Best business class seats: Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300 refit

Flying on one of Singapore Airlines' refitted Boeing 777-300 planes? Here's how to pick the very best seats in business class for your flight.

The plane

With twelve of the older 777-300 planes in the fleet, Singapore Airlines uses them on regional routes where there's not a huge amount of competition at the pointy end of the plane.

Flights between Singapore to Sydney (SQ211 to Sydney and SQ232 from Sydney) and Singapore-Melbourne flights (SQ237 to Melbourne and SQ228 from Melbourne) are on 777-300 planes.

They're also found on connections from Singapore to India and Indonesia, and are often substituted for other aircraft too.

You'll know if you're flying on one of the revamped 777-300s because the business class seats are laid out in a 2-2-2 configuration rather than the 2-3-2 of the older version. So just count the middle seats to figure out which plane you're on.

The Business Class cabin

With a total of 50 seats in nine rows between rows 11 and 20, the business cabin is significantly more spacious and has spread backwards into what used to be five rows of economy.

This is Singapore's new Medium-haul Business seat, which is an improvement on the last generation, but which isn't up to the same standards as the fully flat business class seats on Singapore's Airbus A380 or newer Boeing 777-300ER planes.

In the 2-2-2 configuration, seats A and C are to the left of the plane, then an aisle, then seats D and F, then the other aisle, and then seats H and K on the far right.

Note that the only seats in row 11 are the D and F middle seats, while A, C, H and K seats start in row 12. There's no row 13.

The seats themselves are angled lie-flat seats that are an improvement on Singapore's older angled lie-flats, but they're not as comfortable as the new fully flat ones.

When the seat's fully reclined, your feet tuck into a well under the seat in front, which means that window seat passengers will have a bit of a time getting over the aisle seat person if they're asleep.

The best seats on the plane

11D, 11F, 12A, 12C, 12H, 12K: these bulkhead seats at the front of the cabin (with staggered row numbers as you can see on the seat map above) have extra legroom because there's not a seat in front for your legs to poke through. On the downside, they are the bassinet crib positions for babies, so you may be moved to make room for an infant. Plus, the entertainment screen is further away from you.

D & F seats: if you're an aisle seat fan (or even if you're not), these seats are top-notch because there's nobody climbing over your legs to get out if you're asleep. Pick these over C or H aisle seats.

The worst seats on the plane

Rows 19-20: these seats are at the very back of the cabin, right in front of the economy class lavatories. That's an area where people tend to congregate (and make noise) during the flight, so pick a row further up for a quieter run.

Previously: 

•  Business Class on Malaysia Airlines' A330
•  Business Class on Etihad's A340-600
• Business Class on Emirates' A380
• Club World (Business Class) on British Airways' 747
• Business Class on Singapore Airlines' A380

John Walton

Aviation journalist and travel columnist John took his first long-haul flight when he was eight weeks old and hasn't looked back since. Well, except when facing rearwards in business class.