Five things you need to know about Singapore Airlines' new first class

Singapore Airlines' newest luxury first class suites are now winging their way daily between Sydney and Singapore, with other cities – foremost among them London – to follow from early 2018.

Keen to fly these sweet new suites? Here's what you need to know.

1A, 1F are the largest suites

All of Singapore Airlines' new A380 first class suites are not the same size, although this layout diagram indicates otherwise.

Suites 1A and 1F are the largest, with a footprint of almost 5m².

These happen to be the ones which combine with their adjacent suites – 2A and 2F, respectively – to create a double bedroom (see below). Of course, if you're a solo flyer there's nothing to stop you from booking 1A or 1F just for the sheer space.

The other suites range from 4m² (2A and 2F) to 3.23m² (3A and 3F).

There are just two 'double bedrooms'

Travelling with your significant other and really want to share the experience? Book yourselves into 1A and 2A, or 1F and 2F, as the common wall between these suites can be lowered...

... so that your beds are next to one another.

If a solo passenger has already booked one of those four suites, however, you could be out of luck. By all means ask Singapore Airlines if they could ask that passenger to consider moving to another suite, but don't expect anything.

Those double beds are more like two singles

Here's another PR photo showing a happy couple on their double bed.

And here's the reality: it's not actually double bed. Not as such.

The lower section of the wall between the suites sits firmly between those beds, so it's more like two single beds pushed next to each other – but still with a bit of a gap in the middle.

Thinking that the PR photos might be demonstrating some mattress cover or even a double-bed doona, we quizzed Singapore Airlines about this at the launch of the first class suites but were told the dressed-up double bed was purely for the sake of the marketing shots. Poor form, SQ, poor form.

More miles will be needed to book a 'free' suite

Eager to magic your KrisFlyer miles into a first class flight? Just make sure you have enough of those miles. With only half as many suites as before, the law of supply and demand kicks in – meaning you'll probably only ever see one of the new suites available under the Standard award rates instead of the discount Saver rate.

On the Sydney-Singapore route, for example, that's 150,000 KrisFlyer miles for a Standard rate compared to just 80,000 KrisFlyer miles under the Saver rate.

If that means racking up some more miles on your account, consider a credit card which can earn KrisFlyer miles or even converting your Virgin Australia Velocity frequent flyer points into KrisFlyer miles.

Does your A380 have the new suites?

At the time of writing only one of Singapore Airlines' A380s sports the new suites, and that one's flying daily between Singapore and Sydney as SQ221/SQ232.

Four more factory-fresh A380s will arrive from early 2018, with London tipped as the next route to see the new suites, while 14 more superjumbos in the SQ fleet will be upgraded from late 2018 to 2020.

David Flynn

David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.