SIA devalues Alaska Airlines, Virgin Australia, Vistara and other partner awards

From 1 August, awards on Alaska, Juneyao, Virgin Australia, Virgin Atlantic and Vistara will require 8-18% more KrisFlyer miles.

Following devaluations to the Singapore Airlines and Star Alliance award charts, KrisFlyer has now unveiled its revised award charts for other partner airlines, which come into effect from 1 August 2022.ย 

The price increases for partner awards range from 8-18%, which is more or less in line with increases elsewhere in the KrisFlyer programme. In absolute terms, increases can be as mild as 1,000 more miles each way, so I wouldn’t call this a gutting by any means.ย ย 

โœˆ๏ธ At a Glance: Partner Award Devaluation
ย  Economy Premium Economy Business / First
Alaska Air +11-13% N/A +13-15%
Juneyao Air +8-16% N/A +12-16%
Virgin Atlantic +17-18% +18% +17-18%
Virgin Australia +8-10% +9-12% +10-13%
Vistara +9-13% +8-10% +10-11%
โœˆ๏ธ KrisFlyer 2022 Devaluation
๐Ÿ”บ Award Price Increases
  • All awards ticketed from 5 July 2022 will follow new prices
  • Any date changes to an existing award ticket made from 5 July 2022 will not trigger the new prices
  • Saver awards on Singapore Airlines increase by 8-16%
  • Advantage awards on Singapore Airlines unchanged, except travel from Singapore to Zones 10-13 (Africa, Middle East, Turkey, Europe, USA, Canada) which increase by 2-15%
  • Upgrade awards increase by 4-5%
  • Star Alliance partner awards increase by 8-16%
  • RTW awards increase by 11-17%
  • Partner awards increase by 8-18%
๐Ÿ‘Ž Changes to Stopover Policy
  • No option to add paid stopovers from 1 August 2022
  • Complimentary stopovers capped at 30 days from 1 August 2022
  • You can still make date changes to existing tickets with stopovers >30 days
๐Ÿ“š Further Reading

Who are Singapore Airlines’ other partner airlines?

In addition to its 25 Star Alliance partners, Singapore Airlines offers award redemptions on the following carriers:

ย  Until 31 Jul 22 From 1 Aug 22
Alaska Airlines Link Link
Juneyao Airlines* Link Link
Virgin Atlantic Link Link
Virgin Australia Link Link
Vistara Link Link
*Juneyao Airlines is a Star Alliance connecting partner, but does not follow the Star Alliance award chart

Partner awards follow similar rules to Star Alliance awards, namely:

  • US$50 fee for change of date, route, flight or carrier
  • US$75 fee for cancellations
  • Fuel surcharges are passed on where applicable
  • Partially-used tickets cannot be changed

Do take note of the last point in particular. If you redeem a round-trip Alaska Airlines award, for example, you cannot make anyย changes to the return leg once the outbound leg has been flown!

Since partially-used partner award tickets cannot be changed, it’s almost always a better idea to redeem 2x one-way awards as opposed to a single round-trip.ย 

In theory, all partner awards are bookable online, under the “other partner airlines” tab.ย 

Searching for Virgin Australia awards online

In practice, only Virgin Australia and Vistara awards can be searched and booked online. For all the others, you’ll need to call up KrisFlyer membership services for assistance.

Partner award changes

Alaska Airlines (Until 31 July 2022)

Click to enlarge

Alaska Airlines (From 1 August 2022)

Click to enlarge

Zone definitions

Click to enlarge

Analysis

Snapshot: Travel from Zone 1
To Economy First
Zone 1 +13% +14%
Zone 2 +13% +15%
Zone 3 +11% +13%
Zone 4 +13% +13%
Zone 5 +13% +13%

For Alaska Air:

  • One-way Economy Class awards are increasing by 11-13%, or 1,000-1,500 miles in absolute terms
  • One-way First Class awards are increasing by 13-15%, or 2,500-6,000 miles in absolute terms

With one-way Economy Class awards ranging from 8,500 to 13,500 miles, Alaska Airlines awards are still superior to redeeming United Airlines awards via the Star Alliance chart (a flat 14,000 miles within North America, excluding Hawaii).

ย  Alaska Star Alliance (United)
SEA to LAX 8,500 14,000
SEA to IAH 10,500 14,000
SFO to MCO 13,500 14,000

Do note that Alaska Air is not part of Star Alliance, so KrisFlyer Elite Gold and PPS Club members will not enjoy a free checked bag or lounge access on Alaska Air flights. Therefore, depending on the route, it may sometimes be worth coughing up an extra 500 miles to fly United.

Juneyao Airlines (Until 31 July 2022)

Click to enlarge

Juneyao Airlines (From 1 August 2022)

Click to enlarge

Zone definitions

Analysis

Snapshot: Travel from North Asia 1
To Economy Business
North Asia 1 +16% +15%
North Asia 2 +8% +12%
Southeast Asia +16% +16%
Europe +10% +13%

For Juneyao Air:

  • One-way Economy Class awards are increasing by 8-16%, or 1,000-5,000 miles in absolute terms
  • One-way Business Class awards are increasing by 12-16%, or 3,000-14,000 miles in absolute terms

What’s curious is that awards between North Asia 1 and North Asia 2 (13,500 miles) are now cheaper than an intra-North Asia 1 (14,500 miles) award.ย Assuming this isn’t a typo, it means that an Osaka to Macau itinerary (which transits in Shanghai) would be cheaper than a Osaka to Shanghai itinerary!ย 

Award costs on Juneyao Air for travel within China are roughly on par with Air China, so it’d boil down to whichever has more availability and lower surcharges.ย 

ย  Juneyao Airlines Star Alliance (Air China)
PEK to PVG 14,500 13,500
KIX to HKG 13,500 13,500

Virgin Atlantic (Until 31 July 2022)

Click to enlarge

Virgin Atlantic (From 1 August 2022)

Click to enlarge

Zone definitions

Analysis

There’s not much point in discussing Virgin Atlantic, because I’ve yet to hear of someone successfully redeeming a Virgin Atlantic award through KrisFlyer before. While award space may appear on partners like Delta, KrisFlyer agents simply cannot see or book it.ย 

This makes the entire exercise academic, other than to note that KrisFlyer has eliminated the companion awards chart for Virgin Atlantic.ย 

Virgin Australia (Until 31 July 2022)

Click to enlarge

Virgin Australia (From 1 August 2022)

Click to enlarge

Zone definitions

Click to enlarge

Analysis

Snapshot: Travel from Australia 1
To Economy Premium Economy Business
Australia 1 +9% +12%
Australia 2 +8% +11%
Australia 3 +8% +10%
New Zealand +8% +10% +10%
PNG & Pacific Islands +8% +10% +10%
Asia +8% +10%
North America +10% +12% +13%

For Virgin Australia:

  • One-way Economy Class awards are increasing by 8-10%, or 1,000-8,000 miles in absolute terms
  • One-way Premium Economy Class awards are increasing by 9-12%, or 2,500-11,500 miles in absolute terms
  • One-way Business Class awards are increasing by 10-13%, or 2,500-22,500 miles in absolute terms

Virgin Australia Economy Class awards for travel within Australia will range from 12,000 to 21,500 miles each way, only marginally more expensive than the current 11,000 to 20,000 miles.

It’s still a good option for domestic Australia travel, especially since Star Alliance doesn’t have a partner within Australia at the moment. However, if you have British Airways Avios, then you could redeem award tickets on Qantas for far fewer miles.

ย  Virgin Australia Qantas (via BAEC)
SYD to MEL 12,000 6,000
BNE to SYD 12,000 6,000
PER to MEL 21,500 11,000ย 

Similarly, if you’re looking to travel between Australia and New Zealand, Virgin Australia would charge 19,500 to 30,500 miles each way for Economy Class, so you’d be better looking for a Star Alliance award on Air New Zealand which would price at a flat 13,500 miles.ย 

ย  Virgin Australia Star Alliance (Air NZ)
SYD to AKL 19,500 13,500
PER to AKL 30,500 13,500

Vistara (Until 31 July 2022)

Click to enlarge

Vistara (From 1 August 2022)

Click to enlarge

Zone definitions

Click to enlarge

Analysis

Snapshot: Travel from India 1
To Economy Premium Economy Business
India 1 +13% +10% +10%
India 2 +12% +8% +11%
India 3 +10% +10% +11%
India 4 +9% +9% +11%
India 5 +13% +10% +10%

For Vistara:

  • One-way Economy Class awards are increasing by 9-13%, or 1,000 miles in absolute terms
  • One-way Premium Economy Class awards are increasing by 8-10%, or 1,000-1,500 miles in absolute terms
  • One-way Business Class awards are increasing by 10-11%, or 2,000-3,500 miles in absolute terms

Vistara Economy Class awards for travel within India will range from 8,500 to 12,000 miles each way, only 1,000 more than the current 7,500 to 11,000 miles.ย 

This makes it cheaper than flying with Air India, which costs 13,500 miles each way via the Star Alliance award chart.ย 

ย  Vistara Star Alliance (Air India)*
BOM to DEL 9,500 13,500
BLR to DEL 12,000 13,500
BOM to BLR 8,500 13,500
*Air India prices have not been adjusted for costs of trauma and therapy

Having experienced Air India, I cannot urge you enough to pick Vistara instead, both for the sake of your miles balance and mental wellbeing.ย 

While Vistara now offers international flights to London and Dubai, the award chart does not cover such options.ย 

Conclusion

Singapore Airlines will hike the costs of redemptions on non-Star Alliance partner airlines from 1 August 2022.

These increases are in line with those we’ve seen elsewhere in the KrisFlyer programme, and can be as mild as 1,000 more miles each way. It’s a very reasonable adjustment, though the bigger question is whether partner award charts have much value to begin with. I’d argue that Alaska and Vistara’s certainly do, but you’d be better off relying on British Airways Executive Club for redemptions within Australia.ย 

Oh, and if you ever find Virgin Atlantic award space through KrisFlyer, do yourself a favour and buy a 4D ticket the same day.ย 

Aaron Wong
Aaron Wong
Aaron founded The Milelion to help people travel better for less and impress chiobu. He was 50% successful.

Similar Articles

Comments

5 COMMENTS

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

5 Comments
Oldest
Newest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Aaron noob

Probably because of your stupid doings

Jack

Is there a purpose for this comment…

murrayf

singapore mile have become trash in the past few years. They are getting like qantas miles. you collect them because you live there. So many better programmes out there JAL, ANA, even AA for non USA travel. Heck even BA is better on intra Asia travel in general.

Bill

As much as i love SQ, gotta admit this is true!
I have burned most of my KF stash before deval. And to find out some of my suites are downgraded past few days!
Some SQ close minded supporters are still living in the bubble LOL.
Get real guys… Open to other FFS. This is the rules of miles game :p

James

Which other frequent flyer program do you recommend?