Singapore Airlines awards will finally be available to partners again after 14-month hiatus
14 months. That's how long you haven't been able to redeem partner miles for Singapore Airlines-operated award flights. While it's normal for Singapore to block premium-cabin award space from its partners, even economy class awards haven't been bookable during this time.
Luckily, Singapore Airlines has informed TPG that this should change soon. Specifically, the airline expects to begin releasing award space in the coming weeks.
TPG first discovered that Singapore was blocking award availability to its partners in August 2020. This included Star Alliance partners like Air Canada Aeroplan and United MileagePlus, as well as non-alliance partners like Alaska Airlines and Virgin Atlantic.
A Singapore Airlines spokesperson confirmed the suspension with TPG and blamed COVID-related travel restrictions, providing the following statement back in September 2020:
"The temporary suspension of award seats on SQ/MI from partner airlines' frequent flyer programmes is aligned with Singapore Airlines' current policy to limit interline connections due to border entry as well as transit restrictions for connecting flights imposed by various countries. At present, the suspension of award redemptions is valid through November 2020, and is subject to further review based on market conditions."
Although Singapore itself remains mostly closed for tourism, the airline announced this week that it would soon resume its popular fifth-freedom routes between New York-JFK and Frankfurt (FRA) and San Francisco (SFO) to Hong Kong (HKG). Given that the U.S. is relaxing entry restrictions, TPG reached out to see if the airline would at least begin reinstating awards on these routes.
Fortunately, it seems like they are. A spokesperson for the airline shared the following information with TPG:
"Singapore Airlines anticipates opening award redemption availability on newly reinstated New York JFK-Frankfurt and San Francisco-Hong Kong services progressively from early October 2021."
While it may be disappointing that Singapore isn't making all routes available to partners yet, especially considering they're available through Singapore's KrisFlyer program, this is progress. Given how long this suspension has lasted so far, many travelers have started to think that it might be permanent.
Bottom line
Singapore Airlines plans to slowly begin releasing award availability to partners again starting in early October, but only on select routes. Hopefully, the rest of Singapore's route network will follow soon.
In the meantime, if you urgently need to book a Singapore award that's not available to partners, you can do so through the Singapore KrisFlyer program. Fortunately, KrisFlyer miles are some of the easiest airline miles to earn as the airline partners with all five of the major transferable point programs: American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, Capital One and Marriott Bonvoy.
TPG will continue to monitor this and provide updates as they become available.
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