sbs2716g

So if other airlines allow doesn’t mean SQ will allow ? SQ can simply close the loop hole if many ppl booking such route. In the end it is SQ who suffer the loss of revenue.

ryanker25

Booked an one way HKG SIN PEK on F both leg. Only PEK in suite.
In my experience, there are some phantom award availability in the system, just change the date or flight.

I got the same error when I was trying to book HKG SIN, there was an award available in February even though SQ/AS blocked all the awards on the route beyond November. Changed the date to November and ticketed.
Hopefully AS/SQ are not closing awards on PEK route.

*Edit spelling mistake

worldrally

May I know where did you confirmation that SQ/AS blocked all the awards on the HKG-SIN route beyond Nov?

eponymous_coward

SQ isn’t issuing the ticket, AS is. If SQ is making the inventory available, protip, they don’t actually expect revenue (pretty easy for them to withdraw inventory on the route, airlines don’t make award inventory available unless they won’t sell it, SQ has had award inventory in Asia available for partners for years, even in *A). SQ gets paid on a per flight basis, so it’s AS who takes it on the chin if they allow multiple flights on a partner award that allow for stopover and backtracking (and they do, as I said it’s not just SQ they do it with).

It stands to reason that if JL and AS don’t really care enough to clamp down on JL intra-Asia J routings, SQ’s not caring all that much, either. It’s also a dumb way to fly PEK-HKG unless you’re one of those FTers who fly irrational routings because of free Krug, or you actually want the stopover in SIN.

Essentially AS is selling SQ premium award inventory for $500-700 for China/SE Asia (most of the other awards are actually better to book as KF bookings, buying AS miles would be inefficient). If AS ends up writing too many checks with too many zeros to SQ I would imagine AS will change the redemption rate.

ryanker25

It's an assumption based on award availability.
There are some odd days with 1 award but error out when I try to book.
I am afraid you will have to email SQ/AS for confirmation.

freed0m

or you are SIN-based. Can alway book two trips instead.

PVDtoDEL

Yes, redeemed AKL-SIN in F. Seems to have ticketed successfully.

Kacee

I will say I'm pleasantly surprised by the redemption options. Much better than what SQ releases to *A, though pricing is a bit high.

eponymous_coward

It’s already been an option for people who want to do travel to Tokyo for a while. Adding SIN is NBD.

freed0m

JL only works if you travel to Japan and how many times do people want to go to Japan?

This is Great China and Southesat Asia.

eponymous_coward

For PEK and PVG, TYO/KIX is significantly closer than SIN. PEK/PVG-SIN-HKG is not a particularly rational routing unless you’re a FT “maximizer”.

If you’re talking about Singapore residents, Greater Tokyo + Osaka is a multiple of Singapore’s population. JL hasn’t gotten upset despite the fact that 30 million or so people essentially can do XXX-TYO/KIX-YYY quasi-round trip travel on a single AS ticket/award. The redemption rates in AS miles have been steady despite that. We can only assume that despite the inevitable FT “angle” you can exploit, it’s just not a big deal; AS isn’t writing huge checks to JL that throw the program out of balance.

JL and SQ, like most Asian airlines, have heaps of J award space intra-Asia. They can either have it fly empty or get some money from AS. (The inevitable solution is to probably eliminate the space and rationalize cabins like the USA and Europe have done, but Asia has been more insulated from LCC pressure until recently. I expect it’s coming someday, once that happens, the bonanza of easy intra-Asia J/F awards goes away, But that’s more an industry thing.)

freed0m

first let me appoligize that my original post was for PEK/PVG-SIN-HKG is a great route for SIN-based. I did not intend to argue about whether SQ will pull such routes.

second let me give my 2 cents about the actual topic. PEK/PVG-SIN-HKG to SG residents is not exactly comparable to XXX-TYO/OKA-YYY to JP resident. SIN is a huge hub to all of Southeast Asia and well connected with most if not all first or mid-tier cities within Southeast Asia by budget airlines or full service airlines. You may be amazed that how many passengers go to SIN to take SQ premium class from Phililippines, Indonesia and Thailand. So the route is not only for SG residents, maybe to a much broader residents from BKK/CGK/MNL etc.

Japanese is not that good with English compared to the middle class and above in Southeast Asia in terms of population. I think AS reaches more people in Southeast Asia, Singapore included, than people from Japan. So the impact on SQ may be larger than JL.

eponymous_coward

My counter to that would be that KF is a superior program in many instances if you're redeeming for SQ (better availability and in many cases less miles).

https://mainlymiles.com/2019/10/11/y...-alaska-miles/

That article points out that unless you're using the stopover or you're flying China-SE Asia or v.v. KF is the superior program, especially so if you're able to generate KF mileage at low cost. As such, most FFers who want to be flying SQ on redemptions should probably use SQ KF not AS MP. AS is more of a corner case that gives some utility to certain scenarios (very good J availability ex-LAX/SFO, though surprisingly not much out of SEA, intra-Asia J/F connectivity, Asia-Australia/NZ), but isn't that helpful for other cases (really poor or nonexistent Asia-Europe J/F/R, very little if any longhaul F/R ex-USA, no way to redeem USA-Europe without hackery, and that hack is only a one way TO Europe, not from) as a reason to shove KF itself aside as a program you'd want miles in.

KF has multiple transfer points (Chase UR, AMEX MR, Citi TY, Capital One in the US, I assume other programs elsewhere like in Singapore). The world hasn't ended yet. Note that AS MP does not have a transfer partner, you must buy the miles or acquire/use the US/Canadian credit card to generate them. I am not convinced that having a partner where mileage purchases are capped unless you're an elite (read: not just buying miles but crediting at least 20k Alaska flights/25k partners) changes things that much when KF itself is a better program a lot of the time.

The fix for China being a good deal on the AS chart for SQ would be "put China in North Asia", btw. But the AS chart years later still puts India in the same zone as Japan.

freed0m

You quote a blog I personally followed and I am as described in the article. I can generate "unlimited" KF miles at around SGD 0.02. However, I am with AS for Great China/Southeast Asia travel. The ability to add an additional leg at no cost to another city I would like to go beats the hell out of KF. For travel only within Southeast Asia(the real Southeast Asia, not AS version, unlikely as I can always tag an additional Great China leg in the next 10 months), economy class is enough. The trip are most likely within 2 hours from SIN and based in SIN, who really needs lounge? You can leave home for airport just an hour before departure.

The only sweetspot for AS with SQ is "Southeast Asia" to "Southeast Asia" to me. I think I am the "typical" SIN-based with knowledge of AS and I definitely will utilize AS for a lot of travel in the region instead of KF.

Actually, the moment I saw SQ is bookable with AS, I booked my wife and daughter a trip of HKG-SIN(stopover)-PEK in J for 25K each.

eponymous_coward

Well, the trick's been around for a while with JL and known in Singapore... so I guess we will see.