SQ’s Santa’s Gift Grab Game has interesting (albiet limited) economy deals

Singapore Airlines has launched the Singapore Air Games site where you play a series of poorly coded HTML5 games (I’m guessing it’s HTML5, but the tech savvy among us can humiliate me in the comments if you want) that make you jump through hoops for some semblance of a reward.

The idea behind Singapore Air Games is that various games will be available all the way through April 2017, and that there’s an ongoing leaderboard that rewards those who persistently play. The top 3 scorers when the games period ends on 15 April 2017 will get Krisflyer miles equivalent to their game points scored. Now before you get all excited, note that the fine print reads

*Free trip is based on round-trip Economy Class Saver award ticket on Singapore Airlines and SilkAir flights only. Taxes, surcharges and fees are applicable in addition to the required redemption mileage and must be separately paid by the passenger. The KrisFlyer miles will only be valid for 1 year from the date on which it is credited into the KrisFlyer member account of the winner of the KrisFlyer miles, and no extensions will be permitted. The KrisFlyer miles are not negotiable nor transferable, either in part or in full. The KrisFlyer miles must be used in accordance with the terms and conditions of the KrisFlyer programme.

So yeah. Don’t knock yourself out.

Anyhoo, the latest iteration of Singapore Air games is the enigmatically named Santa’s Gift Grab. I played the game so you don’t have to. I’d like to consider myself an active gamer (and am currently working my way through Far Cry 4) but this was probably not one of the better titles I played this year.

Here’s what I got (and the code you need to enter on the booking page to get this special deal)

• Paris- $808 (XMAS2016P1)
• Manchester- $808 (XMAS2016M2)
• Hong Kong- $228 (XMAS2016H1)
• Bali- $228 (XMAS2016D1)
• Bangkok- $188 (XMAS2016B1)
• HCMC- $188 (XMAS2016S1)
• Beijing- $388 (XMAS2016B2)
• Colombo- $388 (XMAS2016C1)
• Melbourne- $588 (XMAS2016M1)

As per the T&C, there are a total of 9 destinations on offer (so I’ve covered all the possibilities on top) and only 1,000 bookings for each destination. All fares need to be bought by 6 Jan 2017 for travel between 1 Feb- 31 March 2017. That’s a really narrow travel window.

How do these fares compare to regular SQ prices? Not too bad, really (which is probably why only 1,000 bookings are allowed per destination- Merry Christmas!). I’ve not seen BKK tickets dip under $200 in a long while, and Paris/Manchester for less than $1,000 is almost unheard of on SQ. Beijing for $388 round trip is a fantastic deal too, if you don’t mind freezing your butt off in winter.

If you’ve already got travel plans and can work around the date restrictions, feel free to take advantage of the codes I listed above. But until such time as SQ releases a full featured airline simulator (oh, how I miss Airline Tycoon) that allows you to design your won loyalty program, I think I’m going to give SQ games a pass.

Thanks Keith for the tip.