Author: Shane

Qantas kicks off 100th birthday celebration with a 100-hour sale

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Return fares to Australia from S$439, London from S$949 Qantas has officially kicked off its centenary celebrations with a worldwide sale to run for only 100 hours, or just over 4 days. Almost all headline destinations that Qantas flies to are on sale, including Australia, New Zealand and London, UK. Premium economy and business class seats are also on sale, for very attractive prices. Return premium economy fares to Sydney and Melbourne are going for $1499, while business class seats starts from $2999, a steal for Australia. Fares and valid travel dates Full list of fares below: From Singapore to Return fare from (S$) Class Economy Premium Economy Business Perth 439 – 1999 Brisbane 525 1449 2949 Melbourne 549 1449 2949 Sydney 579 1449 2999 Adelaide 669 – 3299 Wellington 739 1549 4599 Auckland 879 1749 4599 Christchurch 979 1849 4499 Queenstown 989 1849 4899 London 949 2849 5199 The sale fares are only valid for the following travel periods: Destination Class For travel commencing AustraliaNew Zealand All classes 1 Feb to 9 Apr 20203 …

REVIEW: DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Melaka, Twin Guest Room

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I have not been to Melaka in a while, so when a friend wanted to head up for a weekend to get some matters settled, I thought it was a good opportunity to visit the historical city. For those not residing in Southeast Asia, Melaka – also spelt Malacca – is a city in Malaysia, about two and a half hours away from capital Kuala Lumpur. The UNESCO World Heritage listed historic city is famous for its Dutch and Portugese roots and more importantly, the abundance of great food. For the longest time, Melaka did not have any international-branded hotels, relying on a series of small independent operators to provide accommodations. There are also some larger properties, almost all of which are independently managed. In this post: • Introduction • The hotel • The room • The facilities • Final thoughts I was playing around with the Hilton Honors app and realised there was a property – DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Melaka – that has opened in recent years (that’s how long I’ve not been …

Qantas Singapore First Lounge to open doors in late November

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The much awaited first class lounge at Changi Airport Terminal 1 should open from the week of 18 November 2019 Finally we are very near to the fanfare: the Qantas Singapore First Lounge is expected to open this month, in November. The airline has earlier said that the lounge will be opened in mid to late November. Based on sources, the lounge should be opened from 18 November 2019 if there are no hiccups. Official opening on 2 December Based on a report by Executive Traveller, the official opening date of the lounge is set to be on 2 December 2019, and Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce will be present to officiate the opening. However, according to some sources, there seems to be a staff event over the weekend of 16 & 17 November as a trial before the doors are opened to customers on 18 November, Monday. Long awaited development As early as mid-2018, Qantas announced that it will be building a separate First class lounge for its topmost tier members, a nod to …

Alaska Air Mileage Plan tightens routing rules – no more cheap ’roundtrip’ award tickets

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This follows the introduction of Singapore Airlines award tickets into the system. Loyalists of Alaska Air will know that the programme is particularly generous in its award ticket rules, which has created some really interesting redemption tricks, including a (almost) roundtrip JAL ticket in business class for only 25,000 miles between Southeast Asia and Japan. More recently, Alaska Air has added Singapore Airlines as as redemption partner, causing a big stir in the Singapore miles-chasing community. Many miles-chasers have snapping up Alaska Air Mileage Plan miles to take advantage of some of the loophole in their award inventory, particularly in Asia. So here are some of the changes: Singapore Airlines award chart update: China-Southeast Asia award tickets now cost more For a start, Alaska Air has corrected the categorisation for China (including Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing), and now it is grouped together with Japan and South Korea. This results in an increase of Southeast Asia-China routing from 25,000 in business to a whopping 60,000 miles. In economy, the increase is still a good 50% increase, …

You can now redeem Alaska Air Mileage Plan miles for Singapore Airlines award tickets

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But the redemption rates are not great. Update 16 Oct 19: Alaska Air has removed the ability to book a stopover for intra-Asia itineraries, and also adjusted the zones for Beijing and Shanghai. Read more here. After a very long time, Alaska Air has finally added Singapore Airlines as an award partner. Since two years ago, you could credit your Singapore Airlines flying with Alaska Air Mileage Plan, which gave excellent mileage especially if you are flying premium classes. For instance, if you are flying first class on a revenue ticket, you will earn 350% of the actual miles flown. Wow. Award charts are not great Alaska Air has finally published some semblance of an award chart for Singapore Airlines flights, but they are rather disappointing. [UPDATE] Following the update of the award chart, China is now classified under North Asia, resulting in a bump in the miles required. Hong Kong and Taiwan remains under “Southeast Asia”, requiring less miles. Also, Alaska Air no longer allow for a stopover for intra-Asia travel, which means you …