I am starting it well! I flew Singapore Airlines First Class to Japan. This is one of the best redemption values you can get. First Class and Suites Saver are not easy to come by. I am still always excited by it. Prices for First Class / Suites are rather similar with around 10,000 miles per flying hour. I immediately hoped for it when I found 2 First Class Savers to Narita. I paid 70,000 Krisflyer miles and 65.20 SGD in taxes. That is the equivalent of paying around 1185.20 SGD for this flight—an excellent deal as compared to paying 6500 SGD in cash. You either book it 1 year out or something hope for a surprise when the date is near. Fun fact I flew this exact route on the return sector last year and it was disastrous. Well well, I didn’t enjoy my previous First Class flight on this actual route due to the Yvonne incident. I am thrilled to see how this goes. Let’s hope that this will be a better flight and I’m writing this without knowing whether my favourite IFM will be on board or not. I have reviewed this hard product a couple of times and you can check out all of my Singapore Airlines Premium Cabin reviews here. I have a full collection of all seat and aircraft types. Getting this amazing seat in Saver Redemption is one of the main reasons why I chose to head on this trip.

Checking In

I arrived at the airport at around 6am for the 9.25am. There is always a reason to leave sufficient time when you have access to the amazing The Private Room. I would love to leave more time to spare for TPR and to run some errands but it is always such a rush in the morning. Japan flight timing isn’t ideal. Either you arrive at the destination tired or you wake up feeling tired. First-class departures are always smooth and your experience starts the moment you arrive at the First Class Terminal in Terminal 3. Do remember to pull up at the correct driveway.

Here,  porters will be on hand to greet you the moment you arrive and help you with your bags. Checking in is then a sit-down experience. It was smooth and soon I had the red passes in hand. You can then clear immigration using the dedicated immigration lines for first class.

Boarding Process

Boarding is scheduled for 8.55am for the 9.25am flight. Do make sure to cater some time for security as they are located at each gate here. We got assigned gate A10 which is just a short stroll over from The Private Room. I wanted to be one of the first to check in and enter the plane. Boarding started right on time with those needing assistance and then First Class. The IFM greeted me at the door and I was then ushered over to my seats by the crew. Both the IFM and the Japanese Leading were awesome. Each of the First Class crew came over to introduce themself while on the ground and to offer welcome drinks. I was also helped with my jacket. I went with some Krug to kickstart the whole experience. This is accompanied by some warm nuts. You have a choice of 3 exquisite champagne which is as first-class as it gets.

The IFM later came over to make small talk and to offer an amenity kit. Pyjamas were also offered and my glass was kept to the brim while on the ground.

The leading stewardess then came by to offer towels and to reconfirm our meals and preferred timing for dining. We decided to dine later as we were still feeling rather full from the lounge earlier. We pushed back on time and took off as scheduled.

Singapore Airlines 777 First Class

I shall not dwell too much on the hardware and the seats since I have reviewed this product a couple of times before. There is only 1 configuration of First Class and it is a very intimate cabin consisting of 4 first class seats. There is one row of seats in a 1-2-1 configuration. We even managed to get the middle seats, 1C and 1D.

The seat comes with a plush leather pillow. Straight ahead, you can find the huge high-quality large-screen television paired with the amazing KrisWorld IFE system. This comes with more than enough movies and shows to fly numerous times around the world. A noise-cancelling Bose headphones complement the set-up. Wi-Fi is also available onboard and First Class / Suites passengers enjoy unlimited data allowance throughout their flight. The seat comes with a spacious ottoman for you to rest your legs. You will never have to squeeze into a little cubby.

Under the ottoman is also the storage area where you can store your carry-on. With the lack of overhead compartments in First Class, this is also the only area to store your baggage. The space is plentiful and I can fit both my bag and cabin suitcase nicely below. There is even leftover space for my shoes.

There are various compartments around the seat that you can use to store smaller items throughout the flight like your glasses or wallet. You can also find an international power socket and a USB charger outlet in the middle.

Lalique pyjamas and an amenity kit are provided for the flight. For flights inbound to Singapore, a unisex one is provided. For flights out of Singapore, a gender-specific one is provided. I have no idea why they can’t do gender-specific ones as well for flights into Singapore. This should not be challenging.

The seat controls are located to the right and are intuitive. You can also find a touchscreen remote control to control the IFE.

The table slides out from under the TV. It is a spacious one. One main criticism about the seats is that they do not support couple dining. You can also forget about getting out of the seats once the table is out.Turndown service is offered and the crew will make up the bed for resting. This is one of the most comfortable beds in the air. The Lalique bedding is lovely and the sleeping surface is very wide. I like that the bed is on the firmer side. I had a great rest and caught a wink for about 2 hours or so. This is as good as it gets for a flight of this duration.

It is on the rare side to wait for a toilet here as there are two in the front reserved exclusively for your use. The toilets are always nicely maintained and inside you can find it stocked with all sorts of Lalique amenities.

Meal Service

I appreciate that physical menus are back. I do wish that they bring back those leather casings as they look classy. You can find the menu for the flight here. Shortly after levelling off, the crew came by to offer us after-take-off drinks.

I got a Blue Mountain double espresso. This was served with the canape, Singapore Airlines Signature Satays.

We took a little break since we were still full and got the actual meal at around 1pm Singapore time after a nap. The crew is great with customisation and offers us Japanese appetisers too. How lovely is it to dine in bed? I started with the appetiser. Caviar and Champagne in bed. It is as lovely as it is.

We then got the soup which was a Herbal Chicken, Bean curd and Pumpkin Soup with Silky chicken breast, bean curd ribbons, pumpkin and shiitake mushroom in a medicinal herbal broth with pumpkin seeds and chilli oil.

For my main, I had already pre-book it through Book The Cook and got the Wagyu Yakiniku. This is a rather new addition to the BTC selection. I am always up to try new stuff. The dish was excellent and very flavourful. Full marks considering how this is reheated and warmed. The Japanese Wagyu Beer was nicely grilled and served alongside a medley of assorted seasonal vegetables and steamed rice. The description mentioned kimchi and wakame seaweed soup but these are nowhere to be seen. I paired it with the 2006 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, Bordeaux, France. Yums!

My mum had her usual Singapore Nasi Biryani.

The crew also came by with a pastry basket. We then finish up the meal with some Mango Lime Mousse with Coconut Cake. I also got some fruits. They were rather unmemorable. I had more of the Chateau Pichon.

Conclusion

Before I know it the flight is over. I enjoyed it a lot. It is very challenging not to enjoy a first-class flight on any airline. That is especially true when it comes to a top-tier airline like Singapore Airlines. While it is certainly a splurge from Business Class, it is always worth the treat if you can score saver class redemption. There is nothing much to fault on this flight with an outstanding set of crew and even Hui Xian from J Class was lovely. The crew soon came by to bid farewell. The only negative aspect was that we landed an hour earlier than expected. I was well-pampered onboard and scored with my BTC choices too. The Japan routing is one of the mid-haul options to try SQ First and Suites. It allows you to leisurely enjoy your meal before catching a short shut-eye. I can’t wait for my next First Class or Suites flight. A great way to fly!