Snapshot Review: Singapore Airlines Silver Kris Lounge, Manila, Philippines
This is a review of Singapore Airlines’ SilverKris Lounge in Terminal 3 at Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in the Philippines.
The lounge is open to passengers:
Travelling in Business or First Class on Singapore Airlines or other Star Alliance airlines (ANA, Thai Airways, EVA Air, United, Asiana, Air China and Shenzhen Airlines).
With KrisFlyer or Star Alliance Elite Gold in any cabin on a Star Alliance airline.
With Singapore Airlines PPS Club status travelling on Singapore Airlines or Star Alliance flights.
With Singapore Airlines Solitaire PPS Club status travelling on Singapore Airlines, Star Alliance or Scoot.
These are pretty standard access rules for lounges across Star Alliance.
Seeing the lounge is quite easy as it can be seen directly after the border security checkpoint. Finding it takes a bit more time and involves walking around five minutes to a lift and then heading upstairs. All lounges at Terminal 3 are in this area - Singapore Airlines and the more premium looking Cathay Pacific lounges are located next to each other.
The entrance design will look familiar to anybody who has visited other Singapore Airlines lounges. According to Mainly Miles, a Singapore-based travel site, this lounge opened in July 2015 sporting the ‘home away from home concept’ - making this almost eight years old at the time of visiting.
Inside is a selection of seating which is exactly the same as you’ll find at their other global lounges, such as London. Most seating consists of lowback chairs that are only comfy for short stints or these obnoxiously tall chairrs in groups. Neither are particularly practical.
There are two sets of well designed cubicles for office working at both ends of the lounge. These go quickly, so arrive early to grab one.
With a higher vantage point, you can get some decent views of the airport from the window seats and do a bit of planespotting. Although on the day I visited, most of the traffic consisted of arriving and departing Cebu Pacific aircraft.
I didn’t get too many shots of the food and drink offering at the lounge, mostly because it was just okay. The selection including Filipino options, such as Kare Kare, other Asian foods and Western dishes such as pies and sandwiches. None of it was outstanding though.
Finally, the bathroom was completely average. Clean but a little dated, you should note that there are no showers available. If you need the latter after a long day of exploring Manila, then you will need to head to one of the pay per use/Priority Pass lounges.
Manila’s SilverKris Lounge is a serviceable place to visit without offering much of the ‘wow’ that Singapore Airlines has in the air. Everything about this lounge is bang on average and it isn’t somewhere that really warrants arriving early for.
The airline could do with sprucing up the space a little to be closer to their newest lounge design, as seen in Seoul, or at the least look to install a shower suite or two. While it wouldn’t put me off flying Singapore Airlines from Manila, if I were to see a similar connecting flight price on Cathay Pacific I would be tempted to try the Hong Kong-based carrier for the superior lounge experience here and at their home airport.
