Let’s focus on the great news first. Singapore Airlines, a “five star” airline with one of the best business class seats in the game, is offering round trip business class from London and Manchester to a variety of cities in Southeast Asia for 92,000 miles round trip, and taxes under £300! Some of the destinations are open without quarantine!
That’s “deal of the year” for sure, in the UK points world, considering most airlines charge that one way, with taxes and surcharges at least double those figures. But like many things with travel crossing international borders these days, the offer comes with as much uncertainty as promise.
Here’s everything you need to know, to bag this outstanding deal, or at least be informed about how to land deals like this in the future.
Singapore KrisFlyer Promo
Singapore Air is offering 50% off the usual number of points needed for these always expensive, always sought after flights between London and Asian gateways including: Bangkok, Phuket, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta.
This means just 92,000 points will get you round trip.
Singapore Air KrisFlyer miles can be created almost instantly, by transferring Amex Points into Singapore KrisFlyer. For those hoping to use these from the USA, Amex, Citi, Capital One and Chase are also transfer partners..
Note: don’t transfer points until you fully understand the opportunity. Points can’t be transferred back into Amex or another program from Singapore. It’s a one way street.
So, the red flags. These deals are amazing, but they’re limited to travel completed in 2021. They need to be flown before December 31st, 2021. You must also book by the 11th of July.
Being that most of Asia remains closed to outsiders, and there’s no crystal guide as to when that will fundamentally change, there’s an element of risk here. Having said that, Singapore is actively working on reopening and things are even better in Thailand.
Thailand is welcoming fully vaccinated travelers to Phuket without quarantine. The new program went live on July 1st and thousands of visitors have arrived without issue. An abundance of crazy hotel deals, like five star hotels from $50 a day makes Phuket a great option!
How To Book, Or Think About It
These flights must be booked at SingaporeAir.com, using Singapore Air KrisFlyer miles. Other Star Alliance loyalty program currencies will not work, and certainly not at these rates. Head here for the dedicated promo page.
Once there, you can search for any of the routes listed above, like London Heathrow to Phuket, all of which will transit via lovely Singapore. Depending on the travel rebound, you may end up on an Airbus A380, Boeing 777 or Airbus A350. Here’s GSTP’s review of the Singapore A380 in business class.
Per Singapore Air, here’s exactly how it goes…
Log in to your KrisFlyer account with your KrisFlyer membership number and password at the top right corner of this page.
Select ‘Book a Flight’ on your dashboard
Click ‘Redeem flights’ and select your travel details
Discounted redemption offer will be reflected in the ‘Promo from’ column and in the booking summary panel after you have selected the flights. Seats are limited, and redemption availability is on a first-come, first-served basis.Singapore Air
Great Opportunity, Maybe!
This is one of the best points deals of the last few years, thanks to the combination of a reasonable number of miles and very low taxes charged, compared to UK carriers like BA on the routes. And currently, BA isn’t operating Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur anyway, which makes those routes unviable to begin with!
Paying just 92,000 miles round trip is a huge bargain for the excellent comfort and standards of Singapore business class, so if a couple weeks in Phuket sound ideal, it might be a deal not to miss!
The T&C is unfortunately very restrictive – my strict interpretation of it means that if you would be allowed to board but face quarantine or lockdown in your destination or on your return you’d still have to go or you’d end up forfeiting the miles.
T&C:-
No changes are permitted for Redemption Transactions made under this Promotion. No cancellations are permitted for partially used or totally unused tickets.
For (i) any flights cancelled by SIA, or (ii) where a SQ-operated flight was removed from a Participant’s booking due to Covid-19 regulatory or governmental restrictions, even if the relevant flight is still operating, the miles redeemed in the relevant Redemption Transactions will be refunded into the relevant Participant’s KrisFlyer account and no additional fees will be charged for such refunds. However, requests to amend any booking details, or to retain the ticket for future use will not be granted.
Personally I wouldn’t bother with Bangkok, KL or Jakarta- pretty much no chance. I am tempted for Phuket in November as allowing for a delay it should be open by then but it’s still a huge amount of miles to gamble. In my experience with Spontaneous Escapes it’s hard to get any exception even as a PPS member so I wouldn’t book counting on that.
Note the condition that if they cancel you only get a refund! Im not sure in practice that would be the case but worth trying to book on the flight numbers that are currently operating
Lastly note that SQ requires you to have ticketed to get the price honoured so waitlist is no use (though worth a punt now if you can’t find anything suitable, it may clear before the 17th)
I have tried a few searches and can’t seem to get this offer to work – it is charging me 92,000 each way no matter what dates I select, but not offering the 50% reduction even if both dates are available at the Saver level. I have tried BKK and HKT.
Have you gone forward to the booking stage? Typically Singapore’s IT only shows the lower price after you’ve selected both flights and are at the booking phase.