Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer offers generally good value and availability on the carrier’s own award flights. One of the best ways to maximise a KrisFlyer award redemption is to add stopovers.

Imagine taking a break at an intermediate destination before continuing on to your final destination – without paying any more miles for the flight. That usually requires two separate awards. But with a KrisFlyer stopover, you only pay for one award and enjoy a stopover for free (perhaps with a slight increase in airport taxes).

Previously, you could also pay US$100 for additional stopovers on Singapore Airlines award tickets. However, this has now been discontinued.

You’d normally expect to stopover in Singapore, given that’s the carrier’s home city. But thanks to a little-known quirk called ‘fifth freedom flights’, you could stopover in Asia, Europe or North America instead! These are flights operated by Singapore Airlines between two foreign countries outside of Singapore)

With some savvy planning, you could fly to New York via Frankfurt and back from Los Angeles via Tokyo, enjoying stopovers in all those cities along the way. And it won’t cost you any more miles than it would if you were just transiting through those cities. What a bargain!

With proper planning, you could enjoy free stopovers at Frankfurt, Singapore or Tokyo, for example.

Where can I stop over using KrisFlyer miles?

Last updated: 24 January 2024

Apart from Singapore, other cities you can stop in with KrisFlyer miles include:

In Asia

  • Tokyo on the way to/from Los Angeles (SQ11/12)

In Europe

  • Frankfurt on the way to/from New York (SQ25/26)
  • Manchester on the way to/from Houston (SQ51/52)
  • Milan on the way to/from Barcelona (SQ377/378)
These Singapore Airlines routes could be an additional stopover choice.

How do KrisFlyer award stopovers work?

When you redeem your KrisFlyer miles for a Singapore Airlines award, you can get zero, one or two stopovers included for free. That depends on what type of award you book. It’s no longer possible to pay for additional stopovers.

With a stopover, you can break up your journey and spend some time (more than 24 hours) at the connecting city in your itinerary. It’s a great trick to get two holidays for the price of one.

If you spend under 24 hours in a destination, that’s classed as a transit and you don’t need to break up the ticket.

Award typeFree stopovers
One-way Saver0
One-way Advantage1
Roundtrip Saver1
Roundtrip Advantage2

Singapore Airlines gives you one complimentary stopover on a roundtrip Saver Award. For example, you can fly return from Australia to New York and stopover in Singapore on the way there for free. Or, if you’re on SQ25/26 via Frankfurt, you could choose Frankfurt instead of Singapore.

Singapore Airlines A350 Business Class - BNE-SIN seat
The spacious Singapore Airlines Airbus A350 Business Class seat.

Advantage awards are more expensive but include one free stopover each way (two for a return journey). Ideally, you’ll still want to book your ticket as a Saver Award because it is much cheaper than an Advantage Award. The downside is there is less Saver availability overall, and you only get one free stopover.

When you use a stopover in a KrisFlyer award booking, the number of miles needed won’t change. You won’t have to pay for the two flights separately, which will save you lots of miles. Taxes will usually increase slightly.

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How can I save with KrisFlyer stopovers?

Here’s the mileage needed for Australian KrisFlyer members to redeem a Saver award to popular destinations:

OriginDestinationEconomyPremium EconomyBusinessFirst
Perth/DarwinEurope47,50077,000119,500160,500
US West Coast56,50099,000127,500180,000
US East Coast60,500104,500136,500180,000
Rest of Australia/NZEurope58,500101,000130,500183,500
US West Coast60,500104,500136,500188,000
US East Coast66,000109,000145,500188,000

Example: how to save miles with a stopover

From that table, let’s use Sydney-New York (US East Coast) for 291,000 miles return in Business Class as an example. A possible itinerary could be Sydney-Singapore-New York (on SQ24, one of the world’s longest flights), followed by New York-Frankfurt-Singapore-Sydney on SQ25 via Frankfurt.

But what if you wanted to stop in Frankfurt on the way home and enjoy a European sojourn? That’s possible with a stopover – free on a return Saver award. On the way back, you can fly New York-Frankfurt, spend some time in Europe, and continue on Frankfurt-Singapore-Sydney. The overall price is still 291,000 miles in Business Class.

If you were to book this routing with separate flights in Business Class, then it would cost:

How do I book a KrisFlyer stopover?

You can book a free stopover easily online.

  1. Go to the KrisFlyer flight search tool (or simply go to the Singapore Airlines homepage).
  2. Select ‘Redeem flights’ and login to your KrisFlyer account when prompted.
  3. Enter your flight search using your origin and final destination.
  4. On the next screen, BEFORE you select flights, click on the prompt to add a stopover.
  5. Find award flight availability on all flights (or change dates until you do).
  6. Follow the instructions to add the stopover to your trip, then proceed to payment.

As always, there needs to be award availability on all flights for this to be booked.

Summing up

Using stopovers to literally travel further with your miles is a great way to push the boundaries of your KrisFlyer balance. You can stop over in Singapore and a number of appealing mid-point cities, including Tokyo, Milan, Frankfurt and Manchester.

Of course, you could go one step further and fly around the world in Business from 280,000 KrisFlyer miles! It’s certainly not easy to book, but it represents even better value for your miles.

This article was originally written by Nelson Yap and Matt Moffitt.

How to get a free stopover with KrisFlyer miles was last modified: February 2nd, 2024 by Brandon Loo