Singapore Airlines has announced intentions to resume non-stop service from Singapore to New York City and Los Angeles with its newly-delivered Airbus A350 aircraft in 2018.
Singapore Airlines spokesman James Bradbury-Boyd told View from the Wing:
Missing the Singapore Airlines nonstop flight from LAX and NYC? It’ll be back soon and better than ever.
We already knew Singapore was planning on resuming non-stop service to the USA with its A350, but this is the first confirmation that Los Angeles will return in addition to New York.
The contest for world’s longest airline route changed this week with Emirates’ new Dubai to Auckland service eclipsing Qantas’ Dallas to Sydney flight. Qantas plans to reclaim that title with non-stop 787-9 service from London to Perth but Singapore’s Newark to Singapore flight would have that beat by over 500 miles.
Singapore Airlines and the Importance of Miles
Singapore Airlines is slashing first class seats on its A380s and 777s and its new A350s have no first class. Without question, it is going to be harder to secure first class awards on Singapore and its Kris Flyer program is due for a devaluation — potentially a massive one.
But the A350 and two new direct routes to the USA open up more options to use Singapore miles to secure one of the best business class products in the sky. Remember that Singapore serves the following routes to the USA, all originating in Singapore but stopping at an intermediary point:
- Los Angeles – Tokyo – Singapore
- San Francisco – Hong Kong – Singapore
- San Francisco – Seoul – Singapore
- Houston – Moscow – Singapore
- New York JFK – Frankfurt – Singapore
That’s a lot of options for premium cabin redemptions and Singapore Airlines is not only a Star Alliance partner (though forget about transpacific premium cabin redemptions with Star partners), but a transfer partner of American Express, Chase, CITI, and Starwood.
At present, that makes Singapore Airlines one of the easiest products to secure with points. Keep the new routes in mind when thinking about racking up Singapore miles and how you might use those points.
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