SIA 737 MAX 8 Business Class from Hanoi to Singapore

[yflyer]

A few public-use computers...

[yflyer]

There were bathrooms in the lounge...



...as well as showers...





...with self service towels and toiletries.

[yflyer]

Overall I thought this was a decent lounge, with great F&B, and good ambience. A decent place to spend time before a flight, with the bonus of great airside views.

[yflyer]

I headed to the gate. Many shops were open. I much preferred the smooth flooring here to the new Changi T2 carpeting.



There is a Burger King operating in the airside area of the terminal. Good to know in case I ever get a burger craving prior to departure. From past experience, takeaway burgers are delicious when unwrapped and eaten inflight, although you would be risking envious glances from pax around you...

[yflyer]

I arrived at the gate for SQ193 HAN-SIN...



Operating today's flight was 9V-MBB, a five year old 737 MAX 8 first delivered to SilkAir in 2017, then stored in 2019 during the pandemic, before being refitted with the new cabin product, repainted in SQ colours and launched back into service with the new cabin products from December 2021...



I would soon be flying a new aircraft type, and a new cabin product for the first time...I was thrilled!

Boarding was called, and I made my way down the aerobridge to the aircraft...



First impressions...a unique and beautiful 737 front cabin, unlike any other 737 I have seen before...



This new generation 737 business class cabin had 3 rows , with a staggered 2-2, 1-1, 2-2 configuration with 3 rows, making a total of 10 seats. These seats reclined to fully-flat position, and were based on the Thompson Vantage seat frame.



The most sought after seats were the 2nd row single seats, the so-called "throne" seats, with both window and aisle access...



While not particularly wide, these seats felt very roomy, and had ample space on either side...



...and these a deep footwell in front that enabled the seat to recline fully flat...



These seats had the best of both worlds: decent window views, with a flat table on one side...



...and direct aisle access on the other, with yet another flat table surface on that side...



What a wonderful seat, that I would be quite comfortable flying long haul, let alone this 3 hour SIN-HAN sector.

The 2-seater rows were very good as well.

My seat was 11C, the front row aisle seat...



This seat had a spacious and deep footwell...



When fully reclined, the seat would stretch all the way to the leather ledge in the footwell, making for a fairly long flat bed.



The window seat 11A, was just as spacious, with great window views...



There was an inevitable downside of these window seats: you would need to take a huge step over the fully reclined aisle seat in order to get to the aisle, and my impression is that this might require the aisle seat passenger to get up to enable the window passenger to go past, depending on how athletic the window pax was.



The first row had a ledge on top of the IFE / footwell which could be used for bassinets, or to place light items if there were no bassinets required.



I really loved my aisle seat at 11C. From my seat, I could even peek into the open cockpit door prior to take off. With this comfortable 2-2 layout in the front of the plane, it felt reminiscent of a 747 upper deck seat.

[yflyer]

Drilling down further into the seat features, the seat side wall had a very attractive fabric covering, as well as a couple of reading lights, headphone jack, and USB charging point...



One of the reading lights was adjustable...



The other was a recessed fixed reading light further back...



Seat recline was controlled by pressure-sensitive buttons on the side of the console...



A/C power and another USB port on the front of the console.



The tray table folded out of the seat divider...



This was a large and sturdy table...



A handheld IFE controller was hidden under a panel on the console...



This might be useful to have, but in truth I never touched it, and instead controlled the IFE directly using the large touch screen in front of me.



The Krisworld selection onboard was superb, with November programmes loaded...



Each J passenger had a pair of noise cancelling headphones -- the sound quality from these was absolutely superb.

[yflyer]

I was pleasantly surprised to encounter a new 3D map platform on this aircraft -- this was the Panasonic ARC platform...



The UI looked a little different from Airshow systems on SQ's aircraft, but was still fairly straightforward to navigate...



This Airshow system had a summary page...



...and several interactive menus and options.



More on the Airshow features later in the TR.

[yflyer]

As this was the first time I was on an SQ 737-8, I also took a quick stroll into the Economy cabin to check it out...



This was laid out in conventional 3-3, with the new BSI (Boeing Sky Interior). Seat covers were similar to the blue-theme on SQ's 2017Y product also seen on the A350 and 787-10, but the actual seat frame was subtlety different...



I found the seats reasonably comfortable...



Recline was decent, but nothing special...



The slimline armrests could be raised by pressing a button at the base of the armrest...



No obstructions in the footwell...



Full Krisworld IFE in the seat back. The IFE screen had a USB charging point at the base, but there was no A/C power plug that I could find. Not a big deal as USB charging would be the most frequently used on planes these days.



Fold out tray table...



Light and individual air vents overhead. I particularly liked the inclusion of the individual air vents, which weren't present on SQ's A350.



The bulkhead seats...



Note the immovable armrests in the first row...



Overall, I thought this was a very good Y product, that I would be quite happy flying for shorter sectors.

[yflyer]

I made my way back to the Business Class cabin, just in time for pre-departure champagne...



You cannot imagine the joy I felt when sipping one of these again...so glad that they have reinstated the PDB service!



Nicole, the wonderful cabin crew member in the J cabin today, saw that I finished my first one, and offered me another glass, which I gratefully accepted.

Two flutes of champagne, and we had not yet even taken off. What a great way to fly!

We pushed back and taxied to the runway on a wet evening...



A smooth take-off into the night sky...



To be continued!

[SQ218]

Impressive looking building the JW Marriott hotel. One would have thought it's an office rather than a hotel.

Thanks for the peek into the 737 MAX 8.

[yflyer]

Impressive looking building the JW Marriott hotel. One would have thought it's an office rather than a hotel.

Yes a very impressive hotel...one of the more memorable properties I have stayed at.

Thanks for the peek into the 737 MAX 8.

Am at Changi T1 right now waiting to board TG404 to BKK. Flight is slightly delayed, so might continue the TR from the gate lounge :-)

[yflyer]

Continuing with the TR...

There were wifi plans on sale, but USD15.99 for a 3 hour flight seemed a bit much (Note that full flight wifi is at USD 15.99, whatever the flight duration, including CPH-SIN, or SIN-SFO!), so I opted for the 2 hour complimentary plan. It was a 2:45 flight anyway...



There were now printed menus in Business Class. Fantastic!



To commemorate the return of printed menus, here is a page by page review...

First, inflight amenities and mug shots of the Culinary Panel...



Three choices of main: Beef Fillet, Singapore Roast Chicken Rice, or Nonya Nasi Padang...



For completeness, this was the menu for the previous SIN-HAN sector...



The wine selection...





The cocktail and liquor/beer selection...



Soft beverages and coffee...



Did they really have all that different coffee onboard the cramped 737 galley? Apparently so!

[yflyer]

There was no after take-off beverage, once seatbelts signs were off, the cabin crew went about straight to prepping for meal service.

Your choice of meal was served complete on a tray right, together with your choice of beverage...



This was a full J email, similar to what you had on SQ's wide bodies. Probably due to the short flight time, there was some streamlining of the service format, for example there was no tablecloth draped over the tray table -- the tray itself came with a tablecloth. Similarly, service was not course by course -- the full tray included starter and dessert. No big deal, given the short flight time.

I did think the presentation of my steak on that particularly day wasn't particularly attractive looking, but again no big deal.

A selection of bread was offered from a bread basket...nice to see that they were attempting to replicate the full wide body J experience, as far as practically possible...



I polished off my champagne, and the starter, and then asked for a glass of red wine to accompany my steak...



Today's red wine selection was the Nittardi Chianti Classico Reserve 2016...



The steak was well done -- a little more cooked than I usually liked it, but it tasted fine, and went well with the wine...a satisfying meal, rather than a superb one...



The sticky date pudding was quite delicious.



My neighbour in 11A ordered the Nonya Nasi Padang, and it looked quite tempting.



Overall, this was a good meal, rather than a great one, but I was happy to see that SQ J catering standards on the 737-8 were fairly close to what one would expect on SQ's wide bodies.

[yflyer]

There was one bathroom up front for the use of J pax.



This was quite a small toilet, but perfectly usable.



Cloth towels and amenities from Penhaligon...



There was no flower -- not even a plastic one.

[yflyer]

After meal service, it was time to rest. Eye shades were handed out...



I reclined the seat to fully flat position...



Very comfortable!



The aisle armrests could be lowered...



...to bed level, for a little more width...



I am not very tall so I found my lie-flat "bed" perfectly fine. Not every different from the regional J product on SQ's A350 or 787-10 I thought. If you were large in size you might find the seat a tad narrow, and maybe a tad shorter than ideal, but I suspect for many pax, this seat would be fine for sleeping.