Alaska Airlines and Singapore Airlines (SIA) are now partners. Is it just a coincidence that Singapore devalued earnings on United Airlines flights…without notice?
I give the Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer loyalty program a mixed review. If you want to fly Singapore Airlines in a premium cabin, this is the only reward program for you. The Star Alliance redemption chart is decent, but not extraordinary, with no distinct sweet spots. Miles expire after three years, no matter how much account activity you have. Fuel surcharges are added on most partner awards.
But there was one very valuable part of the KrisFlyer program on the earning side — all United fare earned 100%, even deeply discounted economy class fares.
That has changed. View from the Wing notes that Singapore has drastically cut earnings on United Airlines flights. Basic Economy fares earn nothing while the two lowest fare buckets will now only 25%. That should make you reconsider crediting to Alaska. I’ll have a post later on where to credit United flights to now.
Is Alaska to Blame?
With the new Alaska – Singapore partnership, SIA now has a new domestic feeder airline that competes head-to-head with United on many West Coast routes. Most Alaska economy class fares earn 100%.
Could it be that Singapore did this simply to discourage people from booking on United?
I tend to think the answer is NO.
I’m just speculating at this point, but I think Singapore just realized that it was the only Star Alliance carrier awarding full mileage on cheap economy class tickets on United and adjusted its chart accordingly. It was a competitive advantage to KrisFlyer, but an unnecessary one.
I do note the relationship between Singapore and United has been rocky. United blocked Singapore Airlines award space on united.com while Singapore thumbed its nose at Star Alliance lounge rules by denying United Airlines passengers in its now-closed San Francisco lounge.
> Read More: Singapore Airlines Accuses United Airlines of Lying About Pulled Online Award Space
CONCLUSION
I suppose Singapore may have just been vindictive toward United, another chapter in their stormy relationship. But the truth is probably not that nefarious.
On a different note, there is some confusion over how redemptions on Alaska Airlines work under the new Singapore Airlines partnership. We will explore that next week.
The best sweet spot for SQ mile imo is between EU and ME. You can’t beat 25k for J and 35k for F.
…booking on Untied…
Oops !
Singapore airlines charges outrageous cash fees to redeem award tickets and they give you only a small window of time to redeem your miles or they’ll confiscate them no matter how often you fly. I’m a heavy business traveler based in Singapore and I stopped flying them years ago (partly due to the uncivilized passengers I often encountered on their flights).
I agree that it is likely not a coincidence, however the reason is that UA and SQ hadn’t renegotiated the terms of their reciprocal mileage agreement since UA went revenue based.
When you take a UA flight and credit to SQ, UA is paying SQ for the miles, and I am sure they were paying much more than the liability they would book if you had credited to UA. My understanding is that SQ wasn’t budging on a new agreement until UA agreed to pay more for SQ award flights paid with UA miles. This AS development likely pushed their hand, as it would be quite a program if you had 100% UA, 100% AS, and 50-75% B6. A segment of UA’s savvy west coast fliers would have jumped ship from MileagePlus.
Matthew, Since SQ award inventory is not displayed on UA website and UA phone agents claim that they don’t see any info different at their end than what is displayed on UA site, what is the mechanism to book SQ flights using UA MP points for possibly economy or premium economy noting well that premium awards are anyway not made available to other Star Alliance partners by SQ)? Thanks
“If you want to fly Singapore Airlines in a premium cabin, this is the only reward program for you.”
This is not true. Aeroplan’s web site displays non-phantom availability for SQ business class on intra-Asian routes, including to NRT/HND which is a route that SQ serves with their latest lie-flat seat in business class. I imagine you could also do this using other Star Alliance programs, maybe even with UA with some persistence.