Review of Singapore Airlines flight from Singapore to Kolkata in Economy

SIA

SQ - Singapore Airlines

Flight taken on 18 July 2025
SQ516
09:11 03h 51m 10:32
Class Economy
Seat
VM
2,222 · 65 · 4 · 27

This flight was part of a AU$403/$264 + 6,800 KrisFlyer miles ticket from Perth to Kolkata. Transferring straight through, which was my preference, was significantly more expensive.
Some days of the week this flight is operated by the A350, but those days didn't work for me.


Flight routing


Check-in hall at Changi Airport. I didn't have anything to check in because it was checked through all the way to Kolkata.


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There was a massive line to get into the immigration area, but it went quickly after that with the e-gates. 
After immigration there were many shops, including a cosmetics store giving free gelato to celebrate a launch of a new product. Unfortunately the people just ahead of me in the line got the last cups!
This flight departed from Gate A4. Gates A1-8 were in the same small secure area (security in Changi is at the gate).


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Boarding was meant to have already started by the time I got the gate security, but I went through and nothing was happening. Security itself took longer than it had to because the trays weren't accessible to people directly and were handed over one by one.
Inside the gate area there were bathrooms and a small shop. Plenty of seating since no other flights were departing around this time.


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Boarding was around half an hour late, but it was efficient and groups were mostly respected.
9V-MBC, a 7.6 year old ex-SilkAir 737 MAX 8.


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While welcoming everyone on board (they were more friendly than on the last flight) the crew handed out earphones. I still had mine from the last flight, though.
This is the business class seat.


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And the economy cabin.





And my seat.


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There was an adjustable headrest.


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Lights and unlike on the last flight, vents.


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The screen included a USB-A charger which was a lot faster than on the A350.


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Every seat had a blanket, but no pillow.


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All the regular stuff in the seatback pocket. Shopping magazine, wi-fi information card, safety card, and sickness bag.


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It was extremely warm on the plane and the vents barely did anything. I saw at least 5 different people trying to adjust the vents.
Entertainment content was similar to the last flight. There was LiveTV but I don't think it worked at any time during the flight.





When I'd first turned on the screen there was an option to sign into KrisFlyer, but it wasn't available for the rest of the flight.


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We pushed back just after a Batik Air Indonesia 737 came in next to us.


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For some reason the captain made the exact same announcement, word for word, welcoming everyone on board and introducing the crew etc, before and after pusback.
We passed a Cathay Pacific A330 and took off around half an hour behind schedule.


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Soon after take-off, lights were brightened for the meal service.


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It didn't take long for my special meal to be served.


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Quite similar to the meal on this same flight last year.


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The paratha here was in the foil, so it would have been very easy to miss if I hadn't remembered that it was packed the same way last time.


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And there was some kind of salad, plus cake.


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The main dish and the salad were average, and the cake was delicious. The rasberry was an excellent addition and tasted very good as well.


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The beverage cart kept going up and down the aisle without serving most people and I think the meals cart did as well, I'm not sure why.
While waiting I connected to the KrisFlyer network to access the internet, but it didn't let me connect even though we were at cruising altitude and we weren't anywhere near Indian airspace where it stops working. This was a bit frustrating since they were meant to have internet.


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The regular KrisWorld features were still available.


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The regular meals sounded great.


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I don't think there were actually toothbrushes but this is what was officially available on this flight.


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There was also entertainment on KrisWorld, including a poor selection of games (Singapore Airlines doesn't have games on the regular screens).


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The carts kept going up and down so many times that by the time they got to my part of the cabin it had been a bit over an hour since my meal had been served. Just then there was some turbulence so the flight attendents took everyone's drink orders and brought them a few minutes later.


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Lights were darkened after the meal service.


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I got up to use the bathroom after some time, and there was a line. While waiting everyone was offered water (which I didn't take). After waiting around five minutes I got to the front but a crew member went in just before me. While she was in there the seatbelt sign turned on and the whole line had to go back.
This was what the cabin looked like when I was going.


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A flight attendent came through the cabin with a tray of water and juice but walked quite fast past my row and must have missed me trying to ask for one.
After some time the seatbelt sign turned off and I went back to the lavatory. Another tray of juice was going through just then so I got apple juice.
The person in front of me didn't lock the door, luckily I'd seen him going in!
Inside, the floor was all wet and it wasn't very clear in general, luckily there was a bottle of hand sanitizer outside the bathroom (which is a great idea!)
I asked a flight attendent about the wi-fi, there was still no internet. She asked if I was a KrisFlyer member, I said yes but it wouldn't let me sign in and says it's only available at cruising altitude after connecting to KrisWorld (both conditions were met). She reloaded the page, then said to restart my phone, then while it was restarting said that it wasn't available on this flight. The plane did have stickers saying "Wi-fi on board" but I'm not sure if not having internet is a 737 MAX thing, or on flights to Kolkata, or to India, or it was just this flight.
Nothing much happened for the rest of the flight.


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There was a service with a tray of drinks, but it was only taken to the front rows (of economy) and once it ran out they didn't bring any more for the back. It was the same thing with water a few minutes later. Having more beverage runs is great, but it wasn't carried out very well.
Soon we were flying over Kolkata and then coming in for landing.


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There weren't any interesting planes on the ground at CCU, just the standard domestic A320s and 737s.
The screens all turned off a few minutes after landing - and literally a second after my movie finished! I'd thought I wouldn't have enough time to finish ot completely but it was, just barely.
Some more pictures of the cabin on the way out.





And business class.


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There was a very long line for regular immigration but a very short one for foreign nationals. Both moved fast, although I had to scan my fingerprint like 10 times because it wouldn't work. Finally the officer let me through.
Bags had to be put through a scanner after immigration and before baggage claim.
Because of the delay with my fingerprint most of the bags had already arrived and people were leaving already. The airport was quite empty, the only other flight around this time was AirAsia from KL.


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And that concludes this report and trip. Thanks for reading.

Display all

Product ratings

Airline

Singapore Airlines 7.0

  • Cabin7.5 / 10
  • Cabin crew7.0 / 10
  • Entertainment/wifi6.5 / 10
  • Meal/catering7.0 / 10
Departure airport

Singapore - SIN7.9

  • Efficiency6.5 / 10
  • Access7.5 / 10
  • Services9.0 / 10
  • Cleanliness8.5 / 10
Arrival Airport

Kolkata - CCU6.3

  • Efficiency6.5 / 10
  • Access5.5 / 10
  • Services6.0 / 10
  • Cleanliness7.0 / 10

Conclusion

Another average flight with Singapore Airlines. The entertainment content and the meal were both decent, while the crew were a little more friendly than on the last flight. I can't complain about the cabin with entertainment screens and USB charging - Malaysia Airlines and, at least for now, Thai both don't have screens on their flights into CCU. The wi-fi issues were frustrating since I'd come in with the expectation of having it available, it wouldn't have mattered at all if I hadn't. Only the front rows being given extra drinks was quite strange and I'm not sure what the reasoning behind it was.
Singapore Airlines isn't getting any better and I'm getting a little bored of flying with them. After this trip I'm not sure that Malaysia Airlines would be substantially worse which I didn't think at all earlier and Thai would likely be a nicer option, at least if they bring back 787 service to Kolkata. Hopefully I'll be able to try something different next time, though Singapore Airlines worked out well this time since it was a reasonable price and it's not a bad airline overall.

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Comments (4)

  • Nice report as always!

    There was a massive line to get into the immigration area, but it went quickly after that with the e-gates.

    That's the beauty of Changi, even when there's a long queue it often goes fast. An efficient airport and just a cool place to hang out in general with so much to see and do, which you can't say about most airports hah

    Too bad that the Wi-Fi didn't work, but it's cool that there is streaming IFE on top of the seatback screens in case a screen doesnt work. More airlines should have this.

    The meal looks quite good for a regional flight.

    Thanks for sharing!

    • Yeah that's a good point about the entertainment, I didn't even think of that since I've never had screen issues with them.

      Thanks for reading!

      • Hah, that’s what’s ironic. It’s usually the airlines with the best maintenance that offer this meanwhile the ones with everything broken would never think to offer streaming IFE 😂

        • Yeah it should really be the other way around lol, I think Air India is the only exception

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