I won't be going to Hawaii this June. As much as I wanted to since I'll be in Osaka and there are convenient and affordable connections from there. Unfortunately, the flight timings couldn't work out for me. Both Scoot and Airasia X inbound flights will only arrive in Osaka after I'm scheduled to depart Osaka on SQ business class flight. And I wouldn't give up my SQ 787-10 business class flight for anything in the world! Yup, so Hawaii will be for another day..
On the other hand, I couldn't resist booking a cheap flight ticket to almost any destination, especially if originating from Singapore and the timing is suitable for me. In the end, my vacation keeps getting longer and the number of vacation destination keeps increasing. My recent additions include Dubrovnik and Osaka.
Just a couple of days ago, I chanced upon Scoot's new flight from Singapore to Nanchang, China. As the inaugural flight timing is suitable, I booked an open jaw flight with Scoot without giving much thought. Flying from Singapore to Haikou and returning from Nanchang on the inaugural flight. This gives me a chance to visit both Hainan and Nanchang in one very short trip.
This brings me to my next point. While making flight bookings for my future trips, I realised that I will be relying a lot on budget airlines in the world. In Asia, I have and will book through Scoot, Jetstar and AirAsia for their budget fares.
In Europe, I will be relying on Norwegian and Ryanair. I prefer Norwegian as they offer free and fast wifi for all passengers on board their shorthaul flights. Not sure if they have extended to longhaul flights.
Budget airlines flights, though low cost, comes with many restrictions and negligible benefits. For a start, I can't earn miles, or achieve status or lounge access.
Previously, I have achieved Sq krisflyer or star alliance gold status due to frequent flying with Sq and its star alliance partners. Benefits of the gold status include lounge access with a guest whenever I travel on any star alliance airline in any class, priority check-in and boarding the flight, free seat assignment on some occasions and able to check in free or more luggage on some airlines. However, this is after spending a fortune on airline tickets to achieve the status.
Nowadays, I'm taking a more prudent and budget approach to travelling. I seldom splurge on airline tickets. And I become more accepting of budget airlines and their affordable fares, allowing me to fly to more countries for vacation. This comes with some sacrifice though. For example, no complimentary food and drinks onboard, no free check-in luggage, and most of all, no lounge access.
I tried to circumnavigate the last point by credit cards that comes with free lounge access. In Singapore, these cards include Amex krisflyer ascend and Dbs visa altitude. Amex allows four free plaza premium lounge access a year while Dbs allows two free priority pass lounge access a year. So together I can access lounges on six occasions in most airports in the world. Not too bad I would say.
Yup, with these free lounge access, I am ready to give up my kf gold status and its benefits. The money saved by taking budget flights can be used to travel to even more countries.
Time and tide wait for no man ! Haha. I want to explore as many parts of the world as I can. So time for me to embrace budget airlines.
On the other hand, I couldn't resist booking a cheap flight ticket to almost any destination, especially if originating from Singapore and the timing is suitable for me. In the end, my vacation keeps getting longer and the number of vacation destination keeps increasing. My recent additions include Dubrovnik and Osaka.
Just a couple of days ago, I chanced upon Scoot's new flight from Singapore to Nanchang, China. As the inaugural flight timing is suitable, I booked an open jaw flight with Scoot without giving much thought. Flying from Singapore to Haikou and returning from Nanchang on the inaugural flight. This gives me a chance to visit both Hainan and Nanchang in one very short trip.
This brings me to my next point. While making flight bookings for my future trips, I realised that I will be relying a lot on budget airlines in the world. In Asia, I have and will book through Scoot, Jetstar and AirAsia for their budget fares.
In Europe, I will be relying on Norwegian and Ryanair. I prefer Norwegian as they offer free and fast wifi for all passengers on board their shorthaul flights. Not sure if they have extended to longhaul flights.
Budget airlines flights, though low cost, comes with many restrictions and negligible benefits. For a start, I can't earn miles, or achieve status or lounge access.
Previously, I have achieved Sq krisflyer or star alliance gold status due to frequent flying with Sq and its star alliance partners. Benefits of the gold status include lounge access with a guest whenever I travel on any star alliance airline in any class, priority check-in and boarding the flight, free seat assignment on some occasions and able to check in free or more luggage on some airlines. However, this is after spending a fortune on airline tickets to achieve the status.
Nowadays, I'm taking a more prudent and budget approach to travelling. I seldom splurge on airline tickets. And I become more accepting of budget airlines and their affordable fares, allowing me to fly to more countries for vacation. This comes with some sacrifice though. For example, no complimentary food and drinks onboard, no free check-in luggage, and most of all, no lounge access.
I tried to circumnavigate the last point by credit cards that comes with free lounge access. In Singapore, these cards include Amex krisflyer ascend and Dbs visa altitude. Amex allows four free plaza premium lounge access a year while Dbs allows two free priority pass lounge access a year. So together I can access lounges on six occasions in most airports in the world. Not too bad I would say.
Yup, with these free lounge access, I am ready to give up my kf gold status and its benefits. The money saved by taking budget flights can be used to travel to even more countries.
Time and tide wait for no man ! Haha. I want to explore as many parts of the world as I can. So time for me to embrace budget airlines.
