Fly Singapore Airlines to Asia and Europe this winter with open award space for 2+ travelers

Jan. 07, 2021

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13 min read

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Singapore Airlines not only has some of the best first- and business-class products in the sky; it also operates them on some interesting routes that don't include its hub at Singapore Changi International Airport.

For example, did you know that the airline flies nonstop between San Francisco (SFO) and Hong Kong (HKG)? How about Houston (IAH) to Manchester (MAN) or New York-JFK to Frankfurt (FRA)? Singapore has these routes on its schedule, and they're an excellent way to fly to Asia or Europe.

In addition to these fifth-freedom routes, the airline operates a handful of ultra-long-haul routes to its Singapore (SIN) hub from cities like New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. This is the most convenient way for many Americans to fly to Singapore — though be aware that the island remains closed to tourists, and Americans can't even transit through as of now.

Interested in flying one of these routes post-pandemic? Now might be the time to book. We found wide-open, business-class award space on many of Singapore Airlines' routes in late-2021. In addition, there's a smattering of first-class award space on some routes.

Let's take a look at all of the available award space and how to book them. But before that, let's discuss the risk of booking travel during the coronavirus pandemic.

Let's dive in!

Should I book travel now?

Before we talk award space, let's get the heavy stuff out of the way.

The coronavirus pandemic is still raging through most of the world. Here in the U.S., we're seeing record-high numbers of cases in many states. And despite multiple approved vaccines that are starting to roll out around the world, potentially pointing to an optimistic future for travel, there are still some risks in booking travel now.

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The first is that international borders may not open at your destination by the time you're set to fly. Singapore remains closed for tourists, and Americans can't even transit through Changi Airport at this point. If these restrictions remain in effect, you may have to cancel or rebook your trip.

Doing so could incur change or cancellation fees, but most airlines have waived these due to the coronavirus pandemic. We expect most airlines to continue to extend these waivers if the pandemic continues to rage on.

There's also a chance that your route of choice could be canceled altogether due to low demand. If this happens, you'll likely be offered a refund or an alternate routing for your trip. You'll get your miles back, but you won't be able to convert them back to your transferable points credit card.

Even with all this in mind, I'm still speculatively booking travel for the end of 2021. There is a ton of excellent award space that we may not see for a while — so if you're comfortable with the risks, you may want consider doing the same.

Open Singapore Airlines award space

With the heavy stuff out of the way, let's take a look at the award space.

As discussed, we're seeing wide-open, business-class award space on all of Singapore's fifth-freedom and many long-haul routes departing the U.S. There's a handful of dates with first-class award space too.

You can use this award space to connect to other destinations in Asia using the carrier's huge Asian route network. Plus, if Singapore's borders reopen, you can add a stopover for no additional miles on round-trip tickets.

Here's a look at all the open Singapore award space in October, November and December. All dates have at least two Saver seats available in business class, but some have three or more. This could be the perfect opportunity to take your family around the world in luxury with your points and miles.

Since first-class award space is limited, we're showing all dates with one or more seats available.

Houston (IAH) to/from Manchester (MAN)

Business class:

October:
Outbound: 2-3, 5-6, 9-10, 12-13, 16-17, 19-20, 23-24, 26-27 and 30-31
Inbound: 5-6, 8, 12-13, 15, 19-20, 22, 26-27 and 29
November:
Outbound: 2-3, 6-7, 9-19, 13-14, 16-17, 21, 23-24, 27-28 and 30
Inbound: 2-3, 5, 9-10, 12, 16-17, 19, 23-24, 26 and 30
December:
Outbound: 1, 4-5, 7-8, 11-12, 14-15, 18-19, 21-22 and 24-26
Inbound: 1, 3, 7-8, 10, 14-15, 17, 21-22 and 24

Los Angeles (LAX) to/from Singapore (SIN)

Business class:

October:
Outbound: 1-3, 6, 8-11, 15-19, 22 and 25-31
Inbound: 1-7, 9-17, 19-21, 23, 25-28 and 30
November:
Outbound: 7-8, 14-16 and 23-24
Inbound: 4, 8-10, 14-17 and 25
December:
Outbound: 4-7, 9, 11-12 and 21

Los Angeles (LAX) to/from Tokyo-Narita (NRT)

Business class:

October:
Outbound: 3-6, 10-13, 17-20, 24-27 and 31
Inbound: 5-7, 12, 19-21 and 27-28
November:
Outbound: 1-3, 7-10, 14-17, 21-24 and 28-30
Inbound: 2-4, 9-10, 16, 23 and 30
December:
Outbound: 1, 5-8, 12-15 and 19-22
Inbound: 1, 7-9, 14-16 and 21-23

First class:

November:
Outbound: 6-8, 13, 20, 22-23 and 26-28
Inbound: 1, 3-5, 7-8, 11, 14-18, 22, 25 and 29
December:
Outbound: 1-3, 5-9 and 26
Inbound: 1, 5, 6-8, 12-13 and 22

Newark (EWR) to/from Singapore (SIN)

Business class:

October:
Outbound: 5, 7, 9, 12-14, 18 and 25-29
Inbound: 11-12, 18-20 and 25-26
November:
Outbound: 16, 18, 23 and 29
Inbound: 1, 9, 16 and 23
December:
Outbound: 2
Inbound: 1, 7-8, 20 and 22

New York-JFK to/from Frankfurt (FRA)

Business class:

October:
Outbound: 2-6, 9-11, 13-14, 17, 19-21, 24-27 and 31
Inbound: 1-13, 15-24, 26-27, 29-31
November:
Outbound: 1-8, 10-11, 13-20, 22-27 and 29-30
Inbound: 1-18 and 20-30
December:
Outbound: 1-2, 5-9, 12-16, 21-23 and 25-26
Inbound: 1-26

No saver first class award space is currently available on this route.

San Francisco (SFO) to/from Hong Kong (HKG)

Business class:

October:
Outbound: 1-31
Inbound: 1, 3-8, 10-15, 17-22, 24-29 and 31
November:
Outbound: 1-10, 14-17, 21-24 and 29-30
Inbound: 1-5, 7-12, 14-19, 21-26 and 28-30
December:
Outbound: 1, 5-8 and 22
Inbound: 1-3, 5-10, 12-13, 15-17, 19-24 and 26-27

First class:

November:
Outbound: 11, 25
Inbound: 3, 8, 22-25, 27-28 and 30
December:
Outbound: None
Inbound: 1-2, 6-9, 11-12, 14 and 27

San Francisco (SFO) to/from Singapore (SIN)

Business class:

October:
Outbound: 5-6, 11, 18-20 and 25-27
Inbound: 5-6, 12, 19 and 27
November:
Outbound: 9-10, 15-17, 22-24 and 29-30
Inbound: 2-3, 9-10, 17, 24 and 30
December:
Outbound: 1, 6-7 and 14
Inbound: 1, 7, 14 and 21

How to book Singapore Airlines award tickets

Long-haul Singapore Airlines award tickets in premium classes can only be booked with Singapore KrisFlyer miles. This means that your United MileagePlus miles and other Star Alliance partner currencies cannot be used for these awards.

Thankfully, you have plenty of options for earning Singapore miles.

All major transferable points currencies transfer to Singapore Krisflyer:

American Express Membership Rewards: 1:1 transfer ratio
Capital One: 2:1 transfer ratio
Chase Ultimate Rewards: 1:1 transfer ratio
Citi ThankYou: 1:1 transfer ratio
Marriott Bonvoy: 3:1 ratio, with a 5,000-mile bonus awarded for each 60,000 point transfer (equal to 25,000 miles)

Transferring credit card points to Singapore Krisflyer usually take roughly 24 hours to process, but we've heard reports of 7-day delays. On the other hand, Marriott Bonvoy transfers take around 48 hours to process.

We recommend calling Singapore Airlines to secure an award ticket hold before you transfer your points. This makes sure that no one else can book your award space while you wait for miles to process.

Finding and booking Singapore Airlines award tickets

You can find award space on the Singapore Airlines website.

Log into your account and then enter your flight details on the homepage. Make sure to select the "Redeem flights" option at the top of the search area.

You can see all available flights at the center of the screen. Note that "waitlisted" awards are not confirmed — instead, they'll ticket once an award seat opens in your specified class of service.

If you're transferring points to book a ticket, take note of the flight numbers and call Singapore's reservations line to ask for a hold. We've heard reports of holds lasting for up to 4 months, so this can is a great way to speculatively secure award space — though bear in mind that your seats aren't confirmed until the award is actually ticketed.

Different types of Singapore award tickets

There are two different types of awards: Saver and Advantage.

Saver awards are less expensive but usually harder to find. That said, all the award space listed above is at the Saver level.

Note that you can also add a stopover to a round-trip Saver award. To do this, simply search for a normal, round-trip award. Then, from the results page, look for the "Add stopovers" section at the top.

Screen shot courtesy of Singapore Airlines

You can then input the details of where (and when) you'd like to build in the stopover.

Again, booking these flights and adding stopovers assumes that borders are fully reopened by the time of your flight. If those travel restrictions are lifted, however, it's a great way to add an additional city to your itinerary.

For example, you can use this feature of the KrisFlyer program to book a nonstop flight from San Francisco (SFO) to Singapore (SIN). Then, you can enjoy a stopover in Hong Kong (HKG) before flying back home to San Francisco.

This costs the same amount of miles as a simple, round-trip ticket from San Francisco to Hong Kong.

Alternatively, you can fly San Francisco to Hong Kong, stay for a few days and fly to Bangkok via Singapore. When you're ready to go home, you can hop on a flight back to San Francisco via Singapore. These layovers are necessary as you cannot add partner tickets to a stopover ticket.

Advantage awards are more expensive, but you may find more award space. You can add stopovers to one-way Advantage awards, but I still think you're better off booking a round-trip Saver ticket to get a better deal.

However, if there's no saver-level inventory on your preferred date(s) or your sitting on a massive pool of transferable points, the added flexibility of the more-expensive award could be worth it.

Earning transferable points

If you don't currently have enough credit card points to consider booking one of these flights, you may want to think about adding a new credit card to your wallet. There are several great offers available for new applicants right now, and all of the following cards allow you to convert your points directly to Singapore KrisFlyer at a 1:1 ratio:

The Platinum Card® from American Express: Earn 80,000 Membership Rewards Points after you spend $6,000 on purchases within the first six months of card membership.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card: Earn 80,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.
American Express® Gold Card: Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $4,000 on purchases on your new card in your first six months of card membership.

Note that for both the Amex Platinum and Amex Gold, you may be targeted for even higher offers through the CardMatch Tool (offers subject to change at any time).

Bottom line

Singapore Airlines offers Americans an excellent way to fly to Asia and Europe. Onboard these flights, you'll find some of the best premium-class products in the sky, complete with top-notch service, catering and in-flight entertainment.

This wide-open Singapore Airlines award space gives you the unique opportunity to book these tickets without endlessly searching for award space.

So if you're comfortable with the risks of booking travel during the pandemic, consider locking in your late-2021 travel plans now.

Safe travels!

Feature photo by Agent Wolf/Shutterstock

Featured image by (Photo by Agent Wolf/Shutterstock)

Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.