Originally Posted by
GeezerCouple
What do you mean, "cash tickets"?
We've never used any points to get "cash", regardless of target purchase. The serious value to us of airline awards & Amex MR points is for international J and F, usually by transferring points to an airline partner (not by "cashing in the points").
These points were, as suggested above, transferred to a "partner airline", and then we got the SQ tickets. I don't consider that to be "cash".
How would this be any different than using AAdv points to get CX tickets, or - again - using MR points to get LH tickets? It's still transferring points to a partner.
GC
Originally Posted by
GetSetJetSet
Was the "partner" airline you transferred to Singapore? You didn't move MR to UA since they aren't a transfer partner, and the question was about using UA miles to book longhaul SQ J, so your experience has nothing to do with the question asked.
What GetSetJet said.
Either you purchased the ticket with MR miles outright (and then they'd be quasi-cash tickets as AMEX buys the tickets cash and you just pay with MR points) or you, most likely, transferred them to KrisFlyer - in both of these cases that'd not be relevant to the OP who's trying to purchase a partner mileage award, and neither of the two scenarios outlined are partner award.
(SQ makes more flights available to be bought with KrisFlyer miles than with partner miles).
If you transferred them to an SQ partner airline and bought a partner award flight that way then that's a rarity and congratz, especially for EWR-SIN!