Regular readers should be familiar with redeeming both Singapore Airlines awards as well as awards on Star Alliance partners. But did you know that combining the two can create some unique opportunities?
No, I donโt mean redeeming a Star Alliance award where SQ is one of the carriers flown (because thatโd just price as a Star Alliance award, end of story). I mean redeeming two separate awardsโ one from the Singapore Airlines award chart, and one from the Star Alliance award chart, and using them on a single journey. This can help achieve cheaper awards on selected routes than purely using one award chart alone.
Still with me? Hereโs how to combine two separate tickets from two separate award charts to unlock greater value:
Singapore to Europe for 70,000 miles in business class
If you fly direct on Singapore Airlines, Singapore to Europe awards cost 85,000 miles for one-way business class. Combining the Singapore Airlines and Star Alliance partner charts can help you get this same itinerary for 70,000 miles.
How? First, note how Singapore Airlines has great award pricing for flights on its own metal between Singapore and Zone 10: Africa, Middle East and Turkey. The one-way cost of these flights is 45,000 miles in Business Class, as shown below.

Second, note how the KrisFlyer Star Alliance chart has great pricing for flights between Europe and the Middle East, North Africa region. One-way business class costs just 25,000 miles.

I hope you see where Iโm going here. 45,000 miles will put you on an SQ flight to either Dubai or Istanbul. If you fly to Dubai, you can catch a Lufthansa or SWISS flight to FRA or ZRH. If you fly to Istanbul, you can access any of Turkish Airlinesโ many European destinations. Iโve shown a sample of them below, but there are many more.

Lufthansa operates an A330 between DXB and FRA, which has seats configured in a 2-2-2 configuration. Not the most comfortable, but hey, 5 Star Airline, amirite?
Turkish Airlines operates a mixture of aircraft between IST and the rest of Europe, so itโs hard to say for sure what youโll get. You may get lucky and get a flat-bed equipped B777 or A330โฆ
Or you might be less lucky and get a standard recliner-equipped narrowbody aircraft.
Or you may be really unlucky and get an all economy narrowbody aircraft with a middle seat blocked off.
Have a read of TPGโs article from 2016 which highlights some routes where widebody aircraft are used.
This trick does not work for economy class tickets, however, as Singapore to Europe on SQ metal costs 38,000 miles. This is less than combining a Singapore to Middle East (25,000 miles) and a Middle East to Europe (17,500 miles) ticket.
Singapore to South America for 90,000 miles in business class
Singapore Airlines used to fly to Sao Paulo via Barcelona, a grueling journey of 24h 45 mins that Iโve made several times in economy. The route was cancelled in October 2016 due to weak demand. Since then, your only option for getting to South America is via the Star Alliance partner award chart at 67.5K/110K miles for one-way economy/business.

But did you know that you can fly this route for only 42.5K/90K miles in economy/business class?
Again, weโll be taking advantage of SQโs generous redemption rates from Singapore to Zone 10. You redeem a one-way business class flight from SIN-JNB for 45,000 miles, and then fly from JNB-GRU on South African Airways for a further 45,000 miles. Thatโs 90,000 miles in total.
Singapore Airlines operates its spanking new A350 aircraft on the SIN-JNB route, with the full-flat 2013 business class product.

South African Airways, unfortunately, doesnโt have the most aspirational of business class products out there. JNB-GRU is operated by A330-200 aircraft which have sort-of flat seats in business class.

In case youโre wondering- no, you wonโt be able to access any other destinations in South America ex-JNB apart from GRU. SAA used to fly to GIG and EZE, but those routes have since been cancelled.
Another option is to fly SIN-ADD on Ethiopian Airlines business class for 55,000 miles and then take ADD-GRU-EZE for 45,000 miles. The savings here are a bit more marginal at 100,000 miles versus 110,000, but at least you get to visit Argentina as well as Brazil.
Ethiopian operates its B787 aircraft between ADD and GRU (and then onwards to EZE). These are very new aircraft, although unfortunately Ethiopian has put fairly underwhelming 2-2-2 seats on them.
What should I be aware of?
Singapore Airlines does not charge fuel surcharges on SQ-operated award tickets, but will pass on partner fuel surcharges to KrisFlyer members.
Hereโs how that affects the comparison in the first example of Singapore to Europe
Fly SQ all the way: SIN-FRA in Business Class โ 85,000 miles + S$47.30
Fly SQ then transfer to *A partner: SIN-IST/IST-FRA in Business Class- 45,000 miles + S$47.30 / 25,000 miles + S$92.50= 70,000 miles + S$139.80
Iโd say in this case the 15,000 miles saved more than make up for the difference in surcharges.
And hereโs the second example of Singapore to South America.
Fly SQ, then transfer to *A partner: SIN-JNB/JNB-GRU in Business Class- 45,000 miles + S$47.30/ 45,000 miles + S$344.64= 90,000 miles + S$391.94
Fly *A partner all the way: SIN-ADD/ADD-GRU in Business Class- 55,000 miles + S$194.60/ 45,000 miles + S$303.93= 100,000 miles + S$498.53
The other issue to consider is transit times and connections. Youโre booking two separate tickets, but since both flights are operated by Star Alliance carriers, youโll be able to check your luggage through to your final destination. You will however need to leave sufficient time between your flights (check out the minimum connecting time for the airport youโre transiting in).
This is less of an issue for South America, in the sense that youโd need to make a connection anyway. If your end goal is Europe, you need to weigh the additional time take in transit versus the miles savings.
Learn more tricks like this at Advanced KrisFlyer
If you found this article useful, why not join us at Advanced KrisFlyer, where weโll cover tips like this and more! During this workshop, weโll discuss round the world awards, partner sweet spots, complex itineraries and other good stuff. Early bird tickets still available for a limited time:
I got a question regarding the following statement โYouโre booking two separate tickets, but since both flights are operated by Star Alliance carriers, youโll be able to check your luggage through to your final destination.โ Few months back, I booked 2 different flights, SIN-LHR, LHR-KEF. SIN-LHR was return while LHR-KEF was one way. Both flights were on BA. However, I was unable to check my bag all the way through to KEF despite numerous calls to different call centers. So i ended up having to collect my luggage at LHR and go through the check-in process all over again. Iโฆ Read more ยป
It is a noted policy change for BA that they do not interline baggage even for their own airline ever since the Oneworld policy changed in 2016. Google โBA no longer through checking baggage with separate tickets 2016โ
Sounds like just another reason to not fly BAโฆ
Iโve checked through different carriers on Star Alliance a number of times and have had no problems at all..
Thanks for the confirmation! so its just BA i guess
Hi, 270k MR points in hand, plan to redeem Air+Hotel package this week. Which air miles? AS or UA? Didnโt see much use of UA but I already have 15.7K UA, while AS award chart for SQ is not published yet. Any suggestion?
Hi Chrisโฆ I think thereโs too little info to go on here.. Where are you based? Places youโd like to go to? How many people? What are your priorities?
Thereโs really too little to go on, for anyone to reply/ advise you with any degree of โweightโโฆ
Hi Ken, thanks for ur reply. Apparently I based sg. Last time I redeemed UA before its devaluation.
I donโt have any destination in mind, because tomorrow is the last day to redeem the current chart. North America?
Sorry, Chris, Iโm tapping out cos Iโve no idea what youโre saying and it seems youโve also got the world map in front of you and just a throw of a dart would do..
TK has refused to check bags through to SQ at Heathrow
Not a huge deal as your connection in that direction is long/ overnight but it definitely isnโt 100% guaranteed that it can happen always
Hello.. Iโve tried to do that before but the airport charges for business from IST is pretty expensive (north of $400) when I tried to book using my KrisFlyer miles and called in. Am I the only one who see high airport charges?
Hi Aaron, what do you think is the best way to redeem a singapore to honolulu flights in business? I am mindful that from tokyo, ANA is the only option for *alliance and premium cabins on tokyo-hnl route is scarce. Thank you.
Be aware that star alliance carriers are not obliged to check your bags thru to the final destination on separate tickets.
Example: TK did not allow thru check-in when returning from Europe via Istanbul. I had to clear immigration and get my bags
oh how much I wish we could still fly to GRU via JNB and utilize this trick ๐