FRA-JFK in Singapore's A380 Suites

This is by far my most expensive booking for a one way flight, however I had really wanted to try this product as well as finally fly on an A380 and with limited options now out of JFK, Singapore offered me a chance to do so with significantly lower out of pocket costs (in the form of taxes and fees) than Emirates.  Miles were transferred to Singapore's Krisflyer program from American Express's Membership Rewards, which are relatively easy to earn.  You can browse their sign-up bonuses here.

My return trip home from Europe started with a visit to Lufthansa's Senator Lounge, as Frankfurt is obviously an outstation for Singapore and my flight being a rare Fifth Freedom flight between two countries other than the airline's home country.  Fifth freedom flights are allowed so long as it originates or terminates in the home country, so technically my flight was just an extension of the earlier flight from Singapore to Frankfurt. 

This lounge had a much nicer vibe than I was expecting, and great chaise-lounges with tarmac views.  Perfect for a light breakfast before my flight.  

When I arrived at the gate, ground staff ushered me to the front of the line, thanks to the thick gold border on the top of the Suites boarding pass which serves as a beacon to identify premium cabin passengers.  

This was my first flight on an A380 and thus my first time boarding directly onto an upper deck.

 

The sheer size of the plane comes into light when you see that they use not two but three jet bridges to board.  

In retrospect, I'd rather board from the forward door on the lower deck for a more grand entrance walking up the forward stairs, but I understand why they board from the upper deck in terms of accessibility.  Upon landing, however, there were issues with the upstairs jet bridge so I did get to use the stairs to disembark.

One thing you don't totally appreciate right away is the lack of any overhead bins.  Instead, Singapore has built large wardrobes into each suite that was large enough for my carry-on duffel. 

The suite is truly unlike any other, at a whopping 50 square feet.  A slightly distant second; Etihad's "Apartments" by comparison are only 39 square feet.  That said, I don't feel like the space was used particularly well.  For taxi, takeoff, and landing, the seats must face forward and while in this position, there is only a small screen for the safety video.  This feels like a missed opportunity as I can't imagine that a marginally larger screen would have been cost prohibitive and in my mind it would have made a big difference.  As a result, to watch tv on the 32" tv, the seat rotates 90 degrees to face the door, which, by the way is entirely solid, but rather you can see through the pattern, which gave off the feeling of a fishbowl, being able to see the crew peeking in to ensure, in my opinion, overly attentive service.  

Next, we come to my biggest gripe with the suite:  the seat.  I'm not sure how a designer could overlook that when extended, the built-in ottoman doesn't really support your legs.  Instead the crew bring a folding stool on request, which frankly shocks me when an airline is targeting ultra premium passengers paying over $10k round trip.  For this kind of money, I'd really expect to be cradled in the seat like a zero g lounger.  

Additionally, when you want to pause the entertainment to interact with the crew, you have to open the armrest then fumble with the arrow keypad on the dongle remote.  Alternatively, there is a tablet, but in this seating position, it's located at your 5 o'clock, so really inconvenient.  I'm not sure why they didn't build a small touch screen into the armrest, not to mention make the armrest itself a good bit more comfortable out of some softer materials.    

On the flip side in terms of amenities, I really have to commend Singapore for the high end Bang & Olufsen headphones which were both comfortable and had excellent noise cancelling.

Now where First Class sets itself apart from Business Class is the Champagne and Caviar service. 

Singapore offers Krug exclusively to Suites passengers and it sure is something special.

For the main course, I took advantage of Singapore's "book the cook" program and had pre-ordered Kway Teow Nuea, a Thai beef noodle soup, similar to Vietnamese Pho which really nice and didn't leave me feeling too full.

Now a couple hours into the flight, I decided to try to get some additional shuteye given my early wake-up around 5am, in hopes of getting right back on East Coast time with my late morning arrival. The separate bed is where Suites really shine.  Made up for me while I changed into the very comfortable pajamas provided, I was asleep within minutes.

After a very restful four hour nap, I ordered a Singapore Sling and tried our the wifi.  Unfortunately, the signature Singaporean drink was too sweet for my liking, and the wifi was practically unusable to get any real work done.

About an hour before we started our descent, I was offered a pre-landing lunch but with far less variety than the main meal.  Sadly, these sliders were overcooked and didn't have great flavor.  The entire food service, other than the Caviar and Krug was a far cry from perhaps my favorite airline meals on Cathay First, which were similar in style (Hot Pot for dinner and Burger before landing) to Singapore, just far better executed.

All in all, I enjoyed a solid 4+ hours of sleep and arrived well rested but given the premium over traditional business class in terms of cash fare, I'd be hard pressed to justify the premium if I had the means, especially for a trans-Atlantic flight.  Even when thinking about the full flight between Singapore and JFK, I think I'd rather fly a Gulf carrier and lay/stop over in the Middle East to break things up.