I’ve flown Singapore Airlines’ premium economy class a couple times now, and despite a rather mixed experience recently, still think it’s a solid hard product.
The problem has always been price: for the amount you pay for Singapore Airlines premium economy, you could get a discounted business class ticket on certain “tier 2” carriers. This, coupled with the fact that premium economy redemptions cost ~80% of the miles required for business class, means I find it hard to justify the premium (in cash or miles) for what’s at the end of the day a slightly better economy class seat.
Well, the good news is that from now to 19 September, SQ is offering special premium economy fares on their A350 ULR non-stop flights to LAX and EWR.
S$1328 and S$1428 are some of the lowest fares I’ve ever seen for premium economy to the USA. For comparison’s sake, here’s how much SQ economy class tickets cost for SIN-ICN-LAX
And SIN-FRA-JFK.
And here’s how much other carriers are asking for premium economy round trip tickets to LAX.
The outbound leg to LAX must start no later than 15 November and you must return to Singapore by 15 December. The outbound leg to EWR must start no later than 8 November, and you must return to Singapore by 8 December. Fares cannot be refunded, but can be changed with the payment of a penalty fee.
You’ll need to book yourself on the ultra-long haul flights (i.e. SQ21/22 for EWR, SQ35/36/37/38 for LAX) in order to get the discount.
On the A350 ULR, premium economy is configured in a 2-4-2 configuration, although you have some single seats in rows 40 and 41. Remember that the A350 ULR only has premium economy and business class cabins- there’s no first or economy class on these aircraft.
Sadly, these fares are part of the Premium Economy Lite bucket and cannot be upgraded to Business Class. They do earn 100% mileage accrual, so a round trip to EWR would yield 19,068 miles.
Conclusion
If you’re heading to the States during this period, I’d definitely consider giving premium economy a try. It’s not a lie-flat seat, but at these prices it’s hard to complain. I’m eagerly awaiting my first ever inaugural flight to EWR on SQ 22 that’s happening on the 11th of October, and will do up a detailed trip report on the world’s longest flight!
Bagged myself the LAX flight for just over 6cpm. I can’t imagine paying that much more for PY, to be honest, so it was a steal, considering that the same route costs around 10cpm or more on average.
Can use krisflyer miles to redeem too.
NY for 40k miles and LA/SF for 38K Miles for PY. LA/SF business available at 65K miles.
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