Flying Singapore Suites is an experience that should be on your bucketlist…PERIOD! Yes, I’m telling you what should be on YOUR bucketlist. That’s how phenomenal the suites are! And this week it just became a bit easier for you to experience them as you can now redeem Alaska miles on Singapore Airlines.
THE BACKGROUND
I’ll keep this section short because I know you’re more interested in the suites than the background, but Alaska Airlines and Singapore Airlines announced their partnership back in 2017, however, the implementation has been super slow.
From 2017 until now, you could fly on Alaska and credit your miles to Singapore (and vice versa), but you were not able to redeem Alaska miles for Singapore flights (or vice versa). With the news that you can credit and redeem miles on either partner, I’d argue that a few redemption options are pretty competitive.
AWARD CHART
First things first, Alaska has posted a user-friendly AWARD CHART. Simply, select a “traveling from region” and a “traveling to region” and the chart will tell you how many miles are required.
Second, Alaska Airlines miles are one of the most valuable miles on the market. They can be challenging to acquire but the pay-off for your hard work are phenomenal redemptions.
Third, if you’re interested in flying 1st Class, Singapore Airlines has 4 different versions of First Class. They are all phenomenal but if you’re searching for a specific product you will have to do more advanced research.
But here is a simple example…Singapore is flying their older A380s with Singapore Suites from Beijing (PEK) to Singapore (SIN):
6.5 hours in First Class for 35k…not bad at all!
If you click on “nonstop” (underneath the flight numbers), it will display the type of plane. In this circumstance, both, Flight 801 and 805 are 777’s, but Flight 807 is an A380 with this First Class Suite…
However, Singapore flies their newest suites between Singapore and Hong Kong (HKG), London (LHR), Mumbai (BOM), Shanghai (PVG), Sydney (SYD), Tokyo (NRT), and Zurich (ZRH) with this First Class Suite:
Slight difference? 😉
I did not search the calendar for every city pair but at the moment, it appears that the newest suites may be blocked. But if you go in search of availability, you’re looking for the A380-800.
NOT ALWAYS THE GREATEST VALUE
I would encourage you to do some comparison shopping when redeeming Alaska miles as the amount of miles required vary widely by carrier.
Take a look at this flight between Tokyo and Singapore. Redeeming Alaska miles to fly on Japan Airlines (JAL) would costs 25k in business class but would cost 60k on Singapore. Singapore has a GREAT business class but not great enough that I would pay double the price for it.
Pro-Tip: 7.5 hours in JAL Business class for 25k is a steal!
BUYING MILES
Some of the best redemptions (e.g PEK-SIN) are fairly niche but there is a unique spin to this announcement. If you don’t have any Alaska miles, you could outright buy the required miles as Alaska is offering a teired bonus (up to a 40%) on purchased miles until October 31st. That means you could buy the PVG-SIN First Class ticket for $742.50.
CAVEATS
Unfortunately, if you are looking to redeem Alaska miles for Singapore’s fifth freedom routes from the US to Europe, it’s a no go. Additionally, flying direct from the US to Singapore in biz is a whopping 100k so that’s not really a good value either.
Although some routes are competitive, the most attractive and reasonable redemptions appear to be intra-Asia flights. Regardless of the reason, 35k points for Suites is amazing, and I’ll definitely be utilizing it soon.
FINAL STAMP
The ability to redeem Alaska miles for Singapore operated flights adds more value to the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan program, however, I would encourage you to compare your options before using Alaska miles.
As I mentioned above, Alaska miles are extremely valuable. They are not the easiest to earn but they can offer outstanding value on their partners.
If you want to fly on Singapore Airlines, it may be a better idea to transfer points from any of the four major currency programs (Amex Membership Rewards (READ MORE), Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou or Capital One). Although redeeming points from these four currency programs may cost more miles, the points are far easier to earn, therefore, the trade-off that must be considered.
Anyone plan on taking advantage of new Alaska – Singapore redemption option? Anyone find availability for the newest First Class?
1TattedPassport 