Singapore Airlines is out with its latest “Spontaneous Escapes” award sale and this month’s deals are available to book until 8/31/24 for travel between 9/1/24 to 9/30/24. Included in this month’s offerings is an appealing option that I flew last year: Singapore’s fifth freedom route from NYC – Frankfurt in Singapore’s 777 business class. During the promotion, the flight is on sale for 56,700 in business each way…and availability is quite good for much of the month.
The Deal
- Singapore Airlines has released this month’s Spontaneous Escapes, offering discounts to/from Europe, among other destinations. This month’s deals must be booked by 8/31/24 and flown between September 1-30, 2024 (though note that some routes feature blackout dates). Sale options include:
-
- New York (JFK) to/from Frankfurt for 56,700 miles each way in business class, 36,400 in premium economy or 17,500 in economy
- Los Angeles (LAX) to/from Singapore for 52,500 miles each way and New York (JFK) to/from Singapore for 56,350 miles each way in premium economy
Key Terms
- Must book by 8/31/24
- Must fly between 9/1/24 and 9/30/24
- Blackout dates apply to many routes
Quick Thoughts
A fifth freedom route is when a long haul carrier operates a flight outside of its home network, primarily to utilize airplane downtime between long haul routes. These provide a terrific opportunity to sample a product that otherwise would be reserved strictly for flights to and from the airline’s home airport. One notable example is Singapore’s JFK to Frankfurt route, which is on sale this month.
Seats for this route must be booked directly with Singapore Airlines and the 56,700 miles fare corresponds to 30% off normal pricing. Singapore has multiple transfer partners making KrisFlyer Miles fairly easy to generate:
| Rewards Program | Amex Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) | Chase Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) | Citi Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) | Capital One Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) | Bilt Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (~17 hours) | 1 to 1 (~1 day) | 1 to 1 (~7 hours) |
It used to be that the primary reason to book through Singapore Krisflyer was that you couldn’t really find Singapore Airlines business or first class space through any of their partner airlines. Booking through Krisflyer (and oftentimes paying a premium over what other airlines would charge) made sense because it was often the only way to book premium cabin travel on Singapore.
These days, Air Canada Aeroplan has access to a lot of Singapore Airlines premium cabin space. While the Spontaneous Escapes pricing will allow you to book business class from New York to Frankfurt for a discounted rate of 56,700 miles, that’s only a modest discount over the price that Air Canada Aeroplan would normally charge for the same route (60,000 miles).
By using Aeroplan, you would also have the option to continue on with other partners (paying more miles if you travel into the next distance band of course). More importantly, you would have the ability to cancel and get your miles back for $150 CAD (about $111 USD). With a Singapore Spontaneous Escapes award, you have no ability to cancel or change the award…which could be less important, given that it’s only for travel in the coming month.
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