Singapore Airlines has recently started to offer “redemption sales” where you can get additional savings on award tickets. Unfortunately these sales have historically covered only economy class seats, meaning you’ll still need to pony up the big miles for first and business class.
There have been several sales in recent memory
May 2015:ย 50% off Krisflyer redemptions till 10th July
Feb 2016:ย 30% off SQ Economy Award Redemptions
July 2016:ย Silkair is offering 35% off online redemptions till 4 August
Oct 2016:ย Silkair’s 50% off redemptions promo is back again
Now we can add another one to the list. From now till 16 November 2016, Krisflyer is offering 30% off redemptions on Silkair and Singapore Airlines to selected locations for economy and premium economy saver awards for travel between 6 Feb and 31 May 2017.
There is a very long list of destinations available, so refer to the official site here if you want to see the full list. It would appear that most of SQ’s destinations are featured. However, not all flights are. For example, the non-stop SQ31/32 flights to SFO are not included in the discount.
I generally do not advocate redeeming hard earned miles for economy travel, but with this discount the maths might make sense in very limited situations. As always, do a comparison of what the next best revenue ticket price is and see what value you are getting from your miles before deciding.
Premium Economy Saver Awards
I’d like to spend a bit more time looking at the premium economy awards in particular since this is the first time we have had any sort of sale on them.
Premium economy awards were only recently made available for redemption. I mentioned before that the ratio of miles needed to redeem a premium economy versus a business class award was ~80%, so in my mind it really didn’t make sense redeeming for premium economy. I would much rather get the additional 20% to have a business class experience (the premium economy hard product is none too shabby, but nothing beats a flat bed)
With the 30% discount, the equation now looks something like this
As you can see, the ratio is still somewhat less, closer to the 65-70% mark versus 80% before. This certainly makes it aย betterย deal, but given the big gulf in comfort between business and premium economy I’m still disinclined to shell out miles for premium economy.
Conclusion
It’s worth noting again that SQ already offers a 15% discount whenever you redeem your miles online. The 30% discount on offer takes this 15% into account already, therefore your incremental saving is more like 15%.
The website also notes that
Availability may be limited for both Premium Economy Class and Economy Class during these periods:
Europe: 1 Apr – 30 Apr 2017
Southwest Pacific: 1 Apr – 31 May 2017
Which worries me, given how hard it already is to get saver space for awards. I’m not sure why this period has been specifically highlighted- to my knowledge it’s not a peak period for travel. Any thoughts?
I’m glad that Krisflyer is making these sales a regular thing, but doubt we’ll ever see them for premium cabins.
I had a business return to LHR and then swapped it for premium economy upon seeing this yesterday evening. I was immediately quite pleased with the 50,000 miles I saved, but I wonder if I’ll regret it on the plane…
well…….. business saver awards to LHR are quite rare pokemon but if you have other uses planned for your miles then it can still be the right call. just know what to expect from PY vs J and you’ll be fine.
Aaron,
Is there any fee for downgrade for case like already redeem with business class but want to replace with economy ?
You can cancel with a fee of usd30 (the fee is less if you’re KF Gold and above)
what JT said. it’s akin to cancelling and rebooking a new award flight.
Hi. Would you make a redemption if you could get the value of 3.5 cents per mile on PE? Thanks
me personally? no. could i understand someone who would? yes.
I’m deciding between waitlisting Business (no immediate award redemption) vs immediate redemption on PE for inbound. My outbound flight has been cleared. I would love to get the business inbound but weighing against the uncertainty over the not so optimal value of 3.5 cents per mile for PE. Struggling to decide because once the PE award ticket is issued , no amendment can be made. What would you do in this circumstances ? Is 3.5 cents value at all that bad?
like i said, it’s an ok value, i just think that the marginal price difference between PY and J makes it very hard to spend on PY, even with this 30% discount. of course PY>Y, all things considered. if you want certainty then just go for it. worse come to worse pay a $15 cancel fee. it’s worth it for peace of mind.
Cancellation is not possible with this 30% redemption. Else I would book it and change to Biz when waitlist become available. Arghhhh.
no- that’s not right
Any change is strictly not permitted for bookings made under this promotion. Cancellation is also not permitted for partially used tickets.
you can’t change, but you can cancel a wholly unused ticket.
Woah, in that case, I won’t hesitate to book now. Thanks for the help ! ๐
2.8 cents per mile for economy flight is decent I assume?
decent but i’m not going to bite at those values. i know people who would and i guess it’s different strokes for different folks, but i wouldn’t.