Shanescape

Latest Posts

Singapore LCCs operating to five cities in April, May

Published by Shane

Scoot to operate only two routes in Apr & May; Jetstar Asia offers three routes since 21 Apr

While Singapore Airlines maintain a minimum link to key cities around the world, Singapore-based low cost carriers – Scoot & Jetstar Asia – has also quietly recommenced some services this month.

Scoot

Scoot began suspending flights since February, and subsequently suspended all services since late March.

The airline will operate to two cities, Hong Kong and Perth, three times a week in both April and May.

The full schedule as follow:

Sector	Flight no.	Days of ops	Dep	Arr	Flight time	Aircraft
Singapore – Hong Kong	TR980	Tue, Fri, Sun	1415	1820	4h 5m	B787-9
Hong Kong – Singapore	TR981	Tue, Fri, Sun	1920	2315	3h 55m	B787-9
Singapore – Perth	TR8	Tue	1200	1710	5h 10m	B787-9
	TR16	Fri	1530	2035	5h 5m	B787-9
	TR8	Sun	1200	1700	5h	B787-9
Perth – Singapore	TR9	Tue	1810	2345	5h 35m	B787-9
	TR17	Fri	2150	0315(+1)	5h 25m	B787-9
	TR9	Sun	1800	2320	5h 20m	B787-9

The airline has not made clear what service is available on these flights, but a check on the booking engine has shown that only the FlyBag product in Economy class is available for purchase.

ScootPlus, as well as meals, are not available for purchase, so if you need to make this trip, be prepared to bring your own.

*Only FlyBag product is available for selection on Scoot’s flights*

Jetstar Asia

Jetstar Asia has suspended all services since 23 March, originally for three weeks, and subsequently extended until 19 May.

To facilitate freight shipments and to establish essential links to key regional cities, Jetstar has announced that it will run very limited flights to Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Manila from 21 Apr.

Manila will be operated once a week on Tuesdays, while Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur will run twice weekly. Note that Singapore to Bangkok services will operate as freighters only and are not available for sale, given that Bangkok has barred all international passenger flights from landing.

The full schedule as follow:

Sector	Flight no.	Days of ops	Dep	Arr	Flight time	Aircraft
Singapore – Manila	3K761	Tue	0615	0955	3h 40m	A320
Manila – Singapore	3K762	Tue	1030	1415	3h 45m	A320
Singapore – Bangkok*	3K515	Wed, Sat	1045	1210	2h 25m	A320
Bangkok – Singapore	3K516	Wed, Sat	1250	1615	2h 25m	A320
Singapore – Kuala Lumpur	3K685	Thu	1250	1355	1h 5m	A320
	3K663	Sun	0935	1040	1h 5m	A320
Kuala Lumpur – Singapore	3K686	Thu	1440	1545	1h 5m	A320
	3K664	Sun	1120	1230	1h 10m	A320

Jetstar Asia has also added that these services are only available to citizens and permanent residents who are returning home, or those with prior written approval for travel.

Note that there will be in-flight services at all. All seatback magazines and menus have been removed, while in-flight meals and duty-free items will not be sold at all.

All passengers will also be required to wear masks at all times during the flight.

Final thoughts

These flights are obviously not for leisure, but to facilitate essential travel and transport of goods. Many may not be aware, but the bulk of air freight – including your fresh food, electronics, medication and many other goods – are transported in the belly of passenger aircraft.

In this extraordinary times where passenger aircraft are almost all on the ground, cargo space becomes very precious. Airlines around the world are flying some seemingly empty planes, but in reality they are probably filled to the bream carrying goods under the passenger cabin.

Singapore Airlines full schedule for May 2020

Published by Shane

Only 3% of its usual schedule in operation for the month.

Singapore Airlines has announced their schedule for the month of May.

In this month, Singapore Airlines will only take off about 324 times – and that includes a single weekly return Silkair service to Chongqing.

In May, SIA will continue operating to the 15 cities in 13 countries, no change from the cities it operated to in April. These include Los Angeles, Shanghai, Sydney, London, Zurich, Frankfurt and a handful of Southeast Asia capitals.

This is the second month that SIA is operating a skeletal schedule. While SIA’s booking engine and GDS do show a ‘regular’ pre Covid-19 schedule in June, we would expect that this be pared down significantly, given that international travel restrictions are not showing any signs of easing up right now.

Stay tuned for more updates.

Full schedule below:

Southeast Asia
North Asia
Australia
Europe
USA

Southeast Asia – 129 flights

Sector	Flight no.	Days operating	Dep	Arr	Duration	Aircraft
Singapore – Kuala Lumpur	SQ104	Mon, Wed, Fri	0830	0930	1h	A350-900
Kuala Lumpur – Singapore	SQ105	Mon, Wed, Fri	1025	1135	1h 10m	A350-900
Singapore – Bangkok	SQ976	Mon, Fri, Sun	1600	1725	2h 25m	B787-10
Bangkok – Singapore	SQ979	Mon, Fri, Sun	1830	2155	2h 25m	B787-10
Singapore – Jakarta	SQ966	Mon, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sun	1830	1920	1h 50m	A350-900
Jakarta – Singapore	SQ967	Mon, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sun	2015	2305	1h 50m	A350-900
Singapore – Manila	SQ910	Mon, Fri	0930	1305	3h 35m	A350-900
Manila – Singapore	SQ917	Mon, Fri	1415	1755	3h 40m	A350-900
Hanoi – Singapore	SQ175	Fri	1235	1705	3h 30m	B787-10
Ho Chi Minh City – Singapore	SQ177	Mon, Thu	1230	1530	2h	B787-10

North Asia – 62 flights

Sector	Flight no.	Days operating	Dep	Arr	Duration	Aircraft
Singapore – Seoul	SQ600	Wed, Sat	0800	1535	6h 35m	A350-900
Seoul – Singapore	SQ609	Wed, Sat	1645	2200	6h 15m	A350-900
Singapore – Tokyo Narita	SQ638	Thu, Sat, Sun	0025	0830	7h 5m	B787-10
Tokyo Narita – Singapore	SQ637	Thu, Sat, Sun	1010	1620	7h 10m	B787-10
Singapore – Shanghai	SQ830	Mon	0930	1505	5h 35m	B787-10
Shanghai – Singapore	SQ833	Mon	1650	2220	5h 30m	B787-10
Singapore – Chongqing	MI972	Mon	0700	1135	4h 35m	B737-800
Chongqing – Singapore	MI971	Mon	1235	1730	4h 55m	B737-800

Australia – 26 flights

Sector	Flight no.	Days operating	Dep	Arr	Duration	Aircraft
Singapore – Sydney	SQ211	Tue, Fri, Sun	0935	1915	7h 40m	B777-300ER
Sydney Singapore	SQ232	Mon, Wed, Sat	1100	1730	7h 30m	B777-300ER

Europe – 80 flights

Sector	Flight no.	Days operating	Dep	Arr	Duration	Aircraft
Singapore – London	SQ322	Tue, Thu, Sat	2330	0555(+1)	13h 25m	A350-900
London – Singapore	SQ317	Mon, Thu, Sat	1125	0730(+1)	13h 5m	A350-900
Singapore – Frankfurt	SQ326	Wed, Fri, Sun	1155	1840	12h 45m	B777-300ER
Frankfurt – Singapore	SQ325	Mon, Thu, Sat	2000	1425(+1)	12h 25m	B777-300ER
Singapore – Zurich	SQ346	Wed, Fri, Sun	0125	0815	12h 50m	B777-300ER
Zurich – Singapore	SQ345	Mon, Thu, Sat	1145	0555(+1)	12h 10m	B777-300ER

USA – 27 flights

Sector	Flight no.	Days operating	Dep	Arr	Duration	Aircraft
Singapore – Los Angeles	SQ38	Wed, Fri, Sun	1940	2035	15h 55m	A350-900
Los Angeles – Singapore	SQ37	Mon, Wed, Sat	0005	0815(+1)	17h 10m	A350-900

No more 10X on PayWave payments using UOB Preferred Platinum Visa physical card

Published by Shane

UOB has made a small change to their terms and conditions for the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa card.

From 2 May, only mobile contactless payments and selected online transactions will earn 10x UNI$ (or 4 mpd).

Mobile payment includes Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Google Pay and UOB Mighty. The cap of S$1,000 per calendar month remains to earn the elevated number of UNI$, after which the earn rate reverts to the usual 0.4 mpd.

What this means is that using the physical credit card on the PayWave terminals will only earn you a measly 0.4 mpd, so you are better off loading that card on your mobile phone and leaving the card at home.

Note that this does not include transactions made by Samsung’s Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) technology. NFC payments using Samsung Pay are somewhat in the grey zone, so your mileage may vary.

Also, public transport payments via SimplyGo are excluded, so you will earn 0.4 mpd for those.

Current practice

Currently, cardholders will earn 10 UNI$ (or 4 mpd) for all contactless payments, as well as selected online transactions, up to a cap of S$1,000 per calendar month.

*UOB Preferred Platinum Visa terms and conditions dated 14 Feb 2020*

The ‘selected online transactions’ include online shopping, online food and grocery delivery, as well as entertainment purchases under the following MCCs:

Final thoughts

This is a truly hard push towards digital credit cards, challenging old habits of carrying physical cards around. Alas, while mobile payments are practically everywhere, there are still some merchants who insist on sighting or waving the physical card (e.g. petrol kiosks).

For those of you who still have this habit of bringing your card around, perhaps this is a good chance to migrate to mobile pay and just lock that card up for good.

Alaska Mileage Plan offers highest ever 60% bonus on miles purchases

Published by Shane

Targeted bonus available to some members only.

In the midst of a world pandemic, airlines are desperately trying to conserve cash burn as they receive practically near-zero revenue given the halting of international travel.

Alaska Air has turned to its usual tactic to raise some money, by ‘selling’ future travel in the form of miles. This time, Alaska Air is offering up to 60% bonus miles, a never-seen-before offer.

Note that Alaska Air is currently selling these miles tax-free, so this brings the per-mile cost down to 1.72 US cents.

The offer

Alaska Air has targeted some members with the whopping 60% bonus. This is not a straight-off bonus, but tiered according to how much you buy:

Buy 10,000-19,000 miles: 20% bonus (i.e. 2.29 US cents/mile)
Buy 20,000-39,000 miles: 40% bonus (i.e. 1.96 US cents/mile)
Buy 40,000 miles and above: 60% bonus (i.e. 1.72 US cents/mile)

This is a targeted offer, so that means that your offer may differ from other people. As far as articles have suggested, there are two offers: one for 60% bonus, the other for 40% bonus.

The 40% bonus is a lot more sedated (and definitely not worth considering):

Buy 3,000-14,000 miles: 20% bonus (2.29 US cents/mile)
Buy 15,000 miles and above: 40% bonus (1.96 US cents/mile)

To find out what’s your offer, you will need to log into your account here.

Should you really be buying miles now?

This is no doubt an incredible offer, given that Alaska Air has historically offered only up to 50% bonus miles. At 1.72 US cents per mile, the famed Singapore-Tokyo redemption on JAL business class will only set you by USD429.70 (S$613), or somewhere close to USD860 (S$1,226) for a roundtrip ticket, an incredible value for a business class mid-haul ride.

The key risk here is obvious: we don’t know when the global travel economy is going to recover, and that has a hinge on flight capacity. Historically, airlines will prioritise revenue tickets over award tickets, so if there’s a situation where demand outpace the available air capacity, you could be left in a situation of too many miles, too few redemption options.

While Alaska Mileage Plan last for two years before expiring, bear in mind that Alaska is due to join oneworld in summer next year, so award prices may change by then.

Final thoughts

The worst of situations often brings out the best promotions, and this is probably one of those classic examples.

As the other mileage experts always say: don’t buy these miles speculatively. Only do it if you have a plan to use them in the near future.

Covid-19: Cathay Pacific moves to Changi Airport Terminal 1 for now

Published by Shane

Terminal 4 should be shut by this week

We wrote last week that Changi Airport will be temporarily closing Changi Airport Terminal 2 from May 2020 to October 2021 in view of the on-going Covid-19 situation.

In the same announcement, Singapore Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan did hint at closing Terminal 4 if all airlines adjusted or suspended operations.

The time should be now.

Cathay Pacific announced last week that it will be temporarily relocating to Terminal 1 since last Friday (10 Apr).

*Announcement on Cathay Pacific’s website*

With its lounge at Terminal 4 temporarily shut, this move does make sense.

Cathay Pacific still operating flights to Singapore

At the time of writing, Cathay Pacific did say that it will be operating three flights a week to Singapore. However, a quick look on its website showed that it was operating on average about two flights a week, with five more flights scheduled for the remainder of April.

From 10 Apr, Cathay Pacific will be using rows 12 & 13 of Terminal 1 for the few flights that it will be operating, until further notice. Eligible customers will be directed to the dnata lounge.

Terminal 4 likely to shut

With Cathay Pacific moving to Terminal 1, Terminal 4 is looking to be certainly shut, at least for a short while.

This makes perfect sense, given that Changi is looking at an all-time low passenger traffic and aircraft movements. The shuttering will allow Changi to consolidate operations to terminals 1 & 3, and save on operating the other terminals which are only seeing sometimes a single flight on any given day.

There are some other moving parts to consider though. With Terminal 2’s closing, some airlines will definitely be asked to move to Terminal 4, including Air India, Air India Express and Indigo, from 1 May. Of which, only Air India is still operating flights, so it remains to be seen whether they will be moving as originally planned, or moving to Terminals 1 or 3.

Final thoughts

We are definitely living in interesting times. While recent history has seen epidemics popping up every couple of years, Covid-19 has practically halted the world’s economy, with some analysts calling this the equivalent of the 1930s Great Depression.

The standstill of international air travel has resulted in the once-glamorous industry to fall off the cliff, with many jobs being put on hold, or even at risk of being lost as countries around the world continue to restrict travel for the sake of public health.

As recent as last year, I could never have imagined that a shining star like Changi Airport – the envy of many other airports in the world – will also see a day where not one, but two terminals suspending operations. This follows almost a decade of record-breaking passenger numbers every year.

Some analysts expect that air travel will remain low for as long as the next two years, and if the Covid-19 situation reports in every country is anything to go by, my bet is that most people are going to stay in their country for a long while.

Who knows what’s going to happen over the next couple of months, or even years?