As I mentioned in Part 1, my goal was to fly Singapore’s A380 Suites Class out of Los Angeles. Unfortunately, Singapore had retired the A380 from flying this route just a couple of months prior to my trip and instead replaced it with their Boeing 777-300ER with regular First Class.
Ricardo’s Case Study:
Part 1: About me and how I accumulate points
Part 2: How I used points for my Singapore Airlines flight
Part 3: How I redeemed points for my hotels in Tokyo
After doing extensive research on their 777-300ER First Class cabin, I concluded that the experience wasn’t superior enough to their Business Class (which was being touted as one of the best in the market) to justify the difference in miles. I was already disappointed about not having a Suites option, so I decided to save myself the extra 10,000 points and go for the ‘inferior’ product instead.
It’s not as luxurious as Suites Class but it’s still a damn fine experience!
Finding Singapore Business Class Saver Award availability and booking process
I set about booking my flight only around a month before my departure date, as Singapore had fairly good availability for that route without any need for waitlisting over several days throughout December and January. Once I found the date I wanted, I immediately put it on hold.
I put my award on hold while I figured whether this date would work best for me
This redemption costs 85,000 KrisFlyer miles + ~US$55 taxes one-way.
Transferring American Express Membership Rewards points to KrisFlyer
One issue I (and most people) have with transferring points to frequent flyer programs is the time it takes for the points to arrive into your account when you have a limited number of premium seats available for booking.
Luckily, Amex seems to do a good job of transferring points reasonably quickly to most of its partners, as my points were transferred to KrisFlyer in less than 24 hours.
With the points sitting pretty in my account and my travel date confirmed, I was able to book my flight—success!
The email I always look forward to the most—note the Total amount I paid for it
Summing up
Like everything in life, redeeming points for premium class travel requires planning and research but it’s by no means an impossible task. And once you succeed, there’s no better feeling of accomplishment, especially knowing all the other things you’ll be able to do on your trip with the money saved. Now go and enjoy your wide comfy spacious premium leather seat.
This was one comfortable 11-hour flight
Stay tuned for the final instalment, in which I will go into detail how I booked my dream hotel, the Park Hyatt Tokyo as well as other luxury properties in Tokyo!
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