Scott reported about the KrisFlyer devaluation last month but in case you forgot (or weren’t aware), Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer program will devalue their Star Alliance partner award chart on December 7, 2017. That means, starting on Thursday, the number of KrisFlyer miles needed to redeem a flight on a Star Alliance partner such as ANA, EVA, Lufthansa and United will be increased. So if you have enough miles to book a trip somewhere, I would do it sooner than later.
As a reminder, your travel does not have to start by December 7, 2017, it just has to be booked by that date.
Singapore Airlines currently charges the following miles for Star Alliance partner flights. These are round trip prices so just divide in half for one-way awards. However, flights involving SAS and TAP Portugal must be booked as round trips.
And starting on December 7, 2017, this new award chart will take effect. Again, these are round trip prices.
Overall, these increases aren’t horrible for the average traveler but miles are miles and I would rather spend less than more. First class awards will be most affected. On average, first class awards will increase between 30,000 and 50,000 miles round trip and business class awards will increase between 15,000 and 35,000 miles round trip. Economy class tickets will see an increase between 5,000 and 18,000 miles round trip.
The most significant increase for us in America is to North Asia 2 (China, Guam, Japan, South Korea, etc.). Economy class tickets will increase 9,000 miles each way, business class will increase 17,500 miles each way and first class will increase 25,000 miles each way. That’s nuts!
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer was a great program but it’s definitely lost its appeal this past year. These award redemption rates aren’t terrible at the moment but keep in mind, KrisFlyer does add fuel surcharges for award bookings on certain airlines. Travel on most European carriers such as Austrian and Lufthansa will levy huge fuel surcharges added to the price of your award redemption but travel on Air New Zealand and United Airlines will not.
If you have points with American Express, Chase and Citibank, you can transfer them to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer at a 1:1 ratio. Points USUALLY transfer within 24 hours. SPG Starpoints also transfer to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer at a 1:1 ratio (with a 5,000 bonus per 20,000) but can take up to 6 days!
I’m turning 40 next year and wanted to book a trip somewhere fun. I was hemming and hawing about dates and destinations but this deadline helped kick my butt into gear. Using 130,000 KrisFlyers, I just booked a business class trip to the Seychelles for next year! My trip will give me 6 days in the Seychelles with a 4 day stopover in Poland. Turkish Airlines and Lot Polish business class award space is widely available at the moment so book soon!
Travel Codex’s Award Maximizer has also been updated with the new prices. To see where the best uses of your airline miles are, click here.
Please let me know if you guys have any questions or concerns. Thanks for reading!
