Wing0A

Hi,

I have access to an account with 2million Krysflyer miles. I have never booked an award flight with SQ before so have no idea how to do it.

Looking to fly 12/7 on SQ306 SIN-LHR in Business and return 14/7 on SQ321.

Full redemption seems to be available at 510,000 and $1,300 odd sing dollars. Doesn't seem like great value.

Can someone please advise how to check availability to upgrade an economy ticket? and what fare bucket I have to buy in Y to be able to upgrade with miles?

apologies for the newbie question but hope someone can help.

Thanks

planetshakers

That is a poor use of miles, you should really only redem for SAVER level.

But as ALL savers are already redeemed for such a close date, because usually people redeem the tickets 355 days ahead when the redemption window is opened.

But all is not lost ! You can redeem 1st class ( suite class are all waitlisted ) on your exact dates for 269875 miles only + SGD$1100. A better option ?

Rule of thumb - book early !

Wing0A

thanks for the advice and interesting about 1st class.

I am just confused about how to see whether I can buy an econ ticket and upgrade to business? There doesn't seem to be a way to check if this is doable - I can only see full redemption options and not part cash part miles.

ticktock83

It's doable however extremely wasteful of KF miles. You need to purchase the highest bracket of Economy fare in order to upgrade it. Redeeming saver tickets will always be more worthwhile than upgrading for KF program.

planetshakers

See here - http://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/pp...eemMiles_SQMI/

Only Economy Class tickets purchased on flights operated by Singapore Airlines or SilkAir in S, Y, B or E booking classes are eligible for redemption of upgrades from Economy to Business.

Redemption of upgrades must be confirmed at least 24 hours before flight departure.

Availability is also SAVER, STANDARD, FULL. You need to call in and check for availabilty for the upgrade before you purchase the ticket. Once there is availibilty for your dates, buy the ticket online and choose to upgrade with miles.

SAVER upgrade is 110,500 miles return with the online 15% discount.

As of now, SIN-LHR return is SGD$2.8k in economy E fare class.

In the (un)likelihood that BUSINESS SAVER Upgrade is available, you get J for 110,500 miles + SGD$2.8k.

As compared to confirmed availabilty for 1st class = 269, 875 miles + SGD$1100. ( and T3 first class checkin and TPR access )

Which one do you prefer?

aster

(Unlike with Finnair) you cannot check upgrade availability online. Also - unlike Finnair - you cannot upgrade from the cheapest econ fare but must buy a 'Flexi fare' which is an expensive one and a complete waste of money.

Best way is to go for saver awards - there is no better way to burn those miles. Even booking a few weeks ahead can be of much help in terms of availability. In your case I would look for saver awards in First/Suites - better this than a standard award in biz. And F usually has much better availability on the LHR route. You can definitely book a 12/7 to 15/7 saver award in F right now if you want.

tng11

With 2 million miles, burn it all on Suites! Don't waste them on full price redemptions.

aster

And remember rule #1: ALWAYS go for saver awards.

SIN-LHR saver in biz is 60,000 miles (-15% for online booking to be subtracted of course). Standard award would be 120,000 miles... whereas First/Suites saver is 107,500. Get my drift?

Guy Betsy

BTW, you do realise that there are other *A offerings? That its just not all about SQ?

You should go for SQ Suites, and also try the other airline's F class products. Like LH with the F Terminals, LX with their fine products, and NH's F is also very nice. Note that I have left out UA for obvious reasons.

MilesBuzz

Are LH and LX First awards still reedemable using KF miles?

SingaporeDon

Not ALWAYs true that upgrades are bad value compared to business redemptions.

a) the purchased economy ticket earns you 13,500 SQKF miles (which count towards status too) or even 16,875 SQKF miles ( if Silver or above)

b) This is in addition to the savings of 26,500 SQ KF miles (136,000-110,500) from using upgrades rather than redemption

plus

c) Although you pay S$2,800 for the SIN-LHR-SIN economy ticket, you would have paid S$900 to S$1,000 for taxes etc on the redemption anyway, so your money cost for the economy ticket is much less than the quoted S$2,800

The opportunity cost of the miles effectively bought by buying economy and upgrading versus redeeming with miles only depends upon the sector and economy fares, but to summarily dismiss upgrades as always the inferior choice is clearly wrong. I have effectivly "bought" SQKF miles at under 2 S$ cents per mile by going the "buy economy and upgrade" route in several instances, plus kept my status with the miles earned on the economy fare!!!

lokijuh

In addition to your arguments, it also depends on where you are leaving from. Out of some cities the flexi fares are not that expensive. For example, KUL-Australia fares in upgradeable classes can be similar in price to "sweet deals" (50% KF earn fares) ex-SIN.

lcpteck

It also depends who pays for the ticket of course. I fly on my own pocket so I usually ride on budget airlines or MH (since they're relatively cheap nowadays).