Singapore Airlines Increases Award Costs To/From Europe

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Singapore Airlines appears to have performed a bit of sleight of hand over the past few days and used an old magicians trick of focusing everyone’s attention where it wants it to be while subtly doing something else over where no one is really looking.

Yesterday, while most people’s attention was focused on the addition of Premium Economy redemptions to the Singapore Airlines award chart (more on that here), the airline slipped in a change to the charts in a way that increased the cost of Premium Cabin Saver Awards to certain European cities.

Historically Singapore Airlines has split Europe into two regions, Europe 1 & Europe 2, with Saver Awards to/from Europe 1 costing considerably less than awards to/from Europe 2 in the airline’s premium cabins:

Not any more.

For awards from 24 May 2016 Singapore Airlines now categorises Europe as a single region and, unsurprisingly, has kept the higher redemption rates from Europe 2 as the cost of the new awards.

Note: All costs shown are for one-way awards.

For reference:

• Zone 1 = Singapore
• Zone 2 = Malaysia & Indonesia
• Zone 3 = Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia
• Zone 4 = South China, Hong Kong, Taiwan
• Zone 7 = Japan & South Korea
• Zone 8 = Australia (Perth & Darwin)
• Zone 9 = Australia (excl. Pert & Darwin)

Example Round-Trip Flights (excluding 15% discount for booking online):

Business Class Awards:

• Amsterdam – Sydney: Increases from 160,000 miles to 190,000 miles – 19% increase
• Copenhagen – Singapore: Increases from 140,000 miles to 170,000 miles – 21% increase
• Rome – Hong Kong: Increases from 140,000 miles to 180,000 miles – 29% increase
• Amsterdam – Bangkok: Increases from 120,000 miles to 160,000 miles – 33% increase

Singapore Airlines Business Class A380

First Class Awards:

• Amsterdam – Hong Kong: Increases from 200,000 miles to 245,000 miles – 23% increase
• Amsterdam – Singapore: Increases from 170,000 miles to 215,000 miles – 26% increase

Bottom Line

This is a subtle change but one that will make a significant difference to the value of KrisFlyer miles for a lot of people.

While the changes to the cost of First Class awards are annoying, the fact is that they won’t affect too many customers…but the same is not true for Business Class awards.

Amsterdam/Copenhagen to Singapore and beyond are popular routes for Business Class flyers and, with Singapore being one of the premier world airlines, awards on these routes have always been keenly sought. An increase of anywhere between 19% and 33% in the number of miles needed for a trip is a big bit to take and will definitely affect redemption rates going forward.

And the increase won’t only be felt by travelers from countries in the old Europe 1 zone.

Taking a cheap Economy Class flight from London (old Europe 2 zone) to Amsterdam was often well worth the cash outlay for those looking to fly to Singapore (or further) in Business Class on Singapore Airlines. Not only does Amsterdam not have the high taxes that the UK imposes on premium cabin awards but the 17,000 KrisFlyer miles saved in each direction (after accounting for the 15% online booking discount) simply made the proposition even more attractive. Sadly, that was a very good deal that now no longer exists.