Backtracking *alliance award

[Ms_KH]

Hi all

New to this board and hoping for some help booking my first KrisFlyer award

I currently have a stack of VA points I want to redeem for a suites reward from Europe to Australia next year and had a couple of questions.

I'm going to be in Greece so plan to head back to Frankfurt/Zurich/Paris before flying on to Singapore then Sydney. Could I book a partner award to save on miles and get my positioning flight for free e.g. with Swiss to Zurich or would this be considered backtracking? Does anyone have experience with this, noting SQ doesn't fly from Athens?

Is there a better city to fly out of in terms of suites - lounges, taxes, airport transfers?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Mattg]

I think what you are proposing should be fine.

Yes, you certainly can add a Star Alliance flight to a predominantly SQ booking and access the lower mileage.

If you want to check whether a specific routing will be allowed, you can always give Singapore Airlines a call.

 

[Ms_KH]

Thanks Mattg. I had heard SQ was very strict with backtracking. Will give them a call

 

[diningdecadence]

let us know how you get on - planning on a trip to greece next year and SQ points is an option we're considering!

 

[Ms_KH]

OK so just booked this flight - no issues at all. I asked for a star alliance award from Athens to Sydney and the very helpful operator came straight up with the flights I wanted (ATH-ZUR-SIN-SYD) without any problems. Big thumbs up to Singapore on this one

And very excited to be trying out suites and the new first class!

 

[diningdecadence]

OK so just booked this flight - no issues at all. I asked for a star alliance award from Athens to Sydney and the very helpful operator came straight up with the flights I wanted (ATH-ZUR-SIN-SYD) without any problems. Big thumbs up to Singapore on this one

And very excited to be trying out suites and the new first class!

what'd that cost in terms of points and taxes? and who you flying ATH-ZUR?

 

[lovetravellingoz]

OK so just booked this flight - no issues at all. I asked for a star alliance award from Athens to Sydney and the very helpful operator came straight up with the flights I wanted (ATH-ZUR-SIN-SYD) without any problems. Big thumbs up to Singapore on this one

And very excited to be trying out suites and the new first class!

Well done.

Was the ATH flight on Swiss and I assume they booked you into Business for that leg?

 

[Ms_KH]

Yes Swiss business class to Zurich. 132,500 points plus SGD186 (inc. SGD78 for YQ - I assume for the Swiss flight).

 

[ninja-tim]

Yes Swiss business class to Zurich. 132,500 points plus SGD186 (inc. SGD78 for YQ - I assume for the Swiss flight).

So is that VA or KF miles?

And is that ATH-ZRH in J on Swiss then ZRH-SIN-SYD in suites on SQ?

 

[Ms_KH]

KF miles (transferred from VA). Yes J on Swiss. Suites on SQ to SIN then First to SYD.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

As an aside I have since booked a *A Reward via Krisflyer from Copenhagen back to MEL.

Now I could have booked J Flight of Copenhagen on SQ, but I preferred to grab Suites back and as there was availability in Suites for FRA-SIN-MEL I rang up and was able to book it as a *A Reward from Copenhagen with the first leg being on LH in J.

This gained the lower cost *A points (though remember now in F rather than J). Taxes and charges increased from $60 odd to $170 odd due to mainly YQ charges.

So effectively the change to *A cost me an extra $110 pp, but saved Krisflyer points. Note that I could have done likewise in J, but then due the longer total time, extra stop-over etc I would probably just fly SQ from Copenhagen. So flying Suites instead made it worthwhile for me.