When Bank of China Elite Miles card was launched, it showed a lot of promise as a miles card. With one of the market best earning rate at 1.5 miles per dollar (MPD) locally (2 MPD till 31 December 2018) and 3 miles per dollar for foreign currency (FC) spending (5 MPD till 31 December 2018), what can go wrong? Well, I was dead wrong!
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.
There are many ways / tactics one can use to score an award ticket. Regardless of ways, the goal remains the same – to score that elusive and highly sought after premium class ticket!
Getting miles from credit cards in Singapore is not easy (compared to USA) but not exactly the hardest too. There are many credit cards out there that offer miles from paying annual fee.
To those who are against paying annual fees, this option is not for you. For those who don’t get enough miles for redemption on premium class, you probably should think twice before doing this. For those who don’t mind paying annual fees, these are the credit cards that you can consider:
My first Singapore Airlines premium class, do I need to say more? The step up from Economy Class to Business Class is indeed exhilarating! Back in 2012, I barely know much about the miles game, what more how to maximize it. Nevertheless, I decided to make use of what I had in my account to try out the Business Class.
My initial plan was to redeem SIN-TPE. I managed to get a pair of tickets to Taipei but I was unable to secure any return tickets. At 4.5 hours, Taipei is probably the best sector to fly to at 23,375 miles. However, availability is usually scarce (as compared to Hong Kong). Eventually I settled on Hong Kong as I was able to get the return tickets. I was initially booked on SQ860 (which uses the old 777-200 but with the regional business class seats). I managed to waitlist myself on SQ856 (on A380-800). One week out, my waitlist cleared and I managed to get myself on SQ856.
This will probably be my shortest flight review of the entire trip as by the ICN-SIN leg, I was just too tired and sleepy.
All good things must come to an end. After 5 cities (comprising 4 flights, 1 train ride and 3 bus rides), it was time to go home. What better way to come home than on Singapore Airlines. Singapore Airlines operates 2 daily flights to and from San Francisco i.e. SQ2/1 (SIN-HKG-SFO) and SQ16/15 (SIN-ICN-SFO). My initial intention was to travel on SQ1 with a short stopover in Hong Kong for one last round of good food before returning home. However, I was not able to get 2 First Class tickets on SQ1. Therefore, I had to settle with SQ15.
Canada was fun but a little hectic. 3 nights in 3 different locations:
We were quite lucky that the both days we were in Toronto and Niagara Falls, the temperatures were higher than that of Boston! The day we left Toronto for Niagara Falls, Toronto was enveloped in thick fog while for Niagara, it started to rain. Thanks to a clear weather, we had a magnificent 360 degree view of Toronto from CN Tower (where we had our dinner). A sunny noon in Niagara gave us opportunity for photo taking of the falls and the weather held up the following morning to allow us to enjoy Hornblower Cruise. The good weather we had in Niagara allowed us a magnificent view of the falls from our hotel, Sheraton On The Falls. Not long after we left Niagara, it started to rain pretty heavily.
Date : 9 November 2015
Flight : SQ26
Plane : A380-800 (9V-SKQ)
Photo taken : iPhone 6+
Seats : 3C/3D
Duration : 13 hours 25 minutes
This is my 3rd experience in SQ Suites but my first long haul in premium class. Before i start, my apologies for the lack of photos as I have been pretty busy prior to this trip and hence I was pretty tired even before boarding the flight.
My flight was operated on a Singapore Airlines 9V-SKQ which is only about 4 years old (first flight was made only in early 2012).
That Time Of The Year! 