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My experience using Singapore Air to book Lufthansa First
I’m headed to England to watch my beloved Colts play at Wembley. Good Lord is Miles excited. He’s feeling verrrrrry “Luck”y to be flying across the pond for the game and then a little jaunt around England, Scotland, and Ireland. I was looking for a flight back for us from Dublin ( I booked a r/t from Dub-Lax-Dub earlier as part of the wedding weekend in London) and stumbled upon quite a bit of avail on Lufthansa First. Now…how would I book it? Here’s my experience using Singapore Air to book Lufthansa First.
I found the avail on Aeroplan.
However, I only have 2k in my Aero account and I didn’t really want to transfer over Amex to shore it up.
with taxes and fees
And then on United
I’d hate to spend 110k!!!! GOOD GOLLY
But how about Singapore Air
I’m not going to get around paying taxes and fees to fly Lufthansa First, and I’ve never flown it, so I’m willing to give it a go and pay the cost. Singapore Air costs 80k plus taxes and fees. I called them up because I wondered exactly how much I’d have to pay. Turns out it was $297. More than what Aero or United would levy, but not as horrible as $400 or $500 that I was expecting.
I really wish Singapore allowed online bookings with the 15% discount for partners, but alas, that is still a pipe dream.
The reasons for Singapore Air are:
- I’d transferred over a lot of miles for a Turkish flight two years ago that I ended up canceling
- Rebooked them for a Singapore Air 1st class flight that I had to cancel ( sheesh!)
- Miles expire after 3 years so ya gotsa use them up
- Singapore Air Krisflyer Miles are the easiest miles to accumulate through partner programs
- Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, and Citi Thank You all transfer in 1:1
- Starwood does as well, but I always think of them as a separate program
- Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, and Citi Thank You all transfer in 1:1
I really value the flexibility of points that reside in my flexible accounts. If I can use points that are already deposited, even if it’s not the absolute best deal, I’ll often go in that direction. Had I had 50 or 60k Aero already sitting in my account, I would have pulled that trigger because I could have saved some points and some $$, But to drain almost 70k Amex points…not worth. I’d rather spend the 10k extra, use points that will expire sooner than later, and have those Amex points ready to deploy for another trip.
The final deal: 80k Krisflyer + $297
I called up Singapore. I would HIGHLY recommend the following
- After finding your flights on AeroPlan – write down the exact flight numbers
- Pull up the military alphabet to use to recite those flight numbers
- Be prepared to spend some time on the phone
- Ask for the Lufthansa ( mine was the same as Singapore, but ask anyways) and United booking reference numbers for seat selection
It ultimately took about 45 minutes to book these tickets, multiple times on hold, but the rep was SUPER nice and apologetic about it taking so long and got it all booked.
Needless to say I’m verrrrrrry excited. In addition to getting to try out Lufthansa First, I’ll also be able to try out United’s new 787-9 on one of the legs as well. Ultimately I think it’s a great deal using Singapore Air to book Lufthansa first, especially because the miles were going to expire within the next year.
I mean look at this product!
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.