How to Book Singapore Airlines First Class With Points

Singapore Airlines has long been regarded as one of the best premium airlines in the world. Known not only for its excellent business class, but maybe even more so for its flagship First Class Suites, which is only rivaled by Etihad Airways’ First Class Apartment and Residence.

Beyond the impressive hard product, Singapore Airlines is renowned for its exceptional service. The cabin crew are among the most attentive in the sky, delivering a highly personalized and engaged experience throughout.

Singapore Airlines currently operates two distinct first class products. The airline offers first class on both its Airbus A380 and Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. On the A380, passengers can enjoy the latest-generation Singapore Suites, which will be the main focus of the guide. While both products are highly regarded, the A380 Suites experience is generally considered the airline’s most premium offering and is widely viewed as one of the best first class experiences currently available to book using points and miles.

In this guide, we’ll take an in-depth look at Singapore Airlines first class, exploring both the ground and onboard experience, and the best way to book one of the world’s leading first class products using points.

Singapore First Class Flight Experience

It might be easy to be confused by the distinction between Singapore Airlines Suites and First Class, so it’s worth clarifying the difference. Singapore Airlines offers Suites exclusively on its Airbus A380 aircraft, and first class is found on its Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.

Although the two experiences differ significantly, award pricing is the same across both products. However, because First Class on the Boeing 777 is recognized as an inferior product compared to the A380 Suites, award availability is often better on routes operated by the Boeing 777.

In practice, while both products are considered first class, the distinction in branding reflects the fact that the A380 Suites deliver a substantially more premium and exclusive experience than the airline’s traditional First Class cabin found on the 777.

On both aircraft, you can expect the same excellent service and dining experience. You’ll also have access to Singapore Airlines’ Book the Cook program, which allows you to pre-order from more than two dozen meal options before your flight.

Regardless of whether you’re on the A380 or 777, you’ll still be treated to an array of luxury  amenities including Lalique cosmetics and sleepwear.

Airbus A380 Suites

Singapore Airlines operates 12 Airbus A380 aircraft, each featuring six Suites on the upper deck in a 1–1 configuration.

Each suite offers an enormous amount of personal space with a privacy door, along with a reclining armchair and a separate bed.

Boeing 777 First Class

First Class on the Boeing 777-300ER consists of just four lie-flat seats arranged in a 1-2-1 configuration in the first row of the aircraft.

Each seat offers direct aisle access and converts into a lie-flat bed. At 35 inches wide, the first class seat is also among the widest seats on a plane, providing plenty of personal space.

Singapore Airlines First Class Routes

Singapore Airlines currently operates the Airbus A380 on seven routes from its Singapore (SIN) hub to the following destinations:

• London–Heathrow (LHR)
• Frankfurt (FRA)
• Delhi (DEL)
• Mumbai (BOM)
• Shanghai (PVG)
• Sydney (SYD)
• Melbourne (MEL)

Singapore Airlines has a much larger standard first class network than its Suites product. The airline operates 22 Boeing 777-300ER aircraft equipped with first class cabins, serving many of the same destinations as the Airbus A380, as well as additional cities such as Los Angeles (LAX) and New York (JFK), the airline’s only North American routes that currently offer first class.

For reference, a one-way first class redemption between Singapore and either Los Angeles (LAX) or New York (JFK) typically costs around 270,000 KrisFlyer miles.

Which Route & Direction to Fly

If possible, it’s worth booking an itinerary that either originates from or connects through Singapore Changi Airport. Flying first class provides access to the airline’s exclusive The Private Room, its flagship first class lounge.

In The Private Room, you’re treated to a calm oasis away from the bustle of a major international airport, where you can enjoy a fine dining experience along with amenities such as showers and nap rooms.

As for which route to choose, I would recommend avoiding the flight departing from London–Heathrow (LHR) due to the very high departure taxes imposed on flights leaving that airport. Beyond that, most other routes are viable options and largely come down to how many KrisFlyer miles you have and are willing to use, since Singapore Airlines does not add fuel surcharges, taxes are typically around $100 or less.

With that in mind, I think most travelers looking to redeem points for Singapore First Class will want to focus on flights operated by the Airbus A380, as that’s where the airline’s most sought-after premium experience can be found.

The longer routes to Europe and Australia offer the most time in the air to fully enjoy the Singapore Suites experience, but they also come with a much higher mileage cost, often requiring 200,000 KrisFlyer miles or more.

On the other hand, shorter routes to destinations like India and Shanghai require significantly fewer miles, but the tradeoff is a much shorter flight. These routes still run around five to six hours, which provides a reasonable balance of cost to duration ratio and enough time to enjoy most of the onboard experience. Redemptions for Singapore Airlines’ shorter first class routes often require just over 100,000 KrisFlyer miles per direction.

Booking Singapore First Class with Points

Now that we’ve taken a look at the Singapore First Class experience and you’ve decided you’d like to book it for yourself, let’s cover how to go about securing a first class redemption using points.

Booking Singapore First Class with Singapore KrisFlyer

If you’re hoping to book this flight with points, your options are limited. Singapore Airlines restricts Suites and First Class award redemptions to its own KrisFlyer program, meaning these seats cannot be booked through partner frequent flyer programs.

While being limited to a single frequent flyer program is very restrictive, Singapore Airlines’ decision to reserve access for its own members comes with a notable advantage. The airline is quite generous with the number of First Class and Suites award seats it makes available through its KrisFlyer program, making these premium cabin redemptions more attainable for members.

Using the Singapore Airlines website is the best way to search for award availability, as most award search tools like seats.aero do not yet support Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer particularly well. Singapore Airlines releases award space starting at 355 days in advance, but that doesn’t necessarily mean saver award space is always available as soon as the schedule opens.

To begin your search, navigate to the Singapore Airlines website and log in to your KrisFlyer account.

From there, select the “Redeem flights” option and enter your desired route along with your preferred travel dates.

On the search results page, you’ll see your flight options along with the corresponding pricing. The Singapore Airlines website does not include a full calendar view, but it does offer a seven-day award availability display at the top of the results, which I’ve found to be quite reliable.

Do note that Singapore Airlines may operate multiple flights per day on some routes using both the Boeing 777 and Airbus A380, so it’s important to check the aircraft type before booking.

You may notice in the search results that there are three award pricing tiers. I’ll explain how each of the award tiers works:

• Saver Awards – These awards are the cheapest option, but have limited availability.
• Advantage Awards – These awards are priced higher, at roughly 80% more, but they offer improved award availability.

• Access Awards – This pricing tier is similar to Aeroplan dynamic pricing for Air Canada flights, where every seat is available for redemption, but the required points are often astronomical.

In my experience, finding Singapore Suites award availability at the Saver level is exceedingly rare. The airline tends to release more first class Saver award space on the 777, but it is much less common on the A380. Therefore, if you want a reliable shot at securing a Singapore Suites redemption, go in expecting to pay at least the Advantage Award rate.

Furthermore, if you’re trying to book multiple seats, this will significantly complicate your efforts. It’s unlikely you’ll find Saver award space for more than one passenger, although you may occasionally be able to secure two seats at the Advantage level. However, expect your options to plummet drastically on most routes.

Unfortunately, as is often the case with highly desirable and very limited first class awards, flying solo always provides the best odds.

It’s not uncommon to find no Saver Award availability on certain routes. For example, the Frankfurt and London–Heathrow routes are known to rarely offer Saver-level pricing, with availability typically limited to Advantage and Access awards.

I’ve transferred points to KrisFlyer from American Express Membership Rewards (U.S.), and the transfer was instant. While I can’t personally speak to the other programs, transfers from Capital One Miles and Citi ThankYou Rewards are also generally instant; however, transfers from Chase Ultimate Rewards can take 24 hours or longer to reach your account.

Once you’ve found the award flight you want, you can transfer the required points from your preferred U.S. transferable currency and complete the booking.

Waitlist Awards

In the search results, you may see some awards marked as “Waitlist.” This indicates that the flight does not have immediately confirmable award availability, but you can join a waitlist instead.

In practice, this works like placing a deposit on the award space. If seats open up later, the booking will be confirmed automatically and the points will be deducted from your account.

To make a waitlist booking, you must have the required number of points in your account. A waitlist can clear at any time up to 14 days before departure, but once the flight falls within that 14-day window, any unconfirmed waitlist bookings will be cancelled.

Data points from various online forums suggest that waitlisted first class awards are extremely unlikely to clear, largely due to the very limited number of first class seats available, with just four on the 777 and six on the A380.

I personally would not rely on a waitlist booking, as I would rather avoid ending up with points stranded in the KrisFlyer program with no alternative redemption options available. Instead, I think the best approach is to focus only on confirmed award space and not count on the unlikely event of a waitlist clearing.

How to Earn Singapore KrisFlyer Miles

There are no direct ways to earn Singapore KrisFlyer miles in Canada, so earning typically relies on U.S.-based credit card programs.

For those with access to U.S. credit cards, American Express Membership Rewards, Capital One Miles, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Citi ThankYou Points all transfer to KrisFlyer at a 1:1 ratio, making this the most efficient option for building a large balance for a premium redemption such as Singapore Suites.

If those options are not available, the next best alternative is transferring Marriott Bonvoy points to KrisFlyer at a 3:1 ratio. When transferring in increments of 60,000 points, you also receive a 5,000-mile bonus, effectively yielding 25,000 KrisFlyer miles per 60,000 Bonvoy points. However, I would recommend doing this only as a last resort, and only if you need a small top-up to complete a redemption.

Booking Singapore Suites with Other Programs

Unfortunately, you cannot book Suites or first class with any other award programs. You can book economy flights through any of its Star Alliance partners including Air Canada Aeroplan, ANA Mileage Club, and Asiana Club.

Conclusion

Singapore Airlines first class is one of the best premium cabin products in the world, but redeeming miles for it can be difficult.

Redeeming for Singapore Airlines first class requires using KrisFlyer miles, usually transferred from flexible U.S. points programs. Earning these points isn’t easy for Canadians, and award availability frequently necessitates booking at the higher-priced Advantage award rate.

However, if you have access to U.S. credit cards, a large balance of transferable points, and some flexibility with your travel dates and routes, Singapore first class is an amazing redemption and an experience every points and miles enthusiast should try at least once.

Frequently Asked Questions