Best *A FFP to Credit SQ Business Class Flights
 

Hello:

I travel about 9 RT's a year between SFO-CCU currently all in Business Class on CX/KA. CX service is mediocre at best, and KA between HKG-CCU-HKG is worse than US domestic first class. I am looking to switch to SQ seeing how their intra-asia flights in particular are so much better than KA.

The coronavirus issue is also prompting me to change, as Cathay is only allowing changes to flights up June 30th, and no refunds while transiting through HKG. This is especially worrisome to me since I have read that there is massive movement of mainland Chinese into HKG even now. Supposedly, the closure of a few border crossings is in name only. The main points are still open with massive numbers coming over each day).

I am wondering which FFP to credit to ? My priorities are decent award availability and reasonable mileage costs/award fees. Most of my award travel would be on UA/SQ/TG I think.

My FFP address can be US or India

I would appreciate your help. Thanks

I won't advise you on which FFP, but make sure you also register with SQ, and use that number as well to earn PPS status which will be valuable to you - see
How to get PPS while crediting to another Star scheme

SQ LPPS here. Before you change your travel experience I would say to you that in Asia these days SQ are not in my top five for travel and nor are they for long haul.

CX IMO offers a better experience on board and on the ground. NH is unmatched, BR is extremely good. JL is up there too though I use them less. Service on TG is warmer and more personal than on SQ.

SQ trades on past glory while the product and service these days is mediocre and the caring Singapore Girl a thing of the past. These days she's disinterested and quite curt but will tell you what a marvellous airline they are.

Asiana offer one of the easiest ways to gold and their service is also pretty good but they are not CX, NH, BR or JL - they are a bit more organised than TG but the premium service is less personal.

It depends on what you want to do with the miles honestly. Start with wheretocredit.com. For SQ, U and D are the discount business class fares and C, J, and Z are the higher priced ones. If you're already flying business class then status won't do nearly as much for you on those trips. Easy Star Alliance Gold is often OZ, A3, TK, SK. But the catch is, as you'll see that SQ paid business class fares credit really well in AS, however AS status isn't very useful internationally. I might be tempted to credit just enough to OZ to get Star Gold then put the rest in AS. Having said that, if you want to redeem for premium awards on SQ, you'll need Kris Flyer miles, so while not as lucrative as AS, it does give you access to first and biz award seats on SQ flights.

The other option out there that may be worth while is going after UA 1K. With all 9 trips on SQ you'd make it without an issue. UA credits award miles at 100% or 125% depending on with booking class you're in, but the new premier qualification isn't as straightforward. Your base miles per round trip are 20,489 U, D or 25,611 C, J, Z. Divide that by 6 then multiply by the number of round trips you'd credit to UA. You need 24,000 for 1K (plus 4 segments on UA metal which can be done easily and cheaply from SFO if you have no other UA travel plans). UA 1K status is pretty nice, but the SIN flights are difficult to upgrade. UA miles also tend to be on the expensive side to use, but you don't pay fuel surcharges, so the trade off is higher mile cost but not having hundreds of dollars in fuel surcharges.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I haven't had a chance to look back at this forum since I posted.

I am actually thinking of going with SQ KF/PPS.

lhrpete, I am surprised by your comments about CX. The food is cheap, but service is good. KA, on the other hand, is pure garbage. Their business class seats are worse than US carrier FC domestic. HKG-CCU flights are only operated by KA. It's always a bus to the satellite terminal in HKG, and they ALWAYS stuff the entire plane load of passengers into one bus when landing in HKG. Sure the FCL's in HKG look nice, but even their food offerings have declined a lot. I do however appreciate their (usual) efficient operations on the ground and in the air.

TG doesn't fly to the US, and all other carriers you listed (except CX) don't fly to CCU directly, meaning I would have to transit through BOM/DEL etc which I prefer not to do.

dvs7310, based on the mileage calculator, I see 27360 miles including the 25% KF Gold tier bonus for Business Flexi Fares. For 9 RT's, I am looking at 246,240 miles a year, which is barely enough for 1 RT award ticket on the same sector. I think I would earn a 2 vouchers entitling me to double miles for 2 sectors (SFO-SIN of course), which might be another 16,880 miles per year. I should be able to hit the 40,000 PPS point tier also, giving me 50,000 miles off an award booking. Lastly, with the SQ highflyer program, I should be able to get about an extra 110,000 miles per year (2.5 KF miles per S$1 spent - no sure if on base fare or total amount paid?)

Altogether, about 370,000 miles per year with an annual 50,000 miles off certificate ? Is my math correct ?

The only cons I see to KF are: 1. expensive mileage requirements for standard awards. 2. high taxes/surcharges on *A partners 3. unkown partner availability.

I guess my real question is how easy is it to redeem for saver awards on SQ. The standard (advantage ?) awards are very expensive ? Do they open up saver award inventory for PPS ?

Thanks for your help.

You seem to be assuming an airline and a ffp are one and the same. They are not. You can fly one airline and credit flights to the ffp of another airline (subject to t&c's eligible flights etc)

I know FFP and airline choice don't need to be the same. That is the purpose of my thread. Not whether to fly SQ or not, but whether to credit to KF or some other *A FFP.

My comments about TG and other carriers, relates to lhrpete's comments about service on other *A carriers.

Thanks

Seems you're also AA EXP, and probably flying (or driving) to SFO from SMF(???) so why not try QR out of LAX. Their LAX-DOH-CCU is a one stop like SQ, plus about the same distance.The Q Suites are great, and it would be a stop in DOH at a very decent lounge. The RDM earning is great for the AA program and you'd easily requalify. The schedule is not the greatest though as it looks like a 2am arrival, though the CX options were not much better. The SQ intra Asia flights would be fine if you can get the A350 as the seats are wider than most, but GF is showing a SilkAir 737 or a 12 to 15 hr layover in SIN (well worse things could happen to you,) so, I'd pass on that. It's a longer flight thru SIN, and the lounge situation doesn't appear so great, as you wouldn't get the FC lounge access.The business and *A Gold lounges are not quite so good at SIN. I like the QR DOH lounge better. Emirates also would be a one-stop but their J seats are narrower, and going thru DXB...Well it depends on what you like. The only other one-stop option is Air India SFO-DEL-CCU which is also *A, but, well it's Air India, so maybe a little chaotic possibly.
Or, do a RTW to try a couple different alternatives and settle in on a winner. I do love the QF FC lounge at LAX, so I know what I'd choose. But, if you do SQ, look at AS mileage earning as 9 RT's in lowest business should generate about 650,000 RDM's including the MVPG75k bonuses (you can status match from your AA to AS,) and AS has pretty nice inventory of SQ J awards.

Ha. You have read my mind:

1. I have actually cancelled 2 trips on CX due to the Coronavirus and rebooked on QR. The problem is only the long layover at LAX. My first flight is at the end of Feb with them. I don’t mind the 2 am arrival in CCU. With QR I won’t get home until probably 7 pm on Southwest, while on CX I get home by 1-3 pm depending upon the time of year. With sq it will be even earlier. Yes the QF FC lounge starts LAX Is nice. Used it a few times when I have gone thru LAX on CX

2. SQ is soon is switching to 5 flights a week to CCU only on the A350. My concern is the 50 minute transit time SFO-SIN and SIN-CCU. My concern with SQ is also that their WiFi is extremely expensive. I have sadly gotten used to being connected on the transpacs on CX

3. I used to do EK but there is a min 6 hour layover In DXB both ways (or up to 18 hours since EK doesn’t have an evening flight CCU-DXB everyday like they used to). Back when I used to fly them, it was a 777 to SFO with 2/3/2 seating and sloped seats. Plus landing that late in the afternoon was not nice taking a private car service back to SMF

4. Air India - you already said it

5. I am trying UA once (cheapestvthing I could find outside of Air India) SFO-DEL, but again a 5 hour layover at DEL both directions

I heard Alaska now has diminished award availability with SQ ? And mileage requirements have gone up ?

I put up with the KA flights for the convenience of the CX/KA network and great mileage earning, though it seems like AA will soon be adopting across the board dynamic award pricing (as of now not on partner flights I think).

Not sure what to do. Nothing is perfect.

I live in BKK, so I'm used to having to stop somewhere to get back to the US, and have tried just about everything, even QF SIN-SYD-LAX (OK, so that also was for requal on AS MVPG75k.) Or Austrian via VIE, with a 2 week European vacation. They were very nice.
UA J seats suck. There's a metal tube that houses seat controls or something that runs along the side of the seat or below the window and cuts right into my back making the seat narrower and uncomfortable, and once I had a tray table placed where it cut into my knees/legs. Plus, there really isn't anything special about their food and service.
AS just started having SQ J awards, they are pricy at 100k one way, but there always seem to be plenty for everyone. AS has reduced availability of CX awards, which at 50k one-way for J is a bargain, just not too good right now.
It's amazing that none of the Euro zone carriers have a CCU flight.
Sometimes a two stop strategy can be made to work.

UA will be a one time RT only. I don't want to commit to flying with them regardless of seat/food - which was never great to begin with (though the newly introduced 1/2/1 Polaris seats do look nice). The American carriers (all of them) have started/cancelled service to India several times. They start service, and then after a few years they end up cancelling for whatever reason. In contrast, the European and Asian carriers generally don't do that.

There isn't enough traffic/yield for European carriers to CCU. BA had a flight for years that was cancelled when LH came in. LH left once EK came in. Now with EK, QR, and EY there, I don't think any European carrier will ever think of coming back.

I don't find SQ saver awards terribly difficult to find, but I guess it depends on the route. As for your other comment about taxes and surcharges, you'll pay that on awards, you'll pay that with any award program outside of North America generally. SQ is usually pretty reasonable however. Though they don't fly to CCU, you may also have a look at NH for DEL flights, their surcharges are much lower and generally decent award availability.

Thanks everyone for the helpful advice