Author: Shane

Singapore Airlines adds Brussels on its map

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The new service will take off in October 2020 using the three-class A350-900. Singapore Airlines is launching yet another European destination: Brussels. The four times weekly service will begin almost a year later on 25 October 2020. Home to the United Nations headquarters, Brussels will be the 16th European destination for SIA. The city is considered somewhat the crossroads of Western Europe, being a major train station for inter-city journeys. The city was last served by Singapore Airlines back in 2003 before the SARS crisis hit globally. Back then, SIA has suspended services to the Belgian capital in a drastic reduction of network capacity globally as a result of reduced demand in air travel post SARS. Brussels will be served by a Singapore Airlines A350-900 in a three class configuration, with 42 business class seats, 24 premium economy seats and 187 economy class seats. The schedule is as follow: Route Flight Departure Arrival Flight duration Days Aircraft SIN-BRU SQ304 2355 0650(+1) 13h 55m Wed, Thu, Fri, Sun A350-900 BRU-SIN SQ303 1120 0655(+1) 12h 35m Mon, …

FLIGHT REVIEW: Spring Airlines A320 Economy SpringPlus, Bangkok – Shanghai

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I was scratching my head as to how to get from Bangkok to Shanghai on a one-way ticket, and to my surprise there wasn’t many cheap options for flights during the day. Strangely, there were a lot of red-eye options, but I’m not particularly excited at doing a five-hour red-eye flight, having travelled from Shanghai to Kuala Lumpur on a red-eye service a year before and trying very hard to survive through the day after the flight. I then stumbled across Spring Airlines, which seemed like a perfect option given that it had a mid-day departure and arriving into Shanghai at about dinnertime. About Spring Airlines Spring Airlines was established in 2004, and operated its first service in 2005. It’s one of China’s first low-cost airline, although in its early days it offered complimentary food and drinks to all passengers. The Shanghai-based airline operates only the A320, serving over 50 domestic destinations within China and 25 international destinations across Asia. Bangkok is one of Spring Airlines’ focus cities internationally, serving over 10 Chinese cities, including …

Qantas settles on A350-1000 for its ultra long haul ambitions

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Boeing loses out on this Project Sunrise race, although no orders have been placed with Airbus, yet. What Is Qantas’ Project Sunrise? Qantas’ Project Sunrise is essential a challenge aimed at planemakers back in 2017 for an aircraft that has the ability to fly non-stop, with full payload, from Sydney and Melbourne to London and New York. Being geographically challenged, Qantas has traditionally serviced faraway destinations with a stop in between, such as Sydney-Singapore-London and Melbourne-Los Angeles-New York. Currently the world’s longest flight is operated by Singapore Airlines’ A350-900ULR on its Singapore-Newark service. That flight covers a distance of over 9,500 miles and takes about 18 hours each way. Qantas’ own longest flight at the moment is the Sydney-Dallas Fort-Worth service, an 8,400-mile service served by an Airbus A380. This will soon be overtaken a new Brisbane-Chicago service that Qantas is starting from April 2020, which will top out at some 8,900 miles, taking between 16 and 17 hours. The project name is a nod to the original Kangaroo route in the 1940s from London …

Asia Miles will no longer expire from 1 Jan 2020, with a caveat

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Asia Miles will be kept active as long as there’s an activity once every 18 months. Sounds good at first glance, but that means you need to keep your account active more often. Cathay Pacific loyalists can cheer: Asia Miles earned from 1st January 2020 will no longer expire, as long as you earn or redeem at least one mile every 18 months. Note that this will only apply for miles earned from 1st January 2020, and any miles earned before that will still expire under the current rules. Current system Under the current rules, all miles earned within a membership year will expire three years after the current membership year. For example, if your membership year (based on your sign-up month) is from April to March the following year: If you earned 10,000 miles in May 2018, they will expire in March 2022 (i.e. end of membership year in March 2020 plus three years). If you earn another 5,000 miles in December 2019, they will expire in March 2023. New system The new system …

Citi launches new Lazada co-branded credit card

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Surprise surprise, banks think that co-branded credit cards are actually still… in? It’s probably about a decade (or two?) ago where such joint cards are extremely popular. M1, Robinsons, and even SingPost, all have a credit card. Having said that, the trend has been dying for a while now. The hottest co-branded card that came out was probably the UOB-Krisflyer card last year, and for good reasons, given that the miles gathering community have grown tremendously in just the last two years. Now, back to the Citi Lazada card. The basics Income requirement: S$30,000 p.a. for Singapore citizens and PRs, S$42,000 for foreigners Annual fee: S$192.60 for principal cardmembers, waived for the first year; S$96.30 for supplementary cards, waived for the first year Annual fee gift:  3 x $50 Lazada vouchers for new-to-Citibank customers (with a lot of conditions) Free LiveUp 1-year membership (worth $59.90). Earn rates: 0.4 mile per dollar spent (mpd) locally & overseas Special earn rates: 4.8 mpd for Lazada transactions (until 29 Feb 20, 4.0 mpd thereafter) 2 mpd on dining, travel, entertainment, commuting …