KrisFlyer Spontaneous Escapes December 2019 offers

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The busy December and January travel season is ever nearer, with Christmas, New Year and Chinese New Year just around the corner. Add to that the peak Australian school holidays, and it can be a difficult time to secure low fares or redeem your miles on many routes across the Singapore Airlines network.

Nonetheless SIA is back with the monthly Spontaneous Escapes deal for those making last-minute plans, with a range of destinations on offer for travel in December provided you book by the end of this month.

As always you’ll have to book by the end of this month, 30th November 2019, and offers are subject to saver award availability. For non-stop USA flights in Premium Economy Class the same booking window applies, for travel in January 2020.

Spontaneous Escapes

If you’re a regular Mainly Miles reader you’ll be well versed in what the monthly Spontaneous Escapes promotion is all about, but just in case you’re not, or you need a quick recap, here’s the deal.

Best in Business

The most important aspect of this monthly deal is where its best value usually lies – the latest long-haul and flat-bed regional Business Class seats in the airline’s fleet for 30% fewer miles in December 2019.

Before we get into the full route list, here’s a summary of these ‘Best in Business’ deals.

Spontaneous Escapes – December 2019 SIA’s latest Business Class products
	2017 J (full seat details)
39,000 27,300 Miles: Singapore – Shanghai (SQ830) Shanghai – Singapore (SQ833) 30,500 21,350 Miles: Singapore – Hong Kong (SQ856)* Hong Kong – Singapore (SQ861)* * See important note below
	2013 J (full seat details)
92,000 64,400 Miles: Singapore – Dusseldorf (SQ338) Dusseldorf – Singapore (SQ337) 47,000 32,900 Miles: Singapore – Seoul (SQ612) Seoul – Singapore (SQ611) 39,000 27,300 Miles: Singapore – Beijing (SQ800, SQ806) Beijing – Singapore (SQ801, SQ805) Singapore – Shanghai (SQ828, SQ836) Shanghai – Singapore (SQ825, SQ831) 30,500 21,350 Miles: Singapore – Hong Kong (SQ860, SQ866) Hong Kong – Singapore (SQ863, SQ865) 19,000 13,300 Miles: Singapore – Jakarta (SQ962)
	2018 RJ (full seat details)
47,000 32,900 Miles: Fukuoka – Singapore (SQ655) Singapore – Nagoya (SQ672) Nagoya – Singapore (SQ671) Singapore – Osaka (SQ622) Osaka – Singapore (SQ623) Singapore – Seoul (SQ602, SQ608) Seoul – Singapore (SQ603, SQ607) 39,000 27,300 Miles: Singapore – Bengaluru (SQ502, SQ504) Bengaluru – Singapore (SQ503, SQ505) Singapore – Colombo (SQ468) Colombo – Singapore (SQ469) Singapore – Kolkata (SQ516) Kolkata – Singapore (SQ517) Singapore – Shanghai (SQ826) Shanghai – Singapore (SQ827) 21,500 15,050 Miles: Singapore – Ho Chi Minh (SQ186) Ho Chi Minh – Singapore (SQ185) 19,000 13,300 Miles: Singapore – Jakarta (SQ964)

Important note about Hong Kong

While Hong Kong flights with the new A380 Version 3 (SQ856/SQ861) are still scheduled for December 2019 at the time of writing, recently the airline has been downgrading that service to the older A380 models or Boeing 777-300ER aircraft on several days per week, due to demand.

Since you can’t cancel and refund your Spontaneous Escapes redemption once booked, this may not be the best choice for trying out the new 2017 Business Class cabin in December, unless you’re happy to take the risk of an older product being used.

On the other hand, Singapore Airlines has been using the A380 Version 3 aircraft quite regularly on the Beijing flights (SQ802/SQ807) instead of Hong Kong during the equipment shuffle, so you might get lucky with a 30% off redemption on those services and find the 2006 products swapped for the 2017 ones.

Singapore Airlines Business Class deals

There’s nothing worse than getting on board to find that your great deal was in an average seat, so we show all the aircraft types and seat types in the list, to help you choose better on your preferred routes.

The full list of SIA Business Class routes on offer this month is shown below.

Here are the seat type abbreviations for reference:

Singapore Airlines Business Class seat types
Long-haul
2006 J	2013 J	2017 J
Regional
2009 RJ	2018 RJ

Some of our readers even choose their preferred route based on the aircraft or seat type, especially those looking to try one of the newer products for the first time.

You’ll pay 30% fewer miles than usual for a saver redemption if you can book by the end of November and travel during December.

Business Class

South East Asia

North Asia

South Asia

Europe

Singapore Airlines Premium Economy Class deals

Singapore Airlines is offering 30% off several routes in Premium Economy Class for December 2019 (and in January 2020 for non-stop USA flights).

Required miles are shown for a one-way redemption, with aircraft types on the flights also indicated.

Premium Economy Class

North Asia

USA (for travel in January 2020)

Singapore Airlines Economy Class deals

Here are the Singapore Airlines Economy Class routes with 30% off in December 2019.

Required miles are shown for a one-way redemption, with aircraft types operating the flights also indicated.

Economy Class

South East Asia

North Asia

South Asia

Australia

Europe

SilkAir Business Class deals

Here are the Business Class offers for SilkAir flights this month, with a 30% discount in December 2019.

We don’t include aircraft type details for SilkAir flights, as these can vary day to day.

Business Class

South East Asia

South Asia

Australia

SilkAir Economy Class deals

Here are the Economy Class offers for SilkAir flights this month, with a 30% discount in December 2019.

We don’t include aircraft type details for SilkAir flights, as these can vary day to day.

Economy Class

South East Asia

South Asia

Australia

Premium Economy USA offers are poor value

Premium Economy seats are discounted again on non-stop flights to and from the USA. This month it’s for the Singapore to San Francisco and Singapore to Los Angeles routes on A350 ULR aircraft, for travel in January 2020.

Blackout dates in early January 2020 mean that by the time the 30% discount offer kicks in, fares have subsided back to their usual cheap rates, so you won’t usually get good value from your miles with a redemption like this.

We found cash return fares on this route from as little as S$1,330 on these routes in late January 2020, giving you just 1.4 cents per mile value.

That also doesn’t account for the approximate 17,500 miles you would earn when flying on a cash ticket, further eroding the value equation.

Important booking tip

The Singapore Airlines website and app don’t make it obvious that the discounted miles rate is being applied. Don’t despair, just click the ‘Saver’ rate and then check the drop-down box, where the discounted rate will then be shown, provided your flight is applicable for the discount.

Here’s how it looks:

In the event the miles rate doesn’t show a discount, check that you are searching a valid route, outside a blackout date, and that the flight lands before the promo is finished.

Summary

Quite a limited Spontaneous Escapes list for December, as expected with the start of the peak holiday season. January is likely to be very limited for the same reason, plus Chinese New Year falling towards the end of that month in 2020.

It’s great to see the 2013 Business Class seat available to Europe and back with the Dusseldorf route still included during this busy time of year, though Frankfurt has disappeared.

Shanghai is still a good option if you’ve yet to experience the new 2017 Business Class seat, with this 5-hour flight coming in at a respectable 27,300 miles each way.

There are also plenty of opportunities to secure the latest Regional Business Class seat, now used widely on the SIA network, with 30% off in December. Unfortunately Bangkok has dropped off the list this month.

SilkAir is offering a small selection discounted routes this month in both Business Class and Economy Class, including the relatively long Darwin flights.

Note that some routes have extensive blackout dates in December, usually to coincide with the Christmas / New Year period, so not every destination is likely to work for you.

Will you be booking one of the Spontaneous Escapes offers for December 2019? Let us know in the comments section below.

(Cover Photo: Peter Gronemann)