Need some redemption help/suggestions

[bubbles]

Hi everyone

I'm rather new here. I've been reading the forums now and then but never posted/commented on any of the threads. So this time, I think I need some help/advice and would be most grateful if anyone could assist. Sorry if these questions have been asked before

I currently have 211,543 miles, all accumulated mostly via AMEX as I haven't been travelling much the last 2 years. I checked my KF yesterday and noticed that I have quite a fair bit of miles expiring every month from, well today onwards



So I've been thinking of redeeming my miles at one shot but I'm wondering if what I'm planning to do is wise (i.e. 'efficient' use of mileage?). So my plan was to do the following:

1. Round Trip Biz Class Saver tix redemption for SIN-MEL-SIN: This works out to be 153k miles + $857.20 in taxes and surcharges (is this per pax? If this is per pax then perhaps its not that worth it since airfare now is around $900?).

My hesitation is that by using 153k for 2 biz class tix to melbourne doesn't seem to be worth it since my initial thought was that I should be using whatever miles I have for some place "further" and perhaps travel the distance longer on business class. I want to treat my husband to a long haul business class trip but i'm thinking perhaps MEL isn't that "long haul" enough if that makes sense? But then, I don't exactly have enough miles to go to London or San Fran on biz class either apart from opting to top up

My question is:

1) would it be more worth it to buy an economy class ticket (and maybe earn some miles as well) and then use my miles to upgrade instead? If i'm not wrong alot of the cheap/promo fares does not allow upgrading? I'm still trying to grasp the class fare types - wiki/google helped a lil.

2) looking at my miles expiring, if i redeem say 153k miles now, does that mean the miles expiring in the next 12 months are "cleared" - i.e. no more miles expiring?

If anyone has any better suggestion do let me know. I'm really open to any destination as I just want to see how far my miles can take me.

[Sethor]

Q1- Redeeming flights is much better use of miles than to use them for upgrades.

Q2- Your oldest accumulated miles will be used up first when redeeming.

[bubbles]

Hi Sethor, thanks for the advice!

I note that quite a number of flights which I randomly select where the Saver option is on waitlist. Was trying to look this up on KF but somehow I couldn't find it but how long before they tell me prior to my flight that my wait list is not successful?

[milehighj]

Round Trip Biz Class Saver tix redemption for SIN-MEL-SIN: This works out to be 153k miles + $857.20 in taxes and surcharges (is this per pax? If this is per pax then perhaps its not that worth it since airfare now is around $900?). .

That is the price in miles + taxes for 2 pax.

[kapitan]

SIN - MEL and back, 7 hours+ in the plane, well, in my mind, it is long hual enough....

[9V-JKL]

I think Australia is quite poor value for use of 153K KF miles. For 34K more, you could make a trip to Europe. AMS, CPH, FCO still offer Biz saver. Those would be 12h flights

[bubbles]

Hi everyone, thanks for the replies!!

9V-JKL: That's what I thought too! Hmm, I'll just have to work out the dates, most of the saver options are on waitlist (that popular!?)

Sigh, I wanted San Fran/NY but biz class on those need like 300k-400k miles

[vsepr]

You earn the miles mostly from AMEX KrisFlyer Gold card? They transfer your miles monthly to KrisFlyer hence indirectly force you to use your miles even when you don't feel like flying and make you wait the following year's February to get the bonus 50% + 50% even when you need to use miles urgently. They make you pay S$60 admin fee every year but can waive the S$50 annual fee. S$1.60 spent = 1 mile or spend $12k per year, the rate goes down to S$0.80 = 1 mile.

Citibank cards are the best in Singapore market...they only make you pay S$25 per transfer, meaning transfer your points to KrisFlyer ONLY when you need to fly, so that your miles don't get locked for 3 years.

7 must have credit cards to earn the most miles =>
Delta SkyMiles, KrisFlyer, THAI’s Royal Orchid Plus:

1. Citi PremierMiles Card: $1 = 1.2 miles (OR $0.83 = 1 mile, usually is $2.50 = 1 mile hence 3x) on ALL your spending at anywhere. Note: S$25 admin fee applies for each mileage transfer.

Delta SkyMiles, KrisFlyer, THAI’s Royal Orchid Plus & Asia Miles:

2. Citi Platinum Visa/MasterCard: 5x rewards at departmental stores and supermarkets.
Every $1 spent get 5 Citidollars = 2 miles, ie: $1 spent = 2 miles, compared to Citi Premiermiles: $1 = 1.2 miles

Citibank 5X Rewards Merchants

Department Stores (Note: Citi Rewards Card awards 10x points)
Tangs . Isetan . John Little . Marks & Spencer . Metro . OG . Robinsons . BHG . Takashimaya Department Store.

Supermarkets/Hypermarket
Carrefour . Cold Storage . Giant . Market Place . NTUC Fair Price . Shop N Save . Singapore Meidi-Ya. Sheng Siong


3. Citi Clear Platinum Card:
5X Rewards at:

Nightspots - Zouk, Butter Factory, Wala Wala Café Bar, Helipad, Timbre, Brewerkz, St James Power Station and more
• Cinemas - Cathay, Golden Village, Shaw, Eng Wah and more
• Cafes - Starbucks, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf ®, TCC, Spinelli, Coffee Club and more
• Book Stores - Borders, Kinokuniya, MPH, Times, POPULAR Bookshop and more
• Music Stores - Gramaphone, That CD Shop, HMV and more

4. Citi Rewards Card: Enjoy rewards X10 (S$ 1 spend = Citi$ 10) whenever you shop for shoes, bags or clothing (Eg: BATA, Giordano, Hang Ten, World of Sports etc) or at department stores, locally & overseas. S$1 spent = 4 miles!
Department Stores
Tangs . Isetan . John Little . Marks & Spencer . Metro . OG . Robinsons . BHG . Takashimaya Department Store.

Note: UOB Preferred Platinum American Express® Card also earn 10x points for every S$5 spent at any department store or any retail store worldwide that sells clothes, shoes, or bags as its main business activity. But it awards points for every S$5 spent. If you spend S$9.99, you will lose out the points for the balance S$4.99 part & miles are transferred in blocks of 10,000 miles, S$20 admin fee per transfer, so no good. Same for DBS Altitude Card, points are awarded for every S$5 spent and transferred in blocks of 2000 miles, S$42.80 annual fee applies, so no good.


Can combine Citidollars from Clear Platinum, Platinum Visa/Mastercard & Citi Rewards Card to transfer to Frequent Flyer programs and pay S$25 admin fee once, by calling Citibank at 6225 5225.

5. American Express Rewards Card

Pay S$50 annual fee to get 16,000 points = 10,000 miles or redeem S$100 worth of vouchers. Note: S$20 admin fee applies for each transfer to Frequent Flyer Programmes. Get the 16,000 points & throw away the card.

KrisFlyer only:

6. American Express Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Gold Credit Card. (1st year free, no fee to transfer miles for 1st year)

The very first time you charge to your American Express Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Gold Credit Card, we will give you an activation bonus of 5,000 KrisFlyer miles. So…use once and can throw away..because S$1.60 = 1 mile..no good. Want the 5000 bonus only. Need minimum spending of $12k or $5k for bonus 50% + 50% miles, no good.

KrisFlyer only:

7. Maybank Horizon Platinum Visa Card (free conversion to KrisFlyer)

Earn 5x tr'eats Points (redeemable for 2 air miles) with every S$1 charged for air ticket / travel packages (Airlines eg: Singapore Airlines, Tiger Airways, Jetstar etc & travel agent charges), purchases at Perfumes & Cosmetics outlets at Singapore Changi Airport, and overseas foreign transactions.

• Flexibility to covert tr'eats Points to frequent flyer miles for Singapore Airlines (KrisFlyer) or Malaysia Airlines (Enrich)
o Attractive conversion rates – 1,250 tr'eats Points = 500 miles
• Free conversion fee of tr'eats Points to KrisFlyer miles and Enrich miles for Maybank MasterCard Platinum and Maybank Horizon Platinum Visa Card;
Sign up for REWARDS INFINITE VALUE (1st year free, 2nd year onwards $10.70 annual fee)

Application form at:
http://info.maybank2u.com.sg/pdf/car..._enrolment.pdf



10x tr’eats Points ▪ Petrol & EZ-link auto top up

▪ F&B outlets
▪ Ben & Jerry’s
▪ Breeks! Café
▪ Crystal Jade
▪ Dian Xiao Er
▪ Din Tai Fung
▪ Ichiban Boshi
▪ Jack’s Place
▪ Kuishin-Bo
▪ Sakura International Buffet
▪ Seoul Garden
▪ Soup Restaurant
▪ Sushi Tei
▪ Thai Express

• Fashion outlets
o Bossini
o Fox Fashion
o G2000
o Giordano
o Hang Ten
o Mango
o ZARA
o Topshop/Topman


10x treats point => S$1 spent= 4 miles!!

[bubbles]

vsepr: wow!! thanks for the comprehensive list! I'll go back and read them and compare - i know there are quite a number of banks giving out cards with such schemes attached but i never got around to comparing them and also AMEX KF has been with me since I relocated here. I spend more than $15k/year so far because we charge just about everything to it, including my wedding expenses.

From a glance, it looks like Citi might be a good one?

I don't normally like to carry too many credit cards because it's quite a nuisance to pay different cards every month (altho GIRO's always an option but who would have thought GIRO setup takes so long in some cases?!)

[bubbles]

Does anyone know if I'm able to redeem flights returning from a different destination?

Example:

Depart: SIN - MEL
Return: SYD - SIN

I didn't see the multi-city stopover in the redemption form. Does that mean I have to redeem 2 one-way tixs?

[9V-JKL]

Yes. I did the exact same routing as you last year albeit with BD miles instead.

With a A$20.10 AVV to SYD fare on JQ

[demue]

Bit late to the game but I still think any longer haul 6+hrs Biz saver redemption to Japan/ Oz / NZ and of course further to Europe is worth the mileage on SQ. In particular if some of those miles are about to expire soon. I will be in the same situation in a few months and will be looking for SIN-FRA or FRA-SIN or FCO-SIN most likley.

[bubbles]

Hi

Just a quick query, I just booked a flight to Rome on biz class cos I wanted to clear my miles which was expiring. The flight to Rome is on wait list whilst the return is confirmed.

My question is, does it mean if my itinerary is not confirmed (i.e. where i pay the surcharge/taxes), the miles would not be deducted from my account? Or does it have to do with one sector being waitlist?

Anyway, i figured I may as well also extend the expiry of my miles instead of burning it. Replies much appreciated!

[KC*]

Does anyone know if I'm able to redeem flights returning from a different destination?

Example:

Depart: SIN - MEL
Return: SYD - SIN

I didn't see the multi-city stopover in the redemption form. Does that mean I have to redeem 2 one-way tixs?

A bit late to reply you but yes, you book as 2 one-way tixs. The cost to you is no different in terms of miles or surcharge compared with a return tix as SQ divides the whole lot by half exactly.

In fact, there are some advantages to booking as two one way tix because if you make any changes to one of the two legs, there is no effect on the other and hence, you save on penalty costs (if any).

[fone]

Hi

Just a quick query, I just booked a flight to Rome on biz class cos I wanted to clear my miles which was expiring. The flight to Rome is on wait list whilst the return is confirmed.

My question is, does it mean if my itinerary is not confirmed (i.e. where i pay the surcharge/taxes), the miles would not be deducted from my account? Or does it have to do with one sector being waitlist?

Anyway, i figured I may as well also extend the expiry of my miles instead of burning it. Replies much appreciated!

Yes, the miles are not deducted because your itinerary is not confirmed and because you still have one sector in the waitlist, you cannot confirm the itinerary. What I did previously, was to book the flights individually (as 2 one-way tickets) so that I can confirm one flight. As for the flight being waitlisted, I had a confirmed back-up redemption in another class of service, which I cancelled after the waitlist clears.