As most of our readers know, there are three different times of day to jump online to get access to the first release of fresh revenue seats and KrisFlyer award seats on Singapore Airlines flights at T-355 days – a general 8am Singapore Time rule that’s almost network-wide, plus two additional timings if your flight originates in the USA.
The logic is straightforward enough: 8am in Singapore is still mid-afternoon the previous calendar day in North America. If SIA loaded award space for those departures at the usual time, it would effectively mean releasing inventory 356 days out – which for whatever reason, they’ve chosen not to do.
What’s often bugged us is that the timing for USA award releases doesn’t remain exactly constant throughout the year, with another recent change kicking in just this month, but now we think we’ve cracked it.
SIA’s first award seat release timing pattern
The release time for New York, Newark, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle departures doesn’t stay constant, instead it appears to depend on whether Daylight Saving Time (DST) is being observed in the USA or not.
Here’s how it breaks down:
New York (JFK) and Newark (EWR) departures:
- 12pm Singapore time (when US DST is not in effect)
- 1pm Singapore time (when US DST is in effect)
West Coast (SEA/SFO/LAX) departures:
- 3pm Singapore time (when US DST is not in effect)
- 4pm Singapore time (when US DST is in effect)
Here’s our revised T-355 days award seat loading time summary table.
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) |
So for half the year you get access to award tickets on ex-USA flights an hour earlier in Singapore time – 12pm for New York departures and 3pm for West Coast departures – than you do for the other half of the year, and that’s currently the case right now.
The difference becomes two hours if you’re on local time in the origin city.
The switchover seems to happen when the US changes its clocks, due to Daylight Saving Time (DST). That happens on the second Sunday in March (DST begins) and on the first Sunday in November (DST ends).
This year it means we saw the award time loading shift 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
Why check awards at T-355 days?
The T-355 window is often the ideal time to grab a pair of Saver Business Class awards on Singapore Airlines flights, even on some of the most in-demand long-haul routes, such as Singapore to Europe or the airline’s non-stop US services.
If you can plan your trips that far in advance, it’s worth knowing when you need to be online for that first release and lock in the booking if the seats are available.
A few things to note:
- Saver award space is not guaranteed at T-355 days (some airlines do guarantee this, SIA does not). Sometimes you’ll see only Advantage awards, sometimes only Access awards (eek).
- Award space is added progressively – just because there is sometimes none at T-355 days doesn’t mean there never will be. Keep checking, we’ve even seen it appear just a day or two after first release.
- T-355 days awards can be a great way to redeem expiring miles – as you can see from our recent analysis, a flight redemption is almost always the best value way to ‘cash out’, especially in premium cabins.
- Scoot awards are also available at T-355 days, but these tend to be poor value compared to cash fares, plus they are non-refundable, so this isn’t a useful benefit for most.
We’ve updated our full guide to redeeming flights at this ‘first release’ window with the latest timings for USA-origin cities.
Summary
With Singapore Airlines’ USA-origin flights following slightly shifted award release timings depending on Daylight Saving Time, it’s now clear when you’ll need to be online to secure first-release KrisFlyer Saver redemptions.
In short:
- Non-USA-origin flights release at 8am Singapore time.
- East Coast (JFK / EWR) release at 12pm or 1pm SGT, depending on DST.
- West Coast (LAX / SFO / SEA) release at 3pm or 4pm SGT, depending on DST.
If you’re targeting Saver awards on long-haul routes like Singapore – Europe or the USA non-stops, having these timings locked in gives you the best shot at success. Plan ahead, mark your calendar, and be ready to click right when the clock hits – those first-release seats sometimes don’t last long.
(Cover Photo: Shutterstock)
There is a 2 hour difference between 01:00 and 23:00 , not 1 hour