Just looking at the SQ inventory for 2026, for the time I hope to be traveling, the rarest of hens teeth has popped up: an F saver (not suites) redemption from LHR-SIN-MEL.
That's actually as rare as hen's teeth. You stumbled upon a unicorn.
Actually, I see it too - on 2 different days! One day is SQ305 then SQ217 (with a 5h 40m layover in SIN) and SQ321 then SQ217 (with a 17h layover in SIN), and the other day is SQ321 then SQ217 (with a 17h layover in SIN) only.
I suspect these are both available due to it being First, not Suites.
The SIN-MEL leg is on SQ217. There is an overnight (~ 13 hour) layover in SIN.
13 hour layover? I only see either a 5h 40m or 17h layover, no 13h options.
SQ217 (and the SIN-bound SQ218) is usually a A350LH (with only Y, W, J cabins). These days, only SQ227 (and the SIN-bound SQ228) is a B777 (with Y, W, J, F cabins).
Back when SQ sent an A380 to MEL, it was the midnight SQ218 service that was allocated this aircraft.
If they do downgrade SQ217 to A350LH, then you should be able to switch over to SQ227, however with only 4 F seats on the plane, there may not be space on it so depending on how time-sensitive your journey is, you may opt to wait until an F seat opens up on SQ227 on another day, or just travel as planned but downgrade to J and get a points refund.
1) Is the points premium over a business class redemption worth it?
Highly subjective and scenario-dependent to be honest. How fast can you earn points? Can you amass a large balance quickly?
Personally I'm an award traveller purely in J, I just can't earn points fast enough to blow them on a F/R redemption and then start the journey again, so settling for J is great. I've experienced Suites once (on SQ's older A380 12-Suite bird) and that was amazing, however J still has a lie-flat seat and that's a million times better than a cramped upright Y seat.
SQ J is great.
However, if you've got a large balance, and can build it up again quickly after blowing it, then F is worth it over J.
Like I said, highly subjective and scenario-dependent.
2) Does this entitle you to use a bed at TPR in SIN for the overnight layover?
Yes. However, do take note of the
rules:
These are not intended to be hotel rooms, and as such the default time allotted per guest is two hours (though you can obviously stay longer if there’s no one after you- and given how light the Suites/First Class traffic is, it’s likely). It’s meant for napping and working, not a full night’s sleep.
3) Are the FLounges in LHR and SIN worth a visit?
Always worth a visit to an F lounge, no reason not to!
4) Is there a significant chance that the second leg, to MEL, gets downgraded to business class due to aircraft swapping; and in that case, is access to the TPR lost, and would there be any compensation in points refunded?
If there is an aircraft swap, you can still access TPR (as an arrival lounge).
However, in terms of compensation, it gets dicy. Very very dicy. YMMV.
See
below.
For example, suppose a passenger books FRA-SIN-SYD in Premium Economy, and the SIN-SYD leg gets downgraded to Economy due to an aircraft swap.
Technically speaking (and I know this will infuriate a lot of people) no refund of miles is due. Why? Because there’s no price difference between a FRA-SIN-SYD itinerary in Premium Economy, and a FRA-SIN-SYD itinerary with the first FRA-SIN leg in Premium Economy and the SIN-SYD leg in Economy.
That sounds counterintuitive, but it’s a by-product of how the KrisFlyer award chart works- the highest cabin determines the pricing of the entire itinerary (in an extreme case, a CGK-SIN-JFK award with CGK-SIN in First and SIN-JFK in Economy would price as a First Class award!)
In an ideal world, they’d do some sort of pro-rated refund of the distance flown in the lower cabin, but you need to be mentally prepared for the CSO to tell you “no dice”. If they go by the book, the only way you’ll receive a refund is if you downgrade the entire journey to the lower cabin, e.g. FRA-SIN in our example above.
