Review: Singapore Airlines Private Room (and a day in Singapore)

Introduction/Booking
New LAX Star Alliance Lounge/Tom Bradley International Terminal
Singapore A380 Suites, Los Angeles to Tokyo-Narita
ANA Suite Lounge (Satellite 4) and United Club, Tokyo-Narita
Singapore A380 Suites, Tokyo-Narita to Singapore
Singapore Changi Ambassador Transit Hotel, Terminal 3
Singapore Airlines Private Room (and a day in Singapore)

Changi Airport has a ton of options available for travelers, but when you have an onward First Class boarding pass, it’s only proper that you have breakfast in the Singapore Airlines Private Room. I woke up at about 7am in the Terminal 3 transit hotel – I was meeting others at about 8am, so I decided to have breakfast in The Private Room. I made my way to the SilverKris lounge entrance, where an agent greeted me and took me past the business class lounge to the first class lounge, where another agent greeted me as we passed the first class lounge and made our way to the Private Room, where another agent greeted me and escorted me to the dining room, where a waiter greeted me and offered a menu and drink.  For a place called The Private Room, you sure do get greeted by a lot of Singapore agents :P.

The Private Room is meant for Singapore Airlines Suites and First Class passengers. Partner First Class passengers (as well as certain Singapore Airlines elite members) get access to the First Class side of the SilverKris lounge.  And of course, Business Class passengers go to the Business lounge.  Unfortunately, Star Gold passengers in Economy get access to the Krisflyer Gold lounges, which aren’t as great (they don’t even have restrooms within them).

SilverKris lounges, Terminal 3

SilverKris Business Class lounge

First Class Lounge – meant for First Class passengers on partner airlines

First Class lounge

The Private Room – for Singapore Airlines Suites/First Class passengers

The Private Room

I especially loved the private rooms within The Private Room.

“Yo dawg, I heard you like private rooms ….”

Within The Private Room is a sit-down dining area.

The Private Room dining room

The Private Room dining room

The Private Room dining room

I ordered the Roti Prata for breakfast – spicy and delicious. Just as I like it. A great way to start the day.

Roti Prata

In the afternoon, I mainly hung around the Orchard Road area shopping malls, before taking the MRT to Chinatown and walking down to Maxwell Hawker Centre for some Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken.  The line was much longer than the last time I was there!

Chinatown

Maxwell Road

Maxwell Food Centre (probably a catchier name than Kadayanallur Food Centre, for the street it’s actually on)

Inside the hawker centre

Always expect a queue here

Tian Tian menu

Chicken rice

So good!

At about 4pm, I caught a taxi from Chinatown to Changi, with quite possibly one of the best cab drivers I’ve ever had anywhere.  He was impressed I knew specifically about the hawker centre and once he learned I was from California, even popped in a CD of a live recording of the Eagles performing Hotel California.  We took the new Marina Coastal Expressway to Changi, bypassing most of the city.

Passing the Marina Bay Sands from the new Marina Coastal Expressway

Singapore CBD from the new MCE

Interesting dash

I asked him to drop me off at Terminal 3 First Class Check-In (and even made up that I was on a US-bound flight since India flights go out of T2 and cab drivers will take you there instead).

Approaching the Terminal 3 First Class Check-In (my camera thought the dash was more interesting)

At Terminal 3 First Class check-in, I was greeted by several agents who were confused that I only had a backpack with me, though I explained I was in transit to India and had left luggage in T3 so needed to come here first.  The Singapore agent with another gem of a line: “It’s just we don’t get many transit passengers here.”  Probably because unlike Lufthansa, Singapore doesn’t allow many partner awards …..

Terminal 3 First Class Check-In

I already had my boarding passes from LAX, so the agent checked on the status of my checked bag I was sending to India and escorted me to First Class immigration (another perk of this check-in area, since there was no line).  You’re dropped off almost directly opposite the SilverKris lounge.

First Class immigration exits immediately outside the SilverKris Lounge

I went to retrieve my roller bag at left luggage and collected my S$20 shopping voucher for transiting Changi on SQ ticket stock (free money for transiting a great airport!). 

Passengers departing some other countries even get S$40!

If you book a US-origin Krisflyer award ticket with a transit at SIN airport, you are eligible for a S$20 shopping voucher!

I then made my way to the SilverKris lounge and did the whole agent escort thing all the way to the Private Room. A server came by to offer some champagne to drink, and I asked for a cup of TWG Vanilla Bourbon tea, my favorite flavor on offer in the SilverKris Lounge (but nowhere to be found in The Private Room). The server came back with a small teapot and commented that this was the first time in her short time working with SQ that someone had ordered a specific tea. I’d say the presentation was good.

Re-entering the SilverKriss Lounge

Champagne – forgot the name of it, it certainly wasn’t Dom.

TWG Tea

I recharged both myself and my gadgets in the Private Room, and even made a call to United over Skype to fix my return ticket I was in the process of booking (I found Lufthansa First space on Munich-LAX that wasn’t phantom!).

The Private Room

About 2 hours before my flight, I headed over to the dining room to have something to eat. I ended up ordering satay and a bite of ice cream, even though I knew I was going to get more satay on my flight in a few hours.  Who doesn’t love satay?!

Self-serve area

Evening Menu in The Private Room

Evening menu in the Private Room

Chicken satay

Ice cream

After my early dinner, I used the shower rooms, located within the Private Room restrooms.  I like them slightly better than the Business Class lounge shower rooms.

Shower Room in The Private Room

Shower room

Shower room

After my shower, I made my way to the Terminal 2 SkyTrain, which only took a few minutes to drop me off in the older terminal. I went to the TWG boutique to use my S$20 voucher toward a S$21.50 box of teabags.

SkyTrain station at Terminal 3

Thanks, Changi!

I’ve visited the Business side of the SKL in T2 before and wanted to see what the First Class side was like. Wow, what a departure from the T3 lounge (not even the Private Room, just the T3 First Class lounge). If I were a First Class passenger departing Terminal 2, I’d make the trek to the Termianl 3 lounge over this.

SilverKris First Class Lounge, Terminal 2

Food selection, First Class lounge T2

Food selection, First Class Lounge T2

I grabbed a water bottle and quickly headed to gate F58, about a 10 minute walk toward the end of the concourse (SQ always puts the Mumbai/Delhi flights at F58/F60, even when there are barely any other flights in the terminal – they sure love making us Indians walk!).

Boarding area

Security was at the gate and my bag was filled to the brim with pajamas and things I’d picked up in Singapore.  Fortunately the security agent turned a blind eye when I handed over my Suites-branded boarding pass (since LAX didn’t have the First Class stock) and even commented that I could have shopped more :P.

I headed into the gate area and let out an “OMG YES” when I saw “WU” on the plane’s front landing gear cover. Boarding was called a few seconds later and I made my way onboard 9V-SWU and the new 777-300ER First Class.

Singapore Airlines New First Class