With the United States lifting restrictions on vaccinated travelers as of early November 2021, Singapore Airlines will resume two additional fifth freedom flights to the United States. I first wrote about this a couple of days ago, but wanted to note that award seats have now been loaded, for anyone who wants to redeem miles for these flights.
In this post:
Singapore Airlines’ New York to Frankfurt flight returns
As of November 1, 2021, Singapore Airlines will resume its Singapore to Frankfurt to New York route. The flight will operate daily with the following schedule:
SQ26 Singapore to Frankfurt departing 11:55PM arriving 6:20AM (+1 day)
SQ26 Frankfurt to New York departing 8:20AM arriving 12:15PM
SQ25 New York to Frankfurt departing 9:15PM arriving 9:50AM (+1 day)
SQ25 Frankfurt to Singapore departing 11:40AM arriving 6:50AM (+1 day)
Singapore Airlines will use a Boeing 777-300ER for the route, featuring a total of 264 seats, including four first class seats, 48 business class seats, 28 premium economy seats, and 184 economy seats.
This is a route that Singapore Airlines operated for a long time pre-pandemic. The airline used to operate an Airbus A380 in the market, and for that matter it was the only route to the United States to feature an Airbus A380. Unfortunately I wouldn’t expect to see an A380 on the route in the foreseeable future. Singapore Airlines is retiring seven of its 19 Airbus A380s, and I don’t see this being at the top of the list of routes to get A380s back.
Nonetheless this is an awesome option to once again have when crossing the Atlantic. Singapore Airlines’ other transatlantic fifth freedom route, between Houston and Manchester, hasn’t yet been resumed, and there’s no updated timeline for when we can expect that.
Singapore Airlines’ San Francisco to Hong Kong flight returns
As of November 2, 2021, Singapore Airlines will resume its Singapore to Hong Kong to San Francisco route. The flight will operate 3x weekly with the following schedule:
SQ8 Singapore to Hong Kong departing 8:25AM arriving 12:25PM
SQ8 Hong Kong to San Francisco departing 1:40PM arriving 10:40AM
SQ7 San Francisco to Hong Kong departing 1:00PM arriving 7:00PM (+1 day)
SQ7 Hong Kong to Singapore departing 8:40PM arriving 12:40AM (+1 day)
Singapore Airlines will use a Boeing 777-300ER for the route, featuring a total of 264 seats, including four first class seats, 48 business class seats, 28 premium economy seats, and 184 economy seats.
This is also a route that Singapore Airlines operated pre-pandemic. Personally I’m surprised to see this route restarting so quickly — most of Asia continues to remain closed to vaccinated Americans, and other than China, no other countries in the region were impacted by the United States’ travel ban. So for the most part this route will be reliant on people looking to travel from Asia to the United States, rather than the other way around.
This is the third transpacific fifth freedom flight that Singapore Airlines has launched in recent months — the airline resumed its Tokyo to Los Angeles flight as of June 2021, and also added a Taipei to Los Angeles flight as of August 2021 (that’s a route the airline hadn’t operated for many years).
I would have to imagine that these transpacific fifth freedom flights are mostly reliant on cargo, because otherwise I can’t really make sense of where the huge demand increase is coming from.
Want to redeem miles for these flights?
If you want to redeem miles for Singapore Airlines’ premium cabins on long haul flights, you’ll want to book directly through the KrisFlyer program, since the airline doesn’t make these seats available to most partner programs.
The good news is that KrisFlyer is transfer partners with all major transferable points currencies, making the points easy to earn. On top of that, at the moment Singapore Airlines will give you Star Alliance Gold status if you transfer 250,000 bank points to the KrisFlyer program.
If you want to redeem miles for these flights, you can expect to pay the following one-way between New York and Frankfurt at the lowest award levels:
- Economy costs 22,500 KrisFlyer miles
- Premium economy costs 47,000 KrisFlyer miles
- Business class costs 72,000 KrisFlyer miles
- First class costs 86,000 KrisFlyer miles
Between San Francisco and Hong Kong, you can expect to pay the following number of miles one-way at the lowest award levels:
- Economy costs 33,000 KrisFlyer miles
- Premium economy costs 63,000 KrisFlyer miles
- Business class costs 89,000 KrisFlyer miles
- First class costs 104,000 KrisFlyer miles
Singapore Airlines has now loaded award seats for these flights, and they’re readily available. I’ll focus on the transatlantic route, since that will be open to vaccinated travelers on both sides of the Atlantic. Singapore Airlines has excellent business class award availability virtually every day on this route, so you can book that for just 72,000 transferable points.
First class is a different story — there are no dates with the lowest saver level award availability, but award seats at the advantage level are wide open, and that costs 140,000 miles one-way. This isn’t surprising when you consider that there are only four first class seats in the cabin.
I suspect we might see some saver award seats open up closer to departure if the cabin remains empty. As an alternative, you can always waitlist an award through KrisFlyer, and hope it clears.
Bottom line
Singapore Airlines will be resuming two more of its fifth freedom flights to the United States, including the New York to Frankfurt and San Francisco to Hong Kong flights. The former will be especially useful for many, while the latter will probably be of limited use, given travel restrictions that continue to remain in place.
Singapore Airlines is a great option for crossing the Atlantic between the United States and Germany. And if you want to redeem miles, award space is wide open in business class. It’s just a shame that the route won’t be operated by an A380, and for that matter I’d be surprised if we ever see A380 service back on the route.
What do you make of Singapore Airlines resuming these fifth freedom flights?
When flying JFK-FRA-SIN, do you have to deplane in FRA?
Just booked 2 First Class seats roundtrip for September 2022 for a total of 344,000 points.
This is the old A380 Suites, but in my opinion they are still one the the best First Class Seats in the world. For longer flights (US to Asia/Middle East) the convenience of a shower is unmatchable but for a quick flight across the Atlantic this is pretty good.
Somehow, my friends and I managed to get 4 saver level suites on the same flight. I reserved(*) two for me and my spouse when the scheduled opened. When I went to book two days later, I noticed the app still showing two saver-level suites, so I canceled my reserved seats and started a new reservation, selected seats and received email confirmation. I alerted my friend and he was able to book saver-level suites on...
Somehow, my friends and I managed to get 4 saver level suites on the same flight. I reserved(*) two for me and my spouse when the scheduled opened. When I went to book two days later, I noticed the app still showing two saver-level suites, so I canceled my reserved seats and started a new reservation, selected seats and received email confirmation. I alerted my friend and he was able to book saver-level suites on the same flight. Still amazed that we are able to do this. Sadly, we may end up canceling, but if it happened once, maybe it can happen again. BTW, if you go through to the payment page of an award booking and stop there, the app automatically holds the tickets for you. Worked for me on two occasions while using the app. Not sure if same thing happens on the website.
Just booked two tickets today on the JFK-FRA route and they were indeed on the a380. Excited for my first 380 flight if it holds until June.
Hey Ben, I'm not sure A380's are going away for good. I'm considering a trip to Oktoberfest in 2022 (Here's hoping it doesn't get canceled, and with that, the date I want to go shows the airplane for the flight as the A380 instead of a 777. So, here's hoping things go according to plan!
I'm puzzled by your comment at the start that this was the only A380 route to the USA. What about Etihad and Emirates pre-COVID too? Heck, even Lufthansa had A380 service to JFK.
Lucky likely meant the only SQ US route to feature an a380
Does anyone have any data points on First Class award space on the LAX to NRT flight? I was looking to go there in December, and while I know F award space on SQ has always been hard to come by, I am searching months at a time without seeing a single saver level seat. Do things open up close to departure? Or only when the schedule first opens?
Interesting to see the switch in both flight number and times (PM to AM) from SQ1/2 to SQ7/8. I presume it's to complement the daily non-stop SFO flight which departs SIN in the evening as well as providing a regular Y option as opposed to the ULR config SQ34/33.
MAN-IAH is bookable and on the schedule from Jan 2022, 3x weekly (as is non-stop SEA).
I had IAH-MAN booked in early December but it was canceled. They keep pushing it back.
One of these days we'll be able to fly it again! The best way to get to Europe from Texas.
The namesake for my username, they better bring it back soon...
Would you rather fly Singapore First from FRA to JFK or Emirates First from MXP to JFK ? Both A380
My wife and I flew SG A380 1st class JFK/FRA and EK A380 1st class JFK/MXP, both on their “old suites”.
Singapore had better seats and slightly better food, both airlines had an amazing service and Emirates had the plus of Shower and Bar.
If you can fly any of their new “1st class suites” I would definitely go for it, but if it’s still the old ones, I would say they are pretty much even.
Wow, your article really helped me.
I had IST-SIN-SFO with 15 hours (!) connection in SIN. Now, if you are not familiar with the current Changi SOPs, all transit pax are treated like biohazards (well, except these arriving from NZ and China). They are met with the personnel in full PPE and quickly are herded into the 'detention box', AKA Transit Holding Area (THA).
Now imagine sitting there for 15 hours...
Once I saw...
Wow, your article really helped me.
I had IST-SIN-SFO with 15 hours (!) connection in SIN. Now, if you are not familiar with the current Changi SOPs, all transit pax are treated like biohazards (well, except these arriving from NZ and China). They are met with the personnel in full PPE and quickly are herded into the 'detention box', AKA Transit Holding Area (THA).
Now imagine sitting there for 15 hours...
Once I saw this article, I immediately called and volla - now I have my flight going via HKG, detention time is just 2 hours and I will arrive at SFO 9 hours earlier.
Thanks again
SQ 26 FRA-JFK for next summer has been bookable for awhile. Starting on March 28, 2022, the FRA-JFK flight says it will be operated by A380 through the summer. Of course subject to change, but hopefully SQ will stick with that plan.
Agree...the restrictions also have nothing to do with one's nationality but rather the location from which you are flying. I'm getting a little sick and tired with OMAAT and other similar travel sites constantly talking about "vaccinated Americans"...any American currently living in Germany can hop on the VTL flight to Singapore and enjoy a quarantine-free arrival.
Any American can arrive in Singapore via VTL only if he/she is vaccinated either in Singapore or in Germany. 'Living' is a little bit broader category. Vaccination in any other country is not qualified for VTL flights.
P.S. Why would anyone come to Singapore right now for tourism purposes unless one wants to enjoy 'quarantine/lockdown tourism' is probably another subject...
Because food. Try to get a kaya toast or chili crab in the US. Or you know, to see loved ones who don't have as much vacation time to spend on going to Germany.
I am really surprised that SQ is restarting the HKG-SFO nonstop flight given US is on Hong Kong's high risk country list, which requires a 21 days hotel quarantine for HK residents returning from US, but I presume that there must be demands for lots of cargo. I honestly really like the timing of these flights. Too bad, SQ is no longer offering any printed menu and is "forced" by government to offer a simplified...
I am really surprised that SQ is restarting the HKG-SFO nonstop flight given US is on Hong Kong's high risk country list, which requires a 21 days hotel quarantine for HK residents returning from US, but I presume that there must be demands for lots of cargo. I honestly really like the timing of these flights. Too bad, SQ is no longer offering any printed menu and is "forced" by government to offer a simplified meal service now.
About NYC, I guess SQ will maintain double daily JFK flights for now. I wonder if Newark to SIN nonstop will return eventually but given this latest schedule, it might come sooner than we expect.
Haha "Personally I’m surprised to see this route restarting so quickly — most of Asia continues to remain closed to vaccinated Americans..."
This is parochial. This route opening is not for Americans to take discretionary trips to Asia.
Seems premature when you can’t enter Singapore yet and considering they have just increased restrictions seems like it’s a long way off before they will.
They are restarting this (and other non-SIN flights) exactly for this reason - a way to capture passengers and cargo on routes where travel is open to keep the fleet profitably active
This explains why I saw a crew of pilots and flight attendants wearing Singapore Airlines uniforms in the lobby of a new hotel near me here in NYC. It seemed they were quarantined, but they were kind enough to let me take a photo them after I indicated that I'd been to SIN multiple times and could not wait to travel to there again...as a SQ KF Gold!
SQ1/2 become SQ7/8? SIN-HKG-SFO has been the first transpacific flight for SQ and that's why SQ1/2
SQ1/2 had a different schedule with SFO departure at midnight. SQ7/8 is more aligned with Cathay's suspended daytime flight.
The loss of cool SQ001 flight number is, still, sad...
is Singapore open to tourists? I have only heard about the "4 green lanes" for Germany, HK, Macau, Brunei.
That's pretty much it. If you want to avoid quarantine. But even with VTL with Germany/Brunai, you must take 4 PCR tests - one before departure, one on arrival, and two more on days 3 and 7 which could all together cost >$700.
What is going here in Singapore at this moment you can read here
https://milelion.com/2021/09/25/phase-whatever-this-is-implications-for-travel-staycations-cruises-and-attractions/
Ben, consistent with this theme, note that Emirates is upgrading its JFK-MXP fifth freedom route to the A380 effective 10-31.
So will they be having 3x daily flight to nyc? Direct to jfk and ewr and via fra to jfk?
Looks like FRA-SIN is bookable on SQ25 (the NON-VTL flight). Not sure why JFK-FRA is not showing yet.