Do Standard Awards make any sense?
Jun 29, 2016, 6:32 am
#2
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: London, UK
Programs: SQ KrisFlyer Elite Gold
Posts: 362
That depends on you, really.
How much do you value the miles (include here the miles you would have accrued on a paid fare), relative to the cost of the ticket in cash? (Common valuations for KF miles are 2-2.2 cents per mile.)
How flexible are you with regard to the flights? Are you willing to fly at another (potentially very different) time and date when Saver awards are available? Are you willing to possibly not be able to fly at all? Are your miles expiring?
Depending on your answers to these, and possibly other, questions, then it may or may not be worth booking the Standard award.
How much do you value the miles (include here the miles you would have accrued on a paid fare), relative to the cost of the ticket in cash? (Common valuations for KF miles are 2-2.2 cents per mile.)
How flexible are you with regard to the flights? Are you willing to fly at another (potentially very different) time and date when Saver awards are available? Are you willing to possibly not be able to fly at all? Are your miles expiring?
Depending on your answers to these, and possibly other, questions, then it may or may not be worth booking the Standard award.
Jun 29, 2016, 12:16 pm
#3
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 618
I've redeemed standard F awards a few times. When I need to travel on a specific day or don't really want to find a connection from SFO/IAH which have better availability than to JFK. They're almost always available now that there are no more Full awards. Also I think you can get a free stopover on a standard award vs paying $100. With the ease of acquiring points transferable to SQ in the US these days, it definitely is an option. I'd prefer not to but it's not too bad of a redemption for SIN-US
Jun 29, 2016, 12:18 pm
#4
Suspended
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 8,460
JFK-FRA route has no saver awards. They are all gone or waitlist. I could opt for the 130k standard - 15% discount but am just debating if I should just book a J award instead for 80k since it's a fairly short route to begin with and SQ J is nothing to sneeze at.
Jun 30, 2016, 10:21 pm
#6
Suspended
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 8,460
J awards on JFK-FRA route are mostly waitlisted as well. I waitlisted a suite, a business, and then booked the business standard. Cross my fingers that either of the other 2 clear waitlist.
Jul 2, 2016, 2:56 am
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Little dot in Asia
Programs: AA-EP, TK-*G, HL-DM, HY-GLO, MR-LTP
Posts: 25,929
When the awards first came out for Suites Class, there were NO saver awards. So a simple roundtrip from Singapore to London would cost as you see in the Standard awards of around 420,000 miles + fuel surcharges ! So it depends on your urgency.. and how many points you want to redeem.
Jul 4, 2016, 5:45 am
#9
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Dubai / NYC
Programs: EK-IO, UA-1K2MM, ETIHAD-GOLD, SPG-PLAT LIFETIME, JUMEIRAH SERIUS GOLD
Posts: 5,220
It also depends how you fly when paying for your tickets. If you usually pay full F then even standard awards are a great deal (vs paying $10-17,000). But if you only fly F on awards & usually buy best J fares or Y, then a standard award is a waste
