Last month I’ve had the opportunity to visit the Private Room by Singapore Airlines on 2 occasions, including a Brunei trip in Singapore’s older 777. The private room is Singapore Airlines most exclusive lounge offering for First Class passengers in Changi Airport.
As stated, this is a very exclusive lounge. You are only invited if you are flying Singapore Airlines First class on the day.
The lounge is located in the same complex as the business class and you even have to go through the separate first class section to get to it.
SQ First Class LoungeSingapore Airlines First Class Lounge Entrance
The Private Room by Singapore Airlines
You have a counter check by the entrance to the private room where your boarding passes/invitation card are checked.
Private Room ReceptionPrivate Room Entrance
Then I was escorted to a seat in the lounge.
Private Room Newspaper StandPrivate Room Xmas decoPrivate Room by Singapore Airlines Seating Living Area
I like the layout of the sofas here, as even if it is a full house, there is a sense of plentiful space. You would not be too close to other guests.
The larger areas are all designed like their own living areas with large TVs at the centre of most.
Private Room Seating 2Private Room Seating
If you prefer a more intimate setting, you can find areas with pairs of chairs arranged around the room. You can find just single seating areas too.
Private Room Single Seating space
They also have a few work desks where you can hook up your laptop or use an in-house computer.
Private Room Workstation
There are even private telephone rooms, sort of..
Private room within the Private Room
Now this was during the Christmas period and I did like the festive decorating. That aside, I can’t say the lounge looks super fancy or posh. It’s nice don’t get me wrong but there is no wow factor here.
Dining Room
On my first visit around 6.50am in morning I was offered a table straight away for breakfast in the dining area.
Dining at the Private Room
I’m not sure if the crew were acting in knowledge of my rather short visit as my boarding time was just over 1 hour away but as soon as I sat down I was tended to straight away.
Private Room Formal Dining
Private Room menu
The menu can be seen below
I like that they had a specific quick breakfast menu, and was curious about the fried carrot cake. However, I decided to order from the main menu. And I ordered something pretty regular at that, from the fresh egg options. I opted for the scrambled eggs. Having the choice of sausages you can order is also much appreciated.
The breakfast arrived within 10 minutes of ordering or so.
Private Room BreakfastMe at Private Room Breakfast
And it was just perfect. The scrambled eggs were almost as good as they could possibly be.
I had the breakfast with some good old OJ and tea.
While I was eating I had the staff check up on things a few times and ask if I needed anything else.
What surprised me even more was not very long after I finished my breakfast, another gentlemen who I had not previously interacted with addressed me by name and asked to confirm if they had my right flight number.
Moments later, I was informed my flight had started boarding. And that was the end of my first brief visit.
Second evening visit
On a subsequent visit, I had more time on my hands
Initially I declined a seat in the dining area , as I was not yet ready to eat. So I ordered some drinks in one the regular seating area.
Private room pre meal drinksPrivate Room pre meal drink
After about an hour , I was hungry enough to eat so I asked for a table, which I was promptly offered and taken too.
There I was given a menu, and asked what drinks I would like.
I ordered a mojito mocktails.
As I looked through the menu I couldn’t really decide what to order. Eventually, I settled for the lobster.. that arrived in 20 mins.
Lobster at the Private Room
The lobster was fine. But in all honesty I’m not generally all that fussed about lobsters.
It was a very wholesome and fresh meal though.
Since I want really hungry for anything further, I had a light dessert to finish off the meal.
Light Dessert at the Private Room
I had another mock-tail and probably stayed in the dining room for another 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, a guest seated next to me seemed to be taking a rather important call, which he was not very discreet about. One of the staff where doing their best to attend to him. He seems to be getting some errands run.
Showers
Between the drinks and getting a table, I decided to have a shower even though I was pretty fresh anyway. The private room has it’s own shower rooms with a couple of showers.
It’s not materially all that different from the business class showers just perhaps with some nicer touches like the flowers and better toiletries.
I enjoyed the shower though, as with other SQ lounge showers, the shower rooms are well equipped and have good water pressure.
Overall thoughts
The Private Room by Singapore Airlines was every bit as what I imagined it would be. Its exclusive, has superb dining and service going perhaps above and beyond. Its one of those experiences were you really need an extra stomach, or at least an empty one to fully enjoy the culinary experience. My first visit was rather early in the morning where I felt more sleepy than hungry, and second visit I already was very well fed on the incoming Singapore flight so perhaps I did not try as much of the food offerings. What I did order I enjoyed.
I imagine the physical space, furniture and deco are a fair few years old and and could do with a refresh. Having said that its still an elegant and stylish space. What slightly lacks in bling and glamour is more than made up for my the human touch. The service and staff are truly top notch. And boy they deliver.
Faze, founder of Wander Up Front and Elevate Your Stay, is a London-based travel specialist with a deep passion for aviation. With over 2 million miles flown, he has spent the last 7 years focusing on First and Business class experiences.
Faze provides straightforward, no-frills insights into premium airline products and services, sharing what matters to help travellers make informed choices.
Follow him on his adventures and behind the scene stories on Instagram !