British Airways Singapore Lounge
The new British Airways Singapore lounge is a delight, a great lounge to experience either as a half-way stopover point to Australia, or on the regular departures back to Heathrow.
Most notable is the seating, which is in BA's latest style. Cool, relaxed, and comfortable, with lots of red, white and blue.
There is a large bar in the centre of the lounge, with some good wines and plenty of spirits.
The dining is worthy of note, with three or four hot dishes, and some good salads.
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There is a large and well stocked bar, a good selection of self-serve food, showers, business centre, and best of all lots of brand new seats.
It is great to see it after the long refit. It is still in Terminal 1, but highlights new lounge features as part of the airline's five billion pound investment to improve customer experience.
The main part of the lounge is a joint oneworld Emerald / Sapphire and Business Class lounge. For First Class passengers, there is a separate First bar, but you really do have to have a First ticket to get in here - there is no access for oneworld Emeralds.
There are 185 seats, and the main lounge is a place where BA designated it as a place to "relax, eat, drink and work". It does the job proficiently and with style, although sadly there isn't much of a view of anything other than the shopping centre.
British Airways gave Singaporean-based design firm Kingsmen a blank sheet to revamp the old shared Qantas/British Airways first class Singapore lounge.
They came up with a novel fusion of the best of British and Singapore design. There are some notable art works in the new lounge from some local talent as well as British artists, with a Far East-inspired wall opposite the bar, and a 'swirl' design for prints on the wall.
To find the lounge, head to the centre of the shops in Terminal 1, and then up the stairs or escalator close to the electronics shop.
At the top of the stairs are the signs to the Thai lounges, on the left, Qantas straight ahead, or British Airways, at the end of the corridor.
As you walk in the first obvious part of the lounge is the newly revamped seating, with the left hand side having a view of the concourse, with zones of seating. Racks of high-backed leather armchairs - in a 3+3 layout - are separated with central tables, holding power sockets (UK square pin and USB) and small table lamps. Some higher dividers halfway along the space separate the banks of seating, and there are also some sofas for people travelling together.
In the middle section of the British Airways Singapore lounge is a large white marble bar, generally the most sociable area for lone travellers and beside it the large bar, just like the Gold Bar at London Heathrow. In the alcove next to it is refectory area with food.
Inland from here are the high backed banquette seating around the wall, and tall high spinally cocktail tables, under glowing copper lights.
Next up, as you walk through the lounge, is the TV area. Oddly, this is right in the middle of the lounge, with ten swivel chairs opposite a very large TV. It is normally on BBC World. If you are wondering what the large white hexagonal structures are, they contain power sockets!
There are more banks of seating - and this is generally the quietest area - and right at the back, but again oddly in the middle of the lounge is the business centre. This has a large meeting table (although at loungeindex we can't imagine holding meetings here - it would be way too noisy!)
Food
There is an open 'theatre dining' food servery.There are the usual hot dishes, with pasta, rice, and meat and chicken variants under the hot island bench. There are almost always trays of Chicken Satay skewers.
There are also hot pies, and small mini pizzas on the plates.
On the other wall are the cold items, with two bowls of salad, sandwiches, cold cuts of ham and turkey, fresh fruits, and right at the far end by the fruit there is also a small desert selection.
Bar
There is a large bar in the British Airways Singapore lounge.The central section has the wine, with three good whites in the trough, and three reds on the counter top. However, you have to stop the staff and ask them if you want sparkling wine.
The beer selection is fairly basic, with just cans of Tiger, Heineken and Guinness.
At the far end is a refectory counter with a remarkably good spirits collection. There are free pour bottles of Jameson, Southern Comfort, Taranqay gin, Contreau, RSOP, Black label, Glenn Livett, Gordon's Gin, Bacardi, Jack Daniels, Smirnoff Vodka, and Campari.
Bathrooms
In lounge, by the entrance.Good showers; when cleaned, new fresh towels are left on the bench in the cubical.
Business Facilities
Right at the far end is a small computer area, called the 'study zone' with two computers, plus two more workstations, and a large table with power sockets seating six.Naturally there is free WiFi in the British Airways Singapore lounge, and dotted around the lounge are big-screen televisions. The new British Airways Singapore lounge opens at 3pm each day, but just like it's predecessor, it normally doesn't get many passengers until 5pm, with a rush at 8pm coinciding with the departure to Sydney. It then gets quiet again until the late evening rush.
BA have three flights a day from Singapore - two to London, a 777 at 2255 and an A380 at 2320. There is also the incoming flight from London which carries on to Sydney, taking off at 2005. If all passengers check in early, that's 48 First Class passengers, plus Premier and Concorde Room card holders who may be able to access the Concorde Bar. However, it will only have a capacity of 41.
Singapore Concorde Bar
The centrepiece of the new Singapore Lounge for British Airways is the Concorde Bar, with Nero marble surfaces and European oak flooring.The First Class British Airways Singapore Lounge is similar to the Concorde Room concept and revamps it into a smaller area more suitable for large satellite lounges beyond BA's home hub.
The Concorde Bar is designed just for First Class passengers - top-tier Executive Club frequent flyers don't have access, just like the exclusive Concorde Room lounge at London Heathrow. For those just in business class or economy, you will need an invitation-only black Premier card or Concorde Room Card.
The cosy havens of the Concorde Bar features, as you might expect, a fully staffed bar, done up in black marble where, if you really want to you can sit at the bar. There are also smaller more enclosed spaces around the walls with a sofa for couples and seven private booths with 4+4 seating. In total there are 41 seats around what was the far end of the old lounge. Access is through a door in the black marble wall - eligible passengers are given an access code.
A novel feature of the Concorde Bar are the "electronic walls" that display a digital panoramic view of Singapore that changes according to the time of day.
Access
Access to the new BA SIN lounge is given to BA First and Club World passengers, Executive Club Gold and Silver members and oneworld frequent flyers with Emerald and Sapphire status. There is absolutely no pay-in access.However, there are plenty of other lounges at Singapore which offer paid access on the door to economy passengers.
British Airways First Class Bar Singapore
The famous British Airways First Class Bar Singapore is located to the right of the entrance, and which is only accessible for BA First Class Passengers departing in First Class. There is no Frequent Flyer or Concorde Room card access.A 'lounge within a lounge', only accessible with a code for the door, and known as 'The Bar Singapore', is BA's exclusive sanctuary for First Class passengers departing on one of its three flights a day.
London-based creative agency Honour was drafted in to design this exclusive section of the lounge, and it uprated wine, spirits, and even crisps.
The food selection, offered at a small refectory area next to the bar, is effectively the same as the 'daytime' selection in the main lounge, plus an a la carte selection.
Video: British Airways Lounge
Also view: Video 4
Great food and bar
Queue for showers