As you probably know by now, Singapore Airlines will devalue the KrisFlyer programme from 5 July 2022, with Saver award prices increasing by 8-16% across the board. Upgrades, Star Alliance and other partner airline awards will also increase in price by 5-16%.ย
| โ๏ธ KrisFlyer 2022 Devaluation |
| ๐บ Award Price Increases |
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| ๐ Changes to Stopover Policy |
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| ๐ Further Reading |
But there’s an additional factor at play here. From 1 August 2022, the stopover policy will be tightened such that:
- Paid stopovers can no longer be added to award tickets
- Complimentary stopovers on award tickets will be capped at 30 days
This basically kills off the US$100 Stopover Trick, but also raises questions as to how existing Stopover Trick tickets will be treated.ย
The short answer is:ย so long as your ticket is issued before 1 August 2022, you can make any change that does not require a reissuance and still keep your >30 day stopover.ย And if you issue your ticket before 5 July 2022, you’ll be able to keep the current award pricing as well.ย
| Changes to Award Tickets | |
| No Reissuance Required | Reissuance Required |
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The long answer can be found below.ย
What happens to stopovers from 1 August?ย
The stopover trick will be nerfed from 1 August 2022, but stopovers on award tickets will continue to exist.
What will cease to exist is the option to add additional paid stopovers to an award ticket for US$100 each. In other words, whatever complimentary stopovers come with an award ticket are all the stopovers you get.
| Type | Award | Free Stopovers |
| One Way | Saver | 0 |
| One Way | Advantage | 1 |
| Round Trip | Saver | 1 |
| Round Trip | Advantage | 2 |
One-way Saver awards do not come with any complimentary stopover, so that’s the end of the story. You will no longer be able to pay US$100 to add a stopover.ย
One-way Advantage awards come with one complimentary stopover, so I could book an itinerary like BKK-SIN-LHR and add a stopover in Singapore, thereby saving on the miles required to book BKK-SIN and SIN-LHR separately.
But the value proposition is nerfed, because:
- I need to pay the more expensive Advantage prices
- The free stopover is a maximum of 30 days, which means I need to be able to travel twice in quick succession
Because of this, the stopover trick is basically dead, for all intents and purposes.ย
How will existing tickets with stopovers be treated?
What does this policy change mean for existing Stopover Trick tickets?
We’ll get to that in a bit, but first, let’s think about time periods. With the KrisFlyer devaluation and stopover policy change taking place on two different dates, there are three different periods to note.
Period 1: Till 4 July
- All award prices follow existing award chart
- Paid stopovers can be added to awards for US$100 each, and be up to one year
- All complimentary stopovers can be up to one year
Period 2: From 5 July to 31 July
- All award prices follow new award chart
- Paid stopovers can be added to awards for US$100 each, and be up to one year
- All complimentary stopovers can be up to one year
Period 3: From 1 August onwards
- All award prices follow new award chart
- Paid stopovers can no longer be added to any award
- All complimentary stopovers have a limit of 30 days
From now till 4 July, we’ll be in Period 1 (status quo). You can book one-way Saver awards at existing prices, and add paid stopovers of up to one year for US$100.
From 5-31 July, we’ll be inย Period 2 (post-devaluation). You can book one-way Saver awards at new (increased) prices, and add paid stopovers of up to one year for US$100
From 1 August onwards, we’ll be in Period 3 (post-devaluation, post-stopover trick). You can book one-way Saver awards at new (increased) prices, but cannot add paid stopovers (because paid stopovers no longer exist).
Worked example #1
Let’s consider the example of John, whoย books the following award ticket:
- Date of booking: 10 June 2022
- One-way Business Saver
- BKK-SIN-SYD
- BKK-SIN on 20 August 2022
- SIN-SYD on 20 December 2022
This costs 62,000 miles + a US$100 stopover fee, and features a 122 day stopover in Singapore.
Period 1: Till 4 July
John can make changes to his itinerary as per normal.
He will also be exempt from any change fees, because of the unlimited complimentary changes offered under Singapore Airlines complimentary rebooking policy until 31 July 2022.ย
Period 2: From 5 July to 31 July
On 7 July 2022, John decides to change the date of his SIN-SYD leg from 20 December 2022 to 18 December 2022.
The KrisFlyer devaluation has now come into effect, but since he ticketed his award prior to 5 July 2022 and a date change does not require a reissuance, no top-up of miles is required.
He will also be exempt from any change fees, because of the unlimited complimentary changes offered under Singapore Airlines complimentary rebooking policy until 31 July 2022.ย
Period 3: From 1 August onwards
John flies his BKK-SIN leg as planned on 20 August 2022.
On 30 August 2022, he decides he wants to change the date of his SIN-SYD leg from 18 December 2022 to 24 December 2022.
Again, since he ticketed his award prior to 5 July 2022ย and a date change does not require a reissuance,ย no top-up of miles is required.
He will also be exempt from any change fees, because he enjoys one complimentary change under Singapore Airlines complimentary rebooking policy after 31 July 2022.ย
What about his stopover? He’s in Singapore from 20 August to 24 December, which is 126 days. That’s above the 30-day cap now in effect, but since his ticket was issued prior to 1 August 2022, the cap does not apply to him.
To put it simply, John’s one-way Saver stopover trick ticket, booked before 5 July 2022, is immune to the new pricing and new stopover policy- so long as he’s only making date changes.ย
The only things that John can’t do is:
- Book a newย ticket after 1 August 2022 and pay US$100 to add a stopover
- Book a newย ticket after 1 August 2022 and schedule a complimentary stopover of >30 days
- Change the routing of his BKK-SIN-SYD ticket after 1 August 2022, because a routing change requires reissuance, and stopovers for new tickets cannot be >30 days
Worked example #2
Let’s look at a different scenario for John, who as a reminder, booked the following award ticket:
- Date of booking: 10 June 2022
- One-way Business Saver
- BKK-SIN-SYD
- BKK-SIN on 20 August 2022
- SIN-SYD on 20 December 2022
This costs 62,000 miles + a US$100 stopover fee, and features a 122 day stopover in Singapore.
Period 1: Till 4 July
John can make changes to his itinerary as per normal.
He will also be exempt from any change fees, because of the unlimited complimentary changes offered under Singapore Airlines complimentary rebooking policy until 31 July 2022.ย
Period 2: From 5 July to 31 July
On 7 July 2022, John decides to that instead of Sydney, he wants to visit Melbourne on his second leg.
This rerouting counts as a reissuance, and since the KrisFlyer devaluation has now come into effect, he needs to top-up the difference. BKK-SIN-MEL costs 68,500 miles, and since he’s already paid 62,000 miles, a 6,500 miles top-up is required.ย
John also decides to change the date of the second leg to 18 December 2022.ย That means his stopover is now 120 days, which is completely fine since it’s not yet 1 August 2022.ย
Once again, he is exempt from any change fees, because of the unlimited complimentary changes under Singapore Airlines complimentary rebooking policy until 31 July 2022.ย
Period 3: From 1 August onwards
John flies his BKK-SIN leg as planned on 20 August 2022.
On 30 August 2022, he decides he wants to change the date of his SIN-MEL leg from 18 December 2022 to 24 December 2022.
| โ What if he wants to change the destination? |
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Once John has flown BKK-SIN, he cannot change the second leg to a different destination. That’s due to the rule that partially-flown tickets cannot be reissued. At most, he can change the date. This isn’t a new rule, by the way- it’s existed way before any of this happened.ย |
Even though the 30-day cap is in now effect, this only applies to new tickets. His existing ticket, issued before 1 August 2022, is not affected.
He will also be exempt from any change fees, because he enjoys one complimentary change under Singapore Airlines complimentary rebooking policy after 31 July 2022.ย
Put it another way…
Here’s another way of thinking about this: the rules and pricing that apply to your ticket are the rules and pricing that existed at the time your ticket was issued.
If you issue your ticket till 4ย July 2022, you’ll be subject to the current award chart, and the current rules on stopovers.ย
If you issue your ticket from 5-31 July 2022, you’ll be subject to the new award chart, and the current rules on stopovers.
If you issue your ticket from 1 August 2022, you’ll be subject to the new award chart, and the new rules on stopovers.ย
That’s provided you’re changing the date or flight number, which does not involve a reissuance. If you need to reissue the ticket, all bets are off, and you’ll be subject to the prevailing award chart and rules on stopovers as they exist at the time.
Conclusion
The Stopover Trick will be nerfed from 1 August 2022, but anyone who tickets before this date can continue to enjoy paid stopovers of up to one year. Obviously, the ideal scenario will be to ticket before 5 July 2022, so you can enjoy the current award prices as well.
If you’re unfamiliar with the mechanics of booking award tickets with stopovers, refer to the guide below.ย
you might want to refer back to the original post on june 7. an update has been posted.
I am facing this issue now! Tickets issued before 5 Jul, but when I make a change on 10 Jul, 2 things happened:
(i) for round-trip tickets, no top-up required
(ii) for trips with stopover in SG, they are forcing me to make a top-up of miles + fees
Still calling them to clarify what is happening, and (ii) surely should see the same treatment as (i)?
I have the same experience – being told that I need to add miles and fees despite pointing them to the FAQ and KF T/C section I.22.c-d. I got an answer ‘system does not allows me to do this change without a fee’
I have the same problem. Did you manage to add stopover without paying additional miles?
Thanks Aaron for the clear details!
one question : If John booked a Biz Saver SIN-SYD before July2022, when he changes the date after July2022, he is not subjected to new fare ruling, but what if the date he chooses does not have the same fare award (Biz Saver) but only Biz Adv., he need to top up the miles according to new or old fare, or even not allow to change to different award class at all?
Thanks
I’m assuming that saver space is available throughout (what a utopia that would be!). If not it counts as a reissuance to change to advantage.
Scenario would be a changein award type from Saver to Advantage and thus trigger a reissuance and therefore new pricing.
If John flies BKK-SIN on 20th August 2022 as per your example, can he then reschedule the SIN-SYD 355 or 365 days later to say 1st August 2023?
once the first leg has been flown, the second leg can be moved up to 1 year from the date of the first leg. at least that’s the rule right now, i see no reason why that will change
Do you know how long a ticket lasts if I issue them today for a flight in the future? Is it 1 year from today’s date or 1 year from the date of first flight?
ticket is initially valid for 1 year. after flying the first leg of stopover trick, date of 2nd leg can be shifted up to 1 year from date of first leg.
WIll this mean that upon issuing the ticket, the first leg can still be shifted up to a year from the issuance date. Which means as long as I fly the first leg within a year, the second leg can be about 2 years from the issuance date?
Sorry, havent finish my previous query, will the validity of a year start from ticket issuance date or the date of first flight?
Thanks Aaron for digging this information for us! I just want to be sure on this.. I have a MLE-SIN saver redemption on 6th April 2023..Iโm going to call in to add SIN-ZRH using $100 stopover on any available dates with saver rates..for now it will be May 2023.. My question is..if all this is done by 4th July..I can change SIN-ZRH to Sept 2023 which is the intended travel(I only have to wait until Oct 2022 when it will be available for booking).. And I can do this SIN-ZRH date change at anytime without any incurring any extra miles… Read more »
Thanks Aaron, for the great effort and clear explanation.
Dreadful airline, dreadful rewards program.
As a consumer you have plenty of other choices. You are always free to walk away from products you find dreadful.
Hi Aaron,
Thanks for the research and clear, detailed explanation.
Assuming the “where” can be decided now, do you know how far ahead can we book a stopover flight by 4th July?
For example, is it possible to book a Jun-23 trip in Jul-22, then pay to change it to May-24 in Jun-23, and pay again to change it to Apr-25 in May-24?
I have a remnant of a F redemption ticket unconsumed to region 1. Sounds like I should call to try to get the ticket reissued under covid rebooking policy, to push validity out to next June.
Hi Aaron, do you have the name of CSO that gave you this information? I went down to ION and was told (by CSO Joshua Lee) a different info (twice). I recently redeemed AUCK-JFK and have added 2 stopovers at SIN & FRA. We intend to shift the date of FRA-JFK leg when 2024 schedule released. Joshua said that shifting the date will require me to top-up additional mileage (following the new mileage chart). Two contradicting info here; not sure which is right. If you have the name of your CSO, perhaps we can get them to cross-check among themselves(?)… Read more »
Hi Ronald,
may I ask if you are able to add stopover without paying additional miles? I am facing the similar situation.
Hi Aaron,
Do you know what would happen after 1 August if you have a one way Saver redemption ticketed with a stopover that is less than 30 days, then try to change the 2nd leg such that it would be more than 30 days? Not sure whether it would be permitted, or if you must have the more than 30 day stopover already ticketed by 31 July in order to preserve the long stopover
Hi Aaron,
Wondering do you know what’s happening? Trying to book an Advantage ticket from Auckland to Singapore in Jun 2023 and putting a stopover in Melbourne, but somehow that stopover option does not appear. Am I right to say that still can do stopover (within 30 days) for Advantage ticket?
Thanks.
I am trying to change my flight date for the 2nd part of my flight after adding paid stop over. I booked before 4th July and even though they allow me to add US$100 paid stopover, they claim date changes for the 2nd leg will incur new additional miles charges (10% more etc) based on new miles.
Any idea?
Off topic but one stupid new policy that is worth reporting on is that SQ no longer entertains redemption confirmation chaser requests. I know in most circumstances that is probably a nuisance SQ doesn’t want to deal with but there are certain exceptions, e.g. I made a bunch of different waitlisted redemption bookings but need to make additional commercial bookings on the actual date I intend to fly. To me it seems in SQ’s interest to at least have a look at the various redemptions and make a decision on whether it’s a reasonable gamble to confirm one of the… Read more »
spoiler alert: changes are only permitted within 1yr of ticket issuance, this means that if any flight is beyond 1yr when ticket was ticket issued (counter not start from date of first flight), you will be subjected to the new rules and award rates. this is apparently existing policy.
Anyone had a different outcome ?
Recently I wanna changed my award ticket issued before 4, Jul 2022, and customer service agent keeps to claim that I cannot change stopover date more than 30 days. Supposed it should be applied same award rules while issued date but seems SQ doesnโt wanna admit it.