Singapore Airlines is planning to introduce caviar in business class.
Singapore Airlines has posted a new request on its eProcurement portal for “Supply of Farmed Caviar for Business Class”.
Singapore offers a lovely caviar service in first class.
So do carriers like Lufthansa, Emirates, Etihad, ANA, Korean and Cathay Pacific to name just a few.
Only Qatar Airways and THAI offer caviar in long haul business class. And it’s surprisingly inexpensive to do. The investment, for them, almost seems like a no-brainer.
United Airlines plans a caviar offering for Polaris Studio Suites customers (bulkhead rows of business class on new Boeing 787-9 aircraft). It’s a very modest caviar offering, but it’s meant to signal and differentiate ‘premium’.
Meanwhile, American Airlines serves $6 wine in Flagship First Class. No wonder Qatar Airways is moving out of American’s terminal at New York JFK and building their own lounge.
Singapore Airlines is a premium carrier, and their business class experience features top champagne and excellent food. Their ‘Book the Cook’ meal options, especially on departures from Singapore, are really fantastic. Their business class Prawn & Chicken Laksa remains one of the best meals I’ve ever had on a plane.
So this move hardly surprises. Now if only they’d work on the seats which, while wide, angle underneath the seat in front and force sleeping in an awkward position.
I’m yet to find any mention of a caviar service on any of the Qatar longhaul flights from Australian ports to Doha.
Not something my eagle-eye would miss!
Is it ‘on request’ only maybe?
Singapore business class footwells are also quite small on their ULH flights. Very good airline overall though.
I remember when United had a very nice caviar service in their first class (when they had first class). They stopped serving caviar, they said, for the environment. Such a lie. I switched to foreign carriers for international flights. I’m guess they didn’t care as much about costs, I mean the environment.
The seat is the main negative for SQ and they are starting to fall behind. For their next Biz seat, instead of wasting money on a custom design (cough cough LH), they should go with the Safran Unity seat (JL A350) as the platform, and use the design budget to refine the finishes. Would be a winning strategy
@Glenn t Caviar is served on flights from DOH to SYD and MEL.
@glenn t — Not sure about from/to Oz, but from JFK-DOH, caviar is by-request in Business. Where’s @cairns?!
@Christian — I’m with you; it’s a unique lie-flat, kinda have to configure at an angle to fully-extend. Of course, the ‘fun’ is getting assistance to lower it. I’ve taken SQ 21/22/23/24 enough times to be able to do it myself.
Nothing about United is premium, nor will ever be, under Kirby. Look at portion sizes compared to 10 years ago. Look at how he killed off the Polaris soft product introduced under Oscar.
As far as seating goes, the best (albeit limited) experience I’ve had is Turkish Business on the 787 & A350.
I flew Biz from LAX to NRT in March. I ordered a scotch I had never had before, Dewars Double Double. It was outstanding and when I asked for a second glass they said that I got the last drop.
Price here, $125/750ml bottle. By comparison Johnnie Walker Double Black is $85.
Separately, I agree that the beds need a lot of improvement. Both in softness and space.