Best use of Amex points [for Singapore Airlines?]

[Skafhold]

Hi All,

Long time points/awards booking user, first time poster on this forum. I am hoping to get some info from the wealth of knowledge on this website.

A bit of background:
For years we have used our points (mainly through an altitude black card) to book biz class saver award seats on Singapore. We have always found that they were easy enough to find availability. We have also had the luxury of earning quite a high number of points through our business, so we weren't super critical on watching the use of points if we had to book an advantage here or there.
However, since the change from 2:1 to 3:1 in with Singapore, we have found that we are consuming our points at quite a rapid rate.
Based on this, I added an Amex Platinum card to the biz (we still have the altitude black that we use alot), so that we would have more options with airlines that we could redeem points for.
It has been years since I did any research of other airlines besides Singapore.

Any obvious tips or pointers on which airlines that we should look at to get better use of our points?
We are usually flying Europe and SEA as a group of 4. The few searches I did on other airlines, I saw no availability at all. So are any of the other airlines remotely close to Singapore in terms of ease of finding availability?

Thank you very much if you took the time to read so far, and even more so if you take the time to share some knowledge with me.

 

[Doctore1003]

Hi, SQ definitely has the best availability for a group of 4 wanting to travel business class. I'd stick with them.
You can get a slightly better rate than 3:1 from Amex if you transfer points to Velocity first during a 20% promo (these occur fairly regularly) and then from Velocity you can transfer to KrisFlyer.
For example: 100,000 MR - > 60k Velocity (50k plus a 20% bonus) -> 39k KrisFlyer (the transfer rate is 1:55:1)
There may also be promotions from KrisFlyer in the future, like this one right now: 15k bonus KrisFlyer miles when you transfer 150k MR points

 

[Skafhold]

Hi, SQ definitely has the best availability for a group of 4 wanting to travel business class. I'd stick with them.
You can get a slightly better rate than 3:1 from Amex if you transfer points to Velocity first during a 20% promo (these occur fairly regularly) and then from Velocity you can transfer to KrisFlyer.
For example: 100,000 MR - > 60k Velocity (50k plus a 20% bonus) -> 39k KrisFlyer (the transfer rate is 1:55:1)
There may also be promotions from KrisFlyer in the future, like this one right now: 15k bonus KrisFlyer miles when you transfer 150k MR points

Thank you for your reply.

I do quite often book flights for my parents who travel as a 2. If booking biz class for a pair, are there options just as easy as Singapore airlines to use/book?

 

[Human]

Thank you for your reply.

I do quite often book flights for my parents who travel as a 2. If booking biz class for a pair, are there options just as easy as Singapore airlines to use/book?

Just as easy as Singapore Airlines? No. Better value? Yes.

It takes 90,000 Qatar Avios to fly to/from Europe in Business Class; with a 2:1 transfer rate that's only 180,000 MR points. So that's obviously a lot fewer points than a Singapore Airlines award.

But be aware that there are fewer Qatar flights out of Australia, and Qatar also releases fewer award seats -- so award seats are much more difficult to find. But for 2 people it's doable, especially if you're able to book a year out.

 

[Doctore1003]

Just as easy as Singapore Airlines? No. Better value? Yes.

It takes 90,000 Qatar Avios to fly to/from Europe in Business Class; with a 2:1 transfer rate that's only 180,000 MR points. So that's obviously a lot fewer points than a Singapore Airlines award.

But be aware that there are fewer Qatar flights out of Australia, and Qatar also releases fewer award seats -- so award seats are much more difficult to find. But for 2 people it's doable, especially if you're able to book a year out.

This thread may be of interest Anyone had luck booking 90K J Savers to Europe next summer?