Please post your award booking experience in J and F
Mar 16, 2018, 12:54 am
#61
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: So Cal
Programs: UA Gold/0.744MM, WN AL, Hyatt Diamond, MR Scum, Hertz PC, National Exec, Avis PC
Posts: 5,561
- Which route/airline did you book and which class?
LAX-ICN SQ F -stopover-
ICN-SIN SQ F
SIN-MLE MI J -dest-
MLE-SIN SQ J -22 hr layover-
SIN-ICN-LAX SQ F
- How many award miles & cash per person?
276,000 miles + 192.20 SGD x 2 persons
- How many days/weeks/months did you book in advance?
~6 months
- Have you been able to book your preferred dates of travel with immediate confirmation/Waitlist?
Didn't have any set date, just looking in the July timeframe, was looking for anything that would clear immediately for 2 people
- How often did you have to check/call until you got the seats?
Couple of days of intensive searching on the various segment and piecing it together
- Were you happy with the award booking procedure (e.g. online/by phone)?
Transferred UR points and arrived in a little less than 24 hours. Agent was efficient in booking the award. Really wish A380 still ran from the west coast of the US
LAX-ICN SQ F -stopover-
ICN-SIN SQ F
SIN-MLE MI J -dest-
MLE-SIN SQ J -22 hr layover-
SIN-ICN-LAX SQ F
- How many award miles & cash per person?
276,000 miles + 192.20 SGD x 2 persons
- How many days/weeks/months did you book in advance?
~6 months
- Have you been able to book your preferred dates of travel with immediate confirmation/Waitlist?
Didn't have any set date, just looking in the July timeframe, was looking for anything that would clear immediately for 2 people
- How often did you have to check/call until you got the seats?
Couple of days of intensive searching on the various segment and piecing it together
- Were you happy with the award booking procedure (e.g. online/by phone)?
Transferred UR points and arrived in a little less than 24 hours. Agent was efficient in booking the award. Really wish A380 still ran from the west coast of the US
Mar 20, 2018, 9:11 pm
#62
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AA EXP, IHG Diamond, IC Amb
Posts: 5,510
- Which route/airline did you book and which class?
LAX-ICN-SIN-BKK First Class
- How many award miles & cash per person?
118,000 Miles $ 30.33 (USD)
- How many days/weeks/months did you book in advance?
8 months
- Have you been able to book your preferred dates of travel with immediate confirmation/Waitlist?
immediate, but was flexible for +/- 7 days
- How often did you have to check/call until you got the seats?
Just once, after checking the inventory on their website and after I transferred Citi Thank You points.
none, completed online
- Were you happy with the award booking procedure (e.g. online/by phone)?
yup
LAX-ICN-SIN-BKK First Class
- How many award miles & cash per person?
118,000 Miles $ 30.33 (USD)
- How many days/weeks/months did you book in advance?
8 months
- Have you been able to book your preferred dates of travel with immediate confirmation/Waitlist?
immediate, but was flexible for +/- 7 days
- How often did you have to check/call until you got the seats?
Just once, after checking the inventory on their website and after I transferred Citi Thank You points.
none, completed online
- Were you happy with the award booking procedure (e.g. online/by phone)?
yup
Mar 21, 2018, 3:27 am
#63
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SIN
Programs: CX DM, SQ KF Gold
Posts: 980
Mar 21, 2018, 5:50 am
#64
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: MNL / SFO / NYC
Programs: IHG Spire | Marriott Plat | UA Plat | AA Plat Pro
Posts: 533
- Which route/airline did you book and which class?
LAX - NRT (surface sector) HND - SIN - MNL / All SQ / First Class Saver Award
- How many award miles & cash per person
118,000 + $72 in taxes
- How many days/weeks/months did you book in advance?
7 months
- Have you been able to book your preferred dates of travel with immediate confirmation/Waitlist?
Immediate, had flexibility with the dates (first date choice was waitlist)
- How often did you have to check/call until you got the seats?
first time lucky
- Were you happy with the award booking procedure (e.g. online/by phone)?
yes
LAX - NRT (surface sector) HND - SIN - MNL / All SQ / First Class Saver Award
- How many award miles & cash per person
118,000 + $72 in taxes
- How many days/weeks/months did you book in advance?
7 months
- Have you been able to book your preferred dates of travel with immediate confirmation/Waitlist?
Immediate, had flexibility with the dates (first date choice was waitlist)
- How often did you have to check/call until you got the seats?
first time lucky
- Were you happy with the award booking procedure (e.g. online/by phone)?
yes
May 8, 2018, 11:39 am
#65
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: New Delhi
Programs: Miles n More Senator ,Marriots Platinum, Hhonors Diamond, Miles n Smile elites,ITA Volare Premium
Posts: 162
Which route/airline did you book and which class?
I booked DEL-USM, USM-SIN, SIN-DEL. Singapore airlines. Business Saver
- How many award miles & cash per person?
70000 Miles & cash 58 USD
- How many days/weeks/months did you book in advance?
5 months
- Have you been able to book your preferred dates of travel with immediate confirmation/Waitlist?
Yes with immediate confirmation
- How often did you have to check/call until you got the seats?
None
- Were you happy with the award booking procedure (e.g. online/by phone)?
Yes. it was online.
I booked DEL-USM, USM-SIN, SIN-DEL. Singapore airlines. Business Saver
- How many award miles & cash per person?
70000 Miles & cash 58 USD
- How many days/weeks/months did you book in advance?
5 months
- Have you been able to book your preferred dates of travel with immediate confirmation/Waitlist?
Yes with immediate confirmation
- How often did you have to check/call until you got the seats?
None
- Were you happy with the award booking procedure (e.g. online/by phone)?
Yes. it was online.
May 10, 2018, 6:26 pm
#66
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 41
- Which route/airline did you book and which class?
JFK>FRA>SIN>MEL in J A380
- How many award miles & cash per person?
118,000 miles + $138.66 per pax x 2
- How many days/weeks/months did you book in advance?
Just under 12 months
- Have you been able to book your preferred dates of travel with immediate confirmation/Waitlist?
immediate.
- How often did you have to check/call until you got the seats?
Spent a bit of time trying to get the dates, and then 2 phone calls.
- Were you happy with the award booking procedure (e.g. online/by phone)?
Yes....in the end.
Could not see availability for all 3 legs in 1 search, but when searching for JAN 4th JFK>FRA and then put a stopover(even though its not a stopover because you arrive JAN 5th with a 2hr layover) JAN 5th FRA>SIN>MEL there was availability. There was no way of booking this online as you cannot book a one way redemption including a stopover(SAVER)online so i had to use the call center.
When calling the first rep kept on insisting no availability booking this way. I then tried the old hangup call back method. Second rep understood what i was trying to do and after on hold for 4-5 minutes came back with all legs booked so pretty happy in the end. Also did not have to pay the call center free as booking was unavailable online.
JFK>FRA>SIN>MEL in J A380
- How many award miles & cash per person?
118,000 miles + $138.66 per pax x 2
- How many days/weeks/months did you book in advance?
Just under 12 months
- Have you been able to book your preferred dates of travel with immediate confirmation/Waitlist?
immediate.
- How often did you have to check/call until you got the seats?
Spent a bit of time trying to get the dates, and then 2 phone calls.
- Were you happy with the award booking procedure (e.g. online/by phone)?
Yes....in the end.
Could not see availability for all 3 legs in 1 search, but when searching for JAN 4th JFK>FRA and then put a stopover(even though its not a stopover because you arrive JAN 5th with a 2hr layover) JAN 5th FRA>SIN>MEL there was availability. There was no way of booking this online as you cannot book a one way redemption including a stopover(SAVER)online so i had to use the call center.
When calling the first rep kept on insisting no availability booking this way. I then tried the old hangup call back method. Second rep understood what i was trying to do and after on hold for 4-5 minutes came back with all legs booked so pretty happy in the end. Also did not have to pay the call center free as booking was unavailable online.
Last edited by Schumi5; May 10, 2018 at 6:40 pm Reason: edit info
May 10, 2018, 6:52 pm
#67
Join Date: Jan 2018
Programs: Qantas
Posts: 72
- Which route/airline did you book and which class?
SYD>SIN>LHR SQ J class.
- How many award miles & cash per person?
105,000 miles + AUD$90 tax.
- How many days/weeks/months did you book in advance?
11 months
- Have you been able to book your preferred dates of travel with immediate confirmation/Waitlist?
Immediate.
- How often did you have to check/call until you got the seats?
Once!
- Were you happy with the award booking procedure (e.g. online/by phone)?
Yes, incredibly so. Pretty straight forward. Logged onto Krisflyer, saw business saver availability and booked!
SYD>SIN>LHR SQ J class.
- How many award miles & cash per person?
105,000 miles + AUD$90 tax.
- How many days/weeks/months did you book in advance?
11 months
- Have you been able to book your preferred dates of travel with immediate confirmation/Waitlist?
Immediate.
- How often did you have to check/call until you got the seats?
Once!
- Were you happy with the award booking procedure (e.g. online/by phone)?
Yes, incredibly so. Pretty straight forward. Logged onto Krisflyer, saw business saver availability and booked!
May 12, 2018, 12:15 am
#68
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: HNL <-> BOS
Posts: 382
- Which route/airline did you book and which class?
SYD > SIN > stopover > LAX (via NRT) in SQ New Suites & F Saver
- How many award miles & cash per person?
154,000 miles + 232.80SGD x 2 pax
- How many days/weeks/months did you book in advance?
~11 months
- Have you been able to book your preferred dates of travel with immediate confirmation/Waitlist?
Originally booked on two different dates for SIN-LAX and waitlisted for several options to fly together
- How often did you have to check/call until you got the seats?
Checked SQ website and EF couple times a week. Called in ~once a month early on. Cleared onto same flight 6 weeks from departure.
- Were you happy with the award booking procedure (e.g. online/by phone)?
Hit or miss with some SQ phone agents but very happy finally clearing and flying together.
SYD > SIN > stopover > LAX (via NRT) in SQ New Suites & F Saver
- How many award miles & cash per person?
154,000 miles + 232.80SGD x 2 pax
- How many days/weeks/months did you book in advance?
~11 months
- Have you been able to book your preferred dates of travel with immediate confirmation/Waitlist?
Originally booked on two different dates for SIN-LAX and waitlisted for several options to fly together
- How often did you have to check/call until you got the seats?
Checked SQ website and EF couple times a week. Called in ~once a month early on. Cleared onto same flight 6 weeks from departure.
- Were you happy with the award booking procedure (e.g. online/by phone)?
Hit or miss with some SQ phone agents but very happy finally clearing and flying together.
May 13, 2018, 7:16 am
#69
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Agoura Hills, CA USA
Posts: 2,660
CDG-SIN-NRT in Suites and F-Saver
138,000 miles plus 113 SGD for 1 passenger
12 days out
Incredibly efficient SQ agent cleared SQ 12 SIN-NRT in first in 24 hours.. CDG-SIN was available online.
As a reference point, this is the first time in many attempts that SQ 12 cleared in first..
138,000 miles plus 113 SGD for 1 passenger
12 days out
Incredibly efficient SQ agent cleared SQ 12 SIN-NRT in first in 24 hours.. CDG-SIN was available online.
As a reference point, this is the first time in many attempts that SQ 12 cleared in first..
May 14, 2018, 8:24 pm
#70
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: SF Bay Area
Programs: United, AA, KrisFlyer
Posts: 179
I booked two saver round trip J's from SFO - SIN - HKG - SFO online, departing the end of October and returning the start of December and it went pretty smoothly. I had to book in two separate accounts as my wife and I each had Citi Thank You miles and they can only go to the cardholder's KF account. Saver availability in J seems very scarce on this SFO - HKG route, so I had to work backwards and find a return date first (we're flexible on timing). We also knew we wanted six nights in HKG on the way home, so that leg was easy to calculate and there seems to be a lot of saver availability for that pairing. I then started around the 5th of November in terms of trying to locate an outbound flight, and ended up having to go back to the end of October before finding an open date for two people.
We had two computers going and everything went well until I hit enter about 0.1 seconds before my wife. I got my itinerary, but she got waitlisted on, of all things, the outbound HKG - SIN flight on SQ2. This was despite the fact that it showed availability for two people about five minutes earlier. We called the KF call center and got connected with a very nice gentleman who found availability on the next HKG - SIN flight (about an hour later) and he changed my booking without charging a fee and then held the seats for my wife's booking until I made the necessary changes on our end and, again, he didn't charge us. Kind of renewed my faith in KF.
We had two computers going and everything went well until I hit enter about 0.1 seconds before my wife. I got my itinerary, but she got waitlisted on, of all things, the outbound HKG - SIN flight on SQ2. This was despite the fact that it showed availability for two people about five minutes earlier. We called the KF call center and got connected with a very nice gentleman who found availability on the next HKG - SIN flight (about an hour later) and he changed my booking without charging a fee and then held the seats for my wife's booking until I made the necessary changes on our end and, again, he didn't charge us. Kind of renewed my faith in KF.
Mar 6, 2019, 1:16 pm
#71
Join Date: Feb 2019
Location: MEL
Programs: SQ KrisFlyer
Posts: 46
2019 data point
- Which route/airline did you book and which class?
Booked 2 x F (Suites), MEL-SIN, SQ218
- How many award miles & cash per person?
Initially I booked my wife's ticket using 80,000 KF (Saver award) and mine using 150,000 KF (Advantage award), and ~86AUD taxes per pax. However, my WL for a Saver ticket cleared the day before departure so I got my ticket for 80,000 KF (Saver award) too. Initially booked at 150,000 to guarantee to be on the same flight as this was for our honeymoon
- How many days/weeks/months did you book in advance?
Jan 23 2019 departure, booked our initial tickets on Nov 1 2018. So approximately 3 months in advance
- Have you been able to book your preferred dates of travel with immediate confirmation/Waitlist?
Immediate confirmation at Saver level for 1 ticket, and at Advantage level for the other ticket. Put in a waitlist at the Saver level for the second ticket, before making a confirmed booking at the Advantage level for that same ticket
- How often did you have to check/call until you got the seats?
I sent chasers 4 times for my Saver waitlist
- Were you happy with the award booking procedure (e.g. online/by phone)?
Yes, very happy with both online interactions as well as interactions with SQ SIN KF staff. Friendly, professional and willing to help, especially given the circumstances of the travel.
Booked 2 x F (Suites), MEL-SIN, SQ218
- How many award miles & cash per person?
Initially I booked my wife's ticket using 80,000 KF (Saver award) and mine using 150,000 KF (Advantage award), and ~86AUD taxes per pax. However, my WL for a Saver ticket cleared the day before departure so I got my ticket for 80,000 KF (Saver award) too. Initially booked at 150,000 to guarantee to be on the same flight as this was for our honeymoon
- How many days/weeks/months did you book in advance?
Jan 23 2019 departure, booked our initial tickets on Nov 1 2018. So approximately 3 months in advance
- Have you been able to book your preferred dates of travel with immediate confirmation/Waitlist?
Immediate confirmation at Saver level for 1 ticket, and at Advantage level for the other ticket. Put in a waitlist at the Saver level for the second ticket, before making a confirmed booking at the Advantage level for that same ticket
- How often did you have to check/call until you got the seats?
I sent chasers 4 times for my Saver waitlist
- Were you happy with the award booking procedure (e.g. online/by phone)?
Yes, very happy with both online interactions as well as interactions with SQ SIN KF staff. Friendly, professional and willing to help, especially given the circumstances of the travel.
Mar 10, 2019, 3:39 pm
#72
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: SAN
Programs: Stanby life since 2007
Posts: 81
Which route/airline did you book and which class?
Booked 2 suites SIN-FRA-JFK
How many award miles & cash per person?
Saver award (120k per person , 240k total ) $211 SGD
How many days/weeks/months did you book in advance?
Booked Jan 2019, flights are December 2019 ( 11 months advance)
Have you been able to book your preferred dates of travel with immediate confirmation/Waitlist?
2 immediate saver suites available. 1 day after SQ schedule open for travel date.
Were you happy with the award booking procedure (e.g. online/by phone)?
Yes. Immediate confirmation, few days before new higher award redemption rates.
Booked 2 suites SIN-FRA-JFK
How many award miles & cash per person?
Saver award (120k per person , 240k total ) $211 SGD
How many days/weeks/months did you book in advance?
Booked Jan 2019, flights are December 2019 ( 11 months advance)
Have you been able to book your preferred dates of travel with immediate confirmation/Waitlist?
2 immediate saver suites available. 1 day after SQ schedule open for travel date.
Were you happy with the award booking procedure (e.g. online/by phone)?
Yes. Immediate confirmation, few days before new higher award redemption rates.
Mar 10, 2019, 4:45 pm
#73
Join Date: Feb 2019
Location: MEL
Programs: SQ KrisFlyer
Posts: 46
Which route/airline did you book and which class?
Booked 2 suites SIN-FRA-JFK
How many award miles & cash per person?
Saver award (120k per person , 240k total ) $211 SGD
How many days/weeks/months did you book in advance?
Booked Jan 2019, flights are December 2019 ( 11 months advance)
Have you been able to book your preferred dates of travel with immediate confirmation/Waitlist?
2 immediate saver suites available. 1 day after SQ schedule open for travel date.
Were you happy with the award booking procedure (e.g. online/by phone)?
Yes. Immediate confirmation, few days before new higher award redemption rates.
Booked 2 suites SIN-FRA-JFK
How many award miles & cash per person?
Saver award (120k per person , 240k total ) $211 SGD
How many days/weeks/months did you book in advance?
Booked Jan 2019, flights are December 2019 ( 11 months advance)
Have you been able to book your preferred dates of travel with immediate confirmation/Waitlist?
2 immediate saver suites available. 1 day after SQ schedule open for travel date.
Were you happy with the award booking procedure (e.g. online/by phone)?
Yes. Immediate confirmation, few days before new higher award redemption rates.
I'll be originating in MEL, if that changes anything.
Lucky that you managed to get it a day before devaluation. That's amazing news, well done.
Your input would be much appreciated
Last edited by MathNerd; Mar 10, 2019 at 4:53 pm
Mar 12, 2019, 1:04 am
#74
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: SAN
Programs: Stanby life since 2007
Posts: 81
Thanks for posting this data point. Was the booking in December on a weekday or weekend? From my dummy searches that I've done in order to prepare myself for booking this route soon, I've found that no award seats are released at all (at Saver level) on weekends.
I'll be originating in MEL, if that changes anything.
Lucky that you managed to get it a day before devaluation. That's amazing news, well done.
Your input would be much appreciated
I'll be originating in MEL, if that changes anything.
Lucky that you managed to get it a day before devaluation. That's amazing news, well done.
Your input would be much appreciated
Mar 12, 2019, 2:01 am
#75
Join Date: Feb 2019
Location: MEL
Programs: SQ KrisFlyer
Posts: 46
That's bringing in the new year in style, which is amazing!While you were checking day by day, did you find that flights departing on Saturday or Sunday showed as "not available", and only once the Monday on the calendar opened up then a redemption was possible?