A couple of weeks ago Singapore Airlines announced that they’d begin flying daily nonstop between San Francisco and Singapore as of October 23, 2016. This is a huge new route for them, given that they don’t presently operate any nonstop flights between the US and Singapore (they discontinued these several years back, as they returned the A340-500s to Airbus, which were the only planes in their fleet capable of operating the route).
This was a surprising new route for Singapore Airlines, since previously they had announced that they’d restart nonstop flights between Singapore and the US in 2018, when they take delivery of their first A350-900ULR (ultra long range) aircraft, which will be capable of flying from Singapore to New York nonstop.
However, I imagine the airline felt some pressure when United began flying nonstop between Singapore and San Francisco last month, given that historically Singapore Airlines was the only airline with nonstop flights between Singapore and the US.
The new Singapore Airlines flight will be operated by an A350-900, with the following schedule:
SQ32 Singapore to San Francisco departing 8:30AM arriving 7:05AM
SQ31 San Francisco to Singapore departing 8:35AM arriving 6:20PM (+1 day)
Here’s a virtual tour of the Singapore Airlines A350, including their great business class product:
When Singapore Airlines first loaded availability for the new route, there was no saver level award availability. However, it looks like that has finally changed. Singapore Airlines saver level business class award availability is now readily available between San Francisco and Singapore.
Singapore Airlines charges 68,000 KrisFlyer miles for this award ticket one-way, factoring in the 15% discount you get for booking online. On top of that, there are fees of ~250USD each way. That’s an awesome deal for a nearly 18 hour flight in Singapore Airlines’ fantastic new business class.
I see plenty of business class award availability, including all the way through the end of the schedule. While there’s not space every day, I see plenty of days with 2-4 business class award seats at the saver level.
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer is transfer partners with all four major transferrable points currencies, including Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou, and Marriott Bonvoy. That means there’s no shortage of ways to rack up KrisFlyer miles.
- 5x total points on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards®
- 3x points on dining
- 2x points on travel purchases
- $95
- 3x points on Travel after the $300 Annual Travel Credit
- 3x points on Dining
- $300 Travel Credit
- $550
- 4x points at restaurants
- 4x points at U.S. supermarkets, on up to $25,000 in purchases annually
- 3x points on flights booked directly with airlines or through amextravel.com
- $250
- Earn 5x points on flights purchased directly from airlines or through Amex Travel (up to $500k/year)
- $200 Annual Uber Credit
- Amex Centurion Lounge Access
- $695
- Earn 3x Points on Airfare
- Earn 3x Points on Hotels
- Earn 3x Points at Restaurants
- $95
- Earn 2x Venture miles on every purchase
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- 10,000 bonus miles every account anniversary
- $395
- Earn 2x Venture miles on every purchase
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- Global Entry/TSA Pre-Check Credit
- $95
Points from Amex, Chase, and Citi typically transfer within 24 hours, though there’s no way to hold award space in the meantime. Points transfers from Marriott tend to take longer.
For a similar mileage cost you can include connections within Asia, though you’ll want to book your positioning flights within the US separately. If you include a segment on a Star Alliance airline on the award you’d be charged per their Star Alliance award chart, which is more expensive and doesn’t offer a 15% discount for booking online.
Lastly, Singapore Airlines doesn’t make most premium cabin award space available to partner airlines, so you couldn’t book this award with miles from another Star Alliance program.
Bottom line
Award availability on Singapore Airlines’ new longest flight is really great at the moment, even for travel over peak dates. So if you’ve been wanting to try Singapore Airlines’ new route, this is a great time to do so.
This is a fantastic business class product (probably one of the best in the world) nonstop to Southeast Asia at a reasonable mileage cost. It’s tough to beat that.
Anyone planning to redeem miles in business class on the San Francisco to Singapore route?
(Tip of the hat to @haydnadams)
Lucky, in mid-September, my mother booked a round trip flight on SQ32/SQ31 Business class to visit me in SF for late October. She did it online in Singapore. They charged her 170,000 Krisflyer miles - did they just raise the miles required? Thank you.
@ Gene, it's an award ticket, what happened to ~=<$50?
@Paul - Good to know. I had read the seats were a little cramped. I was considering this flight vs. booking A380 Suites SIN-FRA-JFK (albeit at almost 2X the cost given 1 ticket is at Standard). Did Suites last year and loved it, plus want to try out the Private Room.
The flight times TO SIN are not very convenient, compared to United.
I checked the schedule for the fall and departures are usually 8:35am, sometimes 10:30am. This makes connecting from anywhere except West Coast impractical, and arrival is in the evening at SIN, which ruins the whole day.
I'd rather fly United and depart late evening and arrive early morning. Fewer points burned, no fuel surcharges, and free connection inside US for about the same 70k miles.
I guess SQ thinks that they can do without much feed at SFO. 8AM departure pretty much restricts it to O/D.
Having just flown on the a350 is biz class to Amsterdam .... well I wouldn't want to book a longer flight. Next time I will stick to the a380 suites.
When will saver business class award seats be available for spring 2017?
I just noticed you actually haven't reviewed SQ's 2013 product, F or J.
The seats are a few years old now, but I'd still love to hear your thoughts on them.
Lucky, wouldn't that be a great product to review for you? SIA business class hasn't been featured on the blog in a while... ;)
What happens if you cancel the award booking?
Where else can you connect to from SFO>SIN on the same award ticket? Can you connect to SYD on the same award?
@ sco -- Really? Cheap date?
Finally Singapore has gotten a clue. Was outrageous there were no US nonstop flights. Having to transfer in HKG was ridiculous.Hugely embarrassing to have UA start a nonstop. But good for UA pushing into Australia, New Zealand and Singapore with nonstops. Finally getting some TPAC competition again.
$250 USD each way PLUS the points?? Ouch.
Only a 1.5 hr turn?
@SeaFlyGuy SQ still serves SFO-HKG-SIN so you can book the SFO-HKG portion
Direct will be wonderful. I wasn't impressed with having to disembark in Hong Kong, just to get back on the same plane. But remember to pre-order the Lobster Thermador...it is exquisite. Great post, Ben.
@ Jorgen/YYC @NewToMiles SQ can book flights 355 days before departure so I'd start looking in Sept/Oct/Nov of this year for your awards.
Can I book this SFO-SIN-HKG? Or will it route me thru NRT instead? What is the mileage cost for SFO-SIN-HKG?
Similar question to Jorgen.
Is there a way to predict when later flights will open up, like September 2017?
wow
Really looking forward for this coming - now just hope I can grab 2 Business ex BKK-SIN-SFO Mid October 2017 for a very special birthday - Ben, when will be best time to look for bookable tkt?
Thanks for your great tips all the times
Awesome blossom!
All I'm seeing is "waitlist" and "not available". Sometimes I see a saver award with waitlist potential, but the standard award is "not available". What on earth is the rationale behind that?