Airline: Singapore Airlines
Flight Number: SQ286
Class of Travel: Premium Economy
Aircraft Type: Boeing 777-300ER
Month-Year: January 2025
Route: AKL-SIN
My Score: 2/5
Purpose: Business trip
Check-In
Check-in at Auckland International Airport is done manually, even if codesharing / ticketed as an Air NZ flight (as is normal). As PE class, you get access to a priority line, which is separate to economy and also Business / Star Alliance Gold. Because there are quite a few of the latter, it ends up taking a fair amount of time. Even 2.5 hrs before departure it's busy! Eventually, once at the front, the check in staff work swiftly, and bags are tagged as priority. Interestingly weighed my backpack and carry on (more on this later). Now, what's frustrating is as Premium Economy, you don't get access to Express Lane, or if so, they didn't offer it to me proactively. On the eve of a long weekend, the lines were very long to clear security and immigration, and this would have been very helpful. Almost all airlines I've flown with flying out of Auckland in any premium cabin offers express lane, so it's a shame.
WiFi: Passengers in PE don't automatically get free WiFi. You need to be a member of KrisFlyer and have this loaded as your membership too. This was actually quite confusing as the app doesn't mention it, and nobody at check-in actually proactively mentioned it. It makes it look like you have to accrue your loyalty on SQ as well to get WiFi. However, if you check in on desktop, you're able to earn to your regular loyalty membership (e.g. Air NZ), and use KrisFlyer as your service membership for WiFi. Don't get caught out as once on board, they couldn't care less about helping you.
Lounge
No lounge access when travelling in PE. Of-course if you have Star Alliance Gold status you can use the Air NZ Lounge.
Boarding
Now here comes the drama! At the boarding gate minutes before boarding, they announce they are going to weigh everyone's bags, and ensuring everyone has an approved cabin bag tag (which the check in counters didn't issue). They were absolutely ruthless about the total weight of all carry on being 7kg, and the only options given were for people to pay for it to be stowed in luggage or dispose of it. Lots of unhappy people and grumbling, and big queues for the payment devices. They were even weighing business class passenger luggage! I am not sure what was said in the last finance meeting at SQ HQ, but it was a bit ridiculous. While the weighing was happening, boarding also commenced, leading to one cluster of a boarding process.
Seat
The seat in PE is not all that better than the economy seating. It's slightly wider, slightly more legroom, but only an extra 2" of recline. It's not the most comfortable seat for a long-haul flight. One annoying thing is the seat strut is where your feet go so you don't have a lot of space to move your feet around, let alone store a small bag in front.
Service
Dismal. There was one flight attendant handing out hot towels and completely ignored me! Then had the audacity to raise eyebrows when coming back to collect the towels. Same mid-flight when I wanted a drink, took the order, and never returned. I haven't experienced SQ this bad before so hopefully it's a one off. The PE cabin crew are shared with economy, so when meal service commences, there's a really long delay between them serving you the meal, and collecting it after the economy service finishes, it's these little things that are frustrating.
The drink service is done with plastic cups (kind of ironic given their focus on sustainability with their amenity kits), I ordered the Singapore Sling as below. Tasted fine, but again, not the "premium" experience, and actually exactly how you'd be served in Econony.
My IFE system also had a touch screen problem, but I didn't use it much (had a fair amount of work to get through) but just adds to the overall experience.
Amenity Kit: You have to request the Amenity kit, which is a Out of the Woods + SQ partnership. Standard fare - eye shades, ear plugs, and the world's thinnest slippers. They actually tore on me midway.
Food
Being an afternoon departure, you are provided with lunch soon after takeoff, and dinner before landing into Singapore. I used Book the Cook and got the snapper. It was served with a warm bread roll, salad, cheese & crackers, a cheesecake, and a Whitakers chocolate square.
Tasted fine, though a little spicy, but no complaints or compliments here.
Dinner service was a chicken tikka dish, interestingly, served with the same cheese & crackers, and chocolate square. The salad was a cold chicken dish, and the main was incredibly spicy but good. Also received a mineral water cup which slightly irked me again - if you're trying to fill the plate, a totally un re-usable pot of water probably isn't the most sustainable thing to add.
Arrival
Arrival into Singapore is always a pleasant experience and this was no different. Took less than 10 minutes from arrival to disembark and was landside soon after. My bag was one of the first to arrive, and Singapore is a fantastic time no matter why you're there.
Conclusion
It's not worth it. I wouldn't fly PE on Singapore Airlines for the price:value ratio as it currently stacks - you don't really get a lot more other than a slightly better (but worse in some ways) seat, and a better meal service.
