Singapore Krisflyer Devalaution 2017
Singapore Air has announced some changes to their Krisflyer program. While there is one bit of positive news, in the whole this is a devaluation. The changes will go into effect on March 23, 2017. Let’s take a look.
Here is the bad news:
- Revisions to Saver Award levels in the Singapore Airlines and SilkAir Award Chart have been made to ensure that flight rewards remain sustainable yet competitive.
- The 15% discount for redemption and redemption upgrade bookings made through singaporeair.com and the SingaporeAir app will be discontinued, and the same redemption fare will be applied across all channels.
And here is the good news:
- Fuel and insurance surcharges from all redemption award tickets on Singapore Airlines and SilkAir operated flights will be removed.
Increases to Saver Level Awards
Singapore has increased the Saver redemption rates on some but not all routes. (You can view the old and new charts here.) Among the changes for example are between Singapore and the United States. Previously First Class between Singapore and the East Coast was 110,000 miles. It has been increased to 120,000. Awards to Europe, Australia and Japan among other places have also been modestly increased.
Also increased are some awards between different regions. For example, a few months ago I flew Singapore First Class from LAX-NRT. That award cost 74,375 miles (87,500 before 15% discount). Beginning on March 23, it will cost 95,000 miles. That amounts to an increase of almost 22%.
Elimination of the 15% Discount
Of course the increases mentioned above aren’t the whole story. In truth, before any increases, all awards are essentially going up 15% due to the elimination of the online booking discount. That 110,000 mile first class award mentioned above currently only costs 93,500 if booked online. So while it looks like the award is only going up 10,000 miles, in reality it is increasing 26,500!
Elimination of Fuel Surcharges
The one bit of good news here is that Singapore Air is eliminating fuel surcharges from their own flights. They had already lowered these surcharges awhile back (for example I paid $30 per ticket LAX-NRT recently), but it is good to see them eliminated altogether. Of course with the other changes, you will be saving some money, but paying more miles.
How to Get Singapore Miles
Singapore Krisflyer is one of the easiest programs to amass miles in. They are partners with just about every bank program including Membership Rewards, ThankYou and Ultimate Rewards. They are also a transfer partner of SPG. In other words, these miles are easy to come by.
Conclusion
Overall this is a devaluation, but at least Singapore threw in a little positive by eliminating fuel surcharges. I suppose the elimination of the 15% online discount isn’t a surprise given how unique it was, but that move means we are looking at a 15% or more devaluation across the board and that is fairly significant.
You can find the full details of these changes here. What are your thoughts?
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It was getting damn near impossible to find space on their own flights anyway, especially during peak travel seasons. Recently I couldn’t even see availability for weeks at a time on Silk Air within SE on many routes…not to mention SIN – SFO. Everything was blocked off as Waitlist and I’m not playing the waitlist game again. You’d have to rearrange your whole life and travel plans around their biz/first availability to get any value out of the miles, so I’ll stick to Oneworld and other Star Alliance airlines. EVA and Cathay or any other Asian airlines are just as good in biz and more readily available
Glad you like the Prawn & Chicken Laksa — it’s fantastic!
I think the elimination of fuel surcharges on Singapore metal is more than a small positive move, e.g. SFO-HKG you’ll save $460 roundtrip. Not enough to make up for the increase in price and elimination of online booking discount, but perhaps cushions 3/5ths of the blow.
I agree with Gary. Also, in my opinion, any airline that removes these highly misleading “fuel surcharges” from award tickets is being more honest. A “free” ticket should be free with the only exception being taxes. Too many people get surprised when they find out their free ticket comes with several hundred dollars in cash co-pays as well. It’s bad business and bad behavior, so kudos to Singapore for pulling them.
Is it still 35k points to Hawaii post devaluation?
Yes they only are changing awards on their own metal. Partner awards remain the same.
Thank you! I figured, but wanted to doublecheck before transferring some ThankYou points later today.