Originally Posted by
Surface Interval
Yes, it can be more economical. Do expect to spend a fair bit of time with phone calls and/or chatting as most of the agents will flat out state that this cannot be done. The key is getting them to read their own award chart: "• Singapore Airlines Suites and First Class are only available on selected Singapore Airlines flights. Business Class seats will be allocated to members who redeem their miles for Singapore Airlines Suites and/or First Class on Singapore Airlines flights which do not have a Singapore Airlines Suites/First Class cabin. The number of miles required for the entire trip may be determined at the redemption level of the highest class of service flown. Check the classes available on your flight before making a redemption."
So the price could be F for the entire trip, even though 70% of it is operated by an aircraft without F? Is that what I'm reading?
This is how I calculated the trip:
JFK-SIN in J: 111,500
JFK-SIN-SYD in J: 145,500
Difference: 34,500
SIN-SYD in J: 68,500
SIN-SYD in F: 155,000
Difference: 86,500
I assume the difference as the upgrade price, but I don't actually know if that is how it works.
So if I take JFK-SIN-SYD @ 145,500 and add the upgrade price for SIN-SYD of 86,500, it comes out to 232,000.
Using the separate prices of JFK-SIN in J plus SIN-SYD in F comes out to 266,500 total. If I could book the entire trip in J and upgrade the one segment to F at 86,500, it would save 34,500.
Maybe 34,500 (it will be me and my wife so x2) isn't worth messing around and I should just book separate.
On a side note, this month Amex has a 20% transfer bonus to SQ, at least for some people. It seems to be targeted.