Early last year Singapore Airlines announced that they’d be introducing a premium economy product, which they’ve progressively been adding throughout their longhaul fleet. While the hard product for Singapore Airlines’ premium economy looks pretty average (similar to domestic first class within the US), you can bet that they’ll have an amazing soft product, as Singapore Airlines consistently does across all cabins.
Anyway, while we’ve seen some pretty specific premium economy fare sales, Singapore Airlines has an incredible premium economy fare sale at the moment, for travel between the US and Singapore.
You can fly roundtrip premium economy from New York, Los Angeles, or San Francisco, to Singapore, for ~$1,150 roundtrip. Your outbound travel can occur between November 1, 2016, and June 30, 2017.
Availability for the fare is wide open across all routes, so you shouldn’t have any issues with that. The best place to book is directly on Singapore Airlines’ website, which should reflect the ~$1,147 fare for travel from any of the above cities.
This ticket should book into the “P” fare class, which earns a good number of miles with many frequent flyer programs. Check out whereotcredit.com for full details. You earn at least 100% miles with a vast majority of partner programs, and Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer even awards 110% miles for premium economy fares.
Bottom line
While premium economy of course won’t be as nice as business class, it’s still a very comfortalbe way to fly. I’d actually like to review a longhaul premium economy product sometime soon, so this fare tempts me. I’d guess that Singapore Airlines has among the best premium economy soft products in the world, given how excellent they are in all their cabins.
If you’re looking to get to Asia on a revenue fare at a reasonable price, this is a value that’s tough to beat.
Is anyone considering flying Singapore Airlines premium economy to Asia at this price?
(Tip of the hat to zoqfotpik on FlyerTalk)
My wife and I booked on SQ for travel in premium economy in March 2017.
Thanks, @Samantha (and @Tim!)! Very good to know about lumbar support - my girlfriend has back problems, so being able to cross products off the list makes it easier to route. :)
I have a question about this. My mom, sister and I want to visit my mom's hometown in Nagoya this upcoming summer. While SQ does fly there, it appears they don't let you book connecting flights on partner Star Alliance Airlines online so the only option they're giving me is LAX-NRT-SIN-NGO for $6000 per person in premium economy. Thanks but no thanks. They are selling premium economy between LAX and NRT for $650 though, but...
I have a question about this. My mom, sister and I want to visit my mom's hometown in Nagoya this upcoming summer. While SQ does fly there, it appears they don't let you book connecting flights on partner Star Alliance Airlines online so the only option they're giving me is LAX-NRT-SIN-NGO for $6000 per person in premium economy. Thanks but no thanks. They are selling premium economy between LAX and NRT for $650 though, but that would require positioning flights from Ohio to LAX and from NRT-NGO. Does Singapore simply not have the ability to book flights on partner airlines? I would highly doubt it since that would seem like an incredibly counter-productive measure. If I called in to their reservations center and asked them, "Please book us in premium economy on your flight from Los Angeles to Tokyo, as well as flights from Dayton to Los Angeles and Tokyo to Nagoya" would they be able to do that. Would it be more expensive than booking the flights separately? It would be far more convenient to be able to just book it all as one reservation.
@Tim G. Good to know, thanks! Have you had a chance to try out JAL's PE? http://www.jal.co.jp/en/inter/service/premium/seat/sky_shell_seat.html I'm wondering if it is an issue with all the shell seats or if it is unique to AF.
Agree with Tim G. Both the AF PE and the CX PE (and the economy seats when I flew it back in 2012) were terrible. Although the concept was interesting so as to not disturb those behind you, the seats offer absolutely no lumbar support and resulted in a terrible back pain after a 14 hour flight. I actually preferred the seat in its upright position. The SQ PE seats are infinitely better for that one reason. I prefer the layout on the A380 over their B777 however.
@Hari: the AF PE seat is AWFUL. I flew it SFO-CDG in June, and due to the fact that the seat does not recline at all (only the part under your butt moves forward slightly), one is left in a very uncomfortable position. I wised up and upgraded it to business on the way back. Even without flying SQ PE yet, I can guarantee it's a thousand times more comfortable than that joke of a...
@Hari: the AF PE seat is AWFUL. I flew it SFO-CDG in June, and due to the fact that the seat does not recline at all (only the part under your butt moves forward slightly), one is left in a very uncomfortable position. I wised up and upgraded it to business on the way back. Even without flying SQ PE yet, I can guarantee it's a thousand times more comfortable than that joke of a seat in AF PE. Next week I'm flying Virgin Atlantic PE LAX-LHR...won't be as nice as SQ (older product), however its fairly comfortable and much better than longhaul Y class.....
That fare of $1150 is one way !!!!
I'll love to read a review of PE on the direct flight from SFO to SIN.
Are these PE fares (P class) actually upgradeable? After I booked, the option to upgrade with miles was greyed out and when I click on it, the following message pops up: "Redemption upgrades are not available for this booking. Please refer to the conditions on your ticket for more information."
I love the soft product, and everything else about SQ - it is really hard to beat! My only complaint with the SQ PE hard product is that it doesn't have a hard shell (like AF, for example http://www.airfrance.us/US/en/common/guideeconomy/classeetconfort/premium_economy_a_bord.htm and CX has it in economy, even: https://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/en_US/travel-information/inflight/travel-classes/economy-class/economy.html). I never like reclining too far because I've had people recline into my laptop multiple times.
I do agree with the others - it would be awesome to...
I love the soft product, and everything else about SQ - it is really hard to beat! My only complaint with the SQ PE hard product is that it doesn't have a hard shell (like AF, for example http://www.airfrance.us/US/en/common/guideeconomy/classeetconfort/premium_economy_a_bord.htm and CX has it in economy, even: https://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/en_US/travel-information/inflight/travel-classes/economy-class/economy.html). I never like reclining too far because I've had people recline into my laptop multiple times.
I do agree with the others - it would be awesome to see more reviews of PE hard products!
Hi Lucky these Pe products are so new to the market yet we don't see any reliable reviews at all. We know a lot about business and first because almost everyone reviews them. But in practice premium economy might have more customers / readers here so reviewing more pe products would be helpful
My family and I flew DEL to SIN as well on SQ PE already covered by Emily. Only thing to add - we didn't get access to a lounge but we did get complimentary access to like this paid exclusive zone with a delicious buffet and unlimited drinks in DEL. Not sure if it's something only it if DEL. All passengers (all classes) also received a box of Godiva chocolates. Not sure why. No such treatment on return.
SFO-SIN over New Years is showing $2500, so there are clearly dates where this deal doesn't apply.
Singapore Airlines Premium Economy is one of the most upgradable things on the planet, to Singapore's excellent business class. That's because PE-> business rates aren't bad, SQ gives great availability to their own members, and they even allow spending extra miles to upgrade when saver upgrade space isn't available.
http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2016/05/19/how-to-upgrade-to-europe-and-asia-almost-every-time/
i flew SQ PE LAX-SIN last week after bidding USD250 for an upgrade from Y to PE. it's nicely in the middle of Y and J -- e.g., champagne but in plastic cups, almonds/cashews but in a paper bag. book the cook is available for PE, which i discovered too late. half the cabin was empty and pretty much everybody had an empty seat next to them. i booked myself in an aisle seat in...
i flew SQ PE LAX-SIN last week after bidding USD250 for an upgrade from Y to PE. it's nicely in the middle of Y and J -- e.g., champagne but in plastic cups, almonds/cashews but in a paper bag. book the cook is available for PE, which i discovered too late. half the cabin was empty and pretty much everybody had an empty seat next to them. i booked myself in an aisle seat in the last row of the cabin, with three empty seats next to me up until two hours before departure. unfortunately when i boarded there was somebody else in my row. he was two seats away, and i wondered why he hadn't taken the other aisle seat. i soon got to know why: the armrest between the two middle seats goes up, but the other armrests don't. he had a comfortable two seats for himself while i had just the one. one other thing to note about the aisle seats, at least the G seats, is that there's some sort of hardware underneath the seat in front so there's barely enough space to stretch out/store anything. and the C seats have an IFE box underneath the seat in front. between all that, it's a juggling act to actually get enough legroom ... middle seats/bulkhead/window may be the way to go.
1. PE does not get you lounge access, status does.
2. I flew PE, FRA to NYC return. And it was super exp 1200+ Euros per person.... but LH was even more for their substandard PE product.
3. It was the only flights I could sleep on during the trip.
4. PE credits best to LH 150% BUT you gotta consider that LH charges crazy fuel surcharges for redemptions.
It works perfect for us. We want to fly into Kuala Lumpur for a couple of nights and do some business. Then take a cheap Air Asia flight to Cambodia for Angkor Wat for a week. We were thinking about taking American, but can never be sure of the upgrade so this is a good answer. I'm pretty sure we'll be taking this so thanks for heads up.
My husband I flew this last year between DEL and SIN on the A388. We generally liked it. We found that the bulk-head seats had the most comfortable design since those are the only rows with the foot-rest which retracts from the underside giving a more natural posture (as in their images). The other rows have the foot rest retracting from the seat in front (kinda like some economy seats), which we find uncomfortable. The...
My husband I flew this last year between DEL and SIN on the A388. We generally liked it. We found that the bulk-head seats had the most comfortable design since those are the only rows with the foot-rest which retracts from the underside giving a more natural posture (as in their images). The other rows have the foot rest retracting from the seat in front (kinda like some economy seats), which we find uncomfortable. The seats were wide, had good pitch, decent recline and sufficient separation between us so that we were comfortable and had a lot of room. All in all, a very comfortable way to travel over a 5 hour journey - definitely better than domestic first in the US if that means anything. Book the cook option available ex-Singapore and champagne is served (as are other drinks), but in a plastic glass which I don't get since it sorta cheapens the premium feel. In addition, the storage space in the seats is just mind boggling. There were compartments and slots everywhere including personal power and usb outlets for each seat.
Only downside for bulkhead seats as in most cases, the IFE screens are a little far away. Otherwise, the product is good when priced carefully. In our case, we were able to fly for 650USD round trip each (In comparison the economy tickets were 500USD round trip). We also liked the dedicated check-in counters and access to the SQ lounge on both legs of the journey - although not sure if this was because my husband is a Solitaire PPS Club member.
I flew this JFK -> FRA and back recently on their A380 - awesome trip. It's basically like domestic business class in the US, but with WAY better food, great service and a clean cabin.
@Gene: Yes, If you calculate how much miles you get it should be 2*(1.1+0.25)*8700 = roughly 23k KF miles assuming you have at least silver status with KF :)
@ML: I booked one of the above flights, and was given the option to upgrade by miles. Did upgrade the return segment for ~38k KF miles online.
@ Samar -- Thanks. So, a round trip upgrade from PE to Biz would cost 76,500 for LAX-NRT-SIN-NRT-LAX or 79,900 r/t for JFK-FRA-SIN-FRA-JFK? Given the ~26k-36k miles you would earn with LH (depending on status), that is a sweet deal! Looks like I might have to jump on this deal.
Two in a row, thanks for the hat tip Lucky!
I'd like to try this but given the amount of destinations in Asia I can get to non stop or one stop I'm hesitant to fly them JFK-fra-sin-xxx
@ML/Gene - I upgraded from Y/P to business on an AMD-SIN-SFO one-way for this January. It's fairly straightforward though takes some of your time to get it done. I had to call Krisflyer to make the request (didn't have the option to do it online) and was put on the waitlist for both segments. Surprisingly, I cleared the AMD-SIN segment right away (and had to call Krisflyer back to process it). Then a week later...
@ML/Gene - I upgraded from Y/P to business on an AMD-SIN-SFO one-way for this January. It's fairly straightforward though takes some of your time to get it done. I had to call Krisflyer to make the request (didn't have the option to do it online) and was put on the waitlist for both segments. Surprisingly, I cleared the AMD-SIN segment right away (and had to call Krisflyer back to process it). Then a week later I got an email that SIN-SFO cleared as well (followed by one more call). The big thing to remember is that upgrades are requested per segment. 23375 miles to upgrade AMD-SIN and 38250 miles to upgrade SIN-SFO, plus ~$750 for the original one-way fare.
I was looking at a ticket for a family trip to China next year during Easter and after reading this article I went to Singapore's site and checked the price. It's not prohibitive but still from DXB 3 pax (2 adults + 1 child) are flying for 12300 AED (approx $ 3350) while the economy would be 6900 AED (approx 1880$). Almost double. While at 30% or even 40% extra I'd through some thoughts, almost...
I was looking at a ticket for a family trip to China next year during Easter and after reading this article I went to Singapore's site and checked the price. It's not prohibitive but still from DXB 3 pax (2 adults + 1 child) are flying for 12300 AED (approx $ 3350) while the economy would be 6900 AED (approx 1880$). Almost double. While at 30% or even 40% extra I'd through some thoughts, almost double the price it's not really encouraging especially when China Southern offers business class for the same route at approx 350$ extra compared to Singapore's Premium Economy. So if I really had to take the chance of an upgrade I'd rather spend 800$ extra from economy to business and have a flat bed, else I'd remain in Y class and save quite a sum.
Still looks x1000 better than US domestic first class.
If you are going to review it, you should really find a few other PE products to review alongside. Personally the first time I flew PE, having flown a fair amount of longhaul J, I was rather disappointed, mainly because I was in the wrong mindset. After having flown it a few times with different airlines and having gotten used to what to expect, it can be a decent experience, but the level of attention...
If you are going to review it, you should really find a few other PE products to review alongside. Personally the first time I flew PE, having flown a fair amount of longhaul J, I was rather disappointed, mainly because I was in the wrong mindset. After having flown it a few times with different airlines and having gotten used to what to expect, it can be a decent experience, but the level of attention and personal service from the flight attendants tends to be much more Y than J.
@ Ben -- What ML asked. Gary did a post on May 19, 2016 on this subject, but it would be nice if you could apply to this real-world example for us.
I flew SX premium economy from SFO to ICN. It's my only premium economy experience, but I really liked it. Sharing a 2-person row with my wife felt like plenty of space; the IFE is top notch; and there is plenty of overhead space. You of course don't lay flat, but I don't sleep well on a plane no matter the class, so this was a great combination of space and value.
It is round trip. SQ site always displays like that. The $640 regular economy fare is also round trip.
I'm looking to book tix to Southeast Asia after I get some news in about 10 days. I hope the fare sticks around.
@Lucky - can "P" class tickets be upgraded to business class using KrisFlyer miles?
Please do review this! Yes, the premium cabin reviews are awesome, but knowing the premium economy fare market would be nice too. There are lots of premium economy fares out there that may be good to fly which we don't know of yet.
Getting away with premium economy on some routes would make it cheaper if the redeem value on business/first is too high.
I'm confused - that looks like $1150 one way, not round trip.
Review Air New Zealand space seat before it goes away?