Singapore Airlines operates a lovely fifth freedom route from Moscow to Stockholm. Although this is only a short hop between both cities, it is definitely a comfortable way to make the trip.
Business Class passengers are able to use the Airport Business Lounge prior to boarding. As you can see from the entrance, there is nothing much to rave about this lounge, but more of it in a separate post.
The boarding situation at Moscow was pretty chaotic. The layout of the gate didn’t allow for a smooth boarding process, and it was hardly able to accommodate the sheer number of passengers on our flight. Thankfully, there was a priority lane available for Business Class and PPS Club members, so that helped a little.
Once on board, I settled into my bulkhead row seat in row 19. Once again, I cannot emphasise enough the importance of securing this seat as much as possible. The legroom is generous and significantly more than the other non-bulkhead row seats.
The long-haul A350-900 aircraft in the Singapore Airlines fleet features the 2013 Business Class seat arranged in a 1-2-1 configuration, offering all passengers aisle access. The lack of overhead compartments along the centre of the cabin also gives it a more roomy feel.
This seat continues to be the backbone of the airline’s long-haul Business Class offering, and has been pretty well received by passengers given how thoughtfully designed it is. With intuitive seat controls, reading lights with various intensities, and ample storage, what’s there not to like about this seat?
Given the short flight duration, only a light meal would be served for this flight.
While boarding was still in progress for the other passengers, the cabin crew started to make their rounds with a pre-takeoff beverage. Note that for passengers seated in the centre seats and wish to have more privacy, a partition can be extended if required.
After the doors were closed, the safety video was screened and we were on our way.
The departure out of Moscow was pretty smooth and there wasn’t a lot of congestion. Once we attained our cruising altitude, the cabin crew commenced the light refreshment service. I had chosen the salmon gravadlax with pumpkin and asparagus mousse, served with mesclun fine leaves, radish and asparagus.
There wasn’t a need to sleep on such a short flight, so I had a go with the inflight wifi. Business Class passengers only have 30 MB of data to use, which is hardly sufficient in this day and age. This will probably work for a few messages and emails, but definitely not for social media and streaming. Hopefully we’ll get more in the future.
It was a short flight indeed. Before we knew it, the captain was on the PA system with the latest arrival information, which was followed by a smooth descent and an on-time arrival into Stockholm.