As I wrote about a few days ago, Singapore Airlines is slowly starting to release saver business class award seats on aircraft equipped with their new product. We’re seeing them release a considerable amount of business class space on most of their routes out of the US last minute, though I can’t say I see all that many seats when looking far out.

I suspect this trend is part of a larger Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer program change as of March 8 for travel after April 1, whereby they’ve started releasing saver business and first class award space on flights equipped with their new products, which could previously only be redeemed for at the standard level (requiring double as many miles as a saver ticket).

So I’ve decided to do a bit of research about just how much first class award space Singapore Airlines is releasing for travel after April 1, and not only is availability excellent (even for two passengers in many instances), but the redemption prices are incredibly reasonable. Keep in mind that that you can transfer American Express Membership Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest points at a 1:1 ratio to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer.

To search Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer award availability you first need to sign up for a KrisFlyer account (notice just how many options they give you for a title, which always cracks me up). Once you have an account you can search for award availability on the home page by doing a flight search and ticking the “KrisFlyer Redemptions” box at the top left of the search page.

Once that’s complete knock yourself out and look at the great deals that can be had. Keep in mind that Singapore Airlines offers a 15% discount for award tickets booked online, so when you do the search, the first page will display the original price, while the purchase page will display the discounted price.

The surprising thing is that there are some truly great deals with the new award chart.

For example, San Francisco to Hong Kong is readily available.

And the total cost per person roundtrip in first class is 140,250 miles plus $339.30 in taxes and fuel surcharges.

San Francisco to Seoul is also readily available in first class.

The total cost per person roundtrip in first class is 148,750 miles plus $510.40 in taxes and fuel surcharges. It’s not quite as good of a deal as San Francisco to Hong Kong given that this flight is shorter yet costs more miles and has higher fuel surcharges.

But my favorite new first class redemption option of all has to be Singapore Airlines first class between Houston and Moscow. I’ve always wanted to visit Moscow, and flying Singapore Airlines there seems like the most comfortably way.

The total roundtrip cost is only 114,750 miles plus $434.50 in taxes and fuel surcharges.

It’s worth noting that all of the above redemptions are also available as one-ways. So for example if you wanted to fly first class one-way to Moscow, you’d pay only ~57,000 miles plus ~$200.

Now, you may notice that I’ve been speaking specifically about KrisFlyer redemptions. The hope was that when Singapore Airlines opened up saver first class award inventory, they’d open it up to Star Alliance partners as well (meaning you could book it with United Mileage Plus miles, US Airways Dividend Miles, Aeroplan miles, etc.). So far there are no signs of that for first class. That being said, I’d speculate that they’ll be opening up the first class award space to Star Alliance partners close to departure, though not more than a week or so out. Though to a large extent I really don’t care, since I consider transfers to KrisFlyer to now be one of the best new uses of Membership Rewards points. My next redemption with Membership Rewards points is going to be either a pair of first class tickets between San Francisco and Hong Kong or between Houston and Moscow.

And with this change, Singapore Airlines goes from offering one of the most unattainable first class products on an award ticket to being right in the middle of the pack…

Anyone else planning on redeeming their Membership Rewards points for Singapore Airlines first class?

A few weeks ago I wrote about Singapore Airlines’ policy change, whereby they would start releasing saver award space to their KrisFlyer members for travel in their new first and business class products.

The history on that is that over five years ago Singapore Airlines launched a new first and business class product, which at the time was quite good. Therefore to “protect” the cabins and make them exclusive, they made the decision to not release saver award space on those flights in first and business class. This applied to their own KrisFlyer frequent flyer members, and therefore the same also applied to those trying to redeem miles with their partner airlines for travel on Singapore.

At first I could understand how they justified such a policy, though over the years their business class product was no longer “cutting edge” as the competition caught up, not to mention virtually all of their longhaul routes are now operated by the new business and first class products. Therefore the value of their frequent flyer program decreased quite a bit, since it became impossible to redeem miles for travel on Singapore at the “saver” level.

Last month they announced they would be changing this policy, and as of March they’d start releasing saver award space in business and first class for travel starting in April. Now, it’s worth clarifying that they only announced this as it concerns KrisFlyer members. This means it’s no guarantee that Air Canada, United, and US Airways flyers, for example, would have access to the same space, since Singapore is known for having different award inventory for those using KrisFlyer miles and those using miles from other airlines. So I’m not quite jumping into the “everyone’s going to be flying Singapore Airlines first class using US Airways miles” bandwagon just yet.

That being said, while the new policy isn’t supposed to kick in till next week (March we’re already seeing promising signs relating to this change.

Singapore has now started readily releasing business class award space to their alliance partners for a majority of their flights to the US, all of which are operated by their new business class product. This includes their all business class services from Newark and Los Angeles to Singapore, which are operated by Airbus A340-500s featuring only 100 business class seats. Newark to Singapore is the longest flight in the world, while Los Angeles to Singapore is the second longest flight in the world, both clocking in at over 18 hours.

Anyway, while they’re only releasing award space last minute for these routes as of now, this is really exciting news, since I suspect there’s more where this came from. After all, they’re already releasing space for travel in March, which isn’t even part of the program change which is only supposed to kick in for travel starting April 1.

Business class award space on the world’s longest flight

As much as I’m all for flying first class whenever possible instead of “roughing it” in business class, I’m incredibly tempted by the world’s longest flight…

If you’re interested in reading a trip report about Singapore’s new business class, here’s one I wrote about my flight from Los Angeles to Tokyo to Singapore last year.

Check out my weekly column over at TravelSort.com. This week I share my thoughts on Singapore’s new award chart, and the possible implications for those with Star Alliance miles.

Boy, do the US airlines have a thing or two to learn…

I wonder what feedback the instructor would have for this meal that I was served:

While this is likely insignificant to anyone that doesn’t spend hours a day searching for award availability on continental.com, it’s worth noting that the website now displays award space for travel on Singapore and Air China, which it previously didn’t.

In case you hadn’t noticed they were missing, I don’t really blame you. Singapore hardly ever releases award space aside from intra-Asia flights, and it’s not like most people would want to redeem their miles on Air China, so…

Now if only they would display Swiss award space.

Trip Report Index

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At the security checkpoint the line was actually substantially longer for first and business class than for coach, so we got in the coach line. Security took about 20 minutes and also a bit of arguing with the agent over answering silly questions, though we were through about 10 minutes before boarding was supposed to begin.

Past security terminal 4 is an absolute dump, since all the shops, lounges, and dining options are before security.

Gate area

Despite the crappy terminal there’s just something exciting to me about the anticipation of getting on a Singapore Airlines flight. I don’t know what it is, but there just aren’t very many airlines that I look forward to flying as much as Singapore. Tonight it wasn’t necessarily for good reason, though.

30 minutes before departure boarding was announced at gate A7, starting with first and business class. There were TSA agents on the jet bridge doing security checks, though by avoiding eye contact with them I wasn’t selected.

Plane

Singapore Airlines 25
New York (JFK) – Frankfurt (FRA)
Tuesday, July 26
Depart: 9:25PM
Arrive: 11:15AM (+1 day)
Duration: 7hr50min
Aircraft: Boeing 747
Seat: 3C (First Class)

Boarding was through door 2L, and as soon as I showed the agent my boarding pass she directed me to my seat, 3C.

Seats 3C & 3D

Seat 3C

View from row three

View of seat 4A

View looking right

As soon as I stowed my bag the crew commenced the usual Singapore Airlines “performance.” First the leading stewardess and leading steward introduced themselves, and offered us pre-departure beverages. I asked for a glass of Krug, though was informed they were only serving Dom pre-departure. I reluctantly accepted. Oh, the horror.

Pre-departure Dom

I was then offered a hot towel along with pajamas, amenity kits, slippers, socks, eyeshades, the menu and wine list, and a bottle of water. I do love Singapore’s pajamas and amenity kits, though I slightly preferred the amenity kits they used to have about a year back with full sized bottles of Bvlgari cologne.

Hot towels

Amenity kit, pajamas, slippers, socks, and eyeshades

Pajamas

Amenity kit

Bottled water

First class menu

The cabin was still fairly empty up until shortly before boarding was complete. There was a German guy seated across from me and an older Asian lady (with an Olive Garden bag!) seated one row forward.

Olive Garden bag in first class

Shortly before boarding finished up a group of about nine ladies and a guy in a suit entered the first class cabin very loudly.

About four of them settled into first class (along with the guy in the suit) while the others had blue (business class) and green (economy class) boarding passes. I was a bit puzzled, as it hadn’t phased me who they were. The German guy seated across from me shook his head, leaned over, and said “what pigs. The people in their country are starving but they’re flying first class and drinking champagne.”

Security guard storing bags

That confused me even more, as I still had no clue who they were. As it turns out it was the first lady of Zimbabwe, and after doing some research I realized just how bad of a person she apparently is.

Anyway, as departure time rolled around the captain came on the PA to introduce himself and advise us of our flight time of 6hr40min. He advised us there would be a departure delay of about 30 minutes due to thunderstorms, but that our very short flight time should mean we could expect an on-time arrival. Singapore Airlines first class is one of the few places where I don’t want a quick flight!

I took the opportunity to change into pajamas and started watching an episode of Two and a Half Men on the KrisWorld entertainment system. In the meantime the crew took dinner orders. We were also asked whether we wanted to be woken up for breakfast, though we both declined due to the short duration of the flight.

The dinner menu read as follows:

And the wine list read as follows:

Entertainment system

My friend tried out his seat to make sure it was fully functional, though unfortunately his legrest wasn’t working. He brought this to the attention of the flight attendants, and they kind of just had a blank look on their face. They had him stand up and played around with his seat controls for about ten minutes, before advising us to move back a row to the two center seats in row four. That seems like an acceptable solution.

My friend then decided to test out his new seat, and what do you know, the recline was broken. Once again they had him stand up for about ten minutes as they played with his seat, before deciding there was nothing they could do.

They suggested we sit together in row three for dinner and then move to row four to sleep. It’s a bit disappointing when you fly an airline like Singapore and twice in a row seats don’t work, especially since the plane sits on the ground in New York for over 12 hours, so if there were any reported seat issues there would have been plenty of time to fix them.

The most disappointing part of the entire interaction was that the in-flight service manager didn’t once apologize or show any concern. He kept walking by without batting an eyelash.

Anyway, we did push back at around 10:30PM and started a fairly quick taxi to the runway, where we were number four or five for takeoff.

We had a long takeoff roll and there was quite a bit of chop on the way out, so the seatbelt sign stayed on for nearly half an hour.

At that point the service slowly began, though it was almost 75 minutes before we got our first drinks, which is entirely unacceptable. I think the big issue with the flight was the in-flight service manager. Without exception on every Singapore flight I’ve been on in first class, the in-flight service manager has personally introduced himself to the first class passengers and talked to them for a couple of minutes. Not only did he not do that, but he was the most lackluster crewmember aboard. He didn’t once smile or say “my pleasure” or “your welcome.”

Anyway, about 75 minutes into the flight I was offered a Diet Coke with mixed nuts.

Diet Coke with mixed nuts

Within about 15 more minutes I was offered my appetizer, which was caviar. As usual it was beautifully presented and tasted good. Bread was offered with it, including Singapore’s amazing garlic bread.

Chilled malassol caviar

The next course was a cream of corn soup with chicken, which was tasty.

Cream of corn soup with smoked chicken and chive

Then a Caesar salad was served, which was also quite good.

Caesar salad

My friend pre-ordered the lobster thermidor through Singapore’s “Book the Cook” program, though I hadn’t pre-ordered anything.

Lobster thermidor

None of the options on the menu interested me all that much and I knew I wouldn’t be very hungry by the time the main course came around, so I ordered the spinach ricotta tortellini.

Spinach ricotta tortellini with spicy tomato, mesclun

It was definitely one of the most underwhelming meals I’ve had in international first class, and could have very well been a frozen TV dinner based on how it tasted. And I know some of you are probably saying “well what do you expect from a pasta dish?” You’d be surprised, I’ve had some really, really good pasta dishes in the sky.

Hey, at least it’s a good TV dinner…

The dessert was cheesecake with ice cream. I have absolutely zero complaints there!

New York cheesecake with vanilla ice cream and fruit coulis

To finish off the meal we were offered coffee/tea and pralines. I just went with a praline.

Praline

Overall the crew was decent. I’ve always thought of Singapore Airlines as being on a whole different level, and this flight certainly didn’t make me feel that way. The service was at a leisurely pace throughout dinner which I like, though the crew could have been a bit more attentive in providing refills.

Given the slow pace of the dinner service we had just under four hours to go until Frankfurt, so the crew made our beds. While Singapore’s first class product on their 747s is a couple of generations behind, it’s still quite comfortable, especially with the bedding. The only awkward part was the first lady’s security guard who was seated across from us and constantly glared over, given that he was “monitoring” the cabin.

Beds

I woke up about 30 minutes prior to landing in Frankfurt. I sure as heck wasn’t hungry, so just went with a glass of orange juice. Singapore serves legitimately freshly squeezed orange juice, which I wish more airlines would do.

Orange juice

While I didn’t have breakfast, here’s the breakfast menu for those of you that are interested:

At this point the captain came on the PA to advise us of our slightly delayed arrival, thanking us for flying Singapore Airlines.

The crew prepared the cabin for landing, and there was no sort of “goodbye” or “thanks for flying with us” as we descended, which is usually the role of the in-flight service manager.

As we taxied to the gate the Zimbabwe “party” was already up before the seatbelt sign was turned off, with all the people in their party from coach and business coming forward to help the first lady.

Entourage

So while Singapore was good, they weren’t great. And given that I had beyond phenomenal crews on my Lufthansa and Thai flights, it turned out to be the most underwhelming longhaul segment of the trip, especially compared to my previous Singapore Airlines experiences.

Singapore recently announced that they would be operating the Airbus 380 on their route between New York and Singapore (via Frankfurt both ways) starting January 16, 2012. This is exciting news since the A380 is a great plane and features their new business class product, as opposed to their current outdated offerings on the 747.

Historically Singapore blocks first and business class award space to partner airlines for any flights operated by their new product, though as of now I see tons of business class award space on this flight through the end of the schedule.

I see plenty of space from New York to Frankfurt and plenty of space on the through flight from New York to Singapore (with a quick stop in Frankfurt), though not a whole lot in the other direction.

So whether you’re planning on going to Europe or Asia, if this flight fits into your travel plans, by all means book it.

I’m not sure if this is a glitch or intentional. In the past Singapore often released award space only up until the correct aircraft type was loaded in the system, though in this case the A380 has been loaded into the system and they still have award space. The ANA tool still shows the flight as being operated by a 747, while all other sources show it as being operated by an A380.

So if this interests you I suggest getting a hold on a ticket ASAP, as this may very well be a glitch.

(Tip of the hat to nov11)

A couple of days ago I posted about the Singapore Airlines flight that left me disappointed. I flew New York to Frankfurt in first class with a friend, and we selected the two middle seats in first class so we’d be able to sit together. I’ve flown Singapore Airlines first class many times and have been blown away each time. As I’ve said a countless number of times, each Singapore Airlines flight is a performance by the crew. And despite my high expectations every time, they still manage to exceed my expectations.

My friend, on the other hand, had never flown Singapore Airlines, and I had been raving about it to him for days. So I’m guessing his expectations were even higher than mine had ever been, though I was certain he’d be equally impressed. Singapore just doesn’t disappoint. It’s part of their culture.

Anyway, on to the flight. The first class cabin had only two other passengers in it until a few minutes before departure, when the first lady of Zimbabwe and her entourage filled up half of the first class cabin. The gentleman seated across from me, a German Lufthansa HON member (their uber-top tier status) shook his head and commented to me “it’s nice to see she’s flying first class and eating caviar while half of her country is starving.” It has nothing to do with the problem I had, but just an interesting side note. It was also odd to have her bodyguard seated across from me in first class the whole flight without once reclining his seat.

The captain announced the flight time of 6hr40min, which, as usual, is painfully short for a redeye.

After takeoff my friend tried to recline his seat. While the footrest worked fine, the seat wouldn’t recline in the slightest. Instead there was just a constant thud noise as he pushed the recline button.

We brought this to the attention of the crew, and they had us stand there for about 10 minutes as they tried to fix it. Now, it’s worth noting all three first class flight attendants were trying to fix the seat, so it delayed the service in the rest of the cabin (which is a bit problematic on a short redeye for people looking to sleep).

After 10 minutes they decided there was no way to fix his seat. Fortunately the row of two seats behind us were the only two other seats available, so we were able to move to them. It’s closer to the galley meaning there’s more light, but that was perfectly fine given the situation.

My friend tried to recline his new seat again, and this time it worked. Then he tried to put the footrest up, only to find nothing happened. At this point the flight attendants once again have us stand up as they try to fix his seat, which lasts about 15 minutes. They decide they can’t fix that seat either.

So at this point we’re almost an hour into a 6hr40min redeye not having eaten at all with nothing more than the flight attendants shrugging their shoulders.

The flight attendants suggested we go back to our original seats for dinner (without my friend being able to recline), and then offer to try and manually recline the seat in the other row into bed mode.

Fine, mistakes happen. I think it’s totally unacceptable that two seats in a row are broken in first class, but I suppose it happens, and it’s certainly not the crew’s fault.

But that’s not even my main complaint. If you’ve flown a foreign carrier you’ve probably noticed the role of the “in-flight supervisor.” In the US you have pursers, though that title means nothing. Those are people that get paid an extra dollar an hour to do the paperwork. At international airlines, in-flight supervisors have a totally different role — they’re actually supervisors, and supposed to personally welcome aboard each first class passenger, deal with any issues, and make sure all the other flight attendants are doing their job. As a matter of fact I’ve found the in-flight supervisors at Singapore Airlines to be among the most engaging, and without exception have had them stop by my seat for a few minutes to talk just after takeoff and just before landing when seated in first class.

But this in-flight supervisor was so indifferent that I was floored. He never greeted a single first class passenger, and while he provided service, he didn’t say a single word to either of us. Not once. He would plop down drinks, and whenever I said “thank you” he would just look at me.

The other flight attendants were fine (they were the leading steward and leading stewardess — yes, the three highest “ranking” cabin crew were working first class), though this in-flight supervisor couldn’t have come across as more indifferent. Having a first class passenger with a broken seat twice is a huge service failure. My friend wasn’t looking for any sort of compensation, but you’d think an in-flight supervisor would at least apologize profusely for such a situation. As a matter of fact, none of the flight attendants made any effort to apologize. They shrugged their shoulders and tried to find solutions, but that’s it.

So my friend got off his first Singapore flight rather disappointed and tired (thanks to the short flight time and hour wasted right after takeoff due to them trying to fix his seat and not serve dinner).

So no, even Singapore isn’t perfect… I’m guessing that means the end of the world is near.

There are a few things in life I consider to be guarantees. For example, if you show me a Harry Potter movie, I guarantee I’ll fall asleep. If you ask me to go through the full body scanner at a US airport, I guarantee I’ll be getting a massage in a private room instead. And if you put me in Singapore Airlines first class, I guarantee my expectations will be exceeded… or so I thought.

I just flew Singapore Airlines first class, and for the first time I can remember, was actually legitimately disappointed. I’ll save the details for the trip report – consider this a teaser. Though of course feel free to guess, and if anyone gets it right I’ll be happy to say so.

And no, the disappointment wasn’t that the first lady of Zimbabwe and her entourage were taking up half of the first class cabin…

I’ve long been frustrated by the fact that Singapore Airlines refuses to release award seats in their “new” business class (which isn’t all that new anymore) to Star Alliance partners.

Well, I’m not sure if it’s a fluke or intentional, but award space is wide open in Singapore Airlines business class on the Airbus 380 between Singapore and Sydney through September or so.

I’m hoping this is intentional as Singapore Airlines probably isn’t filling all their premium cabin seats between Singapore and Sydney given the amount of capacity and competition on the route.

It’s worth noting that the space only shows up on aeroplan.com since ANA’s website systematically blocks any premium cabins on Singapore’s Boeing 777-300ERs, Airbus 380s, and Airbus A340-500 aircraft.

Regardless, it’s a fantastic product and well worth the miles if you can start in either Singapore or Sydney. I flew Singapore’s new business class on the 777 just recently (it’s the same product), and that review can be found here.

(Tip of the hat to harry0233 on FlyerTalk)