PER-SIN-NRT J/R Advice Needed

[SponsorSFC]

Hi,

I am looking at booking a trip to Japan next year for the Cherry Blossom season.

I am looking at a trip of just over 2 weeks and have found some availability on dates that would suit. However I am not quite sure which flights to book.

From PER to SIN I have the choice of an A330-300 or 777-200, is there any difference to the J product on these aircraft?

Adding another spanner into the works I am about 3,000 points short of having enough to book Suites or F between SIN and NRT as part of a mixed redemption, but would have that from CC spend by the end of the month. It would completely clear out my VA points balance though.

For those that have flown both is it worth the extra 80,000 VA points for only half of the trip and is it likely that by the end of the month that the J or F availability will have disappeared given this seems to be a busy route at a peak period?

Thanks for your help.

 

[LadyC]

We booked our MEL-NRT flights to Japan for April 2015 in late January 2015. We were a little flexible with dates so found saver F tickets each way. No guarantees but booking at the end of the month should be okay.

 

[Arrow29]

With regards to the PER-SIN segment, the hard product is the same in both the 777-200 and the A330, there are just some differences in the size of the cabin. You can click on the seat map during the booking process to see that, but the 777s have all been refitted with the current regional J product (maybe double check the seat map prior to booking to make sure).

Would you be booking F in the A380 suites or the 777ER? I haven't flown F on the 777 but suites was a very nice experience, I guess only you can justify whether it's worth the extra points but I definitely didn't regret it to Europe!

 

[cove]

Book the Suites saver first. Do the PER-SIN later.
Neither of the two types of plane out of Perth is a problem. The 777 is a bit older.

 

[SponsorSFC]

Preference will be in suites on the A380, if F was available on both legs I would definitely do it as one award but paying F prices for half the trip in J has me second guessing.

I may end up doing it as 2 one way awards one as F and the other, J as it would cost more to do it as two return awards than just booking F as a return.

 

[cove]

You could go to Sydney to start and book a one class Saver Suites run thru Singapore to Narita and back.

 

[SponsorSFC]

Thanks, I looked at that but unfortunately the extra points it would cost plus the positioning cost as we wouldn't do transcon in Y makes it not an option at this stage.

I think we might end up going:
PER-SIN J then SIN-NRT R for 119,000
Then
KIX-SIN (stopover) -PER for 89,250 plus the extra $100 fee for the stopover on a one way.

 

[cove]

I think that will work. We still have not done Suites out of Sydney.

 

[SponsorSFC]

Well as i have posted in the other thread. I at least have a wait listed booking as a starting point. I am not sure what the issue is there is availability according to the website in both J & F for the waitlisted SIN-NRT section on the date I want.

 

[SponsorSFC]

I have tried a couple of other dates where there is availability in both J and F, one of the agents told me that it is not possible to link PER -SIN J w/ another leg in F in any booking as there is no F out of PER on any SQ flights. This does not seem correct to me but who am I to argue with them.

Cove, have you booked a mixed class redemption out of PER before?

 

[Sethor]

I think the best way would be to book trip in J using multi city tool, as it is return trip you will get the free stopover in Singapore. If the 2 saver F awards on SIN-NRT are available, call them to change the PER-SIN-NRT legs to F Saver. You need to be persistent with the call center staff as many don't know rules, they will try to put it through as PER-SIN as J Saver (Zone 8 to 1) + SIN-NRT F Saver (Zone 1 to 7) rather than as PER-SIN-NRT as F Saver (Zone 8 to 7). You need to tell them to look at award chart & say you are going to Zone 8 to 7 which is 70,000 miles less 15% for F Saver & get them to read the sixth General Note on the bottom of award chart which states redemption rate will be for highest class flown if J or F is unavailable on any leg/s.

http://www.singaporeair.com/pdf/ppsclub_krisflyer/charts/SQMI_OneWayAwardCharts.pdf

 

[SponsorSFC]

Thanks for the tip. I tried again this morning before I saw your post.

I now have 2 wait lists going for the exact same flights:
SQ226 PER-SIN J (Confirmed)
SQ12 SIN-NRT O (Waitlisted)

SQ226 PER-SIN J (Waitlisted)
SQ12 SIN-NRT O (Confirmed)

I am hoping that somehow I can get these two merged.

 

[SponsorSFC]

Thanks for all the help.

I have booked confirmed seats all in J as some perfect dates in March/April opened up today:
SQ226 PER - SIN
SQ12 SIN - NRT
SQ637 NRT - SIN
SQ223 SIN - PER

I have waitlisted flights in O/J for the same routes as One Way First Savers in both directions as I mentioned above so hopefully they clear if not I am sure I will still be happy enough in J.

I may give it another try and see if they will get the first saver to confirm.

 

[SponsorSFC]

Thanks for all the help.

I have booked confirmed seats all in J as some perfect dates in March/April opened up today:
SQ226 PER - SIN
SQ12 SIN - NRT
SQ637 NRT - SIN
SQ223 SIN - PER

I have waitlisted flights in O/J for the same routes as One Way First Savers in both directions as I mentioned above so hopefully they clear if not I am sure I will still be happy enough in J.

I may give it another try and see if they will get the first saver to confirm.

Got notification on Friday evening that one of my waitlisted flights in suites have cleared. Happy days right?

Nope due to VA's system outage, yesterday I couldn't log on to velocity. Today Velocity is back online but I can't transfer the points to KF to complete the booking.

They have left my VA account but not arrived in KF. Fingers, toes and everything else are crossed that it is sorted before the hold on the flights expires Tuesday morning.