EXPIRED This article relates to an offer or promotion which has now expired.
Lately, Singapore Airlines and SilkAir have been announcing their monthly ‘Spontaneous Escapes’ redemption deals. Usually it’s 30% off selected economy and business class fares with both airlines. Well, December is no exception, and for the third consecutive month the deal is running again.
The main catch, as usual, is that you have to book your redemptions by the end of December, for travel in January 2018.
This month there’s a wider range of routes available than there were for December. There are also lots of SilkAir business class redemptions, which didn’t feature last month. The biggest discounts, at 40% off, are available on selected one-way redemptions from Australia to Singapore.
As before, it’s subject to saver redemption availability, and there are blackout dates on some routes.
Here’s a summary of the T&Cs:
- Book before 31st December 2017
- Valid for flights from 1st – 31st January 2018
- Only valid on “Saver” redemptions
- Respect blackout dates (e.g. Singapore to Paris blocked 5th-8th January)
- Changes and cancellation are not permitted for bookings made under this promotion
- All sectors must be available on the offer (e.g. if the return sector is unavailable on the correct flight – the cost for the whole trip jumps! Book one-ways instead and still save)
As with the November offer, waitlist is applicable for the discount. That means you can add one of these flights as a waitlist redemption for the discounted rate. If it comes up for confirmation by 31st December, it’s yours for the lower rate. If it clears on 1st January or later, you’ll probably pay the normal rate. At least, we assume so, as the ticket must be “issued” by 31st December to qualify.
The Australia to Singapore deal
This month there is a special bonus for one-way redemptions from most Australian destinations to Singapore. For these flights, 40% miles discount is being offered on saver redemptions in both economy and business class, with some blackout dates.
The discount is not offered, however, on Canberra to Singapore redemptions in economy class, for whatever reason. Also there is no offer on Melbourne to Singapore in either cabin, which is disappointing.
On all the Aussie routes offered, every Singapore Airlines or SilkAir flight is available on the offer, with the exception of Sydney to Singapore where only SQ222 (A380), SQ242 (B777-300ER) or SQ252 (B777-200ER) are included. That means there’s no chance for a discounted seat on the new A380 Version 3 aircraft, with the latest cabin products, currently flying daily as SQ232.
Here’s how the 40% savings stack up in business class:
And here’s the economy class table:
Booking tip
We’ve said it before – but it’s not made obvious on the website that the discounted miles rate is being applied – have faith! Click the “Saver” rate and then check the drop-down box, where the discounted rate is then shown, if your flight is applicable for discount:
What else is worth looking at?
Unlike last month, when for Europe routes the 30% discount rate was only available on Düsseldorf flights, this month a few more are on offer. There’s Amsterdam and Copenhagen in business class, and Paris and Düsseldorf in both economy and business class.
To us, these are more exciting than the other routes offered because the potential miles saving is much higher due to the relatively high redemption rates to and from Europe.
We ran a table just for the business class offers on these routes, as that’s where the savings will be obviously highest:
Another plus – on all these flights Singapore Airlines are offering their “2013 J” 1-2-1 business class product, which is probably one of the best around.
Remember that with Singapore Airlines there are 12 other routes available at the 30% off rate with either economy to business discounts (or both), and with SilkAir there are a massive 50 routes (almost their entire network), so please do check out the promo page over at the Singapore Airlines website as there may be many other destinations of interest to you.
For SilkAir redemptions in particular, there are no blackout dates.
Remember…
If you can’t secure a return flight with the discount, book a one-way instead, then pay the usual saver rate for the other sector. On a return flight with this offer, as soon as one of the two flights falls outside the promotion, it re-prices the whole thing to the higher rate, which will cost you more.
This is especially true of the Australia 40% discount. As it only applies to the northbound sector, if you are planning a return saver redemption on these routes you’ll need to book the legs separately to take advantage of the discount (e.g. SIN-PER saver redemption as one booking, PER-SIN saver redemption as a separate booking, with a 40% discount on the second booking).
Conclusion
The 40% Australia to Singapore discount this time around is interesting, and clearly SIA are keen to increase their load factor at a traditionally quiet time of year for traffic on these routes in the northbound direction. No surprise that flights to Australia are not even included in the 30% promo, as these run almost always full during January.
It’s also nice to see a few more long-haul destinations on offer compared with last month, like Paris, Copenhagen and Amsterdam in business class. It’s a great deal if you can take advantage, as the aircraft used on these flights all have the 1-2-1 flat-bed “2013 J” business class products installed.
For regional destinations too, with both Singapore Airlines and SilkAir, there may be some options that could help you next month, so check the full list.
Get onto it now if you want to take advantage, as the offer ends on 31st December, and saver award seats may not last long.