cfischer

correct. They have always been bookable. The longest I think is SIN-AKL that is routinely available to book. Of course we are hoping that with the MUA that UA and SQ have signed we'll see 'LH-like' availability in the future.

rdmmsmsfo

Just booked it. SFO-TPE-SIN-CGK in October. All J...I was even able to see/select the seat map on the SIN-CGK flight on the UA website. Seems pretty limited. CGK, SUB, KUL showed availability but nothing to DPS or destinations further afield (CMB, BKK). Not sure if this is a glitch or something more permanent. I ended up canceling the booking and just went directly TPE-DPS on EVA. But others may find this option useful.

I originally posted this on the MP forum and it was moved here. Didn't realize that these 'shorter-haul' SQ flights have been available in the past to partners. Funny though....these options only showed up yesterday for me. They were not available last week. I guess inventory allocation is tightly controlled by SIA.

kb1992

Tried to book SIN-BKK and SIN-HKG on SQ using UA miles for spring travel.

Nothing.

Wide open using SQ miles.

Are MP redemptions on SQ disappeared or is United blocking them....

Smiley90

Airlines always make redemptions more accessible to their own program than others, MP has no control over that. You're more likely just unlucky/too late with looking at the specific dates you're interested in, especially since the number of flights is still reduced due to covid.

UA Fan

Were they available on some other partner like AC, NH, LH or AV? I think if its available on AV there is a good chance UA might have it.

Kacee

There has pretty much always been a disconnect between MP availability and KF availability. It goes both directions (often UA flights not available through KF) and there's no way to know for sure which side is responsible in any given situation (though usually in this situation it would be SQ not releasing to UA). It's just the way things are.

kb1992

I did further search, and here are the results:





On united.com, SQ redemption for SIN-BKK on March 21 is completely gone. The only option is TG.










On Aeroplan site, SQ and TG redemptions are available. Although only economy class for SQ.

I also checked March 21, SQ SIN-LAX in Y is also bookable via Aeroplan.













For Krisflyer, both economy and business class are wide open for redemption.

My conclusion:

1) SQ blocks J award to other *A members, even it's a short flight. This surprises me.
2) SQ makes Y award available to other *A members on selected routes.
3) UA blocks SQ awards. Y or J.
4) That 8K SQ award via Aeroplan is nice, vs. 12.5K via Krisflyer and 19.3K via Mileage Plus.

Is Mileage Plus becoming as bad as Delta Skymiles? It used to be the best mileage program........

HNLbasedFlyer

How do you know SQ isn't blocking UA - maybe they aren't willing to take what UA is willing to pay.

WineCountryUA

As others have recently booked SQ using UA miles, need to be careful making a broad generalization. As mentioned there have been on and off issues between UA/SQ (and other *A partners/SQ) over the years. There are multiple potential explanations.

kb1992

I meant that in this case, SIN-BKK, UA is not making redemption on SQ available, effectively blocking MP members from booking SQ awards.

I didn't check the ExpertFlyer, but I suspect that SQ has "X" class available to *A carriers since it's available to Aeroplan members.

Does AC pay more than UA on SQ awards?

WineCountryUA

Not what EF is presently reporting, wonder if AC is real or stale or phantom or availability has dsiappeared

kb1992

Still available on AC site. I don't have any status with AC so I didn't proceed to book one.

Round-trip 3/21-3/25 SIN-BKK Y fare

LCC fare is $125, TG fare is $273 and SQ fare is $298.

Miles required for AC: 16K, SQ: 25K, UA: 39K

This means the following redemption values vs buying TG or SQ tickets outright

Aeroplan 1.8 cents/mile (OK value, but not great)
Krisflyer 1.2 cents/mile (Bad value)
Mileage Plus 0.7 cents/mile (Pretty bad value)

Not to mention rock bottom LCC fares. So redeeming miles for Y might not be the best option here.

The situation is slightly better if we redeem J awards.

Kacee

As previously noted, in both directions there are often inequalities in award availability between MP and KF. This has been the case literally for years. No point getting upset about it, it's not going to change anything.

kb1992

Agreed.

Good to know that KF has extended my miles for another six months.

I need to get rid of half million KF miles transferred from Chase.

Redeemed them on SQ A380 F suites for family. Then everything was cancelled due to COVID.

Kacee

KF are great for redemption so long as you don't have to cancel or change.

IMO the very best thing about UA miles is that you can do almost everything pretty easily on the website or app, no need to wait six hours on hold to speak to an SQ agent who only knows how to say "sorry, that is not possible."