Krisflyer Elite Gold Status or not?

In my previous post, I have declined to book the SQ Singapore to Newark flight in premium economy class at a fraction of the regular cost. With this decision, I will also be giving up the chance to achieve Krisflyer Elite Gold status. 

This year, I have taken the Amd-Sin-Fra-Jfk return trips in business class, giving me quite a number of elite miles. And I realize that if I were to book the Newark flight return trip, I will be able to qualify for the Star Alliance Gold Status.

I have achieved that status once before, also because of my travel on SQ business class from Singapore to New York City.

It is certainly useful to have star alliance gold status. Some benefits useful for me:
1) lounge access when travelling on any star alliance airlines
2) more checked baggage allowance
3) more miles per flight
4) priority boarding before other economy class passengers

Yup, the lounge access privilege is definitely enticing. However, I did take a step back and ponder on my future travel plans. Will I be always travelling on star alliance flights, even if they are not the cheapest available? 

In Europe, I rely heavily on budget airlines such as Ryanair to hop around the continent. For my year-end mega trip, I have already at least 4 flights booked with them. Usually, Ryanair offers the cheapest cost on routes that it flies to. Other budget carriers such as Easyjet and Norwegian do have offers from time to time but less enticing for me.

After this mega trip, I will have traveled to most of Europe and I intend to travel to South Africa and South America instead. So that will mean less reliance on budget airlines and more on premium carriers such as those in star alliance on the long haul segment.

At a dilemma again... 😁

SQ krisflyer spontaneous escape offer

SQ is currently holding a regular krisflyer spontaneous escape offer, where there is a limited time offer to redeem a lower number of miles for certain flights to certain destinations.

The flights that were getting the most attention is the direct flights from Singapore to Newark and Los Angeles. For just 40,000 miles and 38,000 miles respectively, one could redeem a seat in the premium economy class on the world's longest flight, scheduled to begin in October for Newark and November for Los Angeles.

This is about 40%-50% off the usual number of miles required. For a couple of days, I was really in a dilemma.

Although I currently have the required miles in my account, I was actually saving them for another use(s).

Specifically, I wanted to redeem them for the Auckland-Singapore-Hong Kong suites class for 80,000 kf miles. I have taken the suites class once some years back and it is simply amazing! I can't wait to ride it again, especially as SQ has progressively rolled out its new suites class on certain flights. 

I have "sort of" experienced it once, when SQ held its roadshow (I think it's first ever?) of its new first class and the regional business class at Vivocity in Singapore. I got a chance to seat on the hard products for like, a couple of seconds. Haha!

Me and the Singapore Girl ! 

The impressive improvement is that the suites class now has a separate bed and seat. Not many airlines in the world has such a feature.

I do have another use in mind for my miles. This time, for the Lufthansa first class flight from Frankfurt to the Middle East, costing 60,000 kf miles. The flights are usually operated using an a330/a340 aircraft and the hard products pale in comparison to SQ suites class.

However, by taking a Lufthansa first class flight out of Frankfurt, I will be able to check out the Lufthansa First Class Terminal! Though it's similar to Singapore Changi's First Class Terminal, the Lufthansa version features it's own impressive lounge. Having read plenty of reviews on it, I am really keen to experience it once in my lifetime. Haha!

After doing some research online, I realized that the cheapest way, in terms of miles, to experience this, is to redeem a Lufthansa first class flight from Frankfurt to the Middle East, for 60,000 miles. It used to be cheaper, but I guess this is better than nothing.   

Yup, so with two competing uses of my miles, I have sadly decided to give the SQ Newark flights a miss. For now, at least.

This Newark offer is held in conjunction with another offer where return premium economy seats were sold for $1415 for the Newark flight and $1315 for the Los Angeles flight. The costs have since crept up by a hundred or so.

Again, I have sadly declined the offer, with reasons mentioned in the previous post. Some restrain is always good. Haha!  

Anyway, back to the Krisflyer Spontaneous Escape offer, I have actually taken advantage of this offer this time. In October, I will be taking a short trip to Bangkok. And the best way to get there?

SQ 787-10 latest regional business class for 14000 miles one-way!

Yup, the offer is limited to certain destinations and only certain flight numbers on that route only. Fortunately, one of them being SQ787-10. I have previously taken it from Singapore to Osaka on a return trip and am very impressed with both the hard and soft product. I hope to try it again, albeit on a shorter 2 hour flight this time.

Amazing Business Class fares on LATAM and Biman Bangladesh

In the past, such great business class fares will have tempted me into booking the flights, never mind the destination. But nowadays, to avoid overspending on travel, I have taken on a more prudent approach when booking business class flights.

Other than very attractive fares, the origin and destinations should be in cities where I have not gone to before and I would like to visit.

With that, Latam airlines currently offers a business class fare of ~S$300 from Frankfurt to Madrid return on their B787 aircraft, featuring 2-2-2 fully-flat configuration. 

For an intra-Europe flight, this fare is of exceptional value since most other airlines in this sector offer business class which is simply economy class with a blocked middle seat.

I have taken Latam 787 business class previously on their Mexico to Santiago to Easter Island return flights on both their B787-9 and B787-8 aircrafts with similar business class seats.

Moreover, I have been to both Madrid and Frankfurt (though transit only) and have no wish to return, so I do not intend to book this flight.

Meanwhile, Biman Bangladesh has introduced their new B787 aircraft on their flights from Dhaka to both Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. Business class on the B787, with a 2-2-2 seating configuration, on the Kuala Lumpur-Dhaka return sector is offered at an attractive ~S$770 and ~S$440 for one-way. It is about ~S$200 more for the Singapore flight. There is hardly any review online for their B787 flight so I'm not sure about the service and comfort level.

As much as I would like to try Biman Bangladesh, I do not intend to visit Dhaka in the foreseeable future as it is not really a major tourist destination and according to online reviews, safety can be a concern at times.

Of course, I could fly Kuala Lumpur to Dhaka as a transit to get myself to Kolkata, India. Then, I will return to Singapore from there. I'm still hesitating on this. Hopefully the fares remain while I deliberate on taking this flight.

Singapore Airlines Premium Economy Sale

Singapore Airlines recently published reasonably cheap fares on their soon-to-be-launched ultra long haul flights from Singapore direct to Los Angeles (S$1315) and Newark (S$1415 return). These flights will be operated on SIA's latest A359ulr aircraft, featuring business class and premium economy class seats only.

It is really tempting for me for the past few days and I have been deliberating on it. The sale is since extended till 27 September, for travel in this year only. This will be a new aircraft for me (and the world) and it will be the world's longest flight. So did I take the bait? Haha! 

The short answer is no. The temptation is just great. But I had to restrain myself from going beyond my year-end travel budget. Had the sale been months earlier, I might just have booked it. But now, my year-end schedule is almost set. Booking this flight now is going to impact my schedule, not to mention additional positioning flights.

This led me to recall the Hong Kong Airlines S$700+ business class mistake fare on the transpacific flight. Not easy for me to cancel that purchase. Even now I still think about it, especially after Hong Kong Airlines had indicated that it will honor that fare. This is the reason that I cancelled that purchase, as I wasn't sure whether Hong Kong Airlines will honor that. And I wouldn't want another transpacific flight in economy class.

Anyway, the good thing coming out of this episode is that I saved S$700 for another day. 😀

Moving forward, if this sale price is available again next year, I will probably take the bait. The novelty of taking the world's longest flight and on A359ulr.

Hopefully, singapore airlines will launch more flights into the United States direct from Singapore with their A359ulr and with attractive fares!

A short visit to the Big Apple

After my long trek from India via Singapore and Frankfurt on SQ business class, I was ready to explore New York City, albeit for only a day.

I had the chance to try the JFK airtrain followed by a change at Jamaica to the long island railroad (LIRR) train from and to New York Penn station. The airtrain cost US$5 a trip, with the ticket bought from a stand at Jamaica in both directions. The LIRR ticket can be bought from a ticket machine prior to boarding. The off-peak tickets are cheaper than the peak tickets, from 4pm departing Penn station. It was a straight-forward, hassle-free journey and I was soon in Manhattan, among the touristy areas.

With only a few hours in the city, I simply wandered along the streets leading to Times Square.

At this point, my holiday trip is soon coming to a close. It is time for me to return to Asia. I returned to JFK airport to check in for my flight on swiss airlines via Zurich to Hong Kong. In the next post, I shall detail my adventures during my long stopover in Switzerland.

My first ever round-the-world trip 2018

I have successfully completed my first ever round-the-world-trip, in an easterly direction, in 4 days. Stopping over in Australia, Fiji, United States and Germany.

This itinerary was originally planned for one more day. Unfortunately, on the day I was supposed to travel, I received a text message from Fiji Airways that my flight departing that night was cancelled. I had to call their reservations office to make alternative flight options. The number wasn't included in the text, so I had to find out their Fiji office number online.

I feel that Fiji Airways should lay out the options on their website so that customers can select flight options online, instead of having to call their overseas office and incurring overseas phone charges.

Also, they could have informed customers about the cancellation earlier, especially on a long haul segment. 

This reminds me of Jetstar Airways, a budget carrier, when I was offered alternative flight options from Okinawa to Singapore.

Anyway, on my second try, I was connected to an airline representative and offered an alternative routing to get from Singapore to Los Angeles fast. Now, Fiji Airways only operates twice weekly flights to Singapore from their hub. This particular routing will have me departing one day later. Taking Qantas codeshare from Singapore to Sydney, then Fiji Airways from Sydney via Nadi to Los Angeles.

I was both excited and disappointed by this turn of events. Excited because I could try out Qantas flight on their A330 aircraft and also visit Sydney with a 6 hour stopover.

However, as I was due to now depart Singapore one day later, it also means that I will only reach Los Angeles one day later as well.

I had earlier booked my United States domestic flight to get from Los Angeles to New York City, where my SQ flight will leave and return to Singapore.

With this new flight option, it means that:
1) I only had a 2 hour stopover in Fiji, and I couldn't visit Fiji on this trip.
2) I couldn't visit Orlando walt disney world.
3) I had to give up my American airlines red-eye flight from Los Angeles to Orlando without refund.
4) I had to book a new red-eye flight on Delta Airlines to get myself from Los Angeles to Orlando. And this flight is costly due to my last minute booking.

Yup, so it seems that I had to leave Fiji and Orlando to another trip.

After travelling for 10 years, this is my first ever long haul flight that was cancelled. I can only remember in recent memory when my scoot airlines short haul flight from Singapore to Hong Kong was cancelled and I also had to call their office to make alternative arrangements. Luckily, Scoot is a Singapore airline so I needn't make overseas call, though I had to incur an additional cost of a one-night stay in Hong Kong as a result.

In my subsequent posts, I shall relive my memories of this round-the-world trip. But first, I will need to complete my June trip review.