advice on miles
 

I'm planning on going to Sydney from Singapore, and back, next week. I can either pay 60,000 UA miles to fly Singapore airlines, or pay for a ticket, which is US540.00. I would appriciate anyone's (even Rudi's) advice on which is the better deal. Thanks!

SinFlyer,
(previosly ExpatFlyer)

In my very humble opinion, pay the dollars. I never use miles for coach awards because the only time I can afford to fly First on leisure is when I use miles (at lesat until I hit it big...) http://talk.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. There are many arguments, but for me I just look at, for example, US to Asia:

Coach Money: $1200 or so
Coach Award: 60000

First Money: $8000+
First Award: 120000

I would pay the ticket and earn the miles (looking at them as a rebate of 2-3cents per mileage credit on my ticket-price).

Unfortunatly those miles don't count as UA status-miles (yet - may be somewhen in the not so far future they will - depending on SQ's StarAlliance-future).

Jet and Rudi,
Thanks for the advice. I agree that 60K is just too much for this flight. SQ really wants you to pay big to fly them. I'm gonna pay the $.
By the way, I don't know if there are any other Flyertalk people in Singapore. If not, I'm a good person to ask about Singapore flight/hotel deals.
Cheers,
SinFlyer

http://talk.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Unfortunatly UA-mileage-credit on SQ in eco will only be 70% (on eco-fares Y,K,B,E,H,M,O,S,W).

I'll be in Singapore twices this year: [*]first time ever Sunday-Monday aug-29 to 30 (Marriott, exec.floor - including airp Limo transfer, SIN$270) (FRA-SIN with LH, SIN-BKK with TG): main purposes: curiosity, preparing the next visit with Gisela in nov-99, having a Singapor Slim at the Raffles ....[*]second time with Gisela: (after the PiP) Tuesday-Friday, nov-9 to 12 (hotel reservations: first and third nights Marriott, second night Sheraton Towers; if I or you would find a "reasonable rate" (=SIN$ 300/night/room?) at the Raffles I would book at least one, may be three nights there - so far I didn't. (HNL-NRT-SIN with UA; SIN-BKK-HKG with TG).

Rudi,
The Raffles is tough place to get discounts and I've never heard of a room below S$300.00. I think the best hotels are the Ritz, the 4 Seasons and possibly the Grand Hyatt. The Hyatt has a new restaurant called Mezzinine which is excellent. The 4 seasons has an excellent Sunday brunch (I just got back), as does the Raffles. If I'm not flying, how about sharing a drink at the Long Bar?

SinFlyer: agreed (Singapur Sling at the grand bar at the Raffles).

You name the time and meeting-place (I have no concrete plans but get a first impression and preparing the 3 days stay with Gisela in november-99; if you show me around be my guest for dinner). My travel pattern:

Saturday, august-28
LH 167 Munich-Frankfurt 18:40-19:40
LH 786 Frankfurt-Singapore 22:05-16:05 (Sunday)

Sunday, august-29
Marriott Limo airport-Marriott
Singapore Marriott Hotel, 320 Orchard Rd (junction of Scotts and Orchard Rds); tf (65) 735-5800

Monday, august-30
TG 404 Singapore-Bangkok 12:55-14:15

[This message has been edited by Rudi (edited 08-02-1999).]

SinFlyer: under your former profile (ExPatflyer) you mentioned under interests: tennis (any interest in a game during my 18 hours stay? - you can challenge your "most hated" double partners and we will play together ...) - I am sorry but at my age (56) I don't fit into the occupation "dude" (anymore, did I ever?) ...you mention in that profile...

SinFlyer,

I'm thinking of heading over to SIN and HKG this fall/winter. I can fly UA JFK-SIN, HKG-JFK for $1100 USD. However, when I add the SIN-HKG segment, the fare jumps to $1700 USD. $600 is full fare for SIN-HKG. I know I can do much better if I buy my ticket in Asia. So, what are the prices for SIN-HKG? Both OW and RT? I'll throw away the return if RT is cheaper. http://talk.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Thanks.

Rudi:

You may want to check your calendar before heading to the Munich airport. On my calendar, August 8th is a SUNDAY.

thank you dhacker - I did now correct the dates to aug-28 to 30 (instead of wrongly aug 8-10 before).

Rudi,
I was at first confused by the dates you wrote. There is a 50% chance I'll be flying to San Diego (from Singapore) the weekend of August 28/29th. It would be great to have a drink and play tennis (not in that order) if I'm in town. Let's touch base when the time gets nearer. I'm off to Sydney Wed to see the Chargers play the Broncos, so I'll be off of flyertalk for a few days. Go Chargers!

we will keep in touch - you can also email me (discretion on email-adresses assured).

SinFlyer - I live in SIN occasionally - depends on when....

Depending on the time of year , Singapore Airlines has some deals. But being the host airline in Singapore, you might find better deals with Qantas , Gulf Air or EgyptAir. Or fly with BA from KUL.

If you want to save, originate from either KUL or BKK , fly on Singapore Airlines. The fares originating from these two places are about 50% less than from Singapore...!

However, if you want to splurge - spend the miles in Business Class on SQ.

I did the reverse one time and bought a one way HKG-SIN ticket in HKG for appx $225. It was in 1995, and was on UA (back when they served the route). If I recall correctly, I stopped by one of the scores of travel agents in HKG and just asked--they had every price known to man (if I recall, the cheapest was appx $150 on Philippine Airlines and required an overnight in MNL)--you could get any combination of preferred airline and flight time up to the CX/SQ flights which were full price.

I requested the ticket, and picked it up the following day.

Rudi, I'm off to Sydney in an hour..SQ. I'm going to be incommunicado for the weekend. How do I email you?

[email protected]

(clicking on the "info" button "delivers" that email address).

[This message has been edited by Rudi (edited 08-04-1999).]