Flying Premium Economy on Singapore Airlines A350-900
The Route Auckland-Singapore (AKL-SIN) on SQ286
Pre-flight
The app worked like a charm. If you haven't flown for a while you'll see where airlines – Singapore Airlines at least – invested time and energy during the pandemic to further advance their digital products.
The app allows you to scan the menu and download newspapers and magazines (They've largely gone from planes). You can scan the menu and order your food. It's intuitive.
It is full of check-in advice and shows where you can claim luggage. My onward flight at the end of my Singapore Air journey (London to Reykjavik on Icelandair) showed up on my app, despite it now being a partner airline.
Check-in at Auckland:
There is a dedicated counter for Premium Economy (PEY) and arriving early meant it was a five-minute exercise by the very friendly ground crew at Auckland Airport. PEY doesn't give you lounge access but qualifying loyalty scheme members have access to the lounge of Singapore Airlines' Star Alliance and commercial partner, Air New Zealand. If you don't, rediscovering the public areas of Auckland Airport's departure area was a fine way to pass time and in late August there was a good ratio of passengers to food and retail and many sweeping airfield views.
The plane
A 4.9 -year-old A350-900. The airline has 62 of the planes with an average age of 3.5 years old.
The cabin
The 24 seats are in a 2-4-2 configuration with one crew member dedicated to the cabin. It has 253 seats in total.
The seats
Depending on whether you have a fold-out tray in the armrest each seat has a width of either 18.5 (45cm) inches or 19.5 inches (compared to 18 inches in Economy with an 8-inch recline and a seat pitch of 38 inches (compared to 32 inches in economy).
The seat has a full leather finish and the width was absolutely fine- my wife and I had a pair of seats together so were able to spread out even further. We also had all the legroom anyone would need as we were at the front of the cabin - row 31.
You can pay for an extra legroom seat on PEY with the cost based on the sectors that you're flying. On n AKL-SIN it is US$80. For Singapore to Britain it would then be another US$100.
The recline does give you that better possibility of sleep and certainly a better rest and the headrests are fully adjustable. Every seat has a calf rest and there's a cushion and blanket when you need them.
Seats on lines A and K have excellent window views over the wing. The seats are made by Safran (formerly Zodiac Seats US) and designed by British firm JPA Design which has worked with Singapore Airlines for more than 20 years.
On the job
Other features include individual in-seat power supply suitable for NZ power, two USB ports – one by the elbow and one in the screen in front, personal in-seat reading light on a flexible stalk and a cocktail table. There's a handy expandable storage pouch on the bulkhead wall in front of you. The fold-out table is a great height for working on laptops.
The food
A lot of work has been done at Singapore Airlines during the past two years to enhance what it's known for – good food. There are more local options through its hawker street food programme and an emphasis on lightening food.
Catering bosses told me during a stopover in Singapore that passengers who flew in the months that recovered were keener on eating and drinking than ever as they celebrated getting back on planes and didn't have to mask up while consuming.
We were constantly topped up with water by Regina (with other excellent crew) in our cabin and the meals were excellent. Hearty and satisfying served with stainless steel cutlery and in hard plastic plate ware. Lunch came out a little over an hour from departure and dinner three hours later. Here's a taste of what's on offer:
The extras
A sweetly packaged amenity kit includes a toothbrush and toothpaste, socks with an anti-slip grip and lip balm.
Entertainment
There's a 13.3-inch full HD monitor on the bulkhead in front (take glasses if you need them - that lovely extra legroom means it's further away than you may expect), there's active noise-canceling headphones and you can choose from more than 1800 on-demand options to enjoy, using touchscreen handsets that pop out of the armrest.
Again, preparation helps – have a dive into the app before boarding to see what's available, there's content rotation every month.
Toilets: There's a bank of four at the rear of the cabin and shared with Economy but there were no queues. There are toothpaste and toothbrush kits and hand cream as extras and basins have sensor taps. They are roomy and clean and tidy throughout.
Baggage
PEY gives you 35kg of checked luggage (with priority tags) and there's no shortage of overhead locker space for carry-on.
The price:
There are fares out now for next year at around $3200 for AKL-SIN return on a return PEY seat flying on the non-stop flight ((it does codeshare with Air NZ on this route so it pays to double-check which airline's plane you'll be on). That's a little under twice the price of Economy and about half the price of Business. You can use KrisFlyer miles to upgrade a level from Economy to PEY.
Where PEY fits
Singapore Airlines didn't rush into Premium Economy, introducing the product in 2015 after extensive market research and customer surveys to coincide with the arrival of A350s into its fleet and retrofit into many planes already flying.
I flew courtesy of Singapore Airlines and met the airline's senior vice president of marketing planning, Jo-Ann Tan, who told me it has been a winner on long-haul routes.
But it can't be too close to Business or else that erodes demand for the most lucrative part of the plane and has to be good enough for those who would have flown Economy to pay almost double. She describes it as a ''goldilocks' product.
The verdict
A revelation. You can feel the brain power that was put in at Singapore Airlines getting PEY bang-on. Ideal for a daytime flight as the 2pm take-off from Auckland to Singapore is, and flying through the night is a more comfortable option than Economy. The airline's key pillars - superb service, hard product and food, are as strong as ever this side of the pandemic.