Singapore Changi airport - SATS Premier lounge

As Swiss departs out of Terminal 1, I had to take the excruciatingly slow monorail over there from Terminal 2, where the MRT stop is. I eventually made it to the Swiss check-in desks, only to see a sign saying “Business and First class passengers please use SATS premier check-in lounge”. I was directed to the far end of the terminal, where my bag was x-rayed and my boarding pass checked before I was allowed to enter what looked a lot more like a city ticket office than a check-in facility, with several desks staffed with SATS agents behind flat screens. I was invited to take a seat, and a porter weighted my bag and then put it on the conveyor belt that was discretely located in the background, while a lady dealt with my tickets and passport and then attached all the tags to my bag. I had preassigned seat 2A in the A340’s First class cabin, and got a corresponding boarding pass. The agent was a bit surprised to encounter a Swiss flying his national airline, but only from Singapore to Bangkok. As my onward flight to Zurich the next day was under a different PNR, she could not see that. And I did not feel like telling her. The check-in lounge’s exit is right in front of the immigration desks, so I could have skipped the lines if there would have been any. After having been stamped out of the country, I proceeded to the SATS premier lounge upstairs from the duty free floor, and based on my ticket was invited into its First class part. This was a very small, almost cubicle-like area without any windows, creating a feeling like in a prison cell. It offered only a very limited choice of food and beverages. Yes, there was some sort of hot beef ragout, but it didn’t appeal to me, and I failed to find anything decent to nibble on, so I just had a ginger ale before going over into the Business class part, which was substantially larger, airier and also offered a full buffet including some spring rolls, rice balls and the like to munch on. There was also a WLAN available, but it was not for free so I decided not to use it. According to a sign at the entrance, no boarding calls would be made, so I determined on my own when it was time to go, and by the time I got to the gate and past the security check there, boarding was just about to begin.


<= previous page - p21 - next page =>