Go around the world using KrisFlyer points, here's how to book the holy grail of award tickets
A step-by-step guide to booking one of the best award tickets there is by taking advantage of American Express and Singapore Airliens points
Singapore Airlines
Star Alliance
In these weeks, After reading about my round-the-world trip in 8 days., so many readers have written to me asking. Tips and tricks for booking an RTW ticket, (Round The World).
In this article:
If paid, it is a difficult ticket to book; it takes patience and a long time. Booking it using points and thus not paying the cash ticket is even more difficult, but the great thing is that in the end the reward is huge.
In fact one of the most read articles on this site is the one explaining how to book this ticket, options with the various alliances and indicative costs. Today I want to focus solely on redeeming this type of ticket using points from the KrisFlyer loyalty program, or Singapore Airlines' frequent flyer program.
Why Krisflyer
The choice of the Singapore program stems from 3 simple factors:
- It is one of the best programs which allows you to book an RTW ticket
- For us Italians, being KrisFlyer a long-standing partner of Amex, allows you to accumulate points by simply transferring them from Membership Rewards
- Why an RTW ticket costs little more than a round-trip ticket Milan to Singapore
What airlines can I fly on
The beauty of alliances, we have explained it in dozens of articles, is that they allow the traveler not only to take advantage of the benefits of status, but also and especially to use the currency of a program to book award tickets on all companies Who participate in the same alliance.
In this case we are talking about 26 airlines covering all continents, plus there are some of the world's largest carriers such as Lufthansa Group, Turkish Airlines, United, and ANA. This is a key factor in being able to build your own preferred itinerary.
How can I accumulate Krisflyer points
The best method is to accumulate KrisFlyer points. Flying with Singapore Airlines and partner airlines in the same alliance. All you need to do is have a KrisFLyer account, it's free: every time you board a plane of one of the 25 Star Alliance airlines, you need to enter your card number.
Of course, the most points are made by flying business class or first class, but even with economy flights you can put points in your pocket that will be needed sooner or later to obtain the desired prize ticket. The important thing is. Keeping track of one's account and the expiration of points.
In addition to flying, there is the Membership Rewards option, these points accumulate for free with everyday expenses through American Express and can be turned into points from different loyalty programs and then into airline tickets. If you are not yet a customer, there are many offers that allow you to have the Free Gold Card for the first year, or even for life,. This allows, simply by using it and Taking advantage of the many bonuses and offers from American Express, to accumulate even hundreds of thousands of points without spending a dime.
How much is a ticket to go around the world with Star Alliance
Paid cash is a ticket which, unless special offers are made, can cost from 5 to 15 thousand euros. I was able to build an itinerary, all in economy, for less than 600 pounds, but these are very rare cases; in fact, it has been 3 years since such a fare has come out. In any case, my advice is: if you want to do this experience in tourist fare, try to build the ticket by taking advantage of low-cost and single offers and do not use points.
The good news is, as mentioned earlier. an RTW ticket costs little more than a round-trip award ticket, it is not a mistake it is just that. If a business to fly from Europe to Singapore can cost between 103k and 123k KrisFlyer points each way, a ticket to make up to 8 stopovers around the world in business class costs only 280k KF points.
Of course, it is possible to book a ticket in all three travel classes, and these are the prices:
- Economy 200k points KF
- Business 280k KF points
- First 340,500 points KF
Of the three options the least convenient one, as always, is the economy option. Also because a round-trip ticket from Rome to Singapore costs more or less 84k KF points, so less than half as much as an RTW ticket.
The master bedroom suite aboard Singapore Airlines' A380.
Sure, the RTW first class ticket costs a lot, but the chance to travel in some of the best cabins in the world, such as the Singapore Suite and the ANA Suite, absolutely repays the investment.
Of course, ancillary costs must also be taken into account, i.e., the fees and surcharges that must be paid every time an award ticket is redeemed. In this case, Singapore Airlines is one of the best airlines, on par with, for example, Finnair in Europe, in terms of additional cost per ticket.
For example, a prize ticket roundtrip from Milan to Singapore in business class costs only €70.42 in taxes and surcharges, or a little over 35€ one way. Unfortunately, however, this applies only to when the flight is operated by Singapore, while when routes are operated by other carriers the rules depend on the individual carriers. If you will be flying routes with Lufthansa you should therefore be prepared to spend at least a few hundred euros, while with carriers such as United, ANA or Asiana we will be in the range of a few tens of $ at most.
The 10 rules for going around the world Star Alliance
A little background. The rules change depending on the company and the alliance, so it is good to find out before setting the itinerary what the rules of the game are. For example. SQ has a dedicated page To explain everything you need to know.
- You only have to travel in one direction Eastward or westward. Translated into simple words, you cannot go back. Traveling in the same direction excludes stopovers in between: for example, if you leave from Paris to New York with Lufthansa, you can have a stopover in Frankfurt, but not stop in Germany and depart for the U.S.
- The journey must begin and end in the same country, even in different cities.
- You can only make one crossing Atlantic Ocean and a single crossing of the Pacific Ocean.
- The total distance of your trip Must not exceed 35,000 miles.
- You can do a maximum of 16 flight segments to reach a maximum of seven destinations.
- You cannot purchase additional stopovers.
- You can have a stopover only once in each city And not more than twice in each country.
- You can depart from a different airport than the one where you landed, but they will count as stopovers. So, if you land in Paris and leave from Lisbon where you arrive by car, this move is counted as two stopovers.
- No change is allowed Of flight/date once the journey has begun.
- The trip must be completed within 365 days from the date of the first flight
Some examples of itineraries
This is a ticket that needs to be custom-built, like a tailor-made suit, but there is one concept that you must keep in mind when designing this itinerary: no one forbids me to include intermediate stops, with separate tickets. And be sure to pay attention to the directions of travel.
For example, you can fly from Milan to Sao Paulo in Brazil and from there to New York, but not the other way around, unless you travel in the opposite direction. Similarly, if I land in Sao Paulo I can book separate flights to visit Rio de Janeiro or Buenos Aires and then depart from Sao Paulo without having wasted stops.
My advice is to travel westward, not only because you will go back in time, but because I think in this direction you will suffer less jet-lag.
The first example I can give is my recent RTW just aboard Star Alliance carriers.
- London to Tokyo (via Frankfurt) with Lufthansa. Incidentally, with the intercontinental flight aboard 747/8 one of the few queens of the skies remaining in circulation
- Tokyo to Sydney with All Nippon Airlines
- Sydney to Auckland with Air New Zeland
- Auckland to Honolulu always with Air New Zeland aboard the time machine.
- From Honolulu to Vancouver, where I experienced my first emergency on board
- Last trip from Vancouver to London again with Air Canada
This was a mandatory route, from the covid and the fare of just under 600 pounds, take it or leave it.
However, my dream itinerary is as follows:
- Departure from Europe to Istanbul with Turkish Airlines
- From Istanbul to Colombo, capital of Sri Lanka with Turkish Airlines
- From Sri Lanka to Singapore with Singapore Airline
- Singapore to Tokyo with Singapore Airline
- From Tokyo to Honlulu with ANA and the flying turtle
- Honolulu to Los Angeles with United
- Los Angeles to Buenos Aires with United
- Buenos Aires to Europe with Lufthansa or Swiss
As you can see, we are inside the 35,000 mile limit of maximum travel distance, and most importantly, this itinerary allows for intermediate flights to tour Asia, Japan, the East Coast of the United States, and South America. A trip of a thousand and one nights and a minimum of 30 days' duration, if not more.
How to book a ticket to go around the world
If you have reached this point in the article, or perhaps you have simply skipped everything written before, you need to know that you can't do it online, it is not a limitation of Singapore Airlines, but all companies to have this ticket detached require going through customer service.
The basic rules for succeeding in this endeavor are:
- Having the points on your account, ready to be used
- Have total flexibility in travel dates. If you are tight on time and can't move the dates even by a few weeks, it will be really complicated
- The itinerary must be flexible. If you can't find award places to fly to Singapore, maybe you can find it for Bangkok. If you can't find Sydney you can find Melbourne and so on.
You cannot book this award online, but you can certainly do all the research in advance.
Look for the availability of places
It sounds simple, but this is the most complicated thing to do: after designing the itinerary and any alternative destinations, you have to go in search of the prize places. In the case of Singapore Airlines, it is good to remember that only Saver seats can be redeemed, Within an RTW ticket, Advantage seats are not bookable. In addition to Singapore's site, you can also use the other Star Alliance carriers' sites to find all the individual routes. ALWAYS look for individual routes not the complete itinerary.
Write down the complete itinerary and contact SQ
One must have in hand theComplete itinerary with full details of identified seats. Date, time, airline and flight number. In addition, of course, to the number of seats requested. At this point you need to contact Singapore Airlines customer service and immediately explain to the operator your desire to book an RTW award ticket. Staff will check the itinerary to make sure it falls within the published rules.
Having the itinerary written and in front of your eyes allows you not to make mistakes, already having a plan B and C in case the prize place identified in the search is no longer there allows you to speed up the whole operation
The telephone number for the Italian ticket office is +39 0230578860, wanting SQ also provides a form to be submitted to the company to apply for this ticket, but it provides a maximum of six stops, so it may not fit everyone.
In conclusion
I hope with this guide to help as many people as possible to detach this kind of ticket. The procedure is laborious and requires a lot of patience, especially in the hunt for the ticket, but the reward will be an unforgettable trip, one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences that can be recounted dozens and dozens of times.
Redeeming this ticket is undoubtedly one of the best chances you have to use the points, and the value you get is 5 times to that of a simple prize ticket.
