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Just a week into 2019, and we’re gearing up for our first award-chart devaluation. Singapore’s Krisflyer program is raising award and upgrade prices for premium economy, business, and first class.
There will also be changes to the award waitlist process, a new search interface for finding award seats, and an expansion of the Spontaneous Escapes promotion.
While there is some positive news, on the whole, this is bad for KrisFlyer members, particularly when taking into account that Singapore last devalued its award chart less than two years ago. Of course, Singapore has great things to say about the changes, so you can check out the positive spin on their announcement page.
Here’s a recap of the changes on the way for KrisFlyer members:
- Effective January 24, 2019, both Saver and Advantage Award rates are changing for premium economy, business, and first-class awards
- The cost to upgrade a paid ticket using miles will also change
- Upgrades from economy to business class for flights with a premium economy cabin are now available
- Waitlisted awards will either be confirmed or canceled 14 days from departure
- Spontaneous Escapes will become a monthly promotion
- Updated search tool will show award availability across a seven-day window
KrisFlyer Award Chart Changes Effective January 24, 2019
Of all the ‘enhancements’ listed in Singapore’s announcement, the changes to premium award rates will have the most significant impact on members. For example, award increases for flights to/from the US include:
One-Way Business-Class Saver Award Changes
- East Coast – Singapore: 92,000 —> 99,000 miles
- West Coast – Singapore: 88,000 —> 95,000 miles
- East Coast – South Asia: 110,000 —> 121,000 miles
- West Coast – South Asia: 98,000 —> 109,000 miles
- East Coast – Hong Kong~South China~Taiwan: 100,000 —> 110,000 miles
One-Way First-Class Saver Award Changes
- East Coast – Singapore: 120,000 —> 132,000 miles
- West Coast – Singapore: 118,000 —> 130,000 miles
- East Coast – South Asia: 145,000 —> 160,000 miles
- West Coast – South Asia: 138,000 —> 153,000 miles
- East Coast – Hong Kong~South China~Taiwan: 135,000 —> 150,000 miles
Most of the price increases are between 6-12%, which is far from the worst devaluation we've seen. But these changes do put Singapore at the high end of the spectrum compared with other programs. Fortunately for travelers on a budget, Singapore has left the economy award chart untouched.
Catch all the changes to Singapore’s award charts in the links below:
- Singapore Airlines and SilkAir Award Chart, effective until 24 January 2019
- Singapore Airlines and SilkAir Award Chart, effective from 24 January 2019
These changes only affect flights operated by Singapore Airlines and SilkAir, and you have until January 24, 2019, to book at the old rates. At the moment, there are no changes to the Star Alliance or partner award charts.
Waitlist Awards Will Be Cleared or Cancelled 14 Days From Departure
Another feature of KrisFlyer is the ability to waitlist awards when there is no award space available. Provided you have the miles in your account, you can request an award ticket, and if a seat opens up before departure, you’re first in line. Previously, you could be left waiting up until the day of departure to find out if you’ve secured a waitlisted award.
Under the new rules, Singapore will either confirm or cancel all waitlisted awards 14 days before departure. Singapore is putting a positive spin on this feature, stating it provides more certainty for waitlisted awards and allows members to make alternative travel plans.
But with many premium-cabin awards not opening up until the last minute, it’s hard to see how this benefits members. (Unless Singapore intends to release more award space in advance to confirm waitlisted awards.)
This feature is set to launch in the second quarter of 2019.
Spontaneous Escapes Promo Becomes a Monthly Feature
Singapore has recently been experimenting with regular award specials similar to the Promo Awards offered monthly by Flying Blue. KrisFlyer Spontaneous Escapes provide discounts on Saver redemption rates to select destinations across the Singapore Airlines and SilkAir network for travel the following month. Singapore will be expanding this into a permanent feature, offering monthly award specials advertised a month in advance of departure.
February looks set to be a big month for Spontaneous Escapes, with Singapore announcing deep discounts to celebrate the official release of the new promotion on February 15, 2019.
Updated Seven-Day Award Search Results
By far the best news to come out of Singapore’s announcement is the updated award search functionality. One of the pains of searching for premium cabin award space on Singapore (or any award space for that matter) has always been the limited award search capability, restricting searches to single dates only.
Starting January 31, 2019, you will have the ability to view redemption options across a seven-day window when selecting the ‘Flexible Dates’ box during an award search. The results will show awards +/-3 days from your selected departure date, showing a week of availability at a time.
This is a great feature and will make searching for Singapore award space a lot easier than it has been in the past. Whether you’ll want to book those awards at the new increased rates is another story.
Final Thoughts
With a top hard product, some high-value award sweet spots, and the ability to transfer points from Membership Rewards, Ultimate Rewards, ThankYou Rewards, Capital One Rewards, and Marriott Rewards, Singapore has traditionally been a fan favorite of the points and miles community. But, when added to the changes made in 2017, this latest award chart devaluation sees the rates for premium cabin awards on many routes creeping into uncompetitive territory when compared to other programs.
It’s also hard to view the updates to the waitlist process as positive when so many award seats on popular routes traditionally open up in those last two weeks. The expansion of Spontaneous Escapes and the updated award search functionality are a huge plus, but not enough to compensate for the changes to the waitlist and award charts.
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Hopefully I can travel on Singapore first class suite one day!
It’s happening all over throughout the industry, not just Singapore Air. Don’t hold on to your miles, that’s my best advice.
This is a good reminder to use your points/miles and not hoard them. Redemption values can change at any time.
it is a bad idea to devalue the miles. I don’t think they can save too much money. But they will loss some loyal customers. The value of the miles should be fixed. It is like bind by a contract. Not fair to us.
Glad I redeemed on SQ late last year. Anyone had any luck redeeming F new suites – Saver award?
I don’t think SQ release any Saver F awards for the new suites. Never seen them being available on any route.
So bad news all round really, Happy New Year!
It is very frustrating when the goal posts keep shifting! I had a specific redemption in mind for 4 people, and it will make it significantly more difficult to achieve. Combined with recent changes (Australia) with AMEX earn rates, the environment becomes harder and harder to achieve results for flight redemptions.
more devaluations again , but thank God its not that bad
Asiamiles imposes the same expiration policy.
I’d just wish they’d allow miles to roll over with activity instead of a 3 year hard capped expiration.
This is exactly what I wanted to say. The 3 year hard cap is the most frustrating thing.
Great to know, thank you for the information!
The devaluations keep rolling in. Not sure this game will be worth playing much longer…
Loyalty only seems to go one way these days. The airlines are in a race to the bottom regarding the benefits they can withdraw or the costs they can recover from their loyal flyers. Time to shop around.
Devaluation keeps going on. Better to use rather than accumulate.
Lufthansa has continously devalued their Miles & More program over the last years. It is really a shame. E.g. last year, they halfed (!) the number of miles you get for using their credit cards. Not cool.
Since Sq/Krisflyer devaluation make this transfer program very poor deal what is the best option when transferring reward points today?
As they say..earn and burn rather than hoard. Miles will always be devalued.
Gosh by the time I gather enough points it might go up again! Nice to read about the Spontaneous Escapes thou…
I love sq
Hopefully, not the start of a new trend…
Its ridiculous how the devaluations keep coming. However, there is still some value to Singapore as they often only release seats to krisflyer and not star alliance
Unfortunately devaluations will continue to happen. I agree with the other posters that earn and burn should always be the motto for anyone in this game. Those of us reading this blog can be prepared. I really feel sorry for those people who save for years to a big trip and then find a devaluation has made their miles worthless for their goals.
Not on my list of places to go, but I agree it seems that the incentives are slowly dwindling away.
The trend is getting worse to loyalty users.
Man…. Just when I though Singapore was a decent use of points for a premium seat and they devalue
at least the flexible dates option is an improvement
The ever changing game!! Thanks for the info.
Agreed a bad trend. Makes transferring points to KrisFlyer less of a good proposition.
It is always disappointing to see devaluations so early into the new year.
Your posts, as always, contain valuable insights and reminders. The reminder here is to remember the phrase “Earn and Burn!!!”
Well we can only hope other airlines don’t follow suit…
Another reminder why it is a good habit to keep spending miles/points and not just accumulate. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for letting us know about these changes.
OMG SQ please stop devaluing your program.
It is really becoming a bad one.
great news about wait-listed awards being confirmed or cancel 14 days out. We flew first-class Suites but our awards were confirmed until 3 days prior. talk about pins and needles!
It looks like AA is also changing this month, but it might benefit me, as Canada will join the continental US award chart, and I fly there a lot. I’m not happy with this Singapore change, or AA’s other changes to the award chart.
Do you have any sources to this? Very curious.
It’s not only singapore airline. insiders told me most airlines reward programs will increase the mileage requirements for most awards in 2019. We better to redeem the air miles before the increase. the increases are not fair to us They should allow grandfathers on the air miles we already own. Agree?
Should but won’t unfortunately! That’s why I think earning and burning as soon as possible is the way to operate.
Such devaluations will not just force earn and burn behavior. They will force many of us to pick a single program to insure earning enough, quick enough, to burn. 🙁
I dont like seeing this trend, hopefully others dont follow.
A program devaluing their loyalty currency is never a good thing. The most important thing here though, albeit somewhat adrift in the middle of the post, is that in comparison to some of the huge hikes that have occurred in the relatively-recent past, what SQ has planned here (with some notice, I might add) is really pretty minor.
Glad I already had the opportunity to fly Singapore before the devaluation.
Never flown them; lots of miles compared to some of the other lesser airlines, like UA and AA.
I know people really like to redeem on Krisflyer. I’m sad they are doing this but it’s not a surprise. At some point all carriers can’t keep the same rules and valuation unless something else changes to make sure they are profitable.
I wonder what else will change in 2019? Or maybe I shouldn’t ask that.
A quite bad devaluation.
So disappointing was going to book them this fall
The monthly Spontaneous Escapes are worth looking at.
more and more devaluations. I guess at the end of the day for every average increase in “earning potential” that we get from credit cards, we will see about twice the devaluations in the actual redemptions.
It’s sad to see the devaluation. Saving miles for premium award travel may no longer be worth it considering how many needed and the restrictions on availability.
I just hope they don’t change the Star Alliance award chart too!
Well, the same again – burn your miles/ points before they get inflated!!!
almost 10% increase. this is not a good news.
Good to know. Thanks
uncool
especially since more will likely follow
Doesn’t specifically affect me. But, it part of a generally bad trend.
Agreed.