Around 10 years ago, Singapore Airlines’ shook the aviation world when it revealed its earth shattering first class suites aboard the A380, the world’s largest plane. With the world’s first fully enclosed suites that could also be combined to form a double bed in the sky, Singapore Airlines was making a bold statement and capturing the world’s media attention.
Combined with its world class service, it’s no wonder people dream of flying on Singapore Airline’s luxury suites. This level of luxury doesn’t come cheap: In fact, a passenger in 2007 paid an eye dropping $100,000 to fly in on its maiden voyage from Singapore to Sydney.
These days a round trip ticket can easily run over $20,000, but you don’t need to be a millionaire to fly in decadence. Instead, you can use Krisflyer miles to redeem a first class ticket on Singapore Airlines.
How many miles will Singapore Airlines Suites Class cost me?
Singapore Airlines used to charge a hefty amount of miles for redeeming award in Suites, but in more recent years have started to charge a much lower redemption rates for its award flights.
For example a one way ticket in Singapore’s Suites Class from New York to Singapore will run you only 93,500 Krisflyer miles.
A flight from New York to Frankfurt in Suites Class will cost a mere 57,375 miles.
How do I earn Singapore Airlines’ Krisflyer miles without being a frequent flyer?
Don’t fly much, but still want to try the Singapore Suite? The good news is you can easily earn enough miles without flying a single mile through credit card sign up bonuses.
While 93,500 Krisflyer miles sounds like a lot, Singapore Airlines actually partnered with all three major US card programs: Citi, Chase, and American Express.
This means you can transfer credit card miles from all three major card companies, allowing you to combine points if necessary.
Best Current Travel Credit Cards that earn Krisflyer miles
Currently, the best business travel credit card that earns Krisflyer miles is the Chase Ink Preferred card, which comes with 80,000 sign up bonus.
If you prefer an alternative to Chase, the American Express Business Gold Card has a 50,000 sign up bonus and earns 3x points on air travel purchases.
View All Business Card Offers Here
Alternatively, you’re looking for an everyday rewards card, the Chase Sapphire Card will earn 50,000 miles, plus 5000 additional miles when you add an authorized user, which is enough miles to fly to Frankfurt one way on Singapore Airlines’ first class suite.
View All Travel Reward Card Offers Here
Besides the card’s mentioned, there are over 10+ other credit cards that can be converted into Krisflyer miles, making the Krisflyer program by far the most flexible.
If you’re having difficulty deciding which card is the right fit for you, you can always request a free personalized card consultation.
Award Rules
Singapore Airlines has two award charts, one for award redemptions on its own flights and one for flights on its partners. For first class award redemptions, we will be focusing on the first chart since Singapore Airlines charges less miles to fly on its own product.
Singapore Airlines has a few straightforward rules for its award bookings.
The first is that you must book the most direct and shortest routing possible. The second is that in order to receive the lowest miles requirement, you can only fly on Singapore Airlines. Combining it with other airlines will result to using the more expensive partner award chart instead.
Finally, flights with Singapore Airlines qualify for a 15% award miles discount when booked online.
Singapore A380 Routes
If you want to fly in the fully enclosed suite, you’ll need to fly on the A380. Unfortunately the routes on which the A380 fly on are quite limited.
Singapore Airlines use to fly to the A380 from both Los Angeles & New York. However, Singapore Airlines recently discontinued A380 service to Los Angeles. As a result, the sole airport in the US that the A380 serves is New York.
From New York you can fly to Frankfurt for 57,375 or Singapore for 93,500 miles.
You can also tag on another flight after Singapore for just a fraction more miles.
These include flights between Auckland, Beijing, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Sydney, and Shanghai.
All A380 Singapore Airlines Routes
A flight from New York to Sydney would only cost 112,625 Krisflyer miles, with all three flights on the Singapore Suites!
You can find full award chart here. Do note that you’ll need to multiple the award prices by 0.85 since the chart doesn’t factor in the 15% online booking discount.
Starting March 23rd 2017, award prices on Singapore Suites for long haul flights is going up by at least 25%! Click here for more details.
Singapore Airlines also does have a few routes flown by planes with a non-suite first class product. The soft product (food, alcohol, service) is the same, so if you can’t find award space from New York, this could be a good alternative.
Here is the list of flights from the US that offer non-suite first class service:
Houston to Manchester (57,375 miles)
Houston to Singapore (93,500 miles)
Los Angeles to Seoul (74,375 miles)
Los Angeles to Tokyo (74,375 miles)
Los Angeles to Singapore (91,375 miles)
You can always “tag on” a flight on the A380 after Singapore if your main desire is to experience the suites after arriving in Singapore.
Other Award Fees
Unlike other airline loyalty programs, Singapore Airlines does charge a slight fuel surcharge & taxes, which usually runs around $200-300 one way.
Taxes for my trip last year on Singapore Suites from LAX-SYD
$100 Stopover Trick
One of the best hidden values of the Singapore Airlines Krisflyer program is the option of adding stopovers on any one way Singapore Airlines award flight.
This could allow you to explore two different regions for the price of one award.
You could stopover in Frankfurt, explore Europe, and then continue on to Singapore for no additional mileage. The only catch is Singapore Airlines does charge $100 per stopover, which is quite a reasonable fee to pay.
If you really want to maximize your award, you could even add a second stopover for another $100.
I was personally able to book a flight from Los Angeles to Sydney, with stopovers in both Tokyo and Singapore, allowing me to explore different parts of Asia, before arriving in Australia.
Note: The A380 has been discontinued on this route as of October 2016.
To add a stopover, you’ll have to search for award availability for each flight separately, write down the available flights, and call the KrisFlyer desk.
How to Search for Award Space:
All award space can be found on Singapore Airlines’ website. For a full detailed guide on searching for award space, click here.
How to Book a Suites Flight:
Once you have the enough miles, you’ll have to search for award space on Singapore Airlines’ website.
It’s important to note that award space on certain routes, especially the A380 flight from New York to Singapore (with a layover in Frankfurt) is extremely limited. This is why I recommend transferring your miles only after you’ve found award space.
Once you’ve found award space, you should then transfer your credit card miles to Krisflyer. Do note that Krisflyer miles do not transfer instantaneously, but the vast majority of points transfers complete within 48 hours.
