One of the most common question someone new into redemption would ask:
ISN’T IT BETTER FOR ME TO DO A LONG HAUL ECONOMY/PREMIUM ECONOMY REDEMPTION INSTEAD OF REGIONAL/SHORT HAUL PREMIUM?
The answer is NO. The 2 rules I will tell my friends would be:
I have broken both rules before – and this was for a special reason – SQ22 Inaugural and SQ21 return.
26 October 2007, the historic flight of SQ380 – the inaugural of the world’s first double-decker plane. This was the day the Airbus A380 made its maiden flight with lots of publicity and fanfare. It was suppose to be the plane that will change how people travels in the future.
People from all over the world made bids to be the first to fly on this mighty beast, the plane that will overtake the Boeing 747 as the undisputed champion! For me back then, it was just another day and it happened that I watched the news from on-board Star Virgo where i was having a short holiday with my family.
I booked this trip for my family year end trip and the price was certainly attractive! I paid $470 per person (all inclusive) which is way cheaper than what I paid for my ticket to Wuhan. Both SQ 830 and SQ 833 is flown on the A380, specifically the new A38R. The last 5 A380-800 that was delivered last year spots the new Suites (6 Suites in the forward section of upper deck) and the all new Business Class (with the double bed at the bulkhead). The Premium Economy and Economy section however is the same as that of the 2015 and 2013 design. Besides Shanghai, the other destinations that utilizes the A38R include Hong Kong, Sydney, London and Zurich (I am still hoping for SQ25/26 to get this but I doubt this will be the case).
It has been a while since I last used my Priority Pass card and hence the best time to use it is when I fly Economy. Priority Pass has quite an extensive lounge list one can go in Suvarnabhumi Airport (although most of it is Miracle First and Business Class Lounge). As I was short on time, I just chose the lounge nearest to my departure point in Concourse E which is the Oman Air Business Class Lounge.
I just came back from a conference in Bangkok and I managed to position myself to try out the new 787-10 in which Singapore Airlines was the launch customer. The 787-10 is meant to handle the regional flights currently being managed by the A330-300s and 777-200s which is way due for replacement. While the SQ974 is still being flown on an A333, SQ973 is being used as one of the short haul route for crew familiarisation before being used for its intended purpose – regional flights (KIX and PER being the first 2 destinations). So how was the flight?
AY412 would be my first turboprop plane in over 30 years! The last time (and also my first) was back in 1986 on a Fokker-27 (which was not something I was fond about). I vaguely recalled the flight being almost like a roller coaster.
ATR-72 is a completely different bid from what Fokker-27 was. Although small and flying in the winter, the plane was fairly steady. The plane is single cabin and configured in a 2-2 seating.
This was the last leg of our flight from Kuala Lumpur to Rovaniemi. It was a very short flight on an Airbus A321 which is configured as a single cabin. Seats as usual were arranged in a 3-3 configuration.
Our flight was only about 2/3rd full, hence we were free to switch our seats. As it was winter, my wife moved over to the port side (west facing) to catch the early sunset.
More Spontaneous Escapes from Singapore Airlines Krisflyer redemption – but locations this round seems more limited!
One destination that is worth considering however, is DPS. Only 17,500 miles for a return ticket in Business Class! SQ uses the A330-300 for their DPS service. It may not use the latest Business Class seats, it is still a fairly comfortable way to travel on a 2.5 hours flight. You will get to try out the Silverkris Lounge and a BTC on the way to Bali.
Singapore Airlines is having a promotion for Krisflyer redemption on selected destinations for travel in month of November. There is a 30% discount to a few destinations (on both Economy and Business Class) listed in the table below.
I initially planned to do this flight in Business as the price difference between Y and J was minimal ($300+ vs $400+). However, price for Tango dropped significantly and I bought the tickets at $191 (excluding seat selection and baggage fee) while the price of Business Class remained at about $460. One month before travel, I tried my luck with a bid of $120 USD per person for upgrade but as expected the bid failed. I wasn’t too hard up for the upgrade especially after my experience on AC 307 (this flight was operated on Airbus A319). It has the exact hard product as the A320 (which wasn’t great).
