I originally wrote this post a few years ago right after booking my Singapore Suites flight, but have updated it to reflect recent changes made to Singapore Airlines award bookings.
Flying Singapore Suites is considered one of the most aspirational flight experiences (see our Singapore Suites review), but it is easily attainable to anyone earning points with credit cards. Here is a guide to booking award tickets in Singapore Airlines Suites, including a list of all Singapore Suites routes, how many miles you need for an award ticket, how to search and find Singapore Suites award flights, and an overview of the KrisFlyer mileage program.
What Are Singapore Airlines Suites?
Singapore Airlines Suites are enclosed first class suites on Singapore Airlines. The suites are more private than typical first class seats as they have doors and blinds. For two people traveling together, some of the suites can be combined from two suites into one larger suite and beds can be combined to form a double bed.
Singapore Airlines Suites are exclusively found on Singapore Airlines A380 aircraft. Singapore Airlines flights on other aircraft may have a first class section but they are not Singapore Suites – just “regular” first class.
Singapore Suites Routes
Suites class is offered only on some Singapore Airlines routes. Most routes that have Singapore Airlines Suites are to and from Singapore. There is only one exception: New York (JFK) – Frankfurt (although the flight does continue on to Singapore).
The table below shows the number of Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles required for a one way flight on each route:
Singapore Suites Routes
| Route | Miles |
|---|---|
| Singapore-Hong Kong | 40,500 |
| Singapore-Shanghai | 53,000 |
| Singapore-Beijing | 53,000 |
| Singapore-Delhi | 53,000 |
| Singapore-Mumbai | 53,000 |
| Singapore - Osaka | 70,000 |
| Singapore-Auckland | 85,000 |
| Singapore-Sydney | 85,000 |
| Singapore-Melbourne | 85,000 |
| New York(JFK)-Frankfurt | 86,000 |
| Singapore-Frankfurt | 125,000 |
| Singapore-Paris | 125,000 |
| Singapore-Zurich | 125,000 |
| Singapore-London | 125,000 |
| Singapore-Frankfurt-New York (JFK) | 132,000 |
Not every flight on these routes has Suites class. Some routes have more than one flight a day but only one of them is an A380.
Award availability depends on the route. The hardest route to find award availability is between New York and Frankfurt. There is pretty good award availability on some of the shorter flights especially between Singapore and Shanghai, Beijing, Delhi and Mumbai.
How to Earn KrisFlyer Miles for Singapore Airlines Suites
Although Singapore Airlines is part of the Star Alliance, Singapore Airlines Suites are solely bookable using Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles.
Unless you fly frequently on partner airlines and can credit your miles to Singapore Airlines, the easiest way to earn KrisFlyer miles is through credit cards. Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, and Marriott all transfer to Singapore Airlines. Therefore, there are many credit cards that that earn points which can be transferred to Singapore KrisFlyer miles and chances are good that you have one or more of these cards.
If you really want to experience Singapore Suites, some of the shorter routes can be booked with points from just one credit card sign up bonus. For example, if you meet the minimum spending requirement for the sign up bonus on the Chase Sapphire Preferred card (my referral link) you would earn enough points to book a one way award on one of the shorter five routes.
Before you start transferring your points, transfers are not instantaneous so there is a risk the award you would like to book will be gone by the time the transfer goes through. For example, Ultimate Rewards will transfer between 24-48 hours. Due to the delay there is a real risk that an available flight will disappear by the time miles transfer to your Krisflyer mileage account. Personally, I would not transfer the points unless I had other flights in mind I could book with KrisFlyer miles in the next three years. You could always book a flight in North America on United.
Summary of Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Program
Following are a few items about the Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer mileage program to keep in mind before trying to book these flights:
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles expire after three years. Miles CANNOT be extended indefinitely by having some activity (as is the case for United and American etc.).
- Fees for making changes to award tickets or redepositing miles are low compared to other airlines. For example, the fee to change dates or routing is only $25 and the fee to cancel an award ticket and redeposit miles is $75. Even if you think your plans might change, you can book an award and make changes for a low fee.
Searching Award Availability and Booking Singapore Airlines Suites
In order to start searching for awards using miles you will need to log into your Singapore KrisFlyer account. If you do not have a KrisFlyer account yet, you can quickly sign up for one. You do not need any miles in the account to perform searches and view how many miles you would need.
After logging in, search for flights by choosing the “Redeem flights” option and choosing “First/Suites” as the cabin class. If your dates are flexible, check the “Flexible travel dates” option.
Singapore Airlines just introduced a flexible travel dates search option on January 31, 2019 so it is now somewhat easier to search for other travel dates. You can see which dates have saver availability for your class of service. If you are only interested in Singapore Suites rather than regular first class, the flexible dates option is not as helpful when the route has multiple flights a day including flights not on an A380 but it is an easy way to scan for saver awards when there is only one flight a day on that route.
Once you click on your travel date, search for Saver awards availability (first column). Standard awards require about double the miles than a Saver award. You can check other dates by clicking on “previous day” and “next day” or click on “View 7-days calendar.”
If you only want to fly Singapore Suites, make sure the aircraft listed is an A380. For example, this route offers several flights a day but only one flight a day is on an A380 (has Suites) and the rest have regular first class.
To check the aircraft type, click on the arrow next to the flight number and it will expand to say “Aircraft type: (Airbus Industrie A380-800).” Once you choose an award, “Suites Saver” will appear.
If a flight is not available, you may see a Waitlist option. However, in order to be waitlisted for an award you need to have enough miles in your account to book your award.
If you do not have enough miles in your Krisflyer account, you will need to initiate a transfer from your Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards or SPG Starpoints.
Once your points reach your Krisflyer mileage account search again and hopefully your chosen flight will still be available. If it is, you can book an award for yourself and up to five other people.
After booking your award, you may select a seat.
The seat chart below is from an old A380 aircraft and has 12 suites, whereas the new A380 aircraft has 6 suites. If you are traveling with someone else and want to combine suites, choose the middle two suites on the old A380 aircraft.
There is an option to pre-order your main course, including the book the cook option, before your flight.
Hopefully this guide to booking Singapore Airlines Suites with miles will help you book a flight in one of the most luxurious cabins.
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Can I check seat avail before booking ?
I want to see if I can book the double suite ?
You cannot check seat availability before booking on singaporeair.com. I would call Singapore Airlines before booking the flight to see if the middle suites are available.
Yes it is. I have it listed as one of the routes.
For the waitlist option, how soon will I find out if I got the seats? I’m planning a trip to Europe from NYC and this is one of the best options but I don’t want to transfer points to Singapore Airlines if I’m not going to be guaranteed the seats. I’d rather do it with another Airline.
Hi Mike,
There is no exact timeline for finding out if you are off the waitlist. What you can do is be waitlisted on your first choice of flight and book your second choice if that is available. There is still a risk to transferring points because even a flight that is available can disappear before your miles are transferred.
Are you sure it’s only 87k miles per way per person from LA to Tokyo? Looking at Sing Air’s upgrade awards charge, it costs me 60,000 miles just to get from Economy (Y class) to business on the same route.
Hi Todd,
I double checked and it is only 87,500 miles for a saver award on that route. Regarding the upgrade chart I see only 30,000 for a one way upgrade so you might be thinking of the round trip charge.
I am a newbie at upgrading–only done a handful of times. I was looking at: https://www.singaporeair.com/pdf/ppsclub_krisflyer/charts/SQMI_OneWayUpgradeCharts_Mar2012.pdf
We wanted to go to Japan this December (2 adults plus a kid who will be 20 months). We’ll probably have about 200k chase sapphire points by then so seemed buying economy and upgrading was best option.
Will you be purchasing a ticket for your child as well? If not, it might be better to use miles to book business class directly. I usually use my miles and points to book directly in the class of service I want so I am not really familiar with the upgrade process.
No, under 2 at the time, so she can sit with one of us (most likely my poor wife).
I think then we’d pay like 10% of the fare for her. I’d much rather do it this way—upgrading, even through an agent, is tricky and you’re at the mercy of the process (e.g., you book and hope it pushes through; otherwise you’re stuck in coach).
I see. I am always worried I won’t get upgraded so I like to use miles to book the class I want. Hope it works out for you- good luck!
Agree– less risk. Thanks for the great website and help!
Hello~ Great post, very informative. I’ve researched about the number of points needed to book a suite on several other blogs and believe it’s the number you’ve listed above..around 74k after discount. But that is only for a one-way trip correct? I need to come back to the States (from LAX to Tokyo and back), so what would be roughly the total number of points needed for a round trip flight?
Hi Diana,
Yes the 74,375 number is for a one way flight so for a round trip ticket in suites you would need 148,750 miles. You are allowed to book one way flights on Singapore so if you do not have enough miles or if there is no award availability consider flying Suites one way and the other way flying either on Singapore in another cabin or looking at other airlines like AA, United, Cathay Pacific.
I thought there were no suites to LAX or NRT. Why are you telling Diana she can fly suites?
There used to be Suites between SIN-NRT-LAX when I responded but Singapore Airlines changed aircraft on that route.
Can you stopover in frankfurt on the JFK-Frankfurt-Singapore route?
Yes, but you have to call and cannot do it online. You can book 1 free stopover on roundtrip saver awards and one way standard awards. I think you can book a stopover on a one way saver award for $100.
Is there ever availability all the way from Sydney to JFK? I would like to fly DFW to Sydney via FIJI using alaska miles and on the way back fly the Singapore Suites from Sydney to JFK and then purchase a flight from JFK to DFW.
Where do you see only 76,000 miles from NYC to Frankfurt? I looked at several dates and only saw 130,000 miles needed.
Hello,
How do you book for two suites tickets? If one is available on saver, we snag that–but the other ticket is either waitlisted, or you get a non-saver for higher price? Can you wait list and get the non-saver –and will they allow you to then switch your non-saver for saver award?