Short review
Lounge (SilverKris): 4/5 – Singapore Airlines lounge is good
Cabin: 2/5 – Reclining seat is the main weakness
Service: 4/5 – Flight attendants were good; overall service was just ok
Food and beverages: 4.5/5 (Luke Mangan delivers)
Overall: 3.5/5
Pros:
- Delicious in-flight food
- Reasonable price
Cons:
- Reclining seat
- Hit-and-miss in terms of overall service
- Difficult to use the tablet-based entertainment system while eating
Long review
This flight was Virgin Australia VA35 from Sydney, Australia to Denpasar (Bali), Indonesia. The flight was scheduled to leave Sydney at 11:45 and to arrive in Denpasar at 16:30 with a total flight duration of 6 hours and 45 minutes. In the Sydney Airport, I was directed to use the Singapore Airlines SilverKris business class lounge by the check-in staff which I happily complied. I have been to their first class lounge twice, but I haven’t been to their business class lounge, so I was indeed curious.
The design of the lounge is similar to their flagship lounge in Singapore, although obviously in a much smaller scale. There’s a big window along one wall facing the tarmac and part of a runway so it’s quite nice for spotting planes. The lounge size is also reasonable in my opinion. It was quite crowded when I came in, but I still could find a seat easily. It became very quiet about 20 minutes before my boarding time, allowing me to take photos freely.
The food selection was not bad. It was dominated by the typical western style breakfast dishes, but there was also an Asian noodle dish. The drink selection was very good as they offered a variety of beer, cider, wine, soft drink, coffee and tea. I believe there’s a couple of shower rooms in the male bathroom and the amenities provided in the bathroom were adequate. Supported by a good WiFi, I managed to do some work while waiting for boarding.
The plane was B737, which is a narrow-body airplane. There were 8 seats arranged in 2 rows in the business class cabin, meaning those sitting on a window seat did not have direct access to the aisle, which is typical of this narrow-body plane type. My seat was 1A (window seat) and I got lucky because there were 7 business class passengers and the seat next to me was empty. The seat was a typical reclining business class seat, which was rather uncomfortable after seating on it for more than 6 hours. I also noticed that the windows were particularly dirty. The spots shown in the photo were actually on the cabin side and they were on every window.
Welcome drinks and menu were distributed after I settled on my seat. Virgin Australia’s business class menu was created by Luke Mangan. There were 2 options for each the starter, main and dessert. For starter, I ordered pumpkin, turmeric and saffron soup with parsley. For main, I chose pork and mushroom ragu with potato gnocchi, basil and parmesan. Finally, I picked chocolate cake with crème fraiche for dessert. I also ordered red wine which was designed to be enjoyed at altitude for accompanying my lunch along with hot chocolate that I requested to be served together with my dessert.
Not long after take-off, the lunch service began. My starter, the pumpkin soup, was delicious, smooth and surely a good dish to start the palate. My main, the pork and mushroom ragu, was exceptionally good. One of the best dishes I had on a plane. I must say that the red wine wasn’t disappointing either. However, this was the peak of the flight experience apparently. Suddenly a flight attendant told me that my dessert was not available and was replaced with a kind of orange cake. The taste was fine though. She also forgot to bring the hot chocolate with the dessert as I requested. She only remembered after I finished my dessert. She apologised and quickly brought a mug of hot chocolate along with some short bread, which paired nicely with the chocolate I must admit.
When it comes to the entertainment system, Virgin Australia provided a tablet for each business class passenger in this flight. Passengers also could use their own devices although they need to make sure that their software is current prior to boarding. I used one of their tablets because somehow the system didn’t work in all my devices. It was inconvenient to watch a movie while eating actually because there was simply no space to place the tablet. The movie selection was ok for a regional flight.
Back to the seat, it is a bit hard for me to sleep on this reclining seat even though the pitch is quite generous. As a comparison, Garuda Indonesia flights between Sydney and Denpasar are much more comfortable because they use A330 and their seat can be converted into either a fully flat bed or angled lie-flat bed. I believe Virgin Australia is generally cheaper than Garuda Indonesia on this route though, so I guess you get what you pay for.
I spent the remaining of the flight time doing some work and watching movies. Snacks and drinks were offered, which I declined. I was satisfied with a bottle of water provided early in the flight. In Denpasar, the plane parked in a remote location, so all passengers were ushered together on buses to the terminal. This is in contrast to flying with Garuda Indonesia where normally an aerobridge will be used. Anyway, this was the end of my journey.
The food was definitely the best thing about this flight. As I said earlier, the main was one of the best dishes I had on a plane. The lounge in Sydney was good. It was a SilverKris lounge after all, owned by Singapore Airlines, the best airline in the world in 2018 according to Skytrax. The other aspects were mediocre I must say with the seat as the worst aspect. For a day-time flight, probably it is still ok, but I would prefer a more comfortable seat for a red-eye flight. In overall, I have had better experiences flying with Garuda Indonesia and Qantas on routes between Australia and Indonesia.
