Singapore Airlines is regarded as being one of the best airlines in the world, and as you’d expect, that’s especially true in premium cabins. In this post, I’d like to take a look at how you can redeem miles for Singapore Airlines’ Suites and first class products. What is pricing like, and is there ever award availability?
In this post:
The basics of Singapore Airlines Suites & first class
Many people are confused about the difference between Singapore Airlines Suites and first class, so let’s start with that. Essentially Singapore Airlines has Suites on its Airbus A380s, and first class on its Boeing 777s. Planes have one or the other, but not both.
While the products are very different, the award pricing is the same — for all practical purposes, the name of Suites vs. first class is about marketing. It’s just to reflect that one plane has a much better first class product than the other.
Singapore Airlines’ best product is its Airbus A380 Suites. These planes have six Suites, and they’re at the front of the upper deck, in a 1-1 configuration.
Each Suite has a door for privacy, and a separate bed and chair.
If you’re traveling with someone, you even have the option of turning your space into a double bed (this is only available in select seats).
If you have the choice, I’d definitely recommend seeking out an A380, as I rank this as one of the world’s best first class products.
Singapore Airlines also has its Boeing 777 first class. These planes have four first class seats, in a single row, with a 1-2-1 configuration. While this is a perfectly nice product, suffice it to say that this pales in comparison to the A380.
Regardless of whether you fly Suites or first class, you can expect an exceptional soft product, with friendly service, and great food and drinks. To me, it’s the people that make Singapore Airlines shine.
Redeeming Singapore KrisFlyer miles for Suites & first class
The good news is that you can redeem miles for Singapore Airlines Suites and first class. The bad news is that it will cost you a lot of miles, and could also require a lot of flexibility. Unlike some other airlines, Singapore Airlines doesn’t necessarily have a consistent pattern with which it releases Suites and first class award availability. That’s understandable, because the cabins are so small.
For example, it doesn’t make economic sense to open two first class award seats when the schedule opens, when that’s 50% of your first class cabin. But don’t worry, all hope isn’t lost. There are ways to redeem miles for Singapore Airlines’ top cabin.
You need to book through Singapore KrisFlyer
If you want to redeem for Singapore Airlines Suites and first class, you’ll have to book directly through the KrisFlyer program. Partner airline frequent flyer programs generally won’t have access to this award space.
Now, this isn’t necessarily bad news, because KrisFlyer miles are easy to come by. KrisFlyer is partners with all major transferable points currencies, including Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Citi ThankYou. So if you’re earning your rewards with credit cards, you should have no issues sourcing the points for these redemptions.
Singapore Suites & first class award pricing
Singapore KrisFlyer publishes a zone-based award chart, so at least you always know how much you’re going to pay if there is availability. Singapore KrisFlyer has three tiers of awards:
- There are Saver awards, which are the cheapest awards
- There are Advantage awards, which are more expensive (an average of around 40-60% more)
- There are Access awards, which are dynamically priced awards with great availability, but they’re going to cost you a fortune (I’m not going to talk much about these, because you’re not getting much of a deal if you redeem this way).
You can find the Saver award chart below (one-way pricing is shown for economy, premium economy, business, and first).
You can find the Advantage award chart below (one-way pricing is shown for economy, business, and first — there are no premium economy redemptions).
While in our hobby we always try to redeem at the lowest possible award cost, let me say that redeeming for an Advantage award might just be your only practical option at times, so be prepared to redeem that way. I think it can totally be worth splurging on an Advantage award for Singapore A380 Suites, assuming you can find availability and it meets your travel needs.
Singapore Suites & first class award availability
How realistic is it to score a Singapore Suites or first class award seat? It depends on a variety of circumstances:
- Whether you’re looking to fly the A380 or 777; even though the A380 has more seats in Suites, I find that Singapore generally makes more award seats available in first class when the schedule opens
- What kind of a route you’re looking at; in general, you’ll have an easier time snagging a Suites or first class seat from Singapore to Jakarta or Mumbai, than from Singapore to Frankfurt or London
- Whether you’re willing to pay the Advantage or Saver price; you might sometimes find a long haul Saver seat when the schedule opens on a 777, but rarely on an A380
Let’s go over some examples, and for now I’ll ignore the option to waitlist (I’ll talk more about that in a bit). All the below screenshots are from Singapore Airlines’ website. You can search availability from the homepage (just like you’d search a booking with cash), but you need to be logged into your KrisFlyer account.
For example, from Singapore to Jakarta (Singapore Airlines’ shortest route with first class), I see plenty of Saver 777 first class award availability way in advance, so snagging that is no issue.
Meanwhile from Singapore to London, I see a Saver seat way in advance for 777 first class (the second flight below), while A380 Suites (the first flight below) can only be waitlisted at the Advantage level.
Looking at Singapore to Sydney, I see Advantage awards confirmable in advance on select flights, whether booking 777 first class or A380 Suites.
From Singapore to Los Angeles via Tokyo in 777 first class, I see an Advantage award bookable some dates, when confirming in advance.
So if you want to be able to lock in a Singapore A380 Suites seat on a long haul flight, your best bet is to book an Advantage award when the schedule opens, if it’s available. You’ll typically only see A380 Suites Saver seats that far in advance on a short haul flight.
What about closer to departure? Does Singapore Airlines open up lots more award seats? Unfortunately not really. It does happen, but it’s fairly rare, and that simply comes down to there not often being lots of unsold seats at the last minute. With only four or six seats per cabin, Singapore Airlines tends to sell out (or nearly sell out) its top cabin in advance.
Nonetheless, sometimes you might get lucky. For example, in the coming days, I see dates where Frankfurt to New York has availability for both Saver or Advantage awards in 777 first class.
In the months leading up to departure, availability tends to be better in short and medium haul markets, even on the A380. For example, I’m seeing a good number of Advantage seats available in A380 Suites from Singapore to Mumbai.
Now, let me say that if you’re looking for more than one seat, that complicates things significantly, especially on long haul flights. I’m not saying you won’t ever find seats, but it will reduce options by 90% or so.
One last thing worth mentioning is that Singapore KrisFlyer often uses married segment logic for awards, especially at the Advantage level. So if availability only shows as availability for waitlist on a nonstop, don’t be surprised if it can be confirmed if you add a connection. It’s at least something worth keeping an eye on.
What about waitlisting Singapore KrisFlyer awards?
As you can see in many of the above screenshots, it’s possible to waitlist Singapore KrisFlyer awards, and I’ve written a guide to that as well. Long story short, I wouldn’t rely on those waitlists clearing with any regularity, and I’d focus on finding a flight with confirmable award space.
That’s because waitlists clear up to 14 days before departure. If they don’t clear by then, they’re canceled. Unless a flight is totally empty in Suites or first class, don’t expect that the waitlist will clear, since the airline will want to hold back some seats to sell within two weeks of departure. Furthermore, if the cabin is wide open 14 days before departure, odds are that there’s confirmable award space.
Bottom line
Singapore Airlines has incredible premium products. The catch is that redeeming miles for them can be a challenge.
If you want a shot at redeeming for Singapore’s A380 Suites, you’ll want to have access to KrisFlyer miles (through points transfers). Also, be prepared to pay the higher Advantage award cost, especially if you want to fly a long haul route, which gives you the full experience.
If you’ve redeemed miles for Singapore’s Suites or first class, what was your experience like?
Anyone know if it's actually possible to redeem a Miles&More upgrade voucher for SQ Suites?
I've read it's theoretically possible?
Those of us who are paying cash for our regular SQ, F suites, rejoice in the knowledge that there are few, if any, reward seats available. This means that fare payers are not subjected to the influencer types, during the flight, with all of the nausea which one reads about. Also, the lack of F seat/suite quantity, ensures exclusivity too.
So between Asia and the USA: Availability is incredibly scarce, is even more rare at saver level, and is pretty much impossible to get for a second person? That sucks pretty badly. Would you want to travel with your spouse when only one of you was flying up front?
Of course saver business class space for two is no easy find either. I just spent an hour looking for a couple of business class saver...
So between Asia and the USA: Availability is incredibly scarce, is even more rare at saver level, and is pretty much impossible to get for a second person? That sucks pretty badly. Would you want to travel with your spouse when only one of you was flying up front?
Of course saver business class space for two is no easy find either. I just spent an hour looking for a couple of business class saver seats around end of schedule to Bali, searching in either direction to/from any U.S. gateway for a month. Result: Nothing.
Let's just all be adult and publicly admit that Singapore is absolutely not releasing much - if any - saver space from North America to Singapore in premium cabins for 2+ people anymore.
Out of curiosity, does airlines lose money if people pay with miles instead of cash? is that why they are so stingy to release seats :)
The simple answer is No, Danny. The airline has already been paid for the miles by the miles issuer.
Ben, please correct me if I am wrong.
This is only really worth doing for the A380 Suites. And, even these days, it's near impossible to find availability, especially since they retired some and were slow to bring them back since the pandemic. That said, if you find it, do it!
Genuine question: the advantage level points required seem to be about equivalent to 2 business class redemptions elsewhere. Worth it? (assuming availability) I've never tried it but its on the bucket list.
Worth doing one time.
Did it for my honeymoon. 100% worth it once - would not do again.
This is an unrelated question, but do you think the A380 will ever come back to JFK? I figure there is less need now that there is also JFK-SIN and EWR-SIN nonstop. But no Suites to the US is disappointing!
@ Motion to Dismiss -- I wish, though unfortunately I think it's unlikely, given the smaller A380 fleet than before, plus the nonstop flights, as you noted. I miss the days where both SFO-HKG-SIN and JFK-FRA-SIN had the A380.
I also seriously wish they would, at least for the JFK-FRA-SIN routes. I've taken SQ21/22/23/24 several times, but am yet to choose SQ25/26, namely because I wait for the A380 to return.
With the A350 ULR getting first class in the next refurb, chances of the A380 returning are very slim
Thanks for sharing, Ben. One trick to add to this post is the option of married segments playing a role. I learned that if you see a waitlist flight sometimes adding a short additional connecting flight will open up that waitlist seat. I read on another blog about this and he showed how SIN-SYD was waitlist for the A380 flight, but once you included CGK-SIN-SYD, the A380 seat went from waitlist to being available. Granted that was in advantage... but worth a try!
This is a great point, FrozenKiwi.
This ABSOLUTELY works, and works with pretty good regularity, and as you note, it's in Advantage space, but at this point, there seem to be fewer Advantage awards in long-haul first than there are actual unicorns in the world.
@ FrozenKiwi -- That's a great point, thank you so much! I'll add a note about that to the post.
This only works for Advantage awards. I've never seen a saver award open up with this method.
Never seen a Saver available on long haul A380
Occasionally you can find some short term.
Currently there is a seat FRA - SIN on the A380 for example, departing 1/19. 12h20 min red eye flight.
Lars, shh, don't tell everyone.. now it's gone!
This article is already presenting very rare examples when it comes to saver. On any meaningful route, these awards are already almost impossible to come by. This is like hoping for that (figuratively speaking) one day a year Qantas first class award between Australia and the US during peak season.
Now with the “even higher than advantage” tier, unfortunately this will only get worse. It’s rather unfortunate that airlines are allowed to advertise these offerings...
This article is already presenting very rare examples when it comes to saver. On any meaningful route, these awards are already almost impossible to come by. This is like hoping for that (figuratively speaking) one day a year Qantas first class award between Australia and the US during peak season.
Now with the “even higher than advantage” tier, unfortunately this will only get worse. It’s rather unfortunate that airlines are allowed to advertise these offerings as genuinely existing when in practice it’s almost impossible to get.
I wish. All airlines need to promote their equivalent of more 'saver' awards, yet, why would they, unless there's a significant downturn, like, another pandemic, or expansive global conflict, but, by then, they'll just retire the a380 all together, so...
Lots of QF F seats have opened this month between DFW-SYD and v.v. so that comparison is out of date.