Singapore Airlines Changes – Premium Cabin Award Prices Are Increasing, But You Can Take Advantage of New Simpler Upgrade With Miles Option Before The Increase Goes Into Effect!

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Singapore Airlines recently announced a new award chart that will go into effect in a few short weeks, for tickets booked on or after January 24, 2019.  As is the case with most award chart changes, this will be a devaluation.

For example, the price of a saver Business Class ticket from the West Coast to Singapore under the current award chart is 88,000 Singapore Airlines miles one-way.  When the new award chart goes live, this same ticket will cost 95,000 Singapore Airlines miles.  That’s an increase of 14,000 miles on a round-trip ticket!

But starting now you can upgrade with miles to Singapore Airlines Business Class directly from Economy, even if the flight has a Premium Economy cabin!  Previously, you could only upgrade one class of service with miles.  Because this change is already in effect you can take advantage of it before the price of Business Class awards goes up.  This is great because Singapore Airlines miles transfer from all the major flexible points programs – you can learn about how to earn Singapore Airlines miles with this guide.

If you want to make sure you don’t get blindsided by changes like this in the future, take a second to subscribe to our newsletter and we’ll keep you up to date on the latest miles & points news.

Singapore Airlines Award Prices Are Increasing

Anyone looking to fly in coach won’t need to be bothered by these award chart changes.  The prices for economy award seats aren’t affected.  That said, award prices for Premium Economy, Business, and First Class seats are all increasing, anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 Singapore Airlines miles each way.  Which is fairly significant!

So, if you’ve been planning to book a fancy seat to Asia, now’s the time to do it.  Because come January 24, 2019, it’ll cost you more miles.

Here are some examples of the upcoming award ticket price increases:

East Coast and Houston to Singapore

• Business Class increasing from 92,000 to 99,000 Singapore Airlines miles
• First Class increasing from 120,000 to 132,000 Singapore Airlines miles

West Coast to Singapore

• Business Class increasing from 88,000 to 95,000 Singapore Airlines miles
• First Class increasing from 118,000 to 130,000 Singapore Airlines miles

You can find details about the upcoming changes and award charts here.  Just note, there appear to be no changes to Singapore Airlines’ partner award charts.

You’ll Know the Fate of Your Waitlist Request Sooner

Singapore Airlines’ current policy is that anyone looking to book an award ticket can be placed on a waitlist if there isn’t any available award space.  But the catch is, you could be waiting until the day of departure to actually be issued your ticket.

As of sometime this coming Spring, all waitlist requests will be decided on at least 2 weeks before the departure date.  If you don’t clear the waitlist your request will be cancelled and you’ll have those 2 weeks to make alternate plans.

Hopefully, this means Singapore Airlines will actually make award space available before that 2-week mark hits, knowing that there are award seat requests that will get cancelled.  That would certainly make the award booking process less stressful for you and me!

Upgrade With Miles Directly to Singapore Airlines Business Class From Economy

Previously, anyone with a coach ticket could only upgrade to Premium Economy due to the program’s one-cabin upgrade rule (if the plane didn’t have Premium Economy you could still upgrade directly to Business Class).

But right now coach passengers will have the option to upgrade to Business Class directly from Economy even if the flight has Premium Economy seating.  So you can actually take advantage of this new benefit before the price of Business Class awards increase on January 24th!

The Award Search Tool Will Be Easier to Use

Beginning January 31, 2019, Singapore Airlines’ award search tool will show available award tickets across a 7-day window.

For example, if you select March 20, 2019, as your travel date, you’ll be able to check the “Flexible Travel Dates” box and see award availability from March 17 through March 23, 2019.  This improvement will no doubt make searching for award seats easier!

The Spontaneous Escapes Award Sale Is Becoming Permanent

Singapore Airlines has been offering monthly last-minute discounts.  They are now making this sale a permanent feature of their loyalty program.

I’m excited to see what these new deals will be, they are saying that in February they will have “never-before redemption deals.”  Yes, that’s their exact wording.  So hopefully, these discount will be enough to negate the price increase and still be cheaper than previous sales.  We’ll have to wait and see.

Any thoughts on these changes?  If so, be sure to share them in the comments below!

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