I was recently reviewing my flight bookings for the months ahead and it struck me that most will be with Singapore Airlines. It’s quickly become my carrier of choice, which isn’t surprising given it offers excellent experiences on the ground and in the air, a large international network, and very good award seat availability.
Singapore Airlines is also a member of Star Alliance, the world’s biggest airline partnership, which gives me access to carriers around the globe – and they are increasingly bookable online through Singapore Airlines’ website, which is handy.
Other things I love about Singapore Airlines’ frequent flyer program, KrisFlyer (other than the name, of course!) is that award tickets are reasonably priced, you can get a free stopover on a roundtrip booking, and there are no fuel surcharges.
I especially find it useful that I can secure business and first class award seats with relative ease. Sometimes, it’s just not practical to book 12 months ahead, as you often need to do with Qantas Points flying into or out of Australia in premium cabins. I rarely have trouble finding seats with Singapore Airlines closer to the date of travel.
While Singapore Airlines did recently increase the cost of award seats on its own network and with partners, it still represents very good value, especially in comparison with the costs (including high surcharges) of Qantas Points bookings.
Singapore Airlines has some of the best business and first class products in the sky
If you’re wondering how I accumulate enough points to fly with Singapore Airlines, it’s actually not that hard.
First, Singapore Airlines is a transfer partner for many credit cards in Australia that earn a ‘flexible’ points currency, which is typically a card issuer’s own-brand currency, like Westpac’s Altitude Points or Amex’s Membership Rewards points. I love these kinds of currencies because they don’t lock me into any specific airline frequent flyer program.
Second, Velocity Points can be used to book Singapore Airlines seats both directly through Virgin Australia or by transferring Velocity Points to Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer miles (which then allows you to access the broader Star Alliance network). I’ve written a separate post about this topic.
While points in your Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer account do expire after three years, this can be avoided by only transferring points to it as necessary to make a booking.
In the months ahead, I’ll be reviewing several of Singapore Airlines’ first and business class products to illustrate why it’s a great option for Australians looking to travel in style using points.
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