Singapore Airlines Added as Ultimate Rewards Transfer Partner

Transfer Ultimate Rewards Points to Singapore Airlines

If getting 60,000 or 120,000 Ultimate Rewards points wasn’t great enough, this week Chase announced Singapore Airlines as a new transfer partner in the Ultimate Rewards program. In our opinion, Singapore Airlines is one of the greatest airlines in the world to fly and is well known for its top notch service in all classes.

This new partnership is exciting because it significantly expands your options for redeeming Ultimate Rewards points, especially for international and premium class travel. With the new partnership, you’ll get one Singapore Airlines mile for every one Ultimate Rewards point transferred (1,000 point minimum).

Transfer to Singapore Airlines directly through Chase Ultimate Rewards

Here are a few ideas of what you could do with your Ultimate Rewards points transferred to the Singapore Airlines Krisflyer program:

Fly First 

Landing a premium class award ticket in First or Business class on Singapore has traditionally been a difficult task for North American points and miles collectors due to the common Singapore Airlines practice of offering first and business class award space almost solely to members of their own KrisFlyer program. Now that you can redeem Ultimate Rewards points in the KrisFlyer program directly, you can get in on these hard-to-get premium flights.

For example, you can travel business class between Singapore and Amsterdam for 60,000 Singapore Miles or first class between Hong Kong and parts of Australia for 47,500. It’s true that premium award travel on Singapore isn’t cheap, but the experience can be well worth it (especially if you managed to get a double Ultimate Rewards bonus this month).

Check out the full Singapore award chart to see how many miles you need to get to the destination you’re dreaming about.

Fly the Famous Singapore Suites

Singapore Airlines offers one of the most famous first class ways to fly in its beyond-premium Singapore Suite. Not only do you get a door and privacy in your elite ‘cabin’ in the sky, Singapore offers the only suite class that turns into a double bed for people traveling together. This flight is for people who value how they’re getting there as much as the destination itself. Singapore Suites are available on most routes Singapore flies its A380, including trans-pacific flights between the U.S. and Asia.

Of course, traveling with a partner to land the “double bed” suite will require twice the cost of the 107,500 per traveler that the U.S. West Coast to Singapore award requires. However, if you and your traveling buddy both managed to get the increased signup bonuses before it ended, you’ll be well on your way with 240,000 points between you.

Yes! This is in an airplane! 

Fly Domestic in U.S. and Hawaii

Though it may not seem logical to transfer your points to an Asian carrier to book a flight within the U.S., one sweet spot of the Singapore Airlines award chart is the value for U.S. domestic flights in the lower 48 states and between the mainland U.S. and Hawaii.

For example, a one way domestic business class award ticket in the contiguous U.S. redeemed through Singapore Airlines will cost 20,000 miles, 17,500 economy to Hawaii or 30,000 business to Hawaii. United, in comparison, as a Star Alliance Ultimate Rewards transfer partner would charge 25,000, 22,500 and 40,000 miles for the same awards, respectively.

If you’ve been checking out award options to Hawaii, this new transfer option is one to consider. These are just a few of many great ways you can use Singapore Airlines as a transfer partner to make the most of your Ultimate Rewards points.  The most important thing is to know there are lots of options to redeem the points for big travel.