”. This area caters more to larger groups, though I’m sure no one will chase a solo traveller or a couple out. The space is partitioned, with each section typically catering for 4-6 travellers. The typical arrangement is a sofa and two armchairs surrounding a table, like a typical living room, plus a couple of other armchairs set slightly away.
Power points are a plenty here – the side tables beside the sofas each have a universal power outlet and a USB port. For the pairs of chairs, there are power outlets on the floor hidden under the carpet.
On the left side the TPR (as facing the dining room) and overlooking the transit area, the sections are designed more for solo travellers or small groups. The individual sections are separated by a bookshelf-like fixture. These are where the power outlets are located for this zone. In my opinion, this section may be preferred by travellers looking to stay productive, and are not in need of greater privacy.
An enclosed room separates this ‘window-side’ area from the dining room. This would be a more appropriate place for calls, I just hope passengers remember to use it.
Running along the opposite wall is a more private seating space for solo travellers and small groups. Unlike the side overlooking the transit area, this section is more distinctly separated into individual pods. The ‘pods’ have semi-wraparound walls to keep prying eyes mostly out. The walls aren’t that high though, so don’t expect total privacy.
The chair arrangements here vary between: 2 low chairs; or a low chair and a sofa. As expected, there’s plenty of power outlets here to keep travellers. There’s wireless charging on the tables as well.
While it’s possible to get work done here, I wouldn’t really recommend it in all honesty. Firstly, the tables appear smaller than on the left side of the TPR. I tried to work on my 15in laptop on this table and pretty much ran out of space on the table. Secondly, the ‘default’ position of the furniture makes it very uncomfortable to with a device on the table. I had to do some maneuvering of the not-exactly-light chair to get into a reasonable angle that wouldn’t kill my back and neck. If you’re looking to get some serious work done, I strongly recommend the ‘window-side’ of the TPR, despite the relative lack of privacy.
With a myriad of seating options, travellers should be spoilt for choice. SIA has clearly chosen to create 3 distinct zones with their design choice. Since I don’t actually find airport lounges conducive to work anyway, my personal preference of seating would the more private ‘booth’s by the wall. In particular I favour the configuration with the sofa. Plenty of space to throw my belongings about, and a choice between the sofa or chair depending on my mood.
The Private Room: Dining
Dining Area
One the biggest draws of the old TPR, and also it’s main advantage over the FCL SKL, is the sit-down restaurant (if you like to call it that). The new TPR continues that distinction, being the only lounge with a la carte dining. There’s no crowding around a buffet line or live cooking station here.
I had opted to dine first during my visit – having skipped lunch to save stomach space for this visit – so this was actually the first place I stopped by. Unlike the old TPR restaurant which décor I found too moody, the new TPR dining area is a much brighter affair.
Booth seats lined the sides of the restaurant area, varying between 2 and 4-seater tables. In the middle were four 2-seater tables. All the tables were immaculately set up when I arrived.
Set all the way at the back at the TPR is the impressive wine fridge. The barista machine was also setup here. This area is clearly more for appearance, since First Class passengers are not expected to pour their own drinks in the TPR.
Food & Beverage
I opted to take one of the 2-top booth seats. A staff member immediately handed over a beautiful leather bound menu.
On the first couple of pages were the drink options. This included a description of the various TWG Teas that were on offer. A top First Class lounge should have a decent champagne – on pour here was the 2007 Tattinger Comtes de Champagne (4.6 on Vivino), similar to what is served on selected flights. Of course this was what I went for. I also requested some still water, which was San Benedetto brand.
In terms of food selection, I have to say I was a little disappointed in the variety on offer. For lunch, there was an option of 4 starters and 8 mains. Lunch is served from 11am to 6pm.
In addition, there 3 vegetarian dishes on offer all day – 1 Indian and 2 Chinese – and desserts, which was a rather poor selection of ice creams with optional waffles, cake of the day and a local dessert, cold Cheng Tng.
For my lunch, none of the starters appealed so I went straight to a main of Crispy Seafood Noodles with King Prawns and Scallop. This was served with the broth on the side, to keep the noodles crispy when served. I expected the staff to theatrically pour the broth over the noodles, but nope it was pour-it-yourself. Standard accompaniments of green chilli and soy sauce were also served.
Considering SIA calls it fine dining, this dish was underwhelming. The broth didn’t have any particular flavour, the seafood were largely tasteless and probably frozen. I would have liked the broth served at a hotter temperature as well, to speed up softening the noodles.
Since the portion wasn’t very big, I decided to order another main. I have fond memories of the old burger in the TPR with the fried quail egg and portobello mushroom, so I decided to try the wagyu burger. I first enquired with the staff if it was a full-size burger or slider, which the gentleman said it was the former. He immediately offered to prepare a slider if I preferred a smaller portion, which I gratefully accepted. I requested medium rare for the doneness.
Alas, the slider was nothing like the burger in the old TPR. In fact, they even omitted the Portobello that the full size burger comes with. The patty was well seasoned and juicy though. The doneness was about right too, if a little overdone. That was fine by me, since I prefer somewhere between medium rare and medium anywhere. The real star, was the curly fries. There’s just something about curly fries, they always taste good.
For dessert, I opted for the Cheng Tng, even though I don’t usually eat any of the delicacies in Cheng Tng. Sadly for me, SIA decided to be generous and packed it full of stuff. This was sweet, cold and surprisingly good, by my standard. Which admittedly is not very high, since I rarely take this dessert.
Besides the a la carte selections, there was a couple of displays as well: a selection of pralines, and some small snacks – nuts, dried fruits, cookies. These were self-serve.
Overall, the meal was rather a mixed bag. The crispy noodles were too bland for my liking. The slider was quite delicious, though a tad simple. Dessert was not bad as well.
Since the breakfast and dinner menus were also in the same booklet, I perused them as well. If I have to be honest, while I normally find lounge breakfast offerings to be the weakest, the breakfast menu here actually looks the most appealing to me. Time to book a morning or early afternoon First Class flight?
The Private Room: Day Rooms
One of the most exciting additions with the new The Private Room is the four day rooms. While probably not of much value to passengers originating in SIN like myself, these will likely please transit passengers. A proper resting room, like those offered by Lufthansa in its First Class Terminal or Swiss’ First Class Lounge E in Zurich, was a glaring omission from the old TPR. A corridor on the right of the TPR when entering the entrance lobby leads to the day rooms.
While I didn’t use the rooms on this visit, I did take a peek. At the time I visited, one of the four rooms was closed, though I couldn’t tell if it was actually occupied or closed for maintenance.
While the rooms aren’t big, they’re quite well equipped. Each day room features either a recliner or single bed. Even in the rooms with the single bed, there is also a recliner. Each room also equipped with a work desk and a small coffee table.
If the recliners look familiar, that’s because they strongly resemble the infamous ‘dentist chair’ of the 2nd generation (2017) A380 Suites, and indeed both are from Italian furniture brand Poltrona Frau.
The beds are Tempur Firm Supreme mattress on their Zero G bed base, per SIA’s press release. The Zero G bed base provides “full-body support, a variety of massage options, and a unique zero gravity setting that allows for a complete weightless relaxation experience.” There is a choice of pillows as well, with Tempur featuring again.
The day rooms are a positive, and very necessary, addition to the TPR. The work desk is a good touch that not all airlines put in their day rooms (and may actually be the best place in the TPR to work!). The beds sound good, though look a bit on the short side. Perhaps on my next visit, I’ll check-in even earlier to test out the quality of the bedding.
The Private Room: Other facilities
Shower and restrooms
The showers and restrooms are located off the entry corridor, near the TPR entrance lobby.
The fittings are GROHE, while the toilet is a Sensei Arena with “personalised cleansing settings, as well as touchless features such as automatic seat opening, closing, and flushing.”
The toiletries are the Invigorate range from COMO Shambhala, a local wellness brand that SIA has a wide-ranging partnership with.
The restrooms are no less fancy, featuring the same GROHE fittings and Sensei Arena toilet. I’m a big fan of automatic toilet seats, so that’s a feature I enjoyed seeing.
The usual SIA amenities found onboard feature here – Lalique Eau de Toilette, Penhaligon’s Quercus hand cream, shaving kits and dental kits. A shoe shine machine continues to be a fixture in the restrooms.
Play Room
For families travelling with little ones (those lucky kids!), there is a play room located near the service desk at the entrance lobby. Don’t expect any fancy toys, it’s just a couple of more kid-friendly seating and a TV. My guess is the play room is more to keep the noise of children away from all other lounge guests….
The Private Room: Service
As expected of SIA’s flagship lounge, the service was mostly stellar. This was expected given there was at most three or four passengers, including myself, at any point when I was there. Nonetheless, they stood out for their proactiveness and awareness.
When I appeared hesitant about a full-size burger, I liked that the wait staff was proactive in offering the beef slider. When I moved away from the restaurant area to one of the pods by the wall, they offered to transfer my water. Instead of merely carrying the bottle and my glass over, they actually brought a brand new bottle. When I returned to the dining area later for a coffee, the staff were alert to my movement and rushed over to inquire what I needed, instead of making me walk the entire way. Whenever, they saw me taking photos, they were alert to smoothly step out of the line of shot to enable me to get clean photos.
While the wait staff were excellent, the actual SIA-employed lounge staff were a little indifferent. I get it’s not really their jobs to attend to passengers, but they didn’t seem too interested in the passengers at all. There was usually one staff member stationed at the desk in the TPR entrance lobby, who showed zero reaction as I went about my tour of the lounge. It’s not that I needed any attention, but an offer to explain some features of the lounge would have been welcome. It would have been opportunity for them to show some pride in this brand new experience. Later, when I enquired how long the journey to my gate – F59 in Terminal 2 – would take, somehow the two staff present didn’t understand my question and I had to repeat my question after some fumbling from them.
I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know and working with some of these staff before in my previous job. Most of them were friendly and extremely professional, so I found the relative indifference during this visit rather disappointing and unusual.
Bonus: First Class SilverKris Lounge
The adjacent First Class SKL caters to Solitaire PPS members not travelling in SIA Suites/First Class, and First Class passengers of Star Alliance partners. In truth, the name “First Class SKL” is a misnomer, since SIA First Class passengers will probably be ensconced in the TPR. I guess the naming makes it less confusing for Star partners’ passengers.
On the day I visited, the FCL SKL was pretty packed, which was a surprise for middle of the afternoon. So apologies in advance for the limited photos.
The FCL SKL shares the same first couple of metres of entrance as the TPR – which itself is on the left of main SKL entrance foyer – but instead of branching left again to the TPR, it’s straight on to the FCL SKL.
The standout feature of the FCL SKL is the bar. This is decked out in 119 Lalique crystals inspired by the Aquatic Ginger flower from SIA’s batik motif.
Near the bar was large high table, around a TV. This rather gave off sports bar vibes, though of course with a much more elegant décor.
There’s no a la carte here, instead there’s a buffet line with live cooking stations. To be honest I didn’t actually any see live cooking, so not sure if it’s only at certain hours.
The dining area has been much expanded, and can now accommodate over 50 passengers. This is a much-needed expansion; I remember when I used to travel with a Solitaire PPS family member, the dining area in the old lounge was often full during the morning peak.
Self-serve non-alcoholic beverages are just way from the buffet. These include coffee machines, TWG tea, and the usual soft drinks.
The First Class lounge has a playroom as well, similar to the TPR. Again it’s basically just a TV to keep the little ones occupied. There’s sitting outside for the parents to keep an eye on the children.
If the need to hold a meeting with your accompanying staff strikes you, there’s a meeting room for up to six travellers near the entrance of the lounge.
The FCL lounge also features four day rooms, with the same Tempur bed or Poltrona Frau recliner. Unfortunately I somehow missed seeing these during my visit. Travellers looking for privacy while working can use the SIA signature productivity pods. These were all occupied when I was there, so it wasn’t possible to get a shot.
The new First Class SilverKris Lounge is a marked improvement over the old one. I do question if the size is actually adequate though. While the dining area itself has been expanded, I believe the overall footprint has shrunk. Considering I already found it packed on a random mid afternoon, which is not the peak period, I do wonder how much worse it might be during the morning and evening peaks.
Overall thoughts
There’s no question the new The Private Room is a step-up, both compared to its predecessor and against the regular First Class lounge. There’s more seating options, and the décor has been updated giving it a feel of modern elegance. The day rooms address what was arguably the biggest flaw of the old TPR. The dining menu has been refreshed while maintaining an acceptable, if not necessarily outstanding, quality, and the beverage selection remains top-shelf.
In terms of negatives, my main gripe is the loss of apron views. In my opinion, SIA have taken a bold choice to swap around the positions of the TPR/First Class side and the Business Class section. While I felt the lack of natural light wasn’t that big an issue, I just dislike lounges without outside views. More so when this is supposed to be a flagship lounge. One of my strongest memories of the old TPR was watching with something approaching fear, as my A380 to Shanghai was delayed and underwent an engine run. (The fear being that an aircraft swap would occur, since it was scheduled to be the new 2017 Suites.) That’s something I can’t spectate from the new TPR, or even the new First Class section.
A few more booths with furniture that’s more conducive for working wouldn’t go amiss either. As I mentioned, working in the wall-side booth was not the most comfortable.
Fundamentally, it’s perhaps a little underwhelming. Day rooms aside, it’s ‘more of the same’ from SIA. First Class nowadays is very much a halo product, and the experience should reflect it. Onboard, the Suites are well known globally and in a way it’s the product SIA is known for, besides its service reputation. Yet even with the new TPR, on the ground there’s still nothing to match it.
When I think of Lufthansa First Class, I think of the First Class Terminal (FCT), the Porsche tarmac transfer and the bathtub. When I think of Air France La Première, I think of the Sisley treatments. Ok, I don’t think of beauty treatments but you get my drift. I’m not saying SIA should imitate these offerings, but the new TPR just lacks any particular outstanding feature. It’s comparable to some of these highly-regarded First Class lounges, but it for sure doesn’t surpass them.
Don’t get me wrong, I like the new TPR and I think it’s a great place to spend a couple of hours waiting for a flight. But that’s the issue, it’s just a very nice lounge with a la carte dining, it’s not an experience. Because of that, the ground experience will continue to be the Achille’s heel of the SIA First Class experience.
Conclusion
The new The Private Room is a significant upgrade on its predecessor. It’s good, excellent maybe, but it’s not outstanding. SIA finally has a First Class lounge that’s about on par with the best in the industry, but lacking in any unique or memorable feature. Perhaps my old friends monitoring SIA’s customer feedback and research have the data to say this is what passengers want, and that this is good enough.
What do you think of the new The Private Room and the rest of the new SilverKris Lounge? Let me know in the comments!