Singapore Airlines has launched its latest Spontaneous Escapes award sale, and this month’s deals can be booked until 8/31/24 for travel between 9/1/24 and 9/30/24. Included in this month’s deals is an attractive option that I flew last year: Singapore’s Fifth Freedom route from NYC to Frankfurt in Business Class on the Singapore 777. During the promotion, the flight is available for 56,700 in Business Class each way… and availability is quite good for much of the month.
The deal
- Singapore Airlines has released this month’s Spontaneous Escapes, offering discounts to/from Europe and other destinations. This month’s deals must be booked by 31/08/24 and flown between September 1-30, 2024 (but note that some routes have blackout dates). Deal options include:
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- New York (JFK) to/from Frankfurt for 56,700 miles each way in Business class36,400 in Premium Economy Class or 17,500 in Business
- Los Angeles (LAX) to/from Singapore for 52,500 miles each way and New York (JFK) to/from Singapore for 56,350 miles each way in Premium Economy Class
Direct link to the offer
Key terms
- Booking required by 31.08.24
- Must fly between 1.9.24 and 30.9.24
- Blocked dates apply to many routes
Short thoughts
A fifth freedom route is when a long-haul airline operates a flight outside its home network, primarily to take advantage of aircraft downtime between long-haul flights. This provides a great opportunity to try out a product that would otherwise be reserved exclusively for flights to and from the airline’s home airport. A notable example is Singapore’s JFK to Frankfurt route, which goes on sale this month.
Seats on this route must be booked directly with Singapore Airlines and the fare of 56,700 miles represents a 30% discount on the regular fare. Singapore has several transfer partners, making it relatively easy to earn KrisFlyer miles:
If you can’t afford business class, flights between the US and Asia for $52,000 to $56,000 in premium economy are a good deal considering how good the inflight experience is on Singapore. Especially on a daytime flight, it can be very tempting to get a little more legroom and good inflight entertainment for a little extra than what many airlines charge in economy class.
In the past, the main reason to book through Singapore Krisflyer was that you couldn’t find business or first class seats on any of Singapore Airlines’ partner airlines. Booking through Krisflyer (and often paying a premium over and above the price charged by other airlines) made sense because it was often the only way to book premium cabin travel on Singapore.
Today, Air Canada Aeroplan has access to many of Singapore Airlines’ premium cabins. While Spontaneous Escapes fares allow you to book business class from New York to Frankfurt for the discounted price of 56,700 miles, that’s only a modest discount from what Air Canada Aeroplan would normally charge for the same route (60,000 miles).
If you use Aeroplan, you also have the option to continue with other partners (of course, you’ll pay more miles if you travel in the next distance class). More importantly, you have the option to cancel and get your miles back for $150 CAD (about $111 USD). With a Singapore Spontaneous Escapes award, you have no option to cancel or change the award… which might be less important since it’s only valid for travel in the coming month.
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