Author: Shane

LOUNGE REVIEW: Cathay Pacific Singapore Lounge, Changi Airport Terminal 4

Published by

The Hong Kong Singapore Lounge is one of the latest in the Cathay Pacific’s network, opened less than 18 months ago when Singapore Changi Airport opened its newest terminal, Terminal 4. Being one of the major airlines operating out of Terminal 4 since the terminal opened back in 2017, the Cathay Pacific Singapore lounge is the only airline lounge at Terminal 4. It is a fairly cosy one, with 849 square metres of space and offering seats for over 200 customers at any point in time. Who can access this lounge? Apart from Cathay Pacific’s own business and first class passengers, Marco Polo Silver, Gold and Diamond members can also access the lounge when travelling on a Cathay Pacific flight out of Singapore. Oneworld sapphire and emerald members may also use the lounge as long as they are travelling on a oneworld-member operated flight on the same day, although I’m not sure if you should make the trek to Terminal 4 just for this lounge when the Qantas lounge at Terminal 1 is probably a …

Singapore Airlines is revising its redemption prices again, less than two years after the last time

Published by

Singapore Airlines will be increasing the redemption rates for all award tickets, as well as upgrades, from 24 January 2019. This increase will see Krisflyer members forking out anything from 2,000 miles to 15,000 miles more for their premium economy, business or first class ticket. For those who have longer term memories, the last revision was in March 2017 (yes we are in 2019, guys), where SQ famously removed its 15% online redemption discount, in return for absorbing fuel surcharges on its tickets. This time round it’s mostly grim. Economy class rates remained unchanged, but everything else is going up – both saver and advantage rates. We will take a look at the increases at the saver level, because, frankly who redeems at an advantage level unless you really need to travel? One great news for those who usually upgrade with their miles: SQ will now allow a two-class upgrade from Economy to Business for aircraft with the premium economy product. Previously this will not be possible. Premium Economy Premium Economy saver rates have gone …

REVIEW: Hotel Indigo Katong, Deluxe King Room

Published by

In an attempt to complete the Double Points and More promotion (also known as the Acceleration promotion), I decided to spend the weekend at Hotel Indigo Katong. Given it’s off city centre location, this hotel is definitely not my usual choice. Having read some pretty good reviews and also to meet the ‘Stay in two or more brands’ requirement, I decided to check the hotel out. Back to the hotel. Hotel Indigo Katong is nested in the heart of Singapore’s peranakan enclave, Joo Chiat. For those who are unfamiliar with the term, Peranakans are essentially what Southeast Asians refer to as Straits-born Chinese. They are descendants of Chinese immigrants who moved to the Malay archipalego a few centuries ago and developed their own mix of heritage and culture. One thing for sure, their food is incredibly elaborate and delightful. The hotel is fairly new: built in 2016, the hotel is part of a rejuvenation plan which saw several new hotels pop up in the vicinity. The hotel is adjoined with Katong Square and Holiday Inn …

SilkAir to operate daily services to Cairns from 2 June 2019

Published by

After announcing a massive scrapping rationalisation of services which saw many of its destinations transferred to Scoot, SilkAir is certainly springing a surprise here: daily services to Cairns from June to October 2019, the better half of the Northern Summer season. Currently, SilkAir is operating five weekly services to Cairns. The additional services will be on Tuesdays and Sundays, operated with SilkAir’s latest Boeing 737 MAX 8. The full schedule is as below: Route Flight Departure Arrival Flight Time Days Aircraft type SIN-CNS MI811 0110 0955 6h 45m Mon, Thu, Sat Boeing 737 MAX 8 SIN-CNS MI813 0845 1715 6h 30m Tue, Wed, Fri, Sun Boeing 737 MAX 8 CNS-SIN MI812 1045 1525 6h 40m Mon, Thu, Sat Boeing 737 MAX 8 CNS-SIN MI814 1815 2305 6h 20m Tue, Wed, Fri, Sun Boeing 737 MAX 8 SilkAir’s furthest destination At over 6 hours, Cairns is probably the furthest destinations on SilkAir’s network, even longer than the newly launched Hiroshima in Japan (that sits at 6 hours 15 minutes). That makes the flight an incredibly unattractive …