gilbylg45

I've done quite a bit of digging into Star Alliance, but I don't seem to be getting anywhere - if this is a newb question I apologize in advance.

Bought a handful of singapore airlines tickets. I know they're part of Star Alliance, and I put my United FF# on the ticket. I don't see these miles in my UA FF account, and I can't find anything from star alliance. Can I use Singapore Airlines miles to book a United Airlines flight? I'm not concerned with status, just want to book a flight.

Grandma not doing well, so hoping to find a way to use miles to go visit her. Any advice would be appreciated!

fpc552

In general, you should receive United Mileage Plus miles when you travel on Singapore Airlines.

We will need some more information to answer your question.
[1] You state that you bought some SQ (Singapore Airlines) tickets. Are they for future travel, or have you already used them? If they are for future travel, you will not be awarded MP (United Mileage Plus) miles until you have actually travelled.
[2] Depending on the fare "bucket" (different from class of service), you may not receive any miles. Some fare buckets of heavily discount economy class service on SQ do not accrue any mileage on UA (United). These buckets include N, Q, T and V, so if your tickets were in these fare buckets, you will not have received any MP mileage.
[3] If you have already flown on SQ on a ticket in a fare bucket that accrues miles on MP (most do) and you put your MP number on the reservation, you should have received MP credit for the flights. If you haven't, you can request credit from UA here.

Unless you are a member of the SQ program (KrisFlyer) and put your KrisFlyer number on the reservation, you should not have received any SQ KF miles. The issue is where are the missing MP miles?

gilbylg45

Sorry, to clarify, this is for future travel (~3 weeks). I'm trying to anticipate MP miles. How do you know what fare bucket the ticket is in? I have an economy cabin $700 ticket from Tokyo to LA.

lcpteck

That looks like a very cheap fare, so it probably earns 10% mileage on SQ FFP but 0% to all other FFP in StarAlliance.

Better check the fare code to be sure. Did you book it on the SQ website? On the booking page where you choose your departure and return flights, there is a link at the bottom of the page called 'View summary of fare conditions" which is right above the price. It will show the Class of Travel and Fare code.

Only these SQ Fare codes in Y earns mileage to UA (100%), B, E, M, H, W, U, L, K.

And If I'm not wrong, ALL fare classes on UA flights earns 100% on SQ. UA have such good mileage accruals... sigh....

Guy Betsy

Check what the fare basis is. Usually the first letter of the fare basis is your booking class.

Sounds to me like you had booked a V class fare. So that would earn zero miles on UA mileage plus.

Plus if you haven't booked your award flight on UA by now, I doubt you will find any availability over Thanksgiving !

aster

As mentioned above, the fare code will reveal exactly how many miles (if any) should be credited to that particular FFP.

If it turns out zero miles will be awarded I would open up a new FFP account with SQ to see if you can do a retroactive claim. They might not amount to much for the time being, but you never know what the future will bring...

friendlyplanet

Plus use the KRISFLYER promo code when you sign up for a new account-

https://www.singaporeair.com/jsp/cms...-promotion.jsp

Gives you 2,500 Krisflyer bonus miles if you fly before Oct 31- sounds like your flight might be afterwards, but it can't hurt to put the code in.

Damn- only good for departures from Thailand- just read the fine print, and can't figure out how to delete this unhelpful post...

Friendly

aster

No worries, most importantly you tried to help a fellow FT'er. ^ And if SQ were only to credit 10% of miles in this case a bonus of 2.5k would have made quite a difference.

s0ssos

As for the question of booking using Krisflyer miles on United: you have to call Singapore Air and talk to them over the phone. It is a hassle. But doable (their availability is decent).

aster

Availability is probably good because very few people burn their hard-earned SQ miles... on UA.

I would never burn my SQ miles on any other carrier's metal, but is someone absolutely needs to use them on UA then year - it can of course be done over the phone as a *A award.

fpc552

Availability probably is bad, since United doesn't release that much inventory to their own MP members.

Singapore_Schwing

I complain a lot about United (there's a lot to complain about), but I generally find that award availability is one of the bright spots, even recently. You have to stay on it though. Seats come and go.

Of course, it means flying UA instead of SQ (or CX or EK etc...), which is a major negative.

weero

Only in coach though and only on certain routes. SIN-NRT is tough to get though.
Well SQ has Sling in coach and USB power, IFE, and THE MAGNUM ... so they always win. But I take UA over CX, let alone EK any day of the month. E+ seating, Western food ... boarding before people who bring screamers ... UA has its charms.

lcpteck

A bit off topic but does anybody know why UA earns 100% mileage to some *A FFPs even on the cheapest economy fare? (including SQ).

Maybe it's part of the benefits as a *A co-founder?

aster

Just curious but where would you fit EY (in Y) in your ranking? I have a flight to BNE coming up and it will be my first time on EY so not sure to expect.