One of the hardest things to grasp for many people that are new to the hobby is that it’s worth collecting airline miles on foreign airlines, even if you predominantly (or only!) fly domestically. I wrote the other day about how I used Air Canada miles to book on United without having to pay the $75 close-in booking fee that United wants to charge.
One such example is Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles. I tried to use Singapore to book the aforementioned United flight, but in that particular case, couldn’t get around a $100 charge they were trying to give me, so ended up using Air Canada.
No close-in booking fees and 15% online discount
The other great part about using Singapore Airlines miles is that they don’t charge any close-in booking fees. So if you’re looking to book a United flight within 21 days of departure, Singapore would be a great option!
When you redeem a flight online, you also get a 15% discount on how many KrisFlyer miles it takes. So if your flight costs 90,000 KrisFlyer miles, when you book online, it will only cost 85% of that amount, or 76,500 miles.
Unfortunately you can’t book partner awards online, so that won’t work if you’re trying to book United (or other Star Alliance) partners.
Award Chart sweet spots
Here is the Singapore Airlines partner award chart
I’ve marked a few interesting parts on the chart, especially as compared to United’s chart.
Within North America (in premium cabins)
Singapore charges the same 25K miles for an economy roundtrip within North America, but whereas United charges 50K for business and 70K for first class domestic roundtrips, Singapore only charges 40K and 60K. Again, this is on THE EXACT SAME UNITED flights!!
North America to Hawaii
United charges 45 / 80 / 90K miles for roundtrips from the mainland United States to Hawaii. But on Singapore’s award chart, these flights are only 35 / 60 / 80 – so it’s lower in every class of service!
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North America to Europe
Continuing on with our theme, United’s award chart 60 / 115/160 for a roundtrip to Europe. And if you fly on one of their Star Alliance partners, the prices jump up to 60 / 140 / 220K for economy / business / first class travel.
Singapore charges 55 / 130 / 160 for Star Alliance partners, but they also have their own award chart if you’re flying on Singapore itself – 40 / 115 / 135K for economy / business / first class travel. Plus, since you’re flying on Singapore itself, you can book online and get the 15% discount, which drops the roundtrip price to 34 / 97.8 / 114.75.
- So if you are flying North America to Europe on Singapore, you’re better off booking on Singapore (34K for a roundtrip economy vs. 60K)
- If you’re flying on Lufthansa (or another Star Alliance partner), you’re better off on Singapore, but not as big of a difference (55 / 130 / 160K vs. 60 / 140 / 220K roundtrip)
- If you’re flying on United itself, it depends on which class of service you’re looking for. Singapore is cheaper for an economy ticket (55K vs. 60K roundtrip), but United’s cheaper in Business Class (115K vs. 130K). They’re both the same price (160K miles) for a roundtrip first-class ticket
The Hawaii / Central America / Caribbean “zone”
I saved the best one for last! For some reason, Singapore treats Hawaii in the same zone as Central America and the Caribbean!?!? Seems totally reasonable right? Even though Barbados and Kauai are over 6500 miles apart!!
Barbados to Kauai – courtesy of gcmap.com
Singapore allows one stopover and one open-jaw on a roundtrip flight (neither are allowed on a one-way flight). You can also buy a 2nd stopover So, assuming that you live in North America (as I do), it would take some positioning (to put yourself in the Caribbean or Central America), and it would DEFINITELY take a bunch of time trying to find all the right availability, but you should be able to book a roundtrip to Hawaii, PLUS 2 additional one-ways to anywhere in the Caribbean or Central America, all for only 35,000 miles + $100.
Here’s how that would break down. For ease of example, I’m going to assume a Chicago-based traveler. I’m not sure if it would work to use your stopover in a non-hub city – it certainly would be easier to do if you live in / or have access to a United or Star Alliance hub city.
Red: one-way from Cancun to Chicago
Blue: roundtrip from Chicago to Honolulu
Green: One-way from Chicago to Bermuda (via Newark)
- Start yourself in Cancun (or anywhere in the Caribbean, Mexico or Central America). Your outbound flight according to Singapore is CUN-ORD-LAX-HNL. CUN-ORD is in November 2014.
- Stopover #1 (free) is in ORD in November. You fly the rest of your outbound leg (ORD-LAX-HNL) in March 2015
- After a wonderful week on the beach in Hawaii, you get ready for the return part of your flight (HNL-ORD-EWR-BDA). Fly HNL-ORD in March 2015
- Stopover #2 (costs $100) is in ORD again. Remember, this is your home town, so you just go home and wait for your 3rd trip
- After a few months, in September 2015, you fly the rest of your ticket, ORD-EWR-BDA.
Total cost would be 35,000 miles plus $100 (plus TSA fees). In this example, you would also need to get TO Cancun and HOME from Bermuda, but you could definitely get 3 trips (1 to Hawaii and 2 to anywhere in the Caribbean or Central America) for somewhere around 50,000 miles. Compare that to United, where you’ll pay almost that much JUST to go to Hawaii!!!
Suites Class
Singapore Air has probably THE most aspirational first class product out there – what they call “Suites Class“.
Image from Singapore Airlines
The good news for that is that it costs the same number of miles as redeeming for “only” First Class (which is still pretty awesome on Singapore Airlines!
1:1 Transfer from Chase
Singapore Airlines is the latest transfer partner from Chase Ultimate Rewards, and the points transfer 1:1. Points take about a day or so to transfer.
What is your favorite destination on Singapore? Have you ever flown Suites Class? Leave us a note in the comments!
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
so SQ will sell you a second stopover for $100?
Yes that is correct as far as I understand it. You get 1 for free (on a roundtrip) and can buy a 2nd for $100
Re: “So if you are flying North America to Europe on Singapore, you’re better off booking on Singapore (34K for a roundtrip economy vs. 60K)”
So it looks like they fly from LAX, SFO & NYC. But I can’t find a route map or any routes from these cities to Europe using their calculator.
Are you sure this can be done?
I know for sure that they fly New York to Frankfurt (it’s one of the flights with Suites Class). It also looks like they fly Houston (IAH) to Moscow (DME)
Who and what number do you call to book r/t UA flights from NA to Hawaii using SQ miles?
I believe (800) 742-3333 is the number to call. Let me know if that doesn’t work.
So just to be clear with your stopover example, I would have to find the award space on the individual legs then call in to feed it to the Singapore Air rep to book for me? They are ok with us saying hey we want a 6 month stopover?
Yes – that is how I understand it. If you end up calling in, definitely report your experience back!
In your example, what if the ORD-LAX-HNL leg requires a night at LAX (e.g., only available flight out of ORD is late afternoon)? Will this be considered yet another stopover?
Related question: Say I want to do just ORD-HNL and back. The only flight out of ORD with an award seat is late in the day, and connects at LAX, forcing me to spend a night at LAX, and continuing to HNL the next day. Is that allowed?
It’s my understanding that if you’re flying domestic (which most of the time includes Hawaii), anything over 4 hours would count as a stopover and therefore make it invalid for one award ticket
Thank you!
I am trying to book the following thru Singapore Airlines and the customer service reps are saying I can’t do it because of backtracking:
-Cancun to Chicago (ORD) – July 2015
-Stopover #1 (free) is in ORD.
-Chicago (ORD) to Honolulu. Then Honolulu back to Chicago(ORD).
-Stopover #2 (costs $100) is in ORD again.
-Chicago (ORD) to Nicaragua (MGA).
So, I’m not sure that you can have your 2 stopovers in the same place. The other option is HUCA (Hang Up, Call Again)
Yup. Did that. i called five separate times today. In your example above, you have the stopovers in the same place. Anywho, it seems that this itinerary isn’t possible.
Interesting. Another thought might be to try and make your 2 legs less of a backtrack (like if you went somewhere east like the Bahamas instead of Honolulu). That way you can check to see if there is anything hardcoded about backtracking.
You don’t have to actually book it but at least see if they’ll ticket it.
Success! I was FINALLY able to book my itinerary.
Just a note: It costs about $75 more in taxes, than if I would have booked thru United awards. I’m guessing this is because I added a “fare” component with the $100 stopover
Amar, I see you were finally able to book it. Did you just continue to HUCA or did you try a different routing/tactic that worked?
@Amar Like @Ryan, I am curious as well. I’m looking at a similar routing, wondering if I would be able to do a stopover in ORD twice (once for free, the other for $100) or if you can’t stopover in the same city on one reservation.