Any downside with redeeming two KrisFlyer one-way tickets?

[snowcrash]

Hi all, I'm very new to Krisflyer and CC churing , but just started a few weeks ago to get some cheaper business tickets for a Maldives trip next year.

Unfortunately I'm not very flexible on dates, and my return flight does not have the 'business saver' redemption option available, and just the much more expensive 'business advantage' option. This kinda ruins my miles budget for a business return trip, and Singapore Air doesn't seem very flexible with booking mixed-class tickets for these flights.

But an obvious easy workaround seems to be just to redeem two separate one-way tickets - using different classes. Is it really that easy of a workaround or am I missing something???
I cant see any obvious pentalty as the miles required one-way are just exactly 50% of the return - its not like when I compared booking for $$$ , suddenly the one-way ticket was 90% or almost just as expensive as the complete return ticket - not sure why, but guessing completely different algorithms apply when they cost one-way tickets for $$$ ? Miles seems to be more straight forward where the one-way redemption cost is exactly just 50%..

Now less important, but because I have my points split between krisflyer and velocity, it seems like I could book one of the tickets cheaper directly on velocity webpage without having to transfer velocity to krisflyer miles first and lose on the 1.55x conversion rate.

So to sum up, if I would to:

- Redeem one-way outgoing flight in premium economy directly with my velocity points and on the velocity page.
and ..
- Redeem one-way return flight in business directly on singapore air with my krisflyer miles.

.. would I run into any obvious issues I have not considered? or should this be OK ?

Thanks everyone!

 

[gaz0303]

No issues at all with your proposal…one of the benefits of reward bookings. And you will hold a return ticket which can be important for immigration and travel insurance.

 

[Doctore1003]

Go for it and enjoy!

 

[WilsonM]

As mentioned, it's simply a better way to book - for future trips, say, Europe, you can also open-jaw your destination (arrive in London, fly out of Paris).

Specific to KrisFlyer, the only reason you'd book a return ticket would be to take advantage of a free stopover - none are allowed on one-way saver awards, while one is allowed on a return saver. This doesn't matter if you're booking advantage awards, as one-way advantage awards can also have 1 stopover.

The only other reason you might want to book a return award ticket is perhaps the taxes and fees being in the country of origin, so not incurring an international transaction fee? A pretty weak reason IMO.

 

[Cynicor]

There’s also sometimes return availability but not one way, so I always search both before booking.

As mentioned, it’s a bunch of mostly weak reasons. Some protection for shorter trips too, easier at checkin so you don’t need to show and find your return ticket.

Minor stuff. I do mostly one ways

 

[RooFlyer]

Welcome to AFF @snowcrash . Always book one-way Award tickets# . Besides reasons given above, if there is a problem with your outbound (say, you have to change it) then you are only dealing with that leg - not having to involve the return.

# Another reason why you might want or need to do this in the future is, if its a hard-to-get redemption, you may want to grab the outbound as soon as it appears on the calendar and not wait the weeks or so until the return becomes available.

 

[MELso]

The only advantage of booking a return saver over two one-way saver flights is that you can book a stopover on one of the legs without additional points if you want. If you don't want a stopover in SIN, go for it!

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Virtually all of my rewards booking with SQ are one way flights.


One reason is I often book a year out to get my preferred flight, and as I may be away 8 weeks or more , waiting to to book a return redemption would reduce my options.

In Europe I rarely fly in and out of the same city. My 2025 trip to Italy being a rare in and out of Rome. My last trip was in LHR, and out FRA.

 

[dajop]

Agree with other posters, often little downside, and some advantages should your plans change.

We'll often will take a Krisflyer award booking one way and a paid booking (usually on a different airline) in the other direction. Can give more flexibility for finding deals and availability.

 

[dajop]

In Europe I rarely fly in and out of the same city. My 2025 trip to Italy being a rare in and out of Rome. My last trip was in LHR, and out FRA.

Golden rule for Premium Economy, Business and First awards if you're travels in Europe include UK and the continent, always fly into UK and out of the continent, the saving in APD(UK tax) is usually more than enough to cover the cost of the ground or air transport across the channel.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Golden rule for Premium Economy, Business and First awards if you're travels in Europe include UK and the continent, always fly into UK and out of the continent, the saving in APD(UK tax) is usually more than enough to cover the cost of the ground or air transport across the channel.

I have lost track of the the number award flights that I have taken, or booked for immediate family, into the UK. I am yet to book one longhaul award out of the UK.

I mainly buy short hops to places like Dublin, Stavanger, Bergerac or the like. I have also left by ship and train.

The only award flight I have ever booked out of the UK was using some BMI points to Frankfurt on BA for my wife and I. The BMI program was ending and so I had to redeem the points I had. Worked out well as redeemed for flights on BA in their short hall business class from Vienna to Barcelona to London to Frankfurt. The points did not end up being not deducted, and so with the expiry clock ticking we then used the points a second time to get a 1000 Pounds worth of accommodation in London. All with points that did not cost me one cent to earn. Never flew with them either.