This is one of a series of posts about a recent trip and my experience flying in business class for the first time. For an aviation enthusiast like me who’s been on many different flights, all in budget or economy, this was an incredibly exciting opportunity and one that I’ll never forget.

Before you ask, no I didn’t stumble across any buried treasure or inherent the proceeds of a rich relative. I was able to do this through a series of fortunate events that got me a heavily discounted rate without paying the thousands of dollars that is usually required.

In this post I’ll go through the first experience that I had in this trip, which was using the SATS Premier Lounge at Terminal 3 in Changi Airport.

This was also my first ever visit to an airport lounge so all very new to me!

Access

Lounge access was included in my ticket because I was flying business class with Saudia. I was told at the checkin counter that although the Lounge was ‘full’, this only applied to people who purchase or otherwise obtain lounge access outside of their ticket. In other words, if you are flying business or first class, you are guaranteed entry. They give you a small paper ticket that you can show to the staff at the entrance to the lounge.

Staff manage this crowding issue by having an entirely separate of the lounge called the ‘Executive Lounge’, separated from the rest with doors. Despite some people trying to sneak in, the staff were very attentive to this and promptly kicked them out.

Facilities

Upon arrival I showed my card and was ushered into the ‘Executive Lounge’ with a brief explanation of the facilities. There were only three other people in there. Maybe this was because I was on an early morning flight departing at 0230.

Having said this, the rest of the lounge remained ‘full’ for the entire two hours that I was there and staff seemed to be regularly turning people away. This may also be because it is one of the few lounges – if not the only one – that is open 24 hours a day in this terminal.

The Executive Lounge has lots of comfortable chairs. Some are partitioned from each other.

There are two massage chairs in the back corner but I was never able to try them out because two other people sat there for the entire two hours (despite the sign imposing a 15 minute time limit on the chairs).

There is a minibar with soft drinks and a coffee machine atop the fridges.

Along the side is a long desk with chairs and powerpoints as a kind of work or study area.

I should mention that the powerpoints were everywhere throughout the room. They also had USB-A and USB-C charging ports that worked just fine. I had heard previous complaints about slow wi-fi but it worked well for me and was easy to connect.

Outside the secluded Executive Lounge it was quite noisy. Not only because there were lots of people but also because there is no separation between this area and the gates on the level below. I don’t imagine that you would get much sleep out here without earplugs or something.

Speaking of sleeping, I didn’t see any pods, beds or anything similar. If you can sleep sitting upright you might be able to get a nap in the Executive Lounge but I wouldn’t count on it.

There is a well-featured buffet and drinks area. I wasn’t planning to eat anything substantial here but they do offer hot meals between 0700 and 1100, and 1900 and 2300 every day.

Outside of those hours there is still a decent selection. Because this was my first time in a lounge I had no point of comparison but it seemed pretty good to me. There was a mix of Western and Asian foods including congee, mashed potatoes and maggi goreng.

I had a taste of the granola with some milk, a muffin and a piece of mango cheesecake. They were all of decent quality but nothing to write home about. I didn’t try any of the hot food because it was late and I wanted to sleep on the plane.

There was also an extensive selection of drinks. There was all kinds of tea (including herbal and non-caffeinated, which is great for this time of night), coffee machines, soft drinks, juices and lager beer.

A few glass jars on the counter were filled with different types of Singaporean, Malaysian and Indonesian biscuits and some nuts. These were surprisingly good!

There is a seating area next to the buffet on high chairs for eating. You can also take the food into other parts of the lounge.

For me the best part was the shower facilities. I was surprised to see that nobody else seemed to use them. It was very refreshing to be able to shower just before two long flights to the other side of the world.

The showers themselves are in the same area as the toilets. There is no booking system. All you need to do is ask at the front desk for a fresh towel and find which of the two showers are available.

The stalls are clean and spacious. There is shampoo, body wash and a hairdryer inside. I had no problems with the water pressure and temperature. The hooks on the back of the door are very handy for hanging up clothes.

After you finish, there is a wicker basket to leave your wet towel.

Overall

I spent over two hours in the lounge. As it was my first time I didn’t really know what to expect but I thoroughly enjoyed the facilities here.

As I said, my favourite thing here was being able to use the shower. Even if you’re not interested in that, it’s a nice place to sit.

My one piece of advice if you are looking for somewhere peaceful to sleep – this probably isn’t the place for you. I would instead recommend finding one of the many quiet corners in the terminal buildings and trying there instead. Given the noise from the gates nearby and the number of people in the lounge – even at one o’clock in the morning – you would be hard pressed to even have a nap.