After flying in May to Europe and back in a mix of SQ and EK First, we are hooked (especially on SQ!). Since we had a plethora of points still in our MR account, even after booking a quick getaway for November on SQ to Bali, we decided it was time for another trip to the USA to see family and do some damage at Premium Outlets, Target, and Bath & Body Works (the amount of items bought will of course increase at the same percentage as the AUD gains on the USD).
I thought I'd just share my recent redemption booking experience.
THE INITIAL PLAN: *A award booking, Sydney to USA. First destination is DEN, so anywhere as a port of entry, and then connect to DEN. We would then book our own internal flights DEN-->LAS-->SEA-->LAX and then book award return to Sydney from LAX via ICN or NRT with a stopover.
Time Frame: June/July 2018 - We set calendar reminders to call SQ 355 days prior to travel dates.
OUTBOUND SQ's Plan: Air Canada from SYD-YVR-LAX in J. "United doesn't open award seats to other carriers until a few months out, so you are better off booking that yourself" - Declined this option. No F with Air Canada, ANA doesn't open up this far in advance. United, well, I have some very close friends who work for UA both tech and cabin crew, but I wouldn't choose them to burn points with in their premium product. We do use them for domestic first flights, as DEN (hometown) is a UA Hub.
OUTBOUND Result: Booked SYD-SIN-ICN-LAX in Suites (SYD-SIN) and First (777-300ER for the rest). I could have booked online, but since we were already on the phone the agent did the booking for us, then wait-listed us to SQ222 instead of SQ232 for a more preferable connection time (shorter).
RETURN PLAN: LAX-->NRT or ICN -- STOPOVER x 2 nights -->SIN--SYD
This was more complicated due to the date differences in the the US vs. here, and because of the stopover, and because SQ11 is LAX-NRT-SIN all on the same flight number and aircraft, each leg was booked separate. If booked as one direct flight without the stopover, first was available. As separate flights, first was only available NRT-SIN, and for the LAX-NRT sector only J was available with F Waitlist. Also, since we were leaving LAX on 18 July, the flights for SIN-SYD after the stopover were not in he system yet. It took 3 days of calling to get it sorted, but the SQ staff were always helpful. SQ made reservations for us on both LAX-NRT and LAX-ICN (as we were willing to do a stopover in either city) in J and wait listed us on both for F. SIN-SYD was confirmed in Suites, but only SQ231 was avail, a 0045 departure). This would mean a 19 hour layover in SIN if coming from ICN, or a 3 hour coming from NRT. No, we didn't have time for another stopover in SIN.
As we had a 4 August ticketing deadline, we asked the reservations agent to request an expedited clearance of the wait list. We received an SMS and email from SQ 4 hours later advising us our seats were available for confirmation. So we called back, and booked: LAX-NRT -- 2 night stopover (49 hours arrival to departure) -- SIN-SYD, all F except Suites SIN-SYD.
Our Cost: 308,000 KF points each, and $148 each in tax SYD-LAX and $239 each in tax LAX-SYD. Still great value in my opinion, as booking EY in F via Velocity, it would cost 408K each person return. QF, well I don't think I'd ever find an F award seat. On EK I'd need 450K each person.
Our Total: 616,000 points and $774 in taxes.
Cost to Purchase: $14,687.62 X 2 = $29,375.24
Value of Points: 4.64 cents per point ($29,735.24 - $774.00 taxes = $28.601.24 / 616,000 points)
Cost if you bought 616,000 MR points from Amex and converted to KF $15,400 (basically a 2 for 1 first class return trip, even that isn't a bad deal).
Lessons Learned:
1) *A bookings are really difficult this far out (355 days) due to the other carriers, especially as we didn't want to fly anything other than SQ Suites/First for the international segments. If you have a "touch" of OCD like we do, and like all the details sorted months in advance, the *A option may be a challenge.
2) I miss the 15% online discount
3) You don't get what you don't ask for. If we had not asked for the reservation agent to contact the route manager re: wait list, who knows how long we would have sat on it, and even if we would have been able to get the seats. With only 4 F seats on the 777-300ER, it will be more competitive to get these seats.
Now my question...... Would you look at changing this later in the year, and still try to get a *A booking, maybe on ANA or something like that? Any idea when ANA opens up F seats? What else did we do wrong?
