The Absolute Best Uses of Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Miles
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles get a lot of attention for use on Singapore Airlines’ famous first class suites, but there are other sweet spots in their award chart. With multiple transfer and redemption partners, there are tons of options for using KrisFlyer miles. Here are the best uses of your Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles.
Singapore Airlines Award Chart
Singapore Airlines (SQ) has multiple different award charts. There’s one for flights on Singapore & Silk Air. There’s another for Star Alliance awards. Then, non-alliance partners each have a separate award. There’s even a handy mileage calculator here to know how much you’ll need, if in doubt.
Short-Haul Singapore Airlines First Class
Want to sample the good life in first class? As Ian mentioned in his review of the cheapest first-class flights, the price tag on longer flights can be hefty. Get a sample with a short-haul SQ first class flight. Yes, this is a different setup than their famous suites. However, saver award space for first class is 27,500 miles for flights between Singapore and Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Remember that there are no carrier fees on Singapore flights booked with KrisFlyer.
West Coast USA to Hawaii on Alaska Airlines
Having trouble locking in that sweet spot to Hawaii with Turkish Airlines? If you’re flying non-stop from the West Coast to Hawaii, you can use 12,000 KrisFlyer miles for that 5-6 hour flight in economy. Business class requires 44,500 per person one-way, so that’s not a good redemption if we’re talking sweet spots. The values on this chart are only good for non-stop flights, so that’s something you have to factor in.
Elsewhere in the US to Hawaii Using United Airlines
Not on the West Coast or want to fly in business class? KrisFlyer has options for your flights to Hawaii, too. United Airlines will charge 22,500 miles one-way per person for economy and 40,000 in business. Flying that same flight but booking via Singapore Airlines requires only 17,500 or 34,500, respectively.
Fly to Hawaii from “Central America”
Singapore’s award chart defines “Central America” quite loosely. It also includes Bermuda, Mexico, and all of the Caribbean. That same region also includes Hawaii! That means you could fly from Central America to Hawaii within the same zone, a huge price break on points. The points required for a one-way ticket in this zone are 17,500 for economy, 34,500 for business, and 46,000 for first class. This is when using Star Alliance partners. 34,500 for a business class ticket from Hawaii to Jamaica!
Singapore Airlines from US to Europe
Did you know Singapore Airlines runs 2 flights from the US to Europe? They are New York JFK to Frankfurt, Germany FRA and Houston IAH to Manchester, England MAN. Now that the Etihad / Royal Air Maroc sweet spot to Europe ended, check out KrisFlyer. The rates for business or first class will lead to great trips but aren’t anything I’d consider a “sweet spot”. However, the values for economy and premium economy are. You’ll pay 22,500 KrisFlyer miles one-way in economy if you find saver space. It’s 47,000 miles if you upgrade to premium economy. If you do want to jump up to business class, it’s 72,000, and you’ll pay 86,000 for first class. All of this includes a product that can put US carriers to shame.
Star Alliance Flights from the US to the Middle East
Thinking about visiting Dubai? The KrisFlyer award chart charges 72,000 for business class from the US to Europe, but you can continue on to the Middle East for only another 4,500 miles. Fly an extra 6.5 hours for 4,500 miles for business class. You can use any of the Star Alliance partners for this, which includes Swiss or Lufthansa. There are tons of options for connecting from the US with these partners.
Virgin Atlantic Upper Class to the UK from the US
You can pay 100,000 miles for a round-trip business class ticket to the UK. Fly Virgin Atlantic’s Upper Class at a sweet spot rate. The bad news is that you can’t book one-way tickets and must book round-trip. The points break in miles will be offset by even worse news: brutal fees of $400+ each way.
Flights Within Australia on Virgin Australia
Visiting a few different spots in Australia? Make your domestic connections on Virgin Australia using your KrisFlyer miles. The tourist highlights of the Great Barrier Reef, Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast & Adelaide are all in “Australia 1”. One-way awards will cost you 11,000 KrisFlyer miles in economy or 21,000 in business class flying on Virgin Australia.
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Miles Program Information
There are tons of great options for using KrisFlyer miles. Their program has some great advantages, like their low fees for changing/canceling tickets. They also receive transfers from Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou Points, and Marriott. Because they receive points from so many sources, it’s not hard to add them up quickly in your account. Beware that transfers can take up to 48 hours sometimes, so put the award on hold when possible.
KrisFlyer award bookings also have some rules you need to know:
- You can have a free stopover (staying at a connection >24 hours) on round-trip awards but not one-way awards
- The free stopover isn’t allowed in the US and many parts of North America
- No back-tracking allowed; you must continue moving in one direction
Final Thoughts
Each airlines has its positives and negatives. With its many transfer partners for receiving points and tons of redemption options, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles are a great currency to pool for award bookings. They have a ton of partners within and outside the Star Alliance network. The change fees are friendly. Their awards have some great sweet spots for both economy and premium cabins. KrisFlyer is definitely growing on me lately.
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Can you go into a little more detail how I can use my 130,000 “orphaned” points point to get from the US to Hawaii in J? I haven’t ever seen saver seats to Hawaii on United.
Thanks
Just tried to run a search on KrisFlyer and their award search is down for maintenance I guess. The award chart is here https://www.singaporeair.com/saar5/pdf/ppsclub_krisflyer/charts/Star%20Alliance_Round-trip%20Award_Apr19.pdf
You can also play with routing options on https://www.flightconnections.com/ by setting the alliance as star alliance and choosing where you want to go in Hawaii. United showed me Nov 15 as biz saver Houston-Honolulu. I didn’t play with other cities, but this one has limited ‘saver’ availability. That’s as far forward as you can go on United’s calendar right now, so that means it just hasn’t been snatched up yet like everything else. This is definitely a “plan ahead” route from the looks of availability (or lack thereof). Might be a phone call booking also.
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I respectfully disagree. The best use for Singapore miles is saver seats in suites class for two people to or from the Americas. Since Singapore doesn’t offer these seats to other programs, this is the truly aspirational booking. The problem is, no blogger has ever given any practical suggestion on how to fly this product, so it seems pretty much a tease, although your uses have some serious value as well.
Christian – valid point. It’s definitely the aspirational use of KrisFlyer. I had suites class tickets on hold but wound up not finalizing the booking, Tokyo-SIN-SYD. I can tell you my experience on that, even though it’s a different route: I found what I wanted online and called to put it on hold. The agent saw something different in the computer than what I saw online, so I had to adjust the connection in SIN. They put it on hold and gave me up to 6mo to send in my points and then call back to pay taxes/finish the booking. This probably accounts for why so much stuff sits on hold and why they have a waitlist. You can book a full year in advance, and since this is definitely a popular route, I’d be ready early. Not a direct answer, I’m aware.
Which short-haul SQ flights have first class cabins?
Glenn – are you talking “cabins” like the suites? If you mean suites, the answer is none. The shortest route with suites is to Hong Kong. Let me know if that answers your question.
What about even regular first class? Haha I’ve expiring miles and would love to try the “lounge within a lounge” concept of the Private Room in SIN. Thanks for your help!
Looking for saver pricing and something short to burn miles on first class?
Jakarta or Brunei 27.5k / Beijing or Shanghai 53k / Delhi or Mumbai 53k / Hong Kong 40.5k (multiple flights, some are seats some are suites) / Manila 32.5k . If you’re willing to go to 70k for one-way in first class, that opens up Seoul and 3 cities in Japan. 75k Dubai. After that, I assume prices beyond this aren’t “burn” status 🙂
There’s an “explore routes” but not the greatest at breaking it down https://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/th/flying-withus/cabins/first-class/first-class/
Any help with Awards on Alaska with Singapore miles? I cant find those awards anywhere on line and when I call singapore, they dont seem to know about that relationship.
Strange, but I guess not strange. It’s one of their lesser-used partners, so they likely don’t get asked about it all the time.
The award chart is here https://www.singaporeair.com/saar5/pdf/ppsclub_krisflyer/charts/AlaskaAirlines_AwdChart.pdf
You can get to it simply by going to “awards on partners” on their website https://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/us/ppsclub-krisflyer/use-miles/redeem-miles/award-tickets-on-partner-airlines/ in case you have to tell an agent to find it. The website says they will eventually be bookable online, but no date available on that. You have to call. Might have to tell the agent where to find it on the website if you get one who doesn’t know.