Singapore Airlines used to have an amazing Star Alliance award chart. They devalued it on 12/7/17 and they will devalue it yet again on 4/16/19.
Current Singapore Star Alliance Award Chart
New Singapore Star Alliance Award Chart (Effective 4/16)
Singapore Airlines Non-partner Award Chart
Earlier this year Singapore devalued their award chart for flying on their own flights and they killed close-in award waitlisting.
Singapore continues to offer a round-the-world award, something that airlines like American and United have discontinued. A round-the-world ticket to 7 destinations is 180K miles in coach, 240K miles in business, or 360K miles in first/suites class.
Singapore still allows a free stopover and open jaw on round-trip saver awards and you can add up to 3 additional stopovers for just $100 each by booking your award over the phone. If you book a standard award you can even get a free stopover on a one-way ticket.
Here is a chart comparing the current Star Alliance award rates with the previous rates and the new rates. Miles required are for one-way travel.
| Between US49/Canada and: | Class of Service | 2017 Rate | Current Rate | 4/16/19 New Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US49/Canada | Coach Business First | 12.5K 20K 30K | 12.5K 20K 30K | 12.5K 23K 34.5K |
| Hawaii/Caribbean/Mexico/Central America | Coach Business First | 17.5K 30K 40K | 17.5K 30K 40K | 17.5K 34.5K 46K |
| South America | Coach Business First | 30K 50K 70K | 30K 50K 70K | 30K 57.5K 80.5K |
| Europe | Coach Business First | 27.5K 65K 80K | 27.5K 65K 95K | 27.5K 72K 107.5K |
| Middle East/Northern Africa | Coach Business First | 37.5K 57.5K 75K | 45K 69K 90K | 45K 76.5K 99K |
| Southern Africa | Coach Business First | 45K 72.5K 110K | 52K 87K 132K | 52K 96.5K 145K |
| North Asia 1 | Coach Business First | 45K 87.5K 100K | 48K 105K 125K | 48K 115K 140K |
| North Asia 2 | Coach Business First | 45K 87.5K 100K | 54K 105K 125K | 54K 115K 140K |
| Central Asia | Coach Business First | 52.5K 97.5K 132.5K | 55K 110K 145K | 55K 122K 160K |
| South Asia | Coach Business First | 55K 97.5K 112.5K | 55K 97.5K 135K | 55K 105.5K 148.5K |
| South Pacific | Coach Business First | 55K 97.5K 127.5K | 60K 117K 152.5K | 60K 130K 167.5K |
Unfortunately you can no longer earn the full distance based Singapore miles on United flights anymore, though you can earn earn full distance based Singapore miles when flying on many Alaska or JetBlue fares.
You can transfer points from AMEX, Capital One, Chase, Citi, Marriott, and Virgin Australia to Singapore.
There are still lots of bargains compared to other programs like United.
Here is when you’ll want to use Singapore miles over United miles:
Sample one-way pricing using United miles vs Singapore miles on saver awards:
- Domestic US business class on United using United miles is 25K miles or 35K miles on lie-flat routes. With Singapore miles it’s just 20K (23K starting 4/16)
- A flight from the US48 to Alaska on United is 17.5K in coach, 30K in business, or 40K miles in business on lie-flat routes using United miles. With Singapore miles it’s just 12.5K in coach or 20K in business (23K starting 4/16)
- A flight from the US48 to Hawaii on United is 22.5K in coach and 40K in business, or 50K in business on lie-flat routes using United miles. With Singapore miles it’s just 17.5K in coach or 30K in business class (34.5K starting 4/16)
- A flight from the US to Europe is 30K in coach, 60K-70K in business, and 80K-110K in first using United miles. With Singapore miles it’s just 27.5K in coach, 65K in business, or 95K in first class. (Business goes up to 72K and first class goes up to 107.5K on 4/16)
- A flight from the US to Israel is 75-85K in business and 90K-140K in first using United miles. With Singapore miles it’s 69K in business, and 90K in first class. (Business goes up to 76.5K and first goes up to 99K on 4/16)
- A flight from the Middle East to Europe is 25K in coach, 50K in business, and 60K in first using United miles. With Singapore miles it’s just 17.5K in coach, 25K in business (29K starting 4/16)
Other Star Alliance programs, like ANA and Aegean, often have lower rates than Singapore, though they have fewer bank transfer partners.
Singapore does charge fuel surcharges for most partner airlines, but notably they don’t charge any for travel on Singapore or United. Thanks to their Star Alliance award chart, that means it can be quite advantageous to use Singapore miles for United flights. However it’s worth noting that if you have a United credit card for expanded United award availability, that benefit only applies when using United miles and not miles from partner airlines like Singapore.
- There are no close-in fees with Singapore miles. With United miles there’s a $75 fee within 3 weeks.
- Date, route, and flight changes on Singapore flights are $25 and are just $50 on other flights with Singapore miles. With United miles, changes are $75 or $125 within 60 days of travel.
- Award refunds are $75 with Singapore miles vs $75 or $125 within 60 days of travel with United miles.
The Achilles’ heel of the Singapore program is that miles expire 36 months after they’re earned. You can extend them for 6 more months by paying a $12 fee per 10,000 miles extended. If your miles are expiring and you don’t have any travel plans you can also book an award before your miles expire and then change the award for up to 1 year from when it’s issued.
You can also transfer Singapore miles into Virgin Australia Velocity miles at a 1.55:1 ratio. Those miles never expire as long as you have activity every 36 months.
United miles will never expire as long as you have activity every 18 months or have a United credit card. That’s a much friendlier policy, though many awards cost a lot more than with Singapore miles.
It’s also worth noting that Singapore only allows you to nominate 5 people for mileage redemptions. If you need to change your list of nominees there is a $30 charge and you must wait 6 months to change a name after you add it.
What awards have you redeemed with Singapore miles?
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14 Comments On "Singapore Airlines Devaluing Their Star Alliance Award Chart For The 2nd Time In 16 Months"
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Dan,
Sorry if this is a stupid question but how do I use United miles on Singapore Air?
You go to United’s website and search the route that Singapore Air flies. If it’s available, you can than book it.
Thanks Dan! Any good deals to be had with Virgin Australia miles? How else can you get their miles?
Oh oh. Time to say Kaddish for my AMEX to Singapore transfers for flights to Israel
Why? What other airlines can you transfer MR to that would come out cheaper?
At this point – you can go to AC or ANA is much cheaper. ANA problem is you have to book round trips
Correct!
This was once the best option.
I loved the $20 change fee.
The truth is I didn’t use them for a year already since they started charging $600 fuel o/w on Austrian and Swiss….
It used to be $200.
Dan always says to check on ITA Metrix to calculate.
But I don’t think any changes happened on ITA, it’s just this airline decided to hike their prices.
Aeroplan charges fuel on Austrian but don’t charge so much.
Dan,
You advise trying to avoid expiring miles by booking a flight with the possibility of changing the date to a later date.
BEWARE OF SQ FRAUD.
I legitimately had to change the date of an award flight after the original miles expired. This was due to a blizzard and JFK and SQ can be messed up badly by storms (my experience). SQ flight was not available so I asked to book LH. They told me they would cancel SQ, return miles and book LH while I went to sleep. The next morning the reality struck; they cancelled, returned my miles and the miles were immediately taken away by their computer. They NEVER made good even though it was their mistake.
I suggest that if legal, record any phone call with SQ, they are crooks in my opinion.
File a DoT complaint.
I would think you would be more forthright about how high SQ surcharges can be on airlines where they charge them, they can be really high.
The post says that they collect fuel surcharges. Those surcharges are set by each airline.
Yes, you did state it but there is no excuse for surcharges that exceed the cost of economy tickets. Dan, are you stating that the amount they have to charge is dictated by LH, for example?
Not dictated, but set by.
You can search the fuel surcharge on any ticket with ITA Matrix.
Does that mean that of those select few that charge surcharges it would be the same whether using aeroplan or SQ?