Act quickly- SQ Suites available for 25K miles and $100!

Since discovering the Miles and Points game 3 years ago, Jeriel has now spent a disproportionate amount of time reading the T&Cs of credit cards and frequent flyer programs. His grand plans for round-the-world premium travel has taken a hit since the arrival of his daughter, but he is still determined to fly as far, frequently and luxuriously as possible on Miles and Points. Expect more family-orientated trip reports and travel tips from him!

Singapore Suites within Easy Reach

When the SQ Suites first took to the air in October 2007, there wasn’t a more aspirational product to fly. I distinctly remember staring at the cabin photos in awe, wondering whether there was even a parallel universe in which I could fly in the ‘Class above First’. Singapore Airlines ensured that it remained merely aspirational to the masses by not allowing award flight redemptions on Suites, and it remained that way until November 2012.

Since then there has been a glut of trip reports for SQ suites, with some going viral online. You probably need your own to have any degree of respect as a local travel blogger, and Aaron has written about his own experience on the SIN CDG route here. I hope to be adding my own report soon as well.

While redeeming an SQ Suites award is now entirely possible, it’s definitively still not easy. The cheapest award used to be SIN HKG at 31,875 miles (before taxes, after online discount, per person, one way). A decent length trip to SYD would cost 63,750 miles, and the truly long haul flight to LHR, CDG, LAX etc. would set you back 91,375 miles (ditto conditions as above).

If you wanted to enjoy the experience together with a partner or loved-one, the miles required instantly doubles (or quadruples if you want to fly Suites both ways).

Even if you had the miles needed, finding award availability is a whole other story. SQ does release a respectable amount of award inventory to Krisflyer members, but they are snapped up fast, especially on popular routes. On my upcoming trip, I had camped on the SQ website about a year before my desired date of travel in order to lock in the awards.

All that is probably enough to discourage the entry-level miles and points enthusiast from the dream of sleeping in (what was once the only) double bed in the sky.

(Milelion note: The Residence, of course, is not available for miles redemption so I think it’s still fair to say that SQ Suites is, for all intents and purposes, the only double bed in the sky)

Well, if you really want to try this product but have been finding it difficult to accumulate the miles, your opportunity is here!

SQ will be flying the A380 on the SIN BKK SIN route for 3 days, from 12^th April 2016 to 14^th April 2016, apparently to coincide with the Songkran Festival, and Saver Suites award availability is wide open!

A dummy search for the 3 days show the following availability as of 18/3/16, 0100hrs:

Availability doesn’t get any better than this. Or does it? As I was running through the dummy searches on the various dates, I actually managed to get to a page where up to four Saver Suites awards were available on the BKK SIN leg.

Seeing as how SQ usually only releases a maximum of 2 Saver Suites awards, I have a feeling that it was a system glitch, but I’m still reeling from the adrenaline rush from the thought that FOUR Saver Suites awards might be available.

Is this worth jumping on? The math seem to suggest so. Suites Awards to Thailand are listed at 30000 miles. After the 15% online redemption discount, it will set you back 25500 miles (before taxes, after online discount, per person, one way). A quick check shows that the same one-way ticket retails at S$2446.30. Redemption would cost you the 25500 miles and S$111.30 of taxes. That amounts to an amazing ~9c/mile value!

You probably would have figured the catch by now; at 2 hours 25 mins of flight time, SIN BKK isn’t exactly the best way to enjoy the full Suites experience. That being said, the prospect of spending the whole day in The Private Room at Changi’s SilverKris Lounge isn’t that bad an idea. 😉

(Milelion note: Put it this way- it’s like paying $100 and some miles for a very, very nice dinner, a trip to Bangkok and a free flow of Krug/Dom)

Also, unless you were already planning to go to Bangkok during that time period, it will take some inertia/convincing your boss to plan a mid-week holiday at short notice. However, if the stars just so happen to be aligned for you (~50k spare miles, leave already applied on the right days with nothing planned), this may just make for a very special vacation.