Singapore Airlines devalued their award chart for travel on Singapore back in March. They didn’t devalue their award chart for travel on Star Alliance airlines, which left open lots of loopholes to save miles. For example a Singapore suites flight to Tel Aviv via Europe costs fewer miles than a suites flight to Europe!
Those loopholes will be closed as they will devalue their Star Alliance award chart on December 7th.
Current Singapore Star Alliance Award Chart
New Singapore Star Alliance Award Chart (Effective 12/7)
Singapore Airlines Non-partner Award Chart
In the good news department, starting on December 7 you’ll finally be able to book partner award travel online. Currently you need to call Singapore at 1-312-843-5333 to book partner award travel.
Singapore continues to offer a round-the-world award, something that airlines like American and United have discontinued. A round-the-world ticket to 7 destinations is 180K miles in coach, 240K miles in business, or 360K miles in first/suites class.
Singapore still allows a free stopover and open jaw on round-trip saver awards and you can add up to 3 additional stopovers for just $100 each by booking your award over the phone. If you book a standard award you can even get a free stopover on a one-way ticket. Plus Singapore allows you to waitlist for saver award space on flights.
Here is a chart comparing the current Star Alliance award rates with the new rates. Rates that are going up are in bold. Miles required are for one-way travel.
| Between US49/Canada and: | Class of Service | Current Rate | New Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| US49/Canada | Coach Business First | 12.5K 20K 30K | 12.5K 20K 30K |
| Hawaii/Caribbean/Mexico/Central America | Coach Business First | 17.5K 30K 40K | 17.5K 30K 40K |
| South America | Coach Business First | 30K 50K 70K | 30K 50K 70K |
| Europe | Coach Business First | 27.5K 65K 80K | 27.5K 65K 95K |
| Middle East/Northern Africa | Coach Business First | 37.5K 57.5K 75K | 45K 69K 90K |
| Southern Africa | Coach Business First | 45K 72.5K 110K | 52K 87K 132K |
| North Asia 1 | Coach Business First | 45K 87.5K 100K | 48K 105K 125K |
| North Asia 2 | Coach Business First | 45K 87.5K 100K | 54K 105K 125K |
| Central Asia | Coach Business First | 52.5K 97.5K 132.5K | 55K 110K 145K |
| South Asia | Coach Business First | 55K 97.5K 112.5K | 55K 97.5K 135K |
| South Pacific | Coach Business First | 55K 97.5K 127.5K | 60K 117K 152.5K |
Unfortunately you can no longer earn the full distance based Singapore miles on United flights anymore, though you can earn earn full distance based Singapore miles when flying on many Alaska or JetBlue fares.
You can transfer points from AMEX, Chase, Citi, and Starwood to Singapore.
There are still lots of bargains compared to other programs like United.
Here is when you’ll want to use Singapore miles over United miles:
Sample one-way pricing using United miles vs Singapore miles:
- Domestic US business class on United using United miles is 25K miles or 35K miles on lie-flat routes. With Singapore miles it’s just 20K.
- A flight from the US48 to Alaska on United is 17.5K in coach, 30K in business, or 40K miles in business on lie-flat routes using United miles. With Singapore miles it’s just 12.5K in coach or 20K in business.
- A flight from the US48 to Hawaii on United is 22.5K in coach and 40K in business, or 50K in business on lie-flat routes using United miles. With Singapore miles it’s just 17.5K in coach or 30K in business class.
- A flight from the US to Europe is 30K in coach, 60K-70K in business, and 80K-110K in first using United miles. With Singapore miles it’s just 27.5K in coach, 65K in business, or 80K in first class. First class goes up to 95K on 12/7.
- A flight from the US to Israel is 42.5K in coach, 75-85K in business, and 90K-140K in first using United miles. With Singapore miles it’s just 37.5K in coach, 57.5K in business, and 75K in first class. Coach goes to 45K, business goes to 69K, and first goes to 90K on 12/7.
- A flight from the Middle East to Europe is 25K in coach, 50K in business, and 60K in first using United miles. With Singapore miles it’s just 17.5K in coach, 25K in business, or 35K in first class. First class goes up to 60K on 12/7.
Singapore does charge fuel surcharges for most partner airlines, but notably they don’t charge any for travel on Singapore or United. Thanks to their Star Alliance award chart, that means it can be quite advantageous to use Singapore miles for United flights. However it’s worth noting that if you have a United credit card for expanded United award availability, that benefit only applies when using United miles and not miles from partner airlines like Singapore.
- There are no close-in fees with Singapore miles. With United miles there’s a $75 fee within 3 weeks, though there are workarounds for that.
- Date changes on Singapore flights are free and are just $20 on other flights with Singapore miles. With United miles, changes are $75-$125.
- Award refunds are just $30 with Singapore miles vs $75-$125 with United miles.
The Achilles’ heel of the Singapore program is that miles expire 36 months after they’re earned. You can extend them for 6 more months by paying a $12 fee per 10,000 miles extended. If your miles are expiring and you don’t have any travel plans you can also book an award before your miles expire and then change the award for up to 1 year from when it’s issued.
You can also transfer Singapore miles into Virgin Australia Velocity miles at a 1.35:1 ratio. Those miles never expire as long as you have activity every 36 months.
United miles will never expire as long as you have activity every 18 months or have a United credit card. That’s a much friendlier policy, though many awards cost a lot more than with Singapore miles.
It’s also worth noting that Singapore only allows you to nominate 5 people for mileage redemptions. If you need to change your list of nominees there is a $30 charge and you must wait 6 months to change a name after you add it.
What awards have you redeemed with Singapore miles?
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26 Comments On "Singapore Closing Award Loopholes With Star Alliance Award Chart Devaluation; Comparison Chart Of The Changes And More"
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So first class is still less miles to Israel than Europe.
Yup, go figure.
Though it is more than a Singapore non-partner suites redemption to Europe.
can you credit a aeroflot flight from tlv to nyc and get 100 percent of the flown miles? i credited a turkish flightlast week from tlv to nyc and got 100 percent of the flown miles. thnaks
No. Aeroflot is Skyteam (not star alliance).
Turkish will earn 100% on ABEHMOQSY in economy. The cheapest tickets will only earn 50% or 25%
also< dan when are you making another seminar?
Dan , would be great if you can make a chart of approximate fuel/tax surcharges from/to airports.
For example when I checked fuel charges using Singapore miles on partner airlines, on a routh like tlv – jfk it was about $250 half the amount then they would ask for jfk-tlv which was $500.
Every partner airline will be different, so that’s pretty much impossible.
If you flew on United there would be no fuel surcharges.
Knew that but wanted to fly on LH first class which was 57k for me on on United it would cost much more.
How come there is such a big difference in tlv-nyc vs nyc-tlv taxes ?
ouch NYC-TLV using singapore on coach United was great value compared to United miles. Now may just try to book with United rather than Singapore. No real advantage anymore for nyc-tlv United flight coach
Advantages would be stopover, no close-in fee, cheaper cancellations.
But yes, the price advantage for coach will be gone.
And much more cc transfer options than United
When was the last time you were able to get a $100 stopover on a partner award?
There is ‘real’ advantage… in the post
That 69k biz NYC-tlv hurts now it’s better to go with af for 62k
Except that AF adds fuel surcharges and there’s no direct flight.
@Dan are you updating your “the ultimate israel award chart”? Last update was 2 years ago.
Can one book a suites ticket to Israel under the old rates and use it for a year?
Yes you can book under the old rates for future travel . As long as you don’t request to change the date on the ticket after December 7th,doing that will require them to reissue your ticket And charging you extra for the new price .
Hey Dan this came to my inbox today, you may want to add it to your post. mainly about fees for calling in…
With effect from 7 December 2017, an offline service fee of USD25 or 2,500 KrisFlyer miles will be introduced for the following services rendered by any Singapore Airlines office and reservations hotline:
Redemption ticket bookings
Redemption ticket changes
Redemption upgrades
KrisFlyer membership services, including updating of passport details, adding or changing Redemption Group Nominees
This service fee will be waived for transactions that cannot be performed online.
We thank you for your support and we look forward to welcoming you onboard soon.
What did you mean that if you have sq you can book an award ticket to prevent it from expiring and change it from up to a year? I can’t ask to cancel and pay a 30 dollar reward fee and have my points redeposited?
Hi Dan,
Thanks so much for the post!!!
One question :
If you want to fly with them to Israel from US, with what carrier do you get to fly the second part of the trip ?
Lufthansa from FRA-TLV.
Or you can buy a separate ticket on El Al.
Can someone explain the stopover rules (i.e. for TLV-HNL roundtrip in saver can go around the world with stops all along the way or do I need to only stop between TLV and HNL)? Can I stop in multiple zones? Thanks
how could it be that business to israel from nyc on the old chart was more expensive then business to europe?
looks like Etihads partnership with ANA is going down the drain too.I just spoke to a rep.He told me that all booking on etihad is suspended until they update terms and conditions.