Singapore Airlines
One of Citi PremierMiles’ most valuable airline transfer partner is Singapore Airlines, with its Krisflyer program.
Singapore Airlines has two award charts, one for flights solely on Singapore Airlines and one for flights on Singapore Airlines’ star alliance partners. While the Star Alliance chart has some great sweet spots for flights outside Asia, you’ll find the most value by redeeming flights solely on Singapore Airlines.
Krisflyer award flights are broken down into three different tiers: Saver, Standard, and Full. For the purposes of this guide we will focus on saver redemptions only, as saver award space for short haul flights are usually quite easy to find.
Singapore Airlines uses a zone based award chart, where the number of miles needed depends on which zone your departure and arrival airports are located in. The number of connections you need to make to reach your destination is irrelevant.
You can find the current Krisflyer award chart here.
Flights from Manila to Zone 1 (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei) are only 10,625 Krisflyer miles each way.
This means a flight from Manila to Singapore costs the exact same amount of miles of flying from Manila to Jakarta, while connecting in Singapore. For comparison, the same trip to Jakarta on Philippine Airlines would require 14,500 miles.
Tip: All flights booked online on Singapore Airlines’ website are discounted by 15% off. You’ll only see the correct price when you check out before you book your flight.
Singapore Airlines does pass on fuel surcharges & taxes on all award tickets. However, since fuel surcharges not allowed on flights from the Philippines, the fees you’ll pay are quite minimal.
For long haul flights, saver awards are harder to come by, but if you plan one year ahead or within the last couple of weeks, there’s usually award space available.
Unfortunately, Singapore Airlines has an extremely strict no “back-tracking” rule, which means you’re not allowed to fly “backwards” to reach your destination. As a result flights between Manila and Zone 3, 4, and 5 are ineligible for Krisflyer redemptions.
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However, if you’ve ever dreamed of going to the Maldives, Singapore Airlines has a bargain rate of only 15,725 Krisflyer miles each way for flights in coach from Manila to Zone 6 (also including India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh). If you want to fly in comfort, business class flights are 29,750 miles each way.
Feel like flying to Australia to see the New Years Eve fireworks? Flights to Sydney start at only 21,250 miles in coach.
Fly in Ultimate Luxury on the Legendary Singapore Suites
You may have heard of the Singapore Airlines suite: Dom Perignon champagne, a double bed in the sky, and an extraordinary $10,000 price tag.
It may seem unattainable, but we mere mortals can fly it for only a fraction of the price. Singapore airlines use to charge an absurd 1,000,000+ miles for redeeming award in Suites, but in more recent years the amount of points has fallen to a much more manageable level.
You can read about my trip from Los Angeles to Sydney in the Suites that I booked with Krisflyer miles + $300.
Currently there are no flights from Manila to Singapore that offer the suites product. However, there are a few select routes flight out of Singapore with Suites that you can use your miles on.
The experience will cost you a bit more miles, with the cheapest suites redemption costing 63,750 Krisflyer miles for one way Suites flight to Sydney.
Note: It is important when you book your flight that the airplane type is A380. All non A380 flights feature a completely different first class product.
The following is a list of all suites flights from the Philippines along with the number of miles needed:
Manila to Sydney & Melbourne– 63,750 Miles
Manila to Frankfurt- 91,375 miles
Manila to New York – 93,500 miles
To earn 93,500 Citi Premier Miles, you’d have to spend around $2600 a month for 24 months on a Citi PremierMiles Signature card.
Award space can be found using Singapore Airlines’ own award search engine. Since there are only a small number of these Singapore Airline Suites, the best way to find award space is by breaking your award (one way at a time) – revisesearch into two parts: instead of a round-trip flight, do two one-way searches.
How to Search for Award Space in Singapore Airlines
Step 1:
Log in to your KrisFlyer account on Singapore Airlines.
If you don’t have one yet, click this link to sign up: https://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/ppsclub-krisflyer/registration-form/
Step 2:
Go to the flight search page and enter your departure city and your arrival city. Check the “Redeem award flights” and then select the date(s) you want to fly. Finally, make sure to select First class / suites.
Step 3:
On the award results page, you will see three different award classes. We are looking for saver space only. If no saver space is available, the next award is standard, which is twice the amount of miles. Singapore Airlines gives users 15% off its award tickets if you book it online. To confirm select display total cost.
You can manually change dates by selecting the next date or previous date. This could get tedious, but here’s a tip: you could search for 7 days at a time by using an app in your smart phone. If you want to learn how to do this, click here.
Here:
Step 1:
Download the SingaporeAir app for either Android or iPhone.
Step 2:
Enter your Krisflyer details; your home screen should then be like this:
Step 3:
Select search flights and enter your departure and arrival city. Select one-way; make sure to select Krisflyer redemption (enter your pin to confirm).
Step 4:
Select the departure date and make sure to check “My dates are flexible”.
Step 5:
A list of all the flights should then appear, along with the lowest amount of miles needed. If you don’t see saver space, go back and search again, this time one week before or after your last date.
Step 6:
If you find saver award space, write it downand then search for it on Singapore Airlines’ website and confirm the award space.
If you are looking for a round trip flight, simply repeat the steps above to look for your return flight.
Transferring your Miles & Booking your Ticket
Once you have found award space on Krisflyer’s website you’ll need to convert your Citi PremierMiles points to Krisflyer miles.
To do so, you’ll need to contact the PremierMiles hotline at:
You’ll need to have already created a Singapore Airlines account and be able to provide the frequent flyer number to the phone agent.
Unfortunately, it looks like point transfers typically take 1-2 weeks, so will have to cross your fingers and hope award space remains open while you wait for your miles to deposit.
You can transfer your Premier Miles in batches of 1000 PremierMiles to 1000 Krisflyer miles, essentially a 1:1 ratio.
Once you’re miles have finished transferring its time to book your award.
How to Book an award flight with Singapore Airlines
One great aspect about Singapore Airlines is how easy it is to search and book your award ticket online. Unlike Filipino domestic carriers, especially Philippine Airlines, which requires you to physically go to a ticket office, Singapore Airlines makes its easy, and even gives you a 15% discount when you book online.
To book your award, simply search the flight where you found award space in and hit Continue and follow the instructions.
Make sure to enter your correct contact details, as it is a bit difficult to change your information once you booked your ticket. After paying the a few minor taxes & fees the miles should deduct immediately and you should get an email from Singapore airlines confirming your itinerary.
Your reservation should show up immediately and you should be able to immediately select your seats.
If you booked your flight in first or business class, you can actually pre-order your food with the online book the cook [link]
How to change or Cancel your award flight?
The good news is Singapore Airlines allows you to change the dates of your award ticket for free. However, if you want to change the route plan, cabin class and/or award type, they would charge you $12.
While changing your flight details only costs $12, cancelling your award ticket would cost you $30. If you cancel your award ticket, your miles will redeposit into your account. Keep in mind your miles do expire after three years.
To change or cancel your flight, you simply have to call the Krisflyer support desk. Make sure to have your booking reference number. The agent will take note of your request and confirm your change or cancellation. If you want to change your flight, you will need to find award space again.