Help in finding an extra SQ flight to achieve Gold Status

[Bell21]

I thought I'd reach out to the brains trust for some creative advice.

I'm trying to help a family member obtain Gold KF status. She is an additional card holder with my AMEX Plat card, so I can help her obtain KF Silver Status via Jade Shangri-La status. The challenge is that as I understand it she needs to fly on SQ metal (not reward / not codeshare) 3 times in the first 4 months after her silver status is activated to obtain gold status. I have 2 flight segments sorted, but I'm struggling to find a 3rd flight segment, which is why I'm posting this question.

The details are as follows:
a) she is likely to be travelling on a paid SQ one-way ticket from SYD to Amsterdam later this year (that's 2 flight segments)
b) she is also travelling on a separate trip on business class rewards from SYD-SIN-BKK / HKT-SIN-SYD later this year (and BKK-HKT on a cash fare Thai airways flight)
c) she is likely to be living in Amsterdam for at least the first part of next year

I contemplated a few options to find a 3rd SQ flight, but none seem viable - eg, the HKT-SIN rewards segment above is actually economy, so I thought about replacing this as a cash fare (but it's too complicated and costly) or even routing her SYD-SIN-AMS flight via Canberra (but apparently SYD-CBR-SIN is only 1 flight segment). I also tried to find short SQ flights she might take whilst in Europe, but it appears that most SQ flights from AMS are longer flights (eg, back to SIN, etc), which doesn't suit her plans. I also thought about 5th freedom flights, but there don't appear to be any that suit that I can find (eg, MEL-WLG).

Is there anything I haven't thought of, as I'd love to get her Staralliance Gold Status as she's likely to be travelling a lot next year.

 

[dajop]

Only immediate thought was to do a same day return HKT-SIN or paying for BKK-SIN fare on SQ and a separate SIN-HKT fare (on whoever) instead of paying for Thai fare.

SQ used to do MUC-MAN return, but since that was discontinued the only intra-"Europe" fifth freedom is ARN-DME (Stockholm-Moscow). Otherwise next shortest trip from Europe is FRA-JFK! (nb: SQ also operate MXP-BCN, but they don't have fifth freedom on this route and do not sell fares between the two cities).

 

[Bell21]

Thanks dajop. Yes, that MUC-MAN might've possibly worked (pity) and MXP-BCN has potential, but as you say, no 5th freedom flights. I don't think she'll manage to find time for FRA-JFK.

I'm not sure I understand the BKK-SIN on SQ and separate SIN-HKT suggestion as a possible solution?

 

[dajop]

I'm not sure I understand the BKK-SIN on SQ and separate SIN-HKT suggestion as a possible solution?

So instead of travelling BKK-HKT, travel could be BKK-SIN-HKT. However as this would violate cabotage (BKK-HKT tickets both originate and terminate in Thailand), the two sectors would need to be on separate tickets.

 

[Bell21]

Interesting idea - thanks for clarifying and thanks for your thoughts. I don't think she'd be up for it (I would!), as it would be a fair bit of extra travelling / cost (ie, BKK-SIN-HKT, instead of BKK-HKT) and she'd like KF Gold, but as she has reasonable lounge access (Plaza Premium via AMEX / Diners), she'd probably want to find a way for a 3rd flight without doing a status run for its own sake.

 

[lilkid28]

MEL-WLG holiday?

 

[Bell21]

MEL-WLG holiday?

Thanks - I'd do it but she's not going to manage to get the time --- I don't think there's a way around this unless she has time / inclination to do a status run!

 

[mel-world]

Shortest status run would be SIN-KUL-SIN. You can probably do it in three hours on SQ or MI. Lots of flights and not too expensive.