Update: 12/11/21: Those of you who booked Singapore Airlines Suites from the U.S. to Frankfurt or onward to Singapore will be thrilled to know that Singapore not only plans to operate the Airbus A380 on this route but that starting March 27, 2022 they’ll be operating the A380 with the new cabins which means new Suites.
Unfortunately availability doesn’t look nearly as good as it did 5 days ago. Nonetheless many of you will be excited for the first-time introduction of new cabin to the U.S. This is absolutely one of the best products in the sky. Debates between this and the new Emirates first class and ANA first class are fun (please don’t bring something like Air France first into this debate, their ground experience in Paris notwithstanding).
At the end of October I wrote about incredible first class award space for Singapore Airlines Suites, even on the New York JFK – Frankfurt route which is exceptionally rare. That space was available towards the end of the airline schedule that was published at the time and I showed two award seats available on most days in both directions.
Tim P. points out that now Singapore has opened the floodgates on this route from the end of March through August now. And there’s even a couple of days with 3 seats available at the saver level, which I don’t recall ever seeing.
Original October 28 discussion of these seats follows.
Singapore Airlines makes long haul business and first class award space available to its own members, and generally not to airline partners like United and Air Canada. The great news is that Singapore’s KrisFlyer miles are easy to come by since Singapore is a partner of all of the major bank transferable currencies (Amex, Chase, Citi, Capital One).
Even so, finding two first class awards on Airbus A380 aircraft can be tough. Right now, looking out at the end of the schedule, there are several routes where Airbus A380 first class awards are available for two passengers. And that’s even true on one of the historically-toughest routes, New York JFK – Frankfurt – Singapore.
Here’s space for 2 passengers New York JFK – Frankfurt in first class, September 2022, using Singapore miles:
And here’s space for two passengers Frankfurt – Singapore in first class, September 2022, using Singapore miles.
Availability on these routes extends nicely into October, as well (mid-October is as far out as you can book at this point). Singapore charges 86,000 miles each way for New York – Frankfurt alone, with no fuel surcharges. They charge 125,000 miles each way for just Frankfurt – Singapore, again with no fuel surcharges. The good news is that if you’re booking New York JFK – Frankfurt – Singapore that’s 132,000 miles each way (rather than being additive).
It’s phenomenal that Singapore is bringing back its Airbus A380s and even continuing the conversion of these interiors to the new first class with separate seat and bed, and the ability to take down the wall between seats for a true double bed experience. I find this to be one of the three best first class products in the world (Emirates new first, ANA first… sorry, I rank Air France fourth).
However not all of the A380s are converted and while it’s difficult to predict which planes will be on which routes a year from now judging from current scheduling the New York JFK – Frankfurt – Singapore route may be more likely than not to have the old first class suites, which are still excellent.
For a short, less expensive route where you’re very likely to see the new first class check out availability Hong Kong – Singapore in September 2022. Singapore charges 40,500 miles each way for this flight.
There’s also good availability between Singapore – Seoul, Auckland, and Delhi.
And by the way transferring 250,000 miles or more into Singapore Airlines earns Star Alliance Gold status right now so you can get not just first class Airbus A380 award seats, but also elite status which will provide for United Airlines club lounge access even when flying domestically in the U.S.
We do not know what travel restrictions may look like a year from now of course, so book at your own risk (transferred points can’t put moved back and Singapore miles do expire) and transfers from most programs generally take 12-48 hours for points to appear.
(HT: JT Genter)
While the availability is great, I’m only seeing these as “Advantage” awards, which are substantially more expensive (237k) than the “Saver” prices you mention above.
any idea why there is no first class availability from April-1Sep FRA-SIN ? You cant even buy a first class ticket when you do an availability check on the SQ app it only offers a code share LH flight for purchase.. I also just did a random check for first class SIN -NRT Apr-1SEP , the same results no first class availability using miles or purchase.
@ Gary — Please correct me if I am wrong, but these awards a) are not VTL flights and b) don’t allow inclusion of a connection beyond SIN. Therefore, vaccinated foreigners cannot use these awards.
@ Gary — Of course, the JFK-FRA segments are bookable without VTL requirements, but that flights is too short, so I was referring to flights to/beyond SIN.
I have no idea what Singapore restrictions will look like 11-12 months from now. There’s risk in booking these since you can’t move points back to Singapore Krisflyer, and Singapore miles do expire.
@ Gary — I expect restrictions to SIN won’t loosen up for a couple more years. After all this is the place where chewing gum is illegal.
Thank you Gary, I just booked two suite tickets from FRA-JFK in middle of September. I had waitlisted several bookings on the same route few weeks ago and after this booking got confirmed, I cancelled all of the waitlisted bookings.
Now let’s see May/June open up!
@ Gary — Alright, I bit…fingers crossed. Do you know what constitutes “no show”, or put another way, what is the deadline for cancellation without incurring the no-show fee?
@Gene – no shows used to be lumped in with cancelling within 24 hours of travel, so i’m sure you’re fine if you cancel and redeposit at least 24 hours in advance. however i *assume* but have not verified that no show is literal here, cancel by the check-in deadline and you’ll be able to get your miles redeposited without the high no show fee.
Booked two suites saver JFK-SIN 18OCT, last day in the calendar. Thanks. Only seemed like a handful of dates available now for 2 people.
All A380s in left in service will run with the new 6 suite cabin. However its more than likely that this route will be 77W with 4F seats (no suites)
If I’m reading correctly, Singapore is open for vaccinated Americans?
I’m tempted to transfer points to KrisFlyer and book on Singapore for a ticket from KIX>DPS next September. Times work out the best and I’ve never flown Singapore.
But, don’t want to have to have to cancel and end up with KrisFlyer points. But I think they can be also be used to book United flights?
@gary I looked at SQ – JFK-FRA route last night and only seeing 777-300 offered. Has SQ announced when A380 returns on this route..?
@Gary Any theories on why there is no First Class inventory (cash or award) from April>August 2022?
@ Gary — Air France F is totally overrated.
Not sure what date Tim P. is searching but I don’t see any availability for First Class for FRA>JFK from March to August…
@Noc – I found the space when I posted this fwiw
@Gene – THANK YOU.
newbie question with Sing. Can I include a partner connecting flight to JFK? or do i need to book a separate ticket.
thanks!
@Gary – how do you find award space a month at a time, as indicated in your calendar pictures above?
Thanks!
@Dave – That’s a pay search engine. For searching for yourself the website or app will show a few days at a time, which isn’t great but isn’t bad.
On a side note, I just transferred in 100K Amex points (no 20% bonus unfortunately) and the transfer went thorough instantly after I logged out and back in.
Thanks @Christian! Do you know what pay search engine it is? We have Expert Flyer but it seems to just allow searches for +/- 3 days. Thanks!
@Dave – that’s AwardNexus.com which is a pay service
For some airlines it’s easier, United, Delta and American have nice award calendars for instance
@pmv – you can but then you’re on the star alliance award chart which has different pricing
The gift that keeps on giving!!
@ Gary — I am so glad I went back and added three 2022 one-way JFK-SIN bookings in the past week. Seats now assigned before coffee this morning to the new double beds (1A and 2A). I guess we’ll have to schlep it back from Europe on an AA award at 0.42 cpm! 😉
They changed our initial 2 middle seats to 2A and 1F on opposite sides! They are impossible to reach on the phone and can’t change online.
Can anyone offer any guidance on how best to reach them. The phone goes straight to busy signal.
@BUWS — I was able to change our seats online for JFK-FRA, but not JFK-FRA-SIN. Not sure if the cabin is full or something else. If you have Skype, you can try some other countries’ call center numbers for a pretty low rate. No guarantee those will get through any faster. Those numbers should be on Singapore’s website.
@Gene – Many thanks for responding! My guess is that the cabin is full. Since one seat is 2A and the other 1F, I’m hoping someone in 1A or 2F might be willing to switch if I can’t change beforehand. In the interim, I’ll try with Skype.
That also happened to me. Had the double suite on the old config but they assigned me 2A/F and 1A/F are occupied. Seems stupid as no one can get the double beds as is.
I have a JFK=FRA booking and they moved us into 1A/F. I was able to log in and move one of us so we can take advantage of the double bed. Stoked with this upgrade.