Aug 30, 2017, 3:16 pm
Last edit by: CDKing
Alaska Airlines (AS) partnership with Singapore Airlines (SQ)
Earning
Beginning September 27, 2017.
For earning rates See Partner Page
Eligible flight numbers (No Silkair)
0001–0999
Burning:
Award Charts:
Earning
Beginning September 27, 2017.
For earning rates See Partner Page
Eligible flight numbers (No Silkair)
0001–0999
Burning:
Award Charts:
(see note below for definition of "Continental USA", "SE Asia" and "South Pacific" )
SE Asia-SE Asia: 17,500 Y, 25,000 J 35,000 F
North Asia-SE Asia: 22,500 Y 60,000 J, 75,000 F
North Asia-SE Asia: 22,500 Y 60,000 J, 75,000 F
SE Asia-Middle East/India 25,000 Y 65,000 J 85,000 F
SE Asia-South Pacific 30,000 Y 65,000 J 90,000 F
SE Asia-Europe 42,500 Y 110,00 J 160,000 F
North Asia-Europe 65,000 Y 175,000 J 240,000 F
Middle East-Europe 60,000 Y, 160,000 J 210,000 F
Continental USA-North Asia: 40,000 Y 80,000 J 110,000 F
Continental USA-North Asia: 40,000 Y 80,000 J 110,000 F
Continental USA-SE Asia/India: 47,500 Y 100,000 J 130,000 F
Continental USA-South Pacific 70,000 Y 145,000 J 190,000 F
Note: Chart only allows contiguous US and Alaska as "USA", however, AS connecting flights to Hawaii/Canada/Mexico are allowed. No chart for USA-Europe (though in theory you could redeem SIN-USA or USA-SIN routing on SQ onestops involving Europe and get off the plane in FRA/MAN, pretty high price in miles though). Stopover in SIN not allowed on regional awards (Intra-Asia,including South Pacific) not touching US.
"North Asia" includes China (PEK/PVG) as per latest update by AS. South Pacific is Australia/New Zealand
Alaska + Singapore Airlines (SQ) Partnership - Earning, Redeeming and Questions
May 10, 2020, 5:59 pm
#436
Join Date: Sep 2018
Programs: Alaska
Posts: 2,188
I’m not seeing coach either, and did you see the part where I said I was seeing SQ availability from BKK but not China on United?
AS can’t book TG/BR on one leg, SQ other leg, UA can, so I would assume the problem is no actual availability ex-China. The stuff UA can’t book is ex-US and some Europe routes plus longhaul equipment types. Regional stuff is usually fine (especially in coach) if it’s not A380/77W.
AS can’t book TG/BR on one leg, SQ other leg, UA can, so I would assume the problem is no actual availability ex-China. The stuff UA can’t book is ex-US and some Europe routes plus longhaul equipment types. Regional stuff is usually fine (especially in coach) if it’s not A380/77W.
Yes. I did read the BKK part. It could be UA problem. UA and SQ are not friends in *A.
May 10, 2020, 6:29 pm
#437
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,397
Also, it's obviously not a blanket ban on SQ inventory because again, you can connect using TG/BR/OZ on a UA redemption (my guess is if AS allowed multiple partner awards and HAD a SE Asia partner like MH, something like PEK-KUL-SIN would work). Just for funsies I looked up SYD-SIN Jan 10, 2021. AV/UA/AS all match on inventory. Seems to just be ex-China. My guess is that UA/AS are USA-based, BR and AV aren't, so maybe (warning:speculation) it's a geographical restriction on redemptions that SQ has put in: "don't let USA points of sale redeem an award involving ex-China inventory to SIN".
And as for why SQ might do that... people like you redeeming AS ex-China awards involving LHR as the "stopover". Congratulations, you played yourself.
(Also doesn't make a ton of sense to allow LHR-SIN-HKG or LHR-SIN-TPE but not LHR-SIN-CAN, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I guess.)
Last edited by eponymous_coward; May 10, 2020 at 6:50 pm
May 10, 2020, 7:00 pm
#438
Join Date: Jan 2010
Programs: UA, AS
Posts: 2,393
Interesting, thanks. I do see it on LifeMiles. I have never checked BR because I am not a member of their program. It seems strange to me that different *A partners show different availability (except for LifeMiles as they have been known to have different availability). I wonder which side is blocking these awards?
May 10, 2020, 7:14 pm
#439
Join Date: Sep 2018
Programs: Alaska
Posts: 2,188
Interesting, thanks. I do see it on LifeMiles. I have never checked BR because I am not a member of their program. It seems strange to me that different *A partners show different availability (except for LifeMiles as they have been known to have different availability). I wonder which side is blocking these awards?
it is only to/from mainland China for SQ. Why would SQ only blocks mainland China to AS?
Another possibly related fact that recently a lot of awards dropped from HU for AS. Could be AS blocks China related redemption.
May 10, 2020, 8:43 pm
#442
Join Date: Sep 2018
Programs: Alaska
Posts: 2,188
AS hasn’t accused me of doing anything against the program. Thanks, FlyerTalk police!
China-SIN-US is significant backtrack, which isn’t allowed on SQ’s own KrisFlyer program.
May 10, 2020, 9:43 pm
#443
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,397
Look, the way this game is played on mistake fares or award loopholes is you take your chances and eventually (whether it's AS or AV, which also had some legendarily crazy routing rules you could exploit) airlines figure it out and close the mistake fare or loophole, and you don't expect a lot of waivers or consideration when you outsmart the airline, just fly the ticket as ticketed and don't attract notice to yourself. If they leave you with a valid ticket you're doing quite well. I'd say getting to fly China-SIN-Europe in SQ J or F for the cost of the AS SQ SE Asia award is doing pretty well. But in the end that pretty obviously wasn't intended, and AS and SQ are going to notice things like a bunch of throwaway SQ J/F longhaul award segments (because we all know this is typically not going to be flown on all segments as China-SIN-Europe-SIN with a turnaround under 24 hours, it's really a way to save miles by throwaway ticketing). So I wouldn't expect a lot of favors if you're expecting to be reticketed China-Europe-SIN because of SQ cancellations. They only owe you China-SIN. And it's not surprising to me that it appears SQ is clamping down on award availability from someplace where they are noticing a lot of throwaway segments.
Last edited by eponymous_coward; May 10, 2020 at 9:48 pm
May 10, 2020, 10:49 pm
#444
Join Date: Sep 2018
Programs: Alaska
Posts: 2,188
We've all noticed that intra-Asia award stopovers on JL and SQ are all dead and buried. That's not exactly a mistake that AS closed that off too.
Look, the way this game is played on mistake fares or award loopholes is you take your chances and eventually (whether it's AS or AV, which also had some legendarily crazy routing rules you could exploit) airlines figure it out and close the mistake fare or loophole, and you don't expect a lot of waivers or consideration when you outsmart the airline, just fly the ticket as ticketed and don't attract notice to yourself. If they leave you with a valid ticket you're doing quite well. I'd say getting to fly China-SIN-Europe in SQ J or F for the cost of the AS SQ SE Asia award is doing pretty well. But in the end that pretty obviously wasn't intended, and AS and SQ are going to notice things like a bunch of throwaway SQ J/F longhaul award segments (because we all know this is typically not going to be flown on all segments as China-SIN-Europe-SIN with a turnaround under 24 hours, it's really a way to save miles by throwaway ticketing). So I wouldn't expect a lot of favors if you're expecting to be reticketed China-Europe-SIN because of SQ cancellations. They only owe you China-SIN. And it's not surprising to me that it appears SQ is clamping down on award availability from someplace where they are noticing a lot of throwaway segments.
Look, the way this game is played on mistake fares or award loopholes is you take your chances and eventually (whether it's AS or AV, which also had some legendarily crazy routing rules you could exploit) airlines figure it out and close the mistake fare or loophole, and you don't expect a lot of waivers or consideration when you outsmart the airline, just fly the ticket as ticketed and don't attract notice to yourself. If they leave you with a valid ticket you're doing quite well. I'd say getting to fly China-SIN-Europe in SQ J or F for the cost of the AS SQ SE Asia award is doing pretty well. But in the end that pretty obviously wasn't intended, and AS and SQ are going to notice things like a bunch of throwaway SQ J/F longhaul award segments (because we all know this is typically not going to be flown on all segments as China-SIN-Europe-SIN with a turnaround under 24 hours, it's really a way to save miles by throwaway ticketing). So I wouldn't expect a lot of favors if you're expecting to be reticketed China-Europe-SIN because of SQ cancellations. They only owe you China-SIN. And it's not surprising to me that it appears SQ is clamping down on award availability from someplace where they are noticing a lot of throwaway segments.
I don’t think we are still on the same topic. I have no intention to fly my “mistake” ticket. Whether AS honor my “mistake” ticket or not, I don’t care. It was just an experiment to me, to see what AS/SQ does to my ticket. There are still tricks in AS and it would be a good precedence what to happen to the awards I actually intend to redeem and fly.
The discussion was not around my ticket if you go back a few posts. It is about US-SIN-China.
edited(moved from below post)
Did the mistake only applies to Mainland China? I didn't book so I can't confirm. But in theory, it should apply to HKG/TPE/BKK or whatever AS categorized as Southeast Asia for 25K. I can confirm that it applied to Oceania(SIN-LHR-SIN-SYD) for 60K. So mainland China was not the only "mistake". Mainland China should not be the only one blocked, then. So I don't agree with your rational about AS blocking China because of "mistake" tickets issued.
Last edited by freed0m; May 11, 2020 at 9:29 am
May 10, 2020, 11:18 pm
#445
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,397
Like I said, likely someone is clamping down on Mainland China-SIN award inventory. Given that UA also sees the exact same issue (TPE/HKG is fine, China is not) and doesn’t even use SABRE like AS does, it’s probably not AS making a block unless somehow AS is blocking SQ Y China inventory on UA. Logically, we can infer the source would be SQ. SQ has a history of blocking some award inventory from partners.
May 11, 2020, 12:45 am
#446
Join Date: Sep 2018
Programs: Alaska
Posts: 2,188
Like I said, likely someone is clamping down on Mainland China-SIN award inventory. Given that UA also sees the exact same issue (TPE/HKG is fine, China is not) and doesn’t even use SABRE like AS does, it’s probably not AS making a block unless somehow AS is blocking SQ Y China inventory on UA. Logically, we can infer the source would be SQ. SQ has a history of blocking some award inventory from partners.
You can continue to speculate who did what. I have no intention for further speculation.
Last edited by freed0m; May 11, 2020 at 9:28 am Reason: wrong posts
May 11, 2020, 9:12 am
#448
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,397
Given that UA also sees the exact same issue (TPE/HKG is fine, China is not) and doesn’t even use SABRE like AS does, it’s probably not AS making a block unless somehow AS is blocking SQ Y China inventory on UA.
The entity that COULD make it so UA and AS don't see ex-China awards but BR and AV do is... wait for it... SQ.
Last edited by eponymous_coward; May 11, 2020 at 9:21 am
May 11, 2020, 9:27 am
#449
Join Date: Sep 2018
Programs: Alaska
Posts: 2,188
Are you being deliberately obtuse about what I am saying?
Let me be clear, then. AS has no ability to affect UA award inventory. None. Zero. That statement was not intended seriously for anyone who understands how this all works. They don't even use the same reservation management system; you have to do significant work to make systems like AS's and UA's talk to each other. There's literally no reason that UA would care what AS offers for SQ awards and would lift a finger to make them agree to not show ex-China awards.
The entity that COULD make it so UA and AS don't see ex-China awards but BR and AV do is... wait for it... SQ.
Let me be clear, then. AS has no ability to affect UA award inventory. None. Zero. That statement was not intended seriously for anyone who understands how this all works. They don't even use the same reservation management system; you have to do significant work to make systems like AS's and UA's talk to each other. There's literally no reason that UA would care what AS offers for SQ awards and would lift a finger to make them agree to not show ex-China awards.
The entity that COULD make it so UA and AS don't see ex-China awards but BR and AV do is... wait for it... SQ.
Sorry that I edited the wrong post to insert what I meant for previous post, regarding "mistake" fare.
Anyway, there are China-SIN or SIN-China awards on AS with SQ. You can continue to speculate whoever did what. I digress.
May 15, 2020, 1:18 pm
#450
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: SEA/ORD/ADB
Programs: TK ELPL (*G), AS 100K (OWE), BA Gold (OWE), Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Plat, IHG Plat
Posts: 7,763
Are you being deliberately obtuse about what I am saying?
Let me be clear, then. AS has no ability to affect UA award inventory. None. Zero. That statement was not intended seriously for anyone who understands how this all works. They don't even use the same reservation management system; you have to do significant work to make systems like AS's and UA's talk to each other. There's literally no reason that UA would care what AS offers for SQ awards and would lift a finger to make them agree to not show ex-China awards.
The entity that COULD make it so UA and AS don't see ex-China awards but BR and AV do is... wait for it... SQ.
Let me be clear, then. AS has no ability to affect UA award inventory. None. Zero. That statement was not intended seriously for anyone who understands how this all works. They don't even use the same reservation management system; you have to do significant work to make systems like AS's and UA's talk to each other. There's literally no reason that UA would care what AS offers for SQ awards and would lift a finger to make them agree to not show ex-China awards.
The entity that COULD make it so UA and AS don't see ex-China awards but BR and AV do is... wait for it... SQ.
Many airlines set inventory with point-of-sale restrictions - SQ (intentionally or accidentally) zeroing out award inventory for USA point of sale ex-China is the most realistic explanation for these symptoms.