SIA's Regional Airbus A350-900 and Boeing 787-10: What's the Difference?

[SQfanatic]

I have booked for July so I am flying the 77WR in mid July on SQ1/2 but flying the 78X on SQ528/529 to MAA, so definitely looking forward to seeing how the 78X seats compare as I have already flown the 2013 product back in 2016/2017 which was very comfortable.

[yflyer]

Thank you for this fantastically detailed — almost forensic — series of flight reports! Haven’t flown either of SQ’s newest planes yet — and love vicariously going along for the ride in this case.

Thanks very much for reading, Stratoliner777! Glad you appreciate the detail!

I wonder what a comparison of the regional J-class experience on the SQ 787-10 and A350 would yield...

I suspect the differences will be very slight, since the J cabin products are so similar. That said, the A350 is a little wider than the 787 so maybe some differences might be noticeable.

I've only flown the 787-10 in J, and loved it. Hope to try A350 Regional J as well as A350 long haul J (With the 2013 product) some time soon as well!

[Stratoliner777]

Thank you for this fantastically detailed — almost forensic — series of flight reports! Haven’t flown either of SQ’s newest planes yet — and love vicariously going along for the ride in this case.

I wonder what a comparison of the regional J-class experience on the SQ 787-10 and A350 would yield...

[yflyer]

Great TR, yflyer. I am looking forward to flying SQ’s 787 one day and hope another occasion their A350-900 regional

Thanks, SQfanatic! Hope you get the opportunity to try these aircraft types soon!

Based on your pictures what’s different is the cabin and mood lighting. The 78X mood lighting is similar to that of SQ’s 77W SWU-SNC.

Both the 787 and A350 seem to have quite similar LED lighting. I haven't figured out the pattern and colour sequence though...sometimes it's yellow, sometimes it's blue...so far I haven't seen SQ do that over-the-top rainbow colour sequence that I have seen on Scoot and other airlines...

The seats in both are identical

The 787-10 and regional A350 Y seats are almost identical except for differences relating to IFE (Panasonic vs Thales), and maybe the seat width. The 77WR uses a different 2013 Y seat frame, which is also excellent, but different.

My parents will be flying the 787-10 to MAA in late June and I will in July once I get clear dates from my family and book then travel ex-SFO to India alone to join them. (They booked SQ1 and SQ2). On the return we are all returning back together.

Have a great trip and hope everyone enjoys their flights!

[SQfanatic]

Based on your pictures what’s different is the cabin and mood lighting. The 78X mood lighting is similar to that of SQ’s 77W SWU-SNC.

My parents will be flying the 787-10 to MAA in late June and I will in July once I get clear dates from my family and book then travel ex-SFO to India alone to join them. (They booked SQ1 and SQ2). On the return we are all returning back together.

The seats in both are identical.

Great TR, yflyer. I am looking forward to flying SQ’s 787 one day and hope another occasion their A350-900 regional

[yflyer]

Thanks for the comprehensive comparison, yflyer.

Thanks for reading, icn.sg!

Having flown both the A350R and 787-10 a number of times now, my favorite has to be the 787-10. I've come to the conclusion that the A350R is my least favorite aircraft in the SQ fleet in terms of seat comfort.

While I haven’t flown on the A350R, I didn’t have this cosy experience when in the A350LH (2013Y). My take is I’d avoid the 787-10 in Y if at all possible.

Thanks for sharing your views, icn.sg and 9V-SML! So far looks like we have one in favour of the A350, and one in favour of the 787-10, and a tie on my-end...

Excellent review!

Thanks, 9V-SIA!

Always a pleasure to read yflyer review!

Thanks, davidfusq!

Just to add my experience travelling on B787-10 in the window seat, it seem to be very tight. Notice how little space between the wall panel and seat headrest. Choosing window seat is probably a compromise for the large electronically dimmable window. This is a vast difference to the A380v3 window seat that I took on the outgoing flight where you have plenty of shoulder space and the wall panel is so far away from your shoulder that you can't really lean on it (first world problem...) . I wonder how it compares on A350Regional cause I have not taken one before...

Another thing distinctly noticeable is the narrow seat width. Literally shoulder to shoulder with my neighbour (on the outbound leg).

Thanks, 9V-SML and davidfusq for sharing your opinions on 787 Y!

Yes, space in Y is really at a premium on the 787-10. As the 787-10 fuselage is a little narrower than the A350, they really had to optimise space to make the 9-abreast layout work, whether it is the narrow aisles or the proximity to the window.

That said, among all the 9-abreast 787's I have flown, I actually find SQ's to have the most comfortable Y seats. Compared to 787's operated by QR, UA, NH, TG and AI, the SQ Y seats on the 787 seem the most comfortable to me, relatively speaking. Of course nothing beats JL's 8-abreast 2-4-2 on the 787. That is heavenly.

Agree that the A380 v3 is really roomy in Y, especially the window seats in the main cabin.

[davidfusq]

Always a pleasure to read yflyer review!

Just to add my experience travelling on B787-10 in the window seat, it seem to be very tight. Notice how little space between the wall panel and seat headrest. Choosing window seat is probably a compromise for the large electronically dimmable window. This is a vast difference to the A380v3 window seat that I took on the outgoing flight where you have plenty of shoulder space and the wall panel is so far away from your shoulder that you can't really lean on it (first world problem...) . I wonder how it compares on A350Regional cause I have not taken one before...

[9V-SIA]

Excellent review!

[9V-SML]

I just flew the 787-10 a couple of weeks ago (SIN-NGO-SIN) and I agree with loudness of the toilet flush. On the inbound flight, I sat in 74DEG (had the 3 seats to myself) and even with my own Comply foam ear tips I could distinctly hear the rush from the flush. Your description of a mini typhoon is very appropriate. It’s even worse when you’re the one in the toilet. Being my first time on the 787-10 it came as a bit of a shock when I flushed. Learnt to flush with the lid closed after that

Another thing distinctly noticeable is the narrow seat width. Literally shoulder to shoulder with my neighbour (on the outbound leg). While I haven’t flown on the A350R, I didn’t have this cosy experience when in the A350LH (2013Y). My take is I’d avoid the 787-10 in Y if at all possible.

[icn.sg]

Thanks for the comprehensive comparison, yflyer.

Having flown both the A350R and 787-10 a number of times now, my favorite has to be the 787-10. I've come to the conclusion that the A350R is my least favorite aircraft in the SQ fleet in terms of seat comfort.

I am actually surprised that the A350R seat base is wider than the 787-10. To me, the former definitely feels tighter, and the seat back narrower.

One thing that I immediately felt the few times I flew the A350R was that the seatback monitor feels closer to your face than on the 787-10 or the A350LH.

I initially thought it was because the seat pitch on the A350R was narrower than the 787-10. However, I later found out that both aircraft types' Y pitch are listed as 32 inches.

I am now beginning to believe that because the Thales monitors are slightly larger, they feel closer to your face than the Panasonic monitors. To me, the 787-10 seat actually feels more spacious (when you have someone seated next to you).

[yflyer]

Both my flights were great...a state of the art cabin product on two very new aircraft types. Needless to say, cabin crew and catering were very good on both sectors as well.

Now for some comparisons...

The Aircraft

I found both the A350-900 and 787-10 to be very quiet and comfortable in the air. In cruise, the overall noise level was quite low on both these aircraft types, and sounded like just soft white noise.

As comparison, SQ's Boeing 777's are great but on 777's I found the noise level just marginally louder, with a more pronounced mechanical hum, compared to just soft white noise on the A350 and 787.

The lower cabin pressure on the A350 and 787 also probably helped keep pax comfortable as well, although the effect was quite subtle.

Cabin Ambience

The A350 fuselage is marginally wider than the 787 fuselage. That said, the difference was very, very slight: to me both cabins looked open and spacious.

For comparison, here is the A350 Y cabin...



..and the 787-10 Y cabin...



Economy Class Seats

As far as seat width was concerned, it appears that the A350 seat is just slightly wider than the 787-10 seat...

A350 seat (Pic from a previous flight):



787-10 seat:



But the difference was not night and day. I am not a fan of 9-abreast 787 Y cabins on other full service airlines, but I think SQ has done a good job making a 9-abreast 787 cabin work by reducing the width of the aisles rather than shrinking seat width too much.

As for Business Class seats, I've not yet flown A350 regional J, but the layout and hard product look very similar to 787 J, reviewed here.

The Lavs

On the A350, the flush was a soft hum. On the 787, each flush seemed to trigger a mini typhoon...

Something to consider if you are choosing seats near a lav.

IFE

For most pax, the most noticeable difference would probably be the IFE.

On the A350, the Thales Avant system has touch-sensitive functions on the bezel at the bottom of the screen.





I liked the fact that the volume was adjustable using the + and - buttons.

On the 787, the Panasonic eX3 doesn't have any controls on the thin bezel.



Instead there are physical call and light buttons elsewhere on the seatback, and volume was adjusted on the screen itself, which was a bit tricky.



What I did like about the Panasonic eX3 system on the 787 was that the headphone socket worked with regular headphone miniplugs without the need for an adapter. Plug in your regular headphones into any one of the two sockets, and you had true stereo.

On the Thales Avant system in the regional A350, I've had mixed results with my headphones depending on the particular aircraft: on 9V-SHI, on both my seat and the seat next to mine, I had to use a airline headphone adapter: If I plugged my headphones into one socket, I only had sound out of one side. On the other hand, on a separate flight on another regional A350, 9V-SHE, I could use my headphones without an airline adapter. All this just means that one should always have an airline adapter handy.

Which did I prefer? I think both systems have great picture quality, and the menus etc are different but both are fairly user friendly. On balance, I prefer the Panasonic eX3 because the sound quality on the eX3 seemed more dynamic and richer, and the user interface was just marginally more user friendly.

Special/Preferred Seats

On the 787-10, there are 2 rows of 2-seaters at the rear of the aircraft. These seats also give you added space by the window. There are also 2 rows of 2-seaters in the rear left side on the A350, not to mention the row 55 2 seater emex preferred seats.



My favourite seat would be the row 56 A/K seats on the A350. You get a window as well as emergency/aisle access.



Final Conclusions

Both the A350-900 Regional and 787-10 are very comfortable aircraft to fly -- a definite improvement on older types in SQ's fleet, such as the A330 or 777. I don't think you could go wrong picking either of these.

Which would I prefer? Tough question, as both are actually very well matched. I like the row 56 seats on the A350, and perhaps the marginally wider cabin, but then I am also a fan of the 787's electronically dimmed window shades, and Panasonic eX3. Let's call it a tie!

I would love to hear everyone else's experiences and preferences on these two types as well!

Thanks for reading!

[yflyer]

Dinner was served on this flight.

No menus were handed out, but there was a menu card on the trolley with pictures of the main selections on offer, which cabin crew could show pax when asking them to make their choice.



In practice, in my section of the cabin, the card was left on the cart, and pax were just asked verbally what their choice was. It was only on another flight early this year where the cabin crew member actually took the card and showed it to each passenger before asking for their selection.

I opted for pasta...



This looked really good...



I believe this was catered out of Manila flight kitchens.

The starter was tasty -- with coleslaw that had enough salad dressing on it, unlike some of the ex-SIN Y salads which tend to be too dry since they didn't come with salad dressing.



The seafood pasta in cream sauce was very tasty as well...



...with a generous portion of shrimp, and good pasta texture.

No salt and pepper on the tray, but I asked for some and the helpful cabin crew member returned moments later with 2 sachets...



Dessert was an ice cream sandwich, which I quite enjoyed...



SQ seems to do a great job with outstation catering at MNL. On many recent flights, I've found that often I prefer the outstation Y catering than SQ's Y meals catered ex-SIN.

On my recent flights, BKK, MNL and DEL have stood out as destinations where the outstation catered Y meals on the return sector are very satisfying, and a cut above what you get ex-SIN.

The remainder of the flight was uneventful. I quite liked the cabin ambience on this 787-10: a very quiet and comfortable cabin.

We landed in Singapore on time -- a great flight on SQ's 787-10: an excellent hard product and good cabin service and catering.

[yflyer]

The Krisworld user interface on the Panasonic eX3 on this aircraft was also different, and perhaps slightly more user-friendly, than the Thales system, although both were fine.



A great selection of movies and TV...



Including a full season of the series "Counterpart", a gripping series about spies and intrigue across a parallel world accessible via a portal in Berlin...



I found picture and sound quality on the Panasonic eX3 system to be superb.

[yflyer]

Hot towels distributed prior to take-off...



This is such a treasured feature of SQ's economy class cabin service that there is a Precious Moments figurine of a Singapore Girl with towels and tray in the Kris Shop catalog...

[yflyer]

Bathrooms with mottled grey counter tops.



I found the 787 flushes to be quite loud -- louder than the A350 flush. Not a showstopper, but this could be a minor irritation to pax sitting near the toilets if pax did not close the lid when flushing, or worse still, flushed with the door open.