SilverKris lounges
Singapore Airlines has a selection of SilverKris lounges, for Business and First Class passengers, dotted around the world in locations that typically carry a lot of premium traffic and connecting passengers to and through its Changi hub.
Bangkok is no exception – with six flights to Singapore each day, currently operated by a mixture of the Airbus A330-300 and Boeing 777-200 aircraft, and each carrying up to 30 Business Class passengers plus a good number of KrisFlyer Gold and PPS Club members flying Economy, making it a busy route.
Progressively, throughout the network of lounges, SIA is renovating its offering with a new concept in mind – ‘A Home Away From Home’.
The new ‘home’ concept SilverKris Lounge showcases Singapore Airlines’ unique heritage distinguished by a customised batik design screen in the welcome foyer.
Inside, customers can look forward to the familiarity of home with unique spaces modelled after living, dining rooms and kitchens, featuring tastefully selected art pieces. Specially designed productivity pods enable customers to work in privacy and comfort, while signature Singapore Airlines armchairs will be a new feature at all refurbished SilverKris Lounges.
To complete the ‘home’ experience, customers can look forward to more personalised services and a delectable selection of food and beverages, including iconic dishes from Singapore.
In other words – a little slice of Singapore wherever you are – we like it.
Bangkok now joins several other SIA out-stations with the new lounge concept, including London Heathrow. We visited the Heathrow lounge in September this year, and while overall we found it the poorest of the Star Alliance lounges there (United Club and Air Canada are both better in our opinion), it’s still a welcome improvement on the previous SIA offering.
Location
After proceeding through the “Priority” security channel (which in Bangkok often takes longer than the normal alternative!), and Immigration, it’s a short walk to the lounge almost directly opposite, and down one level.
That’s a welcome change in Bangkok, where a lot of walking is sometimes involved in the huge terminal. The up side is that there are plenty of travelators to ease the journey and whilst you pass-by duty-free shops, you aren’t forced to walk through them!
The lounge is located opposite gate D7, which is where most Singapore Airlines flights depart from.
Tip: If travelling with another Star Alliance carrier – note the location of your gate. At this airport, it could be at least a 15-minute walk away!
In detail
General
Opening Times: 6.30am to 11.00pm (Thursday closing at 7pm)
Capacity: 102 people
Showers: No
Bar: Yes
Wi-Fi: Yes
Multi-standard Power Sockets: Yes
USB Charging Sockets: Yes
Seating
Spread across the lounge there are low, leather armchairs and high wing-backed chairs. There is a small restaurant area with tables and dining chairs, including a communal dining table, and then around the bar and the sides of the lounge – a mixture of high and low bar style seating (why they didn’t go with high bar stools at the bar itself, we’re not sure).
At the back of the lounge, furthest from the kitchen area, there is also a bank of private work-booths, which are partially enclosed – perfect for solo or business travellers.
Almost all seating areas are equipped with multi-standard power sockets and USB charging.
Despite not being the biggest of lounges, the seating is nicely spread out and doesn’t feel overloaded – even in the run-up to departure when the lounge becomes quite busy.
Disappointingly, the noise of the terminal outside does emanate through the open doorway and makes the lounge a little noisier than it should be.
A good selection of international newspapers and magazines are on offer too.
Wi-Fi speed
Fast – in terms of a busy lounge. But the speed seems to have suffered since some of the early reviews we read of this lounge.
Download: 9.66mb/s
Upload: 2.90mb/s
Ping: 6ms
More than adequate for even a heavy data user – perfect for uploading photos or sending large attachments.
Food
A wide selection of hot and cold options is on offer. Thai and Singaporean options include curries and soups. There are sandwiches, cold meats, salad and dessert options.
The quality of the food was good and the options were regularly replenished, however we visited the EVA Air lounge earlier in the day and we did prefer the food there, the curry was just more flavoursome, and when in Bangkok – this matters!
Beverages
The headline here is a manned bar. The cocktails on the menu were okay. But the bartender himself is actually quite skilled and capable of making quite an array of cocktails to a very good standard – so think laterally here and ask for your favourite.
My only wish is that Singapore Airlines had followed through with the above and made Champagne available. It is available at other destinations on request, yet here, all you are offered is a rather unusual tasting “Suvarnabhumi Sparking” which is apparently “just like sparkling wine”… I can assure you – it isn’t.
The cappuccino martini wasn’t bad, if not a little sweet. A good afternoon pick-me-up.
There is a well-stocked fridge with soft drinks and beer and a separate Asahi machine hiding around the corner of the bar area that pours you the perfect iced mug.
Wine choices are two red and two white.
The two red wines on offer were:
- Réserve St. Martin Réserve Cabernet Sauvignon (France). 3.5 stars on