Hello from Singapore! I’ve just spent the past four hours flying here on Singapore Airlines’ A380 premium economy class. It’s been seven years since my last time on a Singapore Airlines A380 and my first time in Singapore Airlines’ premium economy, so I definitely will publish more of my thoughts on the overall experience. For now, I’ll just focus on one thing that I wasn’t necessarily excited about (though I did know about it) – it blew my mind.
Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 Premium Economy
I’m talking about Singapore Airlines’ KrisWorld entertainment system.
I know that there are three major entertainment systems out there that are known for a huge selection – Singapore Airlines’ KrisWorld, Emirates’ ICE and Cathay Pacific’s StudioCX. I haven’t been on Emirates before, so I really only had one point of comparison. And the competition sure is stiff – Cathay Pacific’s A350 features an updated StudioCX selection which is extremely easy to navigate, and features a wide selection of movies and music. This left me doubting that Singapore would have a better entertainment selection.
Cathay Pacific Airbus A350-900 Business Class Entertainment
KrisWorld has its downsides
Let me start off with the three negatives of KrisFlyer, as I don’t think the system itself is absolutely perfect. The first downside is that the screens aren’t touchscreen. This seems minor (and it is), but it does make a difference compared to Cathay Pacific’s interface, which is so responsive it might as well be an iPad.
Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 Premium Economy Seatback
The second negative is that it isn’t exactly easier to get from one screen to another. On StudioCX, you can easily move from a movie selection screen to your playlist or the flight map. On KrisWorld, you have to return to the home screen every time, which can be a bit of an inconvenience when you’re trying to pause your music, etc.
Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 Premium Economy KrisWorld Home Screen
The last negative is that the flight map itself isn’t as detailed as some of the “newer” entertainment systems out there. I’m starting to become pedantic, as the KrisWorld entertainment system has been in place for years whereas the newer Panasonic systems have only been in place for a short amount of time, but you can’t adjust the view, there’s no “cockpit information”, etc.
Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 Premium Economy Flight Map
The selection itself is amazing
During takeoff, I decided to quickly browse the inflight entertainment selection, and found myself open-mouthed at the range of choices presented in each section. I mean, I was overwhelmed. I don’t normally watch airplane movies (and I didn’t on the flight), but I was so compelled to watch something because of how wide the selection was.
There are 47 European movies to choose from.
Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 Premium Economy KrisWorld Selection
There were 15 newly released movies, most of which were Disney’s. This included Trolls, Moana, Sing, etc.
Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 Premium Economy KrisWorld Selection
All eight Harry Potter movies were present in a “Wizards Special” section.
Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 Premium Economy KrisWorld Selection
And if that doesn’t suit you, there were seven Star Wars movies to choose from as well under “Galactic Episodes”.
Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 Premium Economy KrisWorld Selection
What else was there? I don’t normally watch TV, but it’s nice to have entire seasons of TV there as well. There were 34 seasons of TV shows to choose from, from Glee to Silicon Valley. There were also back-to-back episodes, as well as a myriad of HBO TV series, classic TV, etc.
Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 Premium Economy KrisWorld Selection
I was personally most excited about the music selection. Under the “Pop Music” selection alone there are 160 albums to choose from. I don’t think Cathay Pacific has any more than 50, nor do they have UK Top 20 playlists dating back to 1960.
Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 Premium Economy KrisWorld Selection
Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 Premium Economy KrisWorld Selection
Bottom Line
I’m confident that KrisWorld is one of the best entertainment systems out there just based on the variety of entertainment. While it’s nice to have a good interface, which they definitely could work on, the amount of TV shows, movies and music can probably keep me busy for quite a few back-to-back 24-hour flights.
It matters least on the 777-300ERs, I guess, as WiFi is charged by time on the 777-300ERs, which makes the entertainment system a little less useful than it is on the A380 (and other aircraft, which don’t feature WiFi at all). On the A380s, OnAir WiFi is charged by data, so I’d probably eat up quite a few packages in a matter of minutes.
Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 OnAir WiFi Charges
Has anyone else been impressed by Singapore’s KrisWorld entertainment selection?
I flew Emirates, Cathay and SIA last month and I agree that the Singapore IFE is probably the best of all three. But Emirates is pretty close to a tie with SIA, and Cathay needs to cut all those ads out of the mix, but all good systems.