Every month, Singapore Airlines releases a list of discounted KrisFlyer Saver awards to select destinations called “Spontaneous Escapes“. These awards go at a 30% discount compared to their normal redemption prices.
KrisFlyer has just released its January 2019 spontaneous escapes list. These awards:
- Must be booked and ticketed by 31 December 2018 (waitlists that clear after 31 December 2018 will be charged the regular rate, regardless of when you waitlisted)
- Must be flown from 1-31 January 2018 or 1-28 February 2019 (for US destinations only)
Tickets issued under Spontaneous Escapes cannot be changed or cancelled, unlike regular award tickets which allow this for a fee. If you’re booking a Spontaneous Escapes award, be sure about your travel plans, or buy a travel insurance policy that covers miles bookings.
January’s Spontaneous Escapes List
Here are the destinations for January 2019’s Spontaneous Escapes promotion:
Again we see the return of discounted Premium Economy awards to the United States on Singapore Airlines’ non-stop flights to San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York (EWR). Discounted Business Class awards are also available for travel to Los Angeles on their non-stop flights as well. Flights to the United States booked during this month’s Spontaneous Escapes promotion are valid for travel in February 2019.
Be sure to note the various blackout periods which might apply to certain flights and/or city pairs.
What’s good this month?
The offerings for January’s Spontaneous Escapes are rather slim, with favourite holiday destinations such as Bangkok missing. Australia, New Zealand, and Europe are nowhere to be found in the list again.
If you wish to experience Singapore Airlines’ new cabin products for less with Spontaneous Escapes awards, there are opportunities to do so. Singapore Airlines is serving Ho Chi Minh on select days(SQ186) and Taipei daily(SQ876/SQ877) with their Boeing 787-10 aircraft which features the new regional Business Class seat. I’ve flown it to Bangkok and you can read my full review here. Also, here’s a ground tour of the aircraft from Aaron at the Boeing 787 PPS event.
If you have been wanting to try out Singapore Airlines’ new A380 Business Class product, you could snag yourself a Spontaneous Escapes award flight on SQ856/SQ861 to /from Hong Kong and SQ830/SQ833 to/from Shanghai. Aaron tried it out earlier in the year and he loved it. You can have a read of Aaron’s review of the new Singapore Airlines A380 Business Class seat here.
If you’re planning to head to the United States in February 2019, discounted Business Class award seats are available at Spontaneous Escapes rates exclusively to Los Angeles. The seat that is being used on the Airbus A350-900ULRs that ply the route is the same 2013 Business Class seats which can be found on the long-haul Airbus A350-900s and Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.
If you were thinking of snagging a discounted Premium Economy award to San Francisco, Los Angeles or New York (EWR), be sure to try and secure a solo seat at the back of the plane. These seats come with tons of storage and more importantly, no seatmate!
Personally, I would not recommend using your hard-earned miles on redeeming a Premium Economy class seat to the United States or to anywhere else. With fares hovering between S$1,500-S$1,700 on these non-stop flights to the United States, you might want to consider looking at purchasing revenue fares instead of using your miles.
Here’s the full list of destinations on offer:
Singapore Airlines
South East Asia
| FROM | MILES REQUIRED FOR ECONOMY CLASS | FLIGHT NO. | BLACKOUT PERIOD | MILES REQUIRED FOR BUSINESS CLASS | FLIGHT NO. | BLACKOUT PERIOD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singapore to Jakarta | – | – | – | 12,250 | SQ962 | – |
| Jakarta to Singapore | – | – | – | 12,250 | SQ955,SQ957 | – |
| Singapore to Surabaya | – | – | – | 12,250 | SQ930 | – |
| Surabaya to Singapore | – | – | – | 12,250 | SQ931 | – |
| Singapore to Hanoi | 8,750 | SQ176, SQ188 | – | 14,000 | SQ176, SQ188 | – |
| Hanoi to Singapore | 8,750 | SQ175, SQ187 | – | 14,000 | SQ175, SQ187 | – |
| Singapore to Ho Chi Minh | 8,750 | SQ184, SQ186 | – | 14,000 | SQ184, SQ186 | – |
| Ho Chi Minh to Singapore | 8,750 | SQ177, SQ183 | – | 14,000 | SQ177, SQ183 | – |
North Asia
| FROM | MILES REQUIRED FOR ECONOMY CLASS | FLIGHT NO. | BLACKOUT PERIOD | MILES REQUIRED FOR BUSINESS CLASS | FLIGHT NO. | BLACKOUT PERIOD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singapore to Guangzhou | 10,500 | SQ850 | – | 19,250 | SQ850 | – |
| Guangzhou to Singapore | 10,500 | SQ851 | 24 – 31 January 2019 | 19,250 | SQ851 | 24 – 31 January 2019 |
| Singapore to Hong Kong | – | – | – | 19,250 | SQ890, SQ860, SQ856, SQ866, SQ872, SQ868 | – |
| Hong Kong to Singapore | – | – | – | 19,250 | SQ857, SQ891, SQ863, SQ861, SQ865, SQ871 | SQ891/SQ863/SQ861: 1 – 2 January 2019 |
| Singapore to Taipei | 10,500 | SQ876, SQ878 | – | 19,250 | SQ876, SQ878 | SQ878: 1 – 2 January 2019 |
| Taipei to Singapore | 10,500 | SQ877, SQ879 | 1 – 6 & 30 – 31 January 2019 | 19,250 | SQ877, SQ879 | SQ877/SQ879: 1 – 2 January 2019 |
| Singapore to Beijing | 14,000 | SQ800, SQ802, SQ806 | 24 – 31 January 2019 | 24,500 | SQ800, SQ802, SQ806 | – |
| Beijing to Singapore | 14,000 | SQ801, SQ805, SQ807 | 16 – 31 January 2019 | 24,500 | SQ801, SQ805, SQ807 | 24 – 31 January 2019 |
| Singapore to Shanghai | 14,000 | SQ826, SQ828, SQ830, SQ836 | 26 – 31 January 2019 | 24,500 | SQ826, SQ828, SQ830, SQ836 | – |
| Shanghai to Singapore | 14,000 | SQ825, SQ827, SQ831, SQ833 | 23 – 31 January 2019 | 24,500 | SQ825, SQ827, SQ831, SQ833 | 24 – 31 January 2019 |
| Singapore to Nagoya | 17,500 | SQ672 | 2 – 7 January 2019 | – | – | – |
| Nagoya to Singapore | 17,500 | SQ671 | 2 – 7 January 2019 | – | – | – |
| Singapore to Seoul | – | – | – | 30,100 | SQ612 | – |
| Seoul to Singapore | – | – | – | 30,100 | SQ611 | – |
The Americas (February 2019)
| FROM | MILES REQUIRED FOR PREMIUM ECONOMY CLASS | FLIGHT NO. | BLACKOUT PERIOD | MILES REQUIRED FOR BUSINESS CLASS | FLIGHT NO. | BLACKOUT PERIOD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singapore to Los Angeles | 45,500 | SQ36, SQ38 | – | 61,600 | SQ36 | – |
| Los Angeles to Singapore | 45,500 | SQ35, SQ37 | – | 61,600 | SQ35 | – |
| Singapore to San Francisco | 45,500 | SQ34 | – | – | – | – |
| San Francisco to Singapore | 45,500 | SQ33 | – | – | – | – |
| Singapore to New York | 49,000 | SQ22 | – | – | – | – |
| New York to Singapore | 49,000 | SQ21 | – | – | – | – |
SilkAir
South East Asia
| FROM | MILES REQUIRED FOR ECONOMY CLASS | FLIGHT NO. | BLACKOUT PERIOD |
|---|---|---|---|
| Singapore to Lombok | 5,250 | MI124, MI128 | – |
| Lombok to Singapore | 5,250 | MI123, MI127 | – |
| Singapore to Makassar | 5,250 | MI142 | – |
| Makassar to Singapore | 5,250 | MI141, MI143 | – |
| Singapore to Hanoi | 8,750 | MI654 | – |
| Hanoi to Singapore | 8,750 | MI653 | – |
| Singapore to Luang Prabang | 8,750 | MI787 | – |
| Luang Prabang to Singapore | 8,750 | MI787 | – |
| Singapore to Phnom Penh | 8,750 | MI602, MI606, MI608 | – |
| Phnom Penh to Singapore | 8,750 | MI601, MI605, MI607 | – |
| Singapore to Vientiane | 8,750 | MI787 | – |
| Vientiane to Singapore | 8,750 | MI787 | – |
North Asia
| FROM | MILES REQUIRED FOR ECONOMY CLASS | FLIGHT NO. | BLACKOUT PERIOD |
|---|---|---|---|
| Singapore to Chengdu | 10,500 | MI936, MI938 | 23 – 31 January 2019 |
| Chengdu to Singapore | 10,500 | MI935, MI937 | 15 – 31 January 2019 |
| Singapore to Fuzhou | 10,500 | MI992, MI996 | 21 – 31 January 2019 |
| Fuzhou to Singapore | 10,500 | MI991, MI995 | 25 – 31 January 2019 |
| Singapore to Shenzhen | 10,500 | MI962, MI966 | – |
| Shenzhen to Singapore | 10,500 | MI961, MI965 | 18 – 31 January 2019 |
| Singapore to Xiamen | 10,500 | MI922 | 26 – 31 January 2019 |
| Xiamen to Singapore | 10,500 | MI921 | 19 – 31 January 2019 |
| Singapore to Hiroshima | 17,500 | MI868 | 2 – 7 January 2019 |
| Hiroshima to Singapore | 17,500 | MI867 | 2 – 7 January 2019 |
Concluding Thoughts
It’s a little worrying to see Premium Economy awards constantly being discounted for travel to the United States on their new non-stop flights and it has already been reported that Singapore Airlines is having trouble filling up these flights at the rear. After all, spending up to 18-hours in a metal tube isn’t exactly tantalizing.
Hopefully we will see a return of discounted awards to Australia, New Zealand as well as Europe in the next Spontaneous Escapes promotion.
Congrats to MileLion: first cab off the rank (I look at) with this month’s Spontaneous Escapes. INTERESTING OPTION to get to Hong Kong Y class, and be so grateful for the ML community’s comments. Seems a good workaround, but? SQ itself doesn’t offer economy level redemptions Singapore-Hong Kong BUT Silk Air does, to Shenzen. Rome2Rio states that’s just a 15 min train ride to Hong Kong. I understand, as an Aussie, I don’t need a visa if I’m in transit for under 24 hours; would ‘scoot’ up Queensland-Singapore. I so want to get back to beloved Singapore again and also… Read more »
Yeah that’s one option I suppose! But with SIN – HKG in J on offer, it’s still quite good value you’ll be getting when you redeem a Spontaneous Escape award.
Do note that Shenzhen airport is quite a long way to the city centre. It is 1hr30 min by metro from the airport to the border MTR station in Luohu/Lo Wu. From there, it’s another 1 hour 15 min on the MTR to central Kowloon. To rub salt into the wound, the route is operated by Silkair. Conclusion: totally not worth it in my opinion, just pay the extra to fly straight into HK if that’s where you actually want to go.
Izzit value for mile to redeem the Nagoya economy at 30% off? Realise sq doesn’t offer biz to Nagoya that often.
If you are already planning to head to Nagoya anyway, sure why not! I believe cash fares would be ridiculously high if you book for travel within the month?
Thks. Did not plan as was waiting to try my luck to see if there is anything interesting this month as I have leaves to clear. “Spontaneous” right? The other locations not too interesting or suitable for winter. Cash fare is about 700-900 not that bad also. i suppose becoz Nagoya is not exactly a popular tourist destination.
Food for thought everyone.
Does it make a regular saver redemption more worth it (88,000 miles one-way SIN-LAX) compared to Spontaneous escape because you can add a stop over (SIN-NRT)? Vice Versa (88,000 miles one-way LAX-SIN, with a stop over NRT-SIN).
The T&C for spontaneous escape does not allow one to add stopover albeit lower miles requirements.
Hi robin350.. it’s kinda depends on whether one is looking at doing a stopover, or not, no..?
One could say that a JFK>sin>LHR (with sin being the USD100 stopover) would make the most “worth it” redemption.. but that doesn’t mean that there’s a queue of people wanting/needing to do so.. in other words, comparing “spontaneous escapes” to “stopovers tricks” aren’t really an apple-to-apple comparison..
Merry Christmas.. ?
I believe last month’s spontaneous escapes was released shortly after February 15 (GMT +8). Wondering if anyone has a clue when the deals for March will be released?