We may receive a commission when you use our links. Monkey Miles has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Monkey Miles and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Monkey Miles is also a Senior Advisor to Bilt Rewards Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Singapore Air Krisflyer Sweet Spot – Intra Asia
I’m going to be in Taipei at the end of year and was just looking at ways to get to Vietnam and sort of stumbled across an excellent deal with Singapore Airlines, IN FACT, I’d say it’s a Singapore Air Krisflyer Sweet Spot. I’d written a little while back about the Singapore Air Krisflyer Sweet Spot – Hong Kong which became a pretty popular article and thought I’d share this one as well. Comparing rates with other Star Alliance partners it’s look as tho Singapore Air may be the best way to book a premium ticket on certain Intra-Asia flights. Here’s a Singapore Air Krisflyer Sweet Spot – Intra Asia.
I’m looking to fly from Taipei, Taiwan ( TPE ) to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam ( SGN )
Now, I know that I could use American or Alaska to fly on Cathay or Japan Air and it would be a great deal, but I was looking to fly direct. That basically boils down the options to Vietnam Airlines (SkyTeam), China Airlines ( Sky Team), and EVA ( Star Alliance). I’ll be flying over on China Airlines Business ( SUPER STOKED) and wanted to spend a couple days in Taipei to check it out so there wasn’t a whole lot I could do with a 24 stopover, and thus…I needed to book a separate ticket.
An EVA business class flight costs $833
Look at how much it costs for a flight on Dec 30th with United Business Saver – 40k Points
The same flight with Aeroplan – 40k
Now look at Singapore Air Krisflyer for the same flight – 27,500 and just $23.72
- Taipei is in North Asia 1 and Vietnam is South East Asia 2
- You can see in the below chart that shows roundtrip award prices R/T is 55k – so one way is 27,500. A 12,500 mile discount over both Aero and United for the same flight. The great thing about Singapore is I can transfer Amex, TY, and UR and drain a little bit out of each program rather than a bulk amount from one. BAZINGA!
Singapore Air Krisflyer Sweet Spot – Intra Asia
I’ve never flown EVA ROYAL LAUREL and am super excited to try it
Also…Singapore Air usually has steep fees in addition to points but on this route they come out to just $23.72 for my EVA business class flight.
Singapore Air Krisflyer miles are also some the easiest miles to accumulate
As you can see in the table below…all the major flexible currencies can transfer into Singapore Air
| American Express Membership Rewards | Chase Ultimate Rewards | Citi Thank You | SPG | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airlines | AeroMexico | British Airways | Cathay Pacific | Aegean |
| Air Canada | AirFrance ( FlyingBlue) | EVA | Aeromexico | |
| Alitalia | Korean AIr | Etihad | Aeroplan/Air Canada | |
| ANA | Singapore AIr | Air France/KLM | Air Berlin | |
| British Airways ( 1.25:1) | Southwest | Garuda Indonesia | Air China | |
| Cathay Pacific | United | Malaysia Air | Air New Zealand 65:1 | |
| Delta | Virgin Atlantic | Qantas | Alaska | |
| El Al | Qatar | Alitalia | ||
| Emirates | Singapore | ANA | ||
| Etihad | Thai | American | ||
| Air France: Flying Blue | Virgin America 1:2 | Asia | ||
| Hawaiian | Virgin Atlantic | British Airways | ||
| Iberia (14:1) | China Eastern | |||
| JetBlue (1.25:1) | China Southern | |||
| Singapore | Delta | |||
| Virgin America (2:1) | Emirates | |||
| Virgin Atlantic | Etihad | |||
| Hotels | Choice | Hyatt | Hilton | Air France/KLM |
| Hilton (1:1.5) | IHG | GOL | ||
| Starwood (3:1) | Marriott | Hainan | ||
| Ritz | Hawaiian | |||
| Japan | ||||
| Jet | ||||
| Korean Air | ||||
| LAN | ||||
| Miles and more | ||||
| Qatar | ||||
| Saudi Arabian | ||||
| Singapore | ||||
| Thai | ||||
| Untied 2:1 | ||||
| Velocity | ||||
| Virgin America | ||||
| Virgin Atlantic |
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a great starter card that earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based.
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
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.
- 3x on dining
- including eligible delivery services for takeout
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards – Chase Travel Portal
- $50 Annual Credit on hotel stays purchased via Ultimate Rewards/Chase Travel
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 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 Portal and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including primary rental car insurance, purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 13 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in the Chase Travel center for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Primary rental car coverage is my favorite
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.
19 Comments