Use KrisFlyer Miles to Upgrade Your Seat to or from Premium Economy
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.
Last month, Singapore Airlines announced that it would soon allow customers to book their flights with KrisFlyer miles in premium economy starting May 24. And starting June 1, the carrier would allow passengers to upgrade their paid ticket from premium economy to business class or from economy to premium economy — however, only one of the upgrades can be made.
As of today, those award upgrades are available for booking on the carrier's website. It's worth noting that you can waitlist your flight, and it also appears that there can be either one or two redemption level options — Saver or Standard, as the carrier did away with its "full" redemption as of May 24.
This example one-way upgrade from Frankfurt (FRA) to New York (JFK) from premium economy to business class costs 26,350 KrisFlyer miles. According to TPG's most recent valuations, you'd be using miles worth a total of $395 — a great deal for the carrier's premier business-class product. Note that this rate is based on the Standard level and not the Saver level — according to this chart of premium economy upgrade redemptions, the Saver level is 21,000 KrisFlyer miles and the Standard level is 31,000 miles (the above figure reflects the 15% discount for booking online).
Keep in mind that you can also book award tickets outright in premium economy. This one-way award ticket from New York (JFK) to Frankfurt (FRA) requires 45,000 in premium economy. If you book an award ticket, you can't upgrade that ticket to business class using KrisFlyer miles as it's not a paid ticket. You can click here for Singapore's chart for booking award tickets, which has been effective since May 24.
Don't forget that you can transfer points from Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest to Singapore KrisFlyer. Although you can transfer points from all of the major points-earning programs, you're probably best off transferring points from your Citi ThankYou account, as ThankYou points are worth the least in TPG's latest monthly valuations at 1.6 cents apiece. You can earn ThankYou points with cards like the Citi Prestige, Citi Premier® Card and the Citi ThankYou Preferred Card. Remember that Citi ThankYou points take two days to transfer to Singapore KrisFlyer.
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