Singapore Airlines unlocks premium economy frequent flyer bookings
By Chris C., May 17 2016
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer members will soon be able to book SQ premium economy flights using their hard-earned miles, either as an outright reservation or as an upgrade from a paid economy ticket.
Further, passengers travelling on a paid premium economy fare will also be eligible for business class upgrades using KrisFlyer miles, with these options all available from May 24 2016.
The number of miles you'll need varies per flight with the popular Sydney-Singapore route commanding 38,250 miles for an outright booking and Sydney-Singapore-London a higher 74,375 miles for the full journey, including SQ's 15% online booking discount.
For an upgrade from economy to premium economy, prepare to part with 19,125 miles from Sydney to Singapore or 32,300 from Sydney to Europe at discounted Saver upgrade rates.
Switching from premium economy to business class will set you back at least 25,500 miles to Singapore or 44,200 miles through to Europe, again at the Saver upgrade reward costs with the online booking discount.
For other routes, you can find the number of miles needed on the new Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer award charts, found here for flight upgrades [PDF, 148kb], or here for flight redemptions [PDF, 117kb].
Until now, KrisFlyer members could book Singapore Airlines Suites Class, first class, business class and economy flights using their miles, but not the airline’s newly-launched premium economy service.
The same is true of flight upgrades, with members able to bump-up from economy to business class and from business class to first class, but not from economy to premium economy, or from premium economy to business class.
Premium economy is offered on selected Singapore Airlines Airbus A350, A380 and Boeing 777 flights, including between its home hub of Singapore and Sydney, Hong Kong, London and Paris.
Virgin Australia Velocity members, however, won't be able to book reward flights in Singapore Airlines premium economy using their Velocity points, with the airline telling Australian Business Traveller that it had "nothing to announce at this stage."
Also read: Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 premium economy review
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Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
26 Sep 2011
Total posts 77
A complete waste of points/money in my opinion
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
13 Jan 2015
Total posts 584
yes much better to do J redemption
Emirates Airlines - Skywards
30 Nov 2015
Total posts 730
Those two words 'Premium Economy' make me laugh.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
26 Jun 2014
Total posts 37
I travelled on Cathay Premium Economy on daytime flights SYD-HKG a month ago. Its not business class light - which I think is what we all want it to be. Its Economy, with actual leg space, recline, and sometimes better food and service. Service was not pre-emptive, but all requests were brought quickly, efficiently and politely. It turned 8 hours of potential hell (known as economy) into a pleasant flight.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
25 Jan 2013
Total posts 240
Whilst I do like SQ’s design, I can’t help but be cautious about what will happen to economy now as far as service quality goes. I get customers’ expectations need to be in check and the ticket price should be aligned to quality, as well as the commercial realities of the airline needing to add in more benefits so they can charge higher prices.
However, with these and other airlines implementing more premium economy product, (which seems, when you strip away the spin to be economy + some extra leg room,) I wonder if we will see any degradation of economy product quality. Such as the rumoured ‘where is your god now?’ economy.
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