One of the most effective ways to secure KrisFlyer award seats on Singapore Airlines is to book as early as possible – ideally right when availability is released, just under a year before departure.
That happens at ‘T-355 days’, or 355 days before the departure date for each flight, but the exact timing isn’t quite as simple as you might think.
When does Singapore Airlines load fresh award space each day?
As most of our regular readers will know, this happens each day at 8am Singapore Time… right?
Well, yes in most cases that’s true – both revenue and award space on SIA flights is added at 00:00 GMT (which is 08:00 SGT) each day, 355 days in advance.
(Photo: Dillon Chong)
There are some exceptions though, as I discovered back in 2022 when trying to lock in two Business Class Saver awards on the same flight for a USA trip.
Redeeming from Singapore to San Francisco was no issue – two Saver awards appeared as usual at 8am Singapore Time on both of the airline’s daily flights on this route, and I locked a pair in for the evening SQ34 departure.
Doing so for the way back is what became a confusing matter.
It was then I realised there’s an exception to the 8am SGT rule – and it applies only to flights departing from four US cities – New York, Los Angeles, Seattle and San Francisco.
At 8am Singapore Time it is still only mid-afternoon the previous calendar day in the USA, so if SIA loaded award space for those departures at that time it would effectively mean doing so 356 days in advance, which for whatever reason they don’t want to do.
Instead for these departure points SIA loads up fresh revenue and award space at either:
- 23:00h local time at the departure city, 356 days prior to the scheduled flight departure date, when DST is not being observed, or
- 01:00h local time at the departure city, 355 days prior to the scheduled flight departure date, when DST is being observed.
Here’s how that looks.
KrisFlyer ‘fresh’ award space timings
(355 days before departure)
| Departing from: | ||
 Singaporeand all non-US cities |
8am SGT (00:00 GMT) |
|
| Departing from: | Apr – Oct (DST in USA) |
Nov – Mar (no DST in USA) |
 New York(EWR/JFK) |
1pm SGT (01:00 ET) |
12pm SGT (23:00 ET) |
 US West Coast(LAX/SEA/SFO) |
4pm SGT (01:00 PT) |
3pm SGT (23:00 PT) |
This we saw the award time loading shift for USA departing flights happen on 2nd November 2025, and it should change again next year on:
- 8th March 2026 (back to 1pm / 4pm award loading)
- 1st November 2026 (back to 12pm / 3pm award loading)
Previously there was also a separate time to check for newly-loaded award redemptions on SIA’s flights from Houston to Manchester and Houston to Singapore via Manchester, however that route ended earlier this year, with the final departure on 30th March 2025.
If calculating 355 days from a specific date to find when new award space becomes available for your desired flight feels tricky – especially with a leap year occasionally in the mix – don’t worry. We’ve provided a handy calculator below to simplify the process.
For example, if your desired flight is departing out of Los Angeles on 25th November 2026, you’ll need to be online to book on 5th December 2025 at 3pm (15:00) Singapore Time to get access to the first release of both revenue and award seats.
Finally for our international readers, here is the current date and time in Singapore for reference.
🇸🇬 Singapore Date and Time
Is award space guaranteed at T-355?
Unlike some frequent flyer programmes, KrisFlyer doesn’t guarantee any award space at the T-355 days mark, and certainly for First Class, Suites and even popular holiday periods in Business Class, you may see only Advantage space initially loaded.
That said, the T-355 window is often perfect timing for snagging a pair of Saver Business Class awards even on some of the carrier’s most popular long-haul flights – like Singapore to Frankfurt or non-stop services to the USA.
(Photo: MainlyMiles)
Even on the popular Singapore – London route, our recent searches show that booking 355 days in advance can reveal 15 or more instantly confirmable Saver Business Class awards in a single day across five separate flights – including those to Gatwick. Availability does vary by season, so this will obviously depend on your desired travel period.
Closer to home it’s typically even more generous – for example you can snag six Saver Business Class awards on each of six Singapore – Bali flights 355 days from now, so effectively at least 36 people can lock in this routing using miles at the lowest rate in that cabin on the same day.
We’ve used this strategy in the past, even as basic KrisFlyer members, to redeem a pair of Singapore Airlines Saver Business Class awards to Cape Town and back, to the UK and back, and to the USA and back, so it’s worth considering if you can make reasonably certain travel plans almost a year in advance.
Good strategy for expiring miles
Booking almost a year in advance is potentially a great strategy if you have expiring miles, an issue which sadly began to rear its ugly head again in July 2023. That’s because you can use expiring miles to book future flights, even if they would have long expired by the time you actually step on board.
As you can see from our analysis of what to do with expiring miles, a flight redemption is almost always the best value way to ‘cash out’, especially in premium cabins, so do consider whether you can plan a trip 355 days in advance and try to lock in a redemption as soon as it becomes available.
Award space is added progressively
Grabbing award space on Singapore Airlines flights a year in advance is a great tactic, because most of the time the airline will offer a decent initial selection of redemption seats at this stage.
However, one of the most common misconceptions we hear about KrisFlyer award space on Singapore Airlines flights is the old adage “once it’s gone, it’s gone”.
This simply isn’t true.
For example, while there’s certainly no guarantee that once there are no more Saver Business Class awards on your desired flight that Singapore Airlines will load more closer to the departure time, the airline does actually load more in many cases.
Award space is dynamic and progressively loaded based on a number of factors that include booked cabin loads, number of days to departure and predicted occupancy / revenue management.
(Image: James Park Associates)
For the flight to San Francisco on which I recently booked two Saver Business Class seats at T-355 days, my booking had the effect of switching the next available redemption in this cabin only to the more expensive Advantage rate (not even waitlist for Saver).
However, one immediately confirmable Saver Business award seat was then loaded on the same service just a few days later – so there is simply no such thing as “all the saver award seats are gone”.
Keep checking is always our advice here – award space comes and goes.
Remember there is also a necessary element of randomness with KrisFlyer award space, so that predictable patterns of redemption availability don’t emerge, which is why you’ll sometimes see no award space offered, even on flights with almost empty cabins.
How late can you book?
Since we’re discussing how early award bookings become available on Singapore Airlines, for the sake of completeness we should also mention how late you can book too.
Commercial seats and KrisFlyer award seats may be available until your flight is closed for commercial sale. That happens 2 hours prior to the scheduled departure time.
You may think there will be no award space at that late stage, but there sometimes still is. For example, in the past we have seen six Saver Business Class awards on a flight to Male in the Maldives, leaving in less than three hours!
(Photo: Shutterstock)
What about Scoot awards?
Scoot, Singapore Airlines’ budget carrier, recently introduced KrisFlyer miles redemptions for its flights through a fixed, zone-based award chart – a development we covered in detail at launch.
While this wasn’t always the case, Scoot now releases both revenue and award seats on a rolling daily basis – just like Singapore Airlines – at 8am Singapore Time, 355 days before departure.
If you’re eyeing a Scoot award, this is your first opportunity to book. However, keep in mind that these redemptions typically offer poor value compared to long-haul Business Class Saver awards on SIA, which is what many of our readers are aiming to secure at this early window.
Additionally, Scoot awards are non refundable, so you’d need to be very certain of your travel plans to commit nearly a year in advance.
Summary
One effective way to circumvent limited KrisFlyer award availability is to secure redemptions as soon as they’re released. Singapore Airlines often provides generous initial award space at the T-355 days mark, making this strategy ideal for those able to plan their travels well in advance.
8am Singapore Time (00:00 GMT) has always been the golden rule, and while that remains true for most cities there’s actually a slight nuance in that flights departing from the USA get progressively loaded through the afternoon (Singapore Time).
Even if your strategy is not successful, or you missed the first release of award seats, do keep checking for space as the airline often adds more as the departure date approaches.
(Cover Photo: The Points Guy)
Good for a laugh but I’ll ask anyway: first class award suggestions for two people? Besides praying fervently?