Around 10 years ago, Singapore Airlines’ shook the aviation
world when it revealed its earth shattering first class suites aboard the A380,
the world’s largest plane. With the world’s first fully enclosed suites that
could also be combined to form a double bed in the sky, Singapore Airlines was
making a bold statement and capturing the world’s media attention.
Combined with its world class service, it’s no wonder people
dream of flying on Singapore Airline’s luxury suites. This level of luxury doesn’t
come cheap: In fact, a passenger in 2007 paid an eye dropping $100,000 to fly
in on its maiden voyage from Singapore to Sydney.
These days a round trip ticket can easily run over $20,000,
but you don’t need to be a millionaire to fly in decadence. Instead, you can
use Krisflyer miles to redeem a first class ticket on Singapore Airlines.
How many miles will Singapore
Airlines Suites Class cost me?
Singapore Airlines used to charge a hefty amount of miles
for redeeming award in Suites, but in more recent years have started to charge
a much lower redemption rates for its award flights.
For example a one way ticket in Singapore’s Suites Class
from New York to Singapore will run you only 93,500 Krisflyer miles.
A flight from New York to Frankfurt in Suites Class will
cost a mere 57,375 miles.
How do I earn
Singapore Airlines’ Krisflyer miles without being a frequent flyer?
Don’t fly much, but still want to try the Singapore Suite?
The good news is you can easily earn enough miles without flying a single mile
through credit card sign up bonuses.
While 93,500 Krisflyer miles sounds like a lot, Singapore
Airlines actually partnered with all three major US card programs: Citi, Chase,
and American Express.
This means you can transfer credit card miles from all three
major card companies, allowing you to combine points if necessary.
Best Current Travel
Credit Cards that earn Krisflyer miles
Currently, the best business travel credit card that earns Krisflyer miles is the Chase Ink Preferred card, which comes with 80,000 sign up bonus.
If you prefer an alternative to Chase, the American Express Business
Gold Card has a 50,000 sign up bonus and earns 3x points on air travel
purchases.
View All Business Card Offers Here
Alternatively, you’re looking for an everyday rewards card, the Chase Sapphire Card will earn 50,000 miles, plus 5000 additional miles when you add an authorized user, which is enough miles to fly to Frankfurt one way on Singapore Airlines’ first class suite.
View All Travel Reward Card Offers Here
Besides the card’s mentioned, there are over 10+ other
credit cards that can be converted into Krisflyer miles, making the Krisflyer
program by far the most flexible.
If you’re having difficulty deciding which card is the right
fit for you, you can always request a free personalized card consultation.
Award Rules
Singapore Airlines has two award charts, one for award
redemptions on its own flights and one for flights on its partners. For first
class award redemptions, we will be focusing on the first chart since Singapore Airlines
charges less miles to fly on its own product.
Singapore Airlines has a few straightforward rules for its award bookings.
The first is that you must book the most direct and shortest
routing possible. The second is that in order to receive the lowest miles
requirement, you can only fly on Singapore Airlines. Combining it with other
airlines will result to using the more expensive partner award chart instead.
Finally, flights with Singapore Airlines qualify for a 15%
award miles discount when booked online.
Singapore A380 Routes
If you want to fly in the fully enclosed suite, you’ll need
to fly on the A380. Unfortunately the routes on which the A380 fly on are quite
limited.
Singapore Airlines use to fly to the A380 from both Los
Angeles & New York. However, Singapore Airlines recently discontinued A380 service to Los Angeles. As a result, the sole airport in the US that the A380 serves
is New York.
From New York you can fly to Frankfurt for 57,375 or
Singapore for 93,500 miles.
You can also tag on another flight after Singapore for just
a fraction more miles.
These include flights between Auckland, Beijing, Hong Kong, Melbourne,
Sydney, and Shanghai.
All A380 Singapore
Airlines Routes
A flight from New York to Sydney would only cost 112,625
Krisflyer miles, with all three flights on the Singapore Suites!
You can find full award chart here. Do note that you’ll need
to multiple the award prices by 0.85 since the chart doesn’t factor in the 15%
online booking discount.
Starting March 23rd 2017, award prices on Singapore Suites for long haul flights is going up by at least 25%! Click here for more details.
Singapore Airlines also does have a few routes flown by
planes with a non-suite first class product. The soft product (food, alcohol,
service) is the same, so if you can’t find award space from New York, this
could be a good alternative.
Here is the list of flights from the US that offer non-suite
first class service:
Houston to Manchester (57,375 miles)
Houston to Singapore (93,500 miles)
Los Angeles to Seoul (74,375 miles)
Los Angeles to Tokyo (74,375 miles)
Los Angeles to Singapore (91,375 miles)
You can always “tag on” a flight on the A380 after Singapore
if your main desire is to experience the suites after arriving in Singapore.
Other Award Fees
Unlike other airline loyalty programs, Singapore Airlines
does charge a slight fuel surcharge & taxes, which usually runs around
$200-300 one way.
Taxes for my trip last
year on Singapore Suites from LAX-SYD
$100 Stopover Trick
One of the best hidden values of the Singapore Airlines
Krisflyer program is the option of adding stopovers on any one way Singapore
Airlines award flight.
This could allow you to explore two different regions for
the price of one award.
You could stopover in Frankfurt, explore Europe, and then
continue on to Singapore for no additional mileage. The only catch is Singapore
Airlines does charge $100 per stopover, which is quite a reasonable fee to pay.
If you really want to maximize your award, you could even
add a second stopover for another $100.
I was personally able to book a flight from Los Angeles to Sydney, with stopovers in both Tokyo and Singapore, allowing me to explore
different parts of Asia, before arriving in Australia.
Note: The A380 has
been discontinued on this route as of October 2016.
To add a stopover, you’ll have to search for award
availability for each flight separately, write down the available flights, and
call the KrisFlyer desk.
How to Search for
Award Space:
All award space can be found on Singapore Airlines’ website. For a full detailed guide on searching for award space, click here.
How to Book a Suites
Flight:
Once you have the enough miles, you’ll have to search for
award space on Singapore Airlines’ website.
It’s important to note that award space on certain routes,
especially the A380 flight from New York to Singapore (with a layover in
Frankfurt) is extremely limited. This is why I recommend transferring your
miles only after you’ve found award space.
Once you’ve found award space, you should then transfer your
credit card miles to Krisflyer. Do note that Krisflyer miles do not transfer
instantaneously, but the vast majority of points transfers complete within 48
hours.
