- the Luxury Travel Expert

Wednesday newsletters always feature a hotel or flight review.

Last summer, I enjoyed a wonderful holiday in Singapore and the Indonesian islands of Java & Bali.You can read my reviews here:

Review: Singapore Airlines A380 new First Class suite London to Singapore (today)
Review: Marina Bay Sands Hotel (Singapore)
Review: Four Seasons Resort Bali at Jimbaran Bay (Bali)
Review: Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan, Ubud (Bali)
Review: Mandapa, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, Ubud (Bali)
Review: Amanjiwo, Borobodhur (Java)
Review: Amandari, Ubud (Bali)
Review: Amankila (Bali)
Review: Anantara Uluwatu (Bali)
Review: Banyan Tree Ungasan, Uluwatu (Bali)
Review: Bvlgari Bali Resort (Bali)
Review: Singapore Airlines B787 Dreamliner Business Class Bali to Singapore
Review: Six Senses Duxton (Singapore)
Review: Singapore Airlines A380 Business Class Singapore to London

Today (September 12, 2018): Review of Singapore Airlines’ new A380 First Class suite from London to Singapore.

Singapore Airlines (SQ) – often regarded as one of the world’s best carriers, no matter the class you are flying in – took its stellar reputation to new heights last autumn when it introduced a new First Class cabin on its Airbus A380 aircraft. I was extremely lucky to try out this new product during my recent journey onboard a one-month old A380 from London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR) to Singapore’s Changi Airport (SIN). Even though my expectations were sky-high, flying in this “hotel room above the clouds” completely blew me off my feet. Currently, the new product is installed on SQ’s newly delivered A380 aircraft (flying selected routes to London, Zürich, Sydney and Hong Kong). Retrofit work will also take place on 14 existing aircraft, to ensure product consistency across the airline’s entire A380 fleet by 2020.

SQ features in my top 10 lists of the best airlines for longhaul Business Class, the best airlines for longhaul First Class, the most luxurious A380 First Class products, the world’s best airlines for in-flight meals, and the best First Class amenity kits.

Have you ever flown SQ’s First Class? What was your experience? Leave a comment below.

Trip: London (LHR) to Singapore (SIN)
Airline: Singapore Airlines (SQ)
Aircraft type: Airbus A380
Aircraft registration number: 9V-SKY
Flight Number: SQ317
Date: July 10, 208
On time departure: yes (11.30 am)
On time arrival: yes (7.30 am; + 1 day)
Miles: 6760
Flight time: 13 hours
Seat: 3A
Class: First

In this review (more information & photos below my Youtube clip & slideshow):

1. COST OF MY TICKET

One of the most remarkable aspects of my recent journey onboard SQ’s new A380 First Class cabin was the cost of my ticket. I paid 115,000 KrisFlyer miles and 200 GBP (British Pound) for the one way journey from London to Singapore. KrisFlyer is the frequent flyer program of SQ and an award seat in SQ’s A380 First Class suites can only be booked via KrisFlyer (and not via any other Star Alliance loyalty program).

Since I always credit my Star Alliance flights to Miles&More – the frequent flyer program of Lufthansa – I had zero miles on my KrisFlyer account. However, I managed to acquire 120,000 KrisFlyer miles at once by transferring 100,000 ‘old’ SPG points (now equivalent to about 300,000 ‘new’ SPG points) to my KrisFlyer account. SPG is the loyalty program of Starwood Hotels, now owned by the Marriott Hotel Group. One of the great perks of the new combined SPG and Marriott Rewards program is that you can transfer hotel points to airline miles at a 3:1 conversation rate. In addition, you receive a 5,000 mileage bonus when you convert 60,000 points into miles (resulting in 25,000 airline miles instead of 20,000). As a consequence, one of the single best values of Marriott Rewards is to transfer your points in bulks of 60,000 to an airline partner and book free award tickets or upgrades, which is what I did for this flight. Read here my review of the combined SPG and Marriott Rewards program.

One problem remained. SQ normally charges an insane amount of KrisFlyer miles – 210,000 in total – for a one way First Class ticket between any European destination (including London) and Singapore. They do release a limited amount of saver awards thought on certain routes (sometimes in advance, sometimes last-minute), which require fewer KrisFlyer miles. Saver awards between London and Singapore require 115,000 KrisFlyer miles instead of 210,000 miles for regular awards. However, availability of saver awards on SQ’s new A380 First Class cabins is virtually zero (I had been keeping an eye on this for months). But miracle happened and a last-minute saver award became available on the SQ317 route, which I quickly confirmed.