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In the comments of my recent post detailing “Best options for first class awards to Hawaii,” a reader reminded me that it is now possible to book United flights online at singaporeair.com (thanks Derek). That’s great news!
In November 2017, Singapore Airlines had announced a new Star Alliance award chart (i.e. higher award prices) and their intention to make Star Alliance awards available online starting December 7 2017. You can read more about these changes here. Also note that Singapore’s award change fees will go up on March 1 2018 (details here). Compared to many other airlines, their change fees will still be quite low though (e.g. $50 to change a Star Alliance award; $75 to cancel for a full refund).
I don’t know if partner award searches really became available on December 7, but I can confirm that at least the ability to book United flights is live now. Their booking screen indicates that the ability to book partners online is “being rolled out progressively,” so I can’t promise that all partners are available yet (probably not).
Why this is interesting
The ability to book United (and other Star Alliance) flights with Singapore Airlines miles is great for a number of reasons:
- Singapore Airlines miles are super easy to get. You can transfer from Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, or SPG.
- Singapore’s award pricing is sometimes much better than United’s for the exact same flights. For example, Singapore charges only 60K miles round-trip for business class flights to Hawaii, whereas United charges 80K.
- Singapore has no close-in ticketing fees whereas United will charge you $75 per ticket if you try to book an award that departs within 21 days.
- Singapore’s change and cancellation fees are much lower than United’s.
One big disadvantage to using Singapore miles, though, is that Singapore will include fuel surcharges when you book an award whereas United never does. On the other hand, if you use Singapore miles to book a carrier that doesn’t charge fuel surcharges (such as United!), then you won’t have to worry about that extra expense.
How to book awards online at singaporeair.com
1) Find award space on United.com
United.com’s award search capabilities aren’t perfect, but they’re way better than Singapore’s. Without logging into your United account (because logging in can potentially show you more availability than what Singapore can see), search for the awards you want. The key is to find “Saver Award” space as shown below:
Be careful about results that indicate “mixed cabin” because it may mean that part of your trip is in economy even if you were searching for business or first class.
Note that the prices you see here are not what you’ll pay at singaporeair.com. The point of looking on United.com is just to find award availability. Singapore has different award prices than United for many routes even if you use Singapore miles to fly United.
2) Search for the same flight on singaporeair.com
The first thing you’ll see when you browse to singaporeair.com, is the “Book a trip” tab. Click “Redeem flights” to get started. Enter all of your flight details based on the flight you found in step 1.
In this example, I searched for a United business class flight from Los Angeles to Maui on February 12th. United would have charged 40,000 miles plus $80.60 (due to their close-in booking fee), but Singapore charges just 30,000 miles plus $5.60.
3) Transfer Points to Singapore Airlines
If you don’t have enough points in your Singapore Airlines account to book the flight, you’ll now have to transfer the needed points into your account. You can expect the following transfer times (based on data points from this Flyertalk thread):
- Amex Membership Rewards: Usually overnight. May be longer on weekends.
- Chase Ultimate Rewards: 1.5 hours to 2 days
- Citi ThankYou Rewards: 1 to 2 days
- SPG: Typically 4 days or more
Unfortunately there’s always a chance that the award you found will be gone by the time you have the points to book it. For that reason I’d recommend against transferring SPG points for a hard to get award.
Personally I prefer to use Citi ThankYou Rewards when transferring to Singapore since Amex, Chase, and SPG have other valuable partners that I’d rather use those points for when possible. To transfer from Citi ThankYou Rewards you need a premium ThankYou card such as the Citi Premier or Citi Prestige card.
4) Book the award
Once you have enough miles in your account, you can redo the search as described above and book the award online.
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[…] card or elite status that is not available for partner bookings) or SingaporeAir.com (See: Book United flights online with Singapore miles– but note that business class prices have increased since that post was written). For Alaska […]
We have like 9000 miles expiring with Singapore and have been trying to search for Star alliance awards. I can’t find a signal domestic route showing up when searching with Singapore. Does this not work anymore? Tried multiple dates and cities to/from several major airports.
[…] credit card or elite status that is not available for partner bookings) or SingaporeAir.com (See: Book United flights online with Singapore miles – but note that business class prices have increased since that post was […]
[…] card or elite status that is not available for partner bookings) or SingaporeAir.com (See: Book United flights online with Singapore miles– but note that business class prices have increased since that post was […]
[…] card or elite status that is not available for partner bookings) or SingaporeAir.com (See: Book United flights online with Singapore miles– but note that business class prices have increased since that post was […]
[…] card or elite status that is not available for partner bookings) or SingaporeAir.com (See: Book United flights online with Singapore miles– but note that business class prices have increased since that post was written). For Alaska […]
[…] credit card or elite status that is not available for partner bookings) or SingaporeAir.com (See: Book United flights online with Singapore miles – but note that business class prices have increased since that post was […]
i just tried booking LAX-OGG and SFO-BOS and both times singapore airs website said “please note that Redemption Service is not available for the selected Origin and Destination pair”
[…] Airlines will allow you to book United Airlines awards online (Correct! Singapore Airlines added the ability to book award flights on United Airlines in […]
I have been trying to get business class saver awards to Europe for many months but to no avail
Any tips? It never used to be this difficult
I found an award first on United, then in Singapore Air site for DSM-LIH July 11. When selecting the flight it shows 17,500, however in the booking summary it shows 30,000 miles. Anyone else seeing discrepancy such as this? Is it not possible to book the award flight on the website, we must call in to get the correct award chart rate?
Weird. I see what you mean.
Here’s the problem: the layover is more than 4 hours. See #2 in the “Things I don’t like” section of this post:
https://frequentmiler.com/2017/06/01/singapore-krisflyer-6-things-love-3-things-dont/
I’m just surprised that Singapore shows the itinerary since it can’t be booked like that as a single award. What’s happening on the price is that you’re being charged 12.5K for the one-way to DEN and then 17.5K for the one-way to Lihue. You need to find an itinerary with a layover under 4 hours.
Good catch, I missed the 4hr layover restriction. I found another award with a 41min layover and it is also showing different miles in booking summary 17,500 vs 30,000 (OMA – LIH June 27). The only one I found that the miles match is for a direct flights (one example LAX-LIH 28 June). I am wondering if it is something with total travel time. Singapore shows an incorrect high hr travel time, it may be automatically triggering as a layover and two awards. To check this theory I found on 1May2019 SFO-LAX-LIH shows 17,500, 21 hr travel time and also adds to 30,000 miles in the booking summary.
I appreciate the quick response Nick, I am trying to learn as much as I can about Singapore awards for travel to Hawaii. Right now i am “practice searching”, my goal is to book a economy roundtrip flight for 4 from DSM or OMA to LIH in June of 2019. Flights for June 2019 will be opening up shortly.
Weird. Call Singapore and see what it prices at on the phone. I’ve called Singapore a number of times. In my experience, most agents are competent and efficient. If you get one who isn’t, politely thank them and hang up and call again – don’t waste time beating your head against the wall with the small percentage who aren’t.
same problem here….trying to book United DEN-SFO-OGG (1 1/2 hour layover). Shows available on Singapore site for 17.5 but summary shows 30. I really don’t want to call but I’ve tried to make it work for a few days now.
Did you have success booking the flight for the correct miles? How far out are your booking? I’ve found bookings (2-4wks) seem to have better availability than 11 months. It seems more inventory is released closer to the flight?
I’m having the exact same issue from OGG to SFO to ORD. 45 minute layover. Site says 17.5, summary 30. And when I call, 30. Any suggestions?
Same for me. I told the rep that it should be 17,500 per person according to the award chart. i also mentioned that she could look in my account and see that I have booked this same itin several times for 17,500 per person. She put me on hold and came back and told me that they will work on it and get it booked. She called me back in an hour and it was ticketed correctly. IT must have broken something in regards to the econ united hawaii flights but they have the ability to override it somehow. Not ideal, but still the best value from alabama to hawaii. Heading to the grand hyatt kauai this Sunday. Yippee!
Mine did that TOO (Nov) how far out are u looking ?? Maybe turn off ur VPN mine Mucks up some stuff Citi ect .. Yes try another browser .
Post how u fixed it ..
CHEERs
I am trying to book a RT flight on singapore using redeem flight option from ATL OGG. But it comes back with an error message “There is no ZONE info defined for this itinerary.”. Not sure what this means. Is there a way to book this itinerary?
That’s weird. I haven’t had that happen. Maybe try a different browser or incognito window in case it’s a cookie issue.
Did you ever find a solution? I am unable to book anything wholly within the U.S. on United…it won’t even let me select 2 U.S. cities.
Hi Joel. I just noticed that the Singapore Air website won’t let me book anything wholly within the U.S. anymore either. This was working last week. Looks like it’s back to calling in to book flights to Hawaii.
Thanks for the confirmation. I called in and they told me the flight wasn’t released to KF yet, even though there was saver awards availability and to call back in 24 hours, which I have done both days since to no avail…frustrating to say the least with no warning…
I think I’m experiencing the same issue. Cannot search any routes to Hawaii with a US destination as origin. Has anyone talked to the desk about this?
Separate question – Must it be a 22.5K saver award on United or are there some 45K saver awards that can be booked using Singapore miles as well?
Thanks!
Yes, it must be a 22.5K saver award to book with any partner (Singapore, Air Canada, etc). That’s almost universally true when booking awards with partner airlines — partners generally only have access to the lowest level saver awards. Despite United’s effort to convince you that 45K is a “saver” award, it really isn’t.
On a side note, don’t forget to have your Untied flights credited to your Kriss flyer account to get actual miles flown versa revenue miles. You can go to your profile and changed it.
Not so much anymore except in the most expensive fare classes. In September they changed the program to award miles on United flights as follows…
Economy:
100% – B, E, H, M, U, Y
75% – Q, V, W
50% – L, S, T
25% – G, K
Here’s the chart: https://www.singaporeair.com/saar5/pdf/ppsclub_krisflyer/charts/KFOALLevels.pdf
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