After an amazing 10 nights in New Zealand, it is time to head back home. New Zealand is amazing and I am glad to chalk this off my bucket list. The scenery is comparable to what I have experienced in the Isle of Skye as well as Switzerland. Every single spot is so lovely, especially on the south island. All good things come to an end and at the very least flying on Singapore Airlines business class cushion the blow a little. I will be flying onboard SQ286 on the A350 Long Haul Business Class from Auckland to Singapore. This is my favourite SQ business class seat. I have just reviewed my flight to Christchurch which is a similar product. I will just share briefly the soft product and skim a little on the hardware this time around. This is one of the best ways to get to and from New Zealand. try. To make it even sweeter, I issued this ticket at the old rate last year and with a stopover to Taipei. I paid just 62,000 miles and 69.40 SGD in taxes and fees. This is my last stopover ticket. Sobs!

Checking In

I arrive at the airport at around 11.45am after returning my car to the airport. From there it is about a 10 mins walk to the terminal and check-in counters. The Singapore Airlines check-in counters are open three hours before the flight. I wanted to maximise the time I have in the terminal to check out a couple of lounges. It always pays to arrive early and give yourself more buffer. Not all airports are Changi Airport. There is no wait at check-in and I was immediately helped by a staff at the premium check-in counters. It took some time to complete the check-in and tag my baggage. The crappy staff refused to heed my clear instructions which lead to everything being redone from scratch. Ridiculous!

Soon I had the gorgeous blue boarding pass in hand and we went to clear immigration and security. There are no premium lines for immigration but it went rather smoothly with the kiosks. There is a slight wait for security and we took about 15 mins in total. Of we go to the lounge.

Boarding Process

Boarding is scheduled for 1.40pm at a pretty far gate. It is about a good 15 mins brisk walk from the lounge. We arrived slightly before boarding is called. Boarding is separated into PPS Club members and Business Class before KrisFlyer Gold members and the rest of the cabin. I was the first to board and be welcomed by the IFM in the cabin. It is lovely to be able to get some nice pictures of the empty cabin. I will be seated in the second cabin this time around. Similar to my outbound flight, I managed to grab bulkhead seats which are the best. This time around only one seat is available on row 11, as such, I got the window seat in row 19. Row 19 which is in the second cabin is slightly less desirable due to the chaotic boarding as the rest of the plane will use the second door to board. This severely limits the on-ground service by the crew. Furthermore, this is a full flight in all cabins.

Boarding was completed pretty quickly and left on the seat is a bottle of drinking water. It caught my eye as I found it weird that a bottle of water was preemptively placed for a day flight. It turns out that welcome drinks are not offered. At the very least, alcoholic drinks aren’t. I wanted a glass of champagne but was told they don’t serve them on the ground in NZ. This is due to taxation. A stingy policy by SQ here! I went for a glass of ice water since it is pretty stuffy while on the ground.

Boarding was completed by 2.05pm and we started pushback. Kelly came around to introduce herself as well as the IFM. The other China crew had an attitude from NZ to Singapore and wasn’t afraid to show it on her face. Meal orders as well as after-take-off drinks orders were taken on the ground.

Singapore Airlines A350 Long Haul Business Class

I am seated in the second business class cabin in row 11. I took the window seat on the left, seat 11A. I managed to get it when it opens up for selection. Seeing how it is a day flight, the window seat makes it the best choice out there. You certainly want to catch the views while in the Air! I will just share some pictures of the seat and not do a full review this time around.

It is a gorgeous day to fly out on. Just as I was leaving Auckland, the weather cleared up and the sky was so blue. I was constantly glued to the window while in the air.

The flight sure isn’t smooth sailing as my seat was faulty! The IFE wasn’t working! I notice that it kept getting stuck at this screen while on the ground. I mentioned it to the crew and they tried all sorts of ways to reboot and refresh it but it simply could not work. Kelly and the IFM were excellent and went out of their way to solve it but to no avail. After some front and back we accepted that it simply could not work and the IFM inform me that he will write in so that I will receive some compensation for it. Not having a workable IFE for a 10 hours flight is not desirable. They did try and could select shows for me manually but even so, there isn’t any sound out of the headphones too. First time experiencing this out of all my flights onboard Singapore Airlines.

Meal Service

The meal service started shortly after levelling off. In contrast to my outbound flights, physical menus were available. You can check out the menu for my flight here. We will have a full Lunch service followed by a Light Dinner service before landing. New Zealand flights have one of the best meal services due to the flight timing and duration. Do note that the Auckland station does not offer Book The Cook service. Soon after Kelly came by with after-take-off drinks and SQ signature satays.

Then the table was set. The appetiser was a Smoked Duck Breast with Pineapple and Mango Salsa. It was alright but nothing memorable. I had some bites here and there. The mangoes were pretty good.

I did a little wine tasting onboard between the Australian Riesling and the Burgundy Chablis and the Chablis is the winner. It is one of my favourite wines and I had it with the dish.

For the main course, I selected the Roasted Lamb Loin in Roasted Yellow Capsicum Sauce. It was served with some vegetables. This is a wrong choice. I thought that the lamb would be decent since we are flying out of NZ. The lamb was overcooked and so tough that I almost left the dish undone. The China rbf crew did not offer or ask about it at all. This is a stark contrast to my other flights. Thankfully, I ate in the lounge prior and wasn’t feeling that hungry. The crew then came over with another round of drinks and I switched over to the Bordeaux to go with the lamb.

Soon desserts is served and Kelly brought over a selection. I got both the Vanilla Cake and Orange Cake. I also got some sake. The desserts were good. I particularly enjoy the Vanilla Cake.

I kept myself entertained with my ANA tickets and soon the second meal service was served roughly 2.5 hours before landing. I was pretty hungry at this time given the lacklustre meal earlier. I got the Smoked Salmon appetizers to start with. It was good!

For my main, as per Kelly’s recommendations, I got the Poached Chicken with Spring Onion and Ginger Sauce. This was excellent! It tasted so good and like home. It is like chicken rice on boosters. I moped it all down and wish I could have more. This is hands down the best meal I had onboard this flight. No regrets!

Finally, the crew brought over the dessert which is a Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart with Orange Cream. This is nothing memorable. I paired it with a Brasile Double Espresso at to end of the meal.

Conclusion

SQ is always a great way to fly although this time around the faulty IFE does make it slightly subpar. Thankfully, the excellent IFM and Kelly more than makeup for it. Kelly is one of the best crew that I had onboard my flight. Having unlimited Wi-Fi onboard also makes time pass faster and softens the blow of the lack of IFE. Something amazing happen onboard the flight and I managed to get 3 ANA Error Fares tickets while flying in the air! Pretty awesome wifi huh! If you can swing it, the bulkhead seats are worth it! Always be on the ball to get it at the mark it opens up. It gives you a First Class seat for the Business class price. The other crew working my aisle was plain rude and had a Rbf face throughout! Something needs to be done about this. Looking forward to my next long-haul flight on Singapore Airlines!