Have you been accumulating a lot of miles/points by using the best cards for your spending? In this article, I’ll be ranking the cheapest award flights to/from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Mainland China that you can redeem your hard-earned credit card miles/points for.
Have a look at the other versions of this article, for the cheapest award flights to/from:
Singapore Credit Card Transfer Partners
Miles/Points from most credit cards can be transferred to KrisFlyer and Asia Miles. However, as shown in the table below, Citibank cards have many more transfer partners than most others, giving cardholders fantastic flexibility when redeeming for an award flight.
In the Miles Game, flexibility is very important. For this reason, when deciding which card to transact with (between cards with similar earn rates), I recommend picking Citi and HSBC cards over the others.
P.S. Although AMEX has many transfer partners too, they do not have any good cards for earning miles/points.
Frequent Flyer Program | Citibank | HSBC | OCBC | DBS | UOB | Maybank | American Express | Standard Chartered |
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | ||||||||
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles | ||||||||
EVA Air Infinity MileageLands | ||||||||
Qatar Airways Privilege Club | (via BA Executive Club only) | (via BA Executive Club only) | ||||||
British Airways Executive Club | ||||||||
Finnair Plus | (via BA Executive Club only) | (via BA Executive Club only) | (via BA Executive Club only) | |||||
KLM/Air France Flying Blue | ||||||||
Qantas Frequent Flyer | ||||||||
Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles | ||||||||
Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus | ||||||||
Etihad Guest | ||||||||
Malaysia Airlines Enrich | ||||||||
Vietnam Airlines Lotusmiles | ||||||||
Air Canada Aeroplan | ||||||||
United Airlines MileagePlus | ||||||||
Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings Club | ||||||||
Japan Airlines Mileage Bank | ||||||||
Emirates Skywards | ||||||||
China Airlines Dynasty Flyer | ||||||||
Marriott Bonvoy | ||||||||
Hilton Honors | ||||||||
Accor Live Limitless | ||||||||
IHG One Rewards | ||||||||
Wyndham Rewards | ||||||||
= Poor transfer ratio |
Frequent Flyer Programs and Partner Airlines
The following are the top 5 Frequent Flyer Programs (FFPs) that Singapore credit cardholders should consider, when booking award flights between Singapore and North Asia.
Check for award availability on these pages:
Frequent Flyer Program | Alliance | Booking Link |
---|---|---|
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | Star Alliance | All airlines |
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles | oneworld | All airlines |
EVA Air Infinity MileageLands | Star Alliance | EVA Air Star Alliance |
KLM/Air France Flying Blue | SkyTeam | All airlines |
Finnair Plus | oneworld | Website or Call/Chat |
Qatar Airways Privilege Club | oneworld | Website or Call |
Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles | Star Alliance | Star Alliance |
Miles/Points from every airline’s FFP can also be redeemed for flights on partner airlines.
For example, miles in EVA Air MileageLands can be redeemed for flights on its Star Alliance partners like Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways and All Nippon Airways.
Star Alliance
Here are some Star Alliance airlines that you can fly in, between Singapore and North Asia:
- Singapore Airlines
- EVA Air
- Thai Airways
- All Nippon Airways
- Asiana
oneworld
Here are some oneworld airlines that you can fly in, between Singapore and North Asia:
- Cathay Pacific
- Malaysia Airlines
- Japan Airlines
SkyTeam
Here are some SkyTeam airlines that you can fly in, between Singapore and North Asia:
- China Airlines
- Korean Air
- Vietnam Airlines
Cheapest ways to fly between Singapore and North Asia
The award rates shown below are only for the lowest rates available on each FFP, ignoring low-value “Advantage” or “non-promotional” rates that some FFPs offer.
Economy Class
Travellers are usually advised against redeeming miles/points for Economy Class flights as they can often get far better value on Premium classes. For example, Business Class flights from Singapore to North Asia cost as much as 400% more in cash (vs Economy), but only require as little as 43% more in miles.
However, travellers who can only travel during peak holiday seasons (when Business Class availability is bad), or have a large family to redeem for can still get good value by redeeming their miles/points for Economy Class flights on some airlines/FFPs, especially when the cash fares are very high.
Here are the cheapest ways to travel between Singapore and North Asia, in Economy Class, with miles/points from Singapore credit cards:
Frequent Flyer Program | Airline | Miles (one-way, Economy) | Taxes/ Fees (estimated) | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Hong Kong, Taiwan, China | Japan, Korea | |||
Privilege Club | Cathay Pacific | 11k (HKG) | – | ~S$70 |
Finnair Plus | Japan Airlines | – | 15.5k (Japan) | ~S$220 |
Infinity Mileage- Lands | EVA Air | 17.5k | 17.5k | ~S$100 – S$150 |
Infinity Mileage- Lands | Singapore Airlines | 20k – 25k | 25k | ~S$65 |
Infinity Mileage- Lands | Star Alliance | 20k – 25k | 25k | ~S$190 – S$250 |
Asia Miles | oneworld | 10k – 27k | 20k – 27k | ~S$85 – S$280 |
Flying Blue | China Airlines, Korean Air | 14.5k – 29.5k | 24k – 29.5k | ~S$65 – S$150 |
KrisFlyer | Singapore Airlines | 16.5k – 21.5k | 27k | ~S$65 |
KrisFlyer | Star Alliance | 16.5k – 27k | 27k | ~S$190 – S$250 |
Miles& Smiles | Singapore Airlines | 35k | 35k | ~S$65 |
Miles& Smiles | Star Alliance | 35k | 35k | ~S$190 – S$250 |
Premium Economy
This is a smaller list, as not all airlines have Premium Economy seats on flights to/from Singapore. On top of that, not all FFPs have the Premium Economy class listed in their award charts.
Here are the cheapest ways to travel between Singapore and North Asia, in Premium Economy Class, with miles/points from Singapore credit cards:
Frequent Flyer Program | Airline | Miles (one-way, Premium Economy) | Taxes/ Fees (estimated) | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Hong Kong, Taiwan, China | Japan, Korea | |||
Infinity Mileage- Lands | EVA Air | 20k | 20k | ~S$100 – S$150 |
Asia Miles | Cathay Pacific | 23k – 38k | 38k | ~S$100 – S$180 |
KrisFlyer | Singapore Airlines | 26.5k – 34.5k | 37.5k | ~S$65 |
Business Class
Here are the cheapest ways to travel between Singapore and North Asia, in Business Class, with miles/points from Singapore credit cards:
Frequent Flyer Program | Airline | Miles (one-way, Business) | Taxes/ Fees (estimated) | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Hong Kong, Taiwan, China | Japan, Korea | |||
Infinity Mileage- Lands | EVA Air | 25k | 25k | ~S$100 – S$150 |
Infinity Mileage- Lands | Singapore Airlines | 35k – 40k | 40k | ~S$65 |
Infinity Mileage- Lands | Star Alliance | 35k – 40k | 40k | ~S$190 – S$250 |
Finnair Plus | Japan Airlines | – | 41.5k (Japan) | ~S$220 |
Privilege Club | Cathay Pacific | 22k (HKG) | – | ~S$70 |
Flying Blue | China Airlines | 28.5k – 59k | 54k – 60k | ~S$100 – S$150 |
Asia Miles | oneworld | 32k – 63k | 58k – 63k | ~S$100 – S$280 |
KrisFlyer | Singapore Airlines | 34k – 43k | 52k | ~S$65 |
KrisFlyer | Star Alliance | 46k – 52.5k | 52.5k | ~S$190 – S$250 |
Miles& Smiles | Singapore Airlines | 50k | – | ~S$65 |
Miles& Smiles | Star Alliance | 50k | 50k | ~S$190 – S$250 |
First Class
This is also a small list as not all airlines have First Class seats on flights to/from Singapore, and not all FFPs allow booking of First Class awards for partner airlines.
Here are the cheapest ways to travel between Singapore and North Asia, in First Class, with miles/points from Singapore credit cards:
Frequent Flyer Program | Airline | Miles (one-way, First) | Taxes/ Fees (estimated) | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Hong Kong, Taiwan, China | Japan, Korea | |||
Infinity Mileage- Lands | Singapore Airlines | 62.5k | 62.5k | ~S$65 |
KrisFlyer | Singapore Airlines | 45k – 58.5k | 77k | ~S$65 |
Why are some taxes/fees so high?
The taxes and fees on award flights depend on a number of factors:
- Airport fees
- Whether the airline carries fuel surcharges (e.g. Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines do not)
- Whether the FFP passes on fuel surcharges (e.g. KrisFlyer does not, but only on Singapore Airlines flights)
- The amount of fuel surcharges (e.g. EVA Air has fairly low fuel surcharges but Thai Airways has much more, for the same flight distance)
- Other additional FFP/airline fees
Should you only aim for redemptions with low taxes/fees? The short answer is no.
In some cases, the FFP-airline combination that has low taxes/fees, also has a much higher mileage requirement.
For example, to travel to Tokyo in Business Class, a traveller can redeem just 25k miles + ~S$150 in taxes/fees for EVA Air flights with Infinity MileageLands. With KrisFlyer, the traveller needs 52k miles + ~S$62. That’s S$88 less cash for 27k more miles (worth S$430)!
While Infinity MileageLands looks like a clear winner here, there are also other factors that can influence your decision, as everyone’s a different traveller:
- Do you care about the values of miles?
- Is there award availability for your preferred route/date?
- Do you only want to fly direct?
- Are you earning miles much faster than you have time to redeem them?
- Do you only want to fly for (close to) free?
- Does the airline fly to your preferred destination?
- Do you have miles that are expiring very soon?
- Are there any special transfer bonus or award discount offers?
- Do you prefer the seat/food/service on some airlines?
- Do you feel the need to “make good use” of your airline status by sticking to a particular airline/alliance?
How to search for award space
To check if there is award availability, travellers can visit the respective FFPs’ website. However, most of them are slow as they only allow users to search date-by-date or week-by-week.
Search faster with calendar views
For oneworld flights, travellers can search for partner award availability much faster through the calendar view on American Airlines’ website.
For Star Alliance, this can be done on Avianca Lifemiles’ website. However, I do not find the calendar view to be very accurate in displaying award availability.
Use these websites only as a guide and ignore the mileage requirements that are listed. When you see availability, repeat the search on the website of your preferred FFP.
Do note that some FFPs, like KrisFlyer and Infinity MileageLands, may release more award seats on their own airlines. This means that members will not be able to see the additional award availability on partner websites like AAdvantage or Lifemiles.
Independent award search engines
Travellers can also find near-term award availability across different FFPs, airlines or alliances through independent search engines like seats.aero and awardfares.com.
Again, use these websites only as a guide and repeat the search on the website of your preferred FFPs.
Get alerted when there is award space
Travellers can also receive alerts when there is award availability on their preferred date and route, with paid services from websites like expertflyer.com and seatspy.com.
Bottom line
The “best” award redemption depends almost entirely on your preferences. There is no right answer, as everyone’s a different traveller.
Travellers who earn flexible miles/points through their credit cards will always have the upper hand in finding award availability across multiple FFPs.
I hope that this article gave you the required knowledge to make the best decisions to suit your travel needs, when redeeming miles/points for flights between Singapore and North Asia.
Hi, may I know if you had any joy searching JAL award flights on Finnair Plus? Tried on the Finnair website but it always returned no results.
Since you included Hong Kong in the article, the cheapest way to get there is via Avios on Cathay Pacific I would say
Thanks! Will add QR and BA Avios to the tables.
Hi! Is taxes & surcharges from SG to JP/KR via EVA Air US$150~ or S$150~?
SIN-NRT ~S$150. NRT-SIN ~US$150. Check taxes/fees here: https://matrix.itasoftware.com/
HI Fai, wonder what’s the availability for business class to Tokyo/Seoul for EVA (SQ) during period of December compared to SQ if I only look at 3-4 months in advance. Seems like limited cards with 4mpd from Citi Rewards, HSBC Revolution.
Hey, you’ll need sufficient miles on EVA to see Star Alliance availability. EVA’s SQ award availability tends to align with what we see on Air Canada Aeroplan, so, maybe you can get a little clue there.
Is the redemption for Infinity
Mileage for economy class SQ or *A really 20k? I seem to be getting 25k miles on the Eva air website and based on the redemption chart
Thanks for pointing it out! The *A mileage requirement for Economy Class to Taiwan, Hong Kong and China is 20k, but for other North Asian cities, it is indeed 25k. I’ve corrected the table.
Hi I’ve heard for redeeming flights on Eva airways for family members travelling with me, I’ll need to credit my credit miles into their own Eva airways FF accounts and I can’t book all 4 tickets required using my account. Any idea if this is true?
Hi, I’ve not personally redeemed EVA miles for family members, but a member of the Suitesmile Chat Telegram group mentioned that too: https://t.me/suitesmilechat/41252
Do you have any use cases, list of sweet spot and best way to redeem EVA Air Infinity MileageLands?
First time here on this site, living in Saipan. This is invaluable, thanks!