SIA's New A350 XWB: SQ337 DUS-SIN in Economy

[yflyer]

The SQ gate that day was A79, in the part of the terminal where international flights departed, which meant that there was an EU passport control checkpoint that you had to pass through after leaving the lounge, before you reached the gate.

Today's flight was operated by 9V-SMH, the 2nd newest A350 in the fleet, and just over a month old.



The gate area itself wasn't particularly spacious. On the bright side, there was an F&B outlet right next to the gate, where you could stock up on snacks before the flight.

[yflyer]

There is a nice range of F&B and shopping in Dusseldorf Airport, but I skipped the shopping and headed straight to the Lufthansa Senator Lounge, which is the designated Star Alliance Gold Lounge in DUS.



This was not as large as the LH Senator lounges in FRA, and the decor was more generic than the Lufthansa-themed design elements you found in FRA or MUC, but it was not crowded at the time I was there, and had all your lounge essentials, including wifi, wine/liquor, breakfast spread, working area, and showers, as well as a smoking room.





Nice selection of bread...



Hot and cold breakfast selections...

[yflyer]

Dusseldorf Airport is a very pleasant and user-friendly facility. It is large and fairly busy, but not overwhelming in the way that megahubs like Frankfurt or Dubai can be.

It consists of 3 long piers connected by a large, curved terminal building and landside atrium.

The spacious atrium gave the landside area a very open, airy feel, and it was nicely decorated for Christmas.



SQ337 is an 11am departure. Check-in that day opened at 8am, and there was already a queue at the economy class check-in ten minutes before that time.



There were no queues at J or PEY/Internet check-in and I checked in my bag and obtained my boarding pass without any delay.

[yflyer]

I went on a short trip to Germany earlier this week, and returned to Singapore via Dusseldorf. This gave me the opportunity to check out Singapore Airlines' latest Airbus A350 XWB on the DUS-SIN sector, a route which SIA began flying earlier this year, in July 2016.

SQ's current long haul economy class products on the A380, 77W and 77WN are already among the best I have experienced. What enhancements does SQ's latest iteration of their economy class product on the A350 offer?

How does SQ compare with other A350 operators, such as Finnair or Qatar Airways, who also operate this type out of Singapore?

Interested? Read on...