How to book Singapore Airlines First Class with HSBC Points?

Singapore Airlines is one of the largest airlines in the world. Although the majority of these flights are in the Asia-Pacific region and to Europe, several destinations are served in North America, including Vancouver.

Singapore Airlines is part of the Star Alliance alliance, so you can already use your Aeroplan points to book flights on Singapore Airlines in Economy Class.

However, Singapore Airlines rarely opens business class availability to airline partners (except for regional flights).

We were lucky once to be able to book four business class tickets between Johannesburg and Singapore with Aeroplan before COVID-19.

But the Holy Grail with Singapore Airlines is to be able to travel in First Class onboard one of its Airbus A380s (and especially in the new Suites).

And for this, it is mandatory to use KrisFlyer miles, coming from the Singapore Airlines rewards program. In Canada, KrisFlyer has only one partner: the HSBC Rewards program.

With the HSBC World Elite Mastercard, you can earn:

• 6 points for every dollar in travel purchases (a 3% value of travel rewards)
• 3 points for every dollar in other purchases (1.5% travel rewards value)

The HSBC World Elite^® Mastercard^® is one of the best credit cards for travel purchases, but also everyday purchases. Few cards offer 3% on travel and 1.5% on everyday purchases.

Because you can transfer points to airline programs, here is a table explaining how many miles you earn per dollar with your HSBC World Elite Mastercard:

So if you collect HSBC Rewards points intending to transfer them to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles, it’s like collecting :

• 2.16 miles per dollar on your travel purchases
• 1.08 miles per dollar on all your purchases

And once a year (usually at the end of the year), KrisFlyer offers a conversion bonus: you can earn between 10 and 15% bonus miles.

You can’t transfer points to the KrisFlyer program from another credit card in Canada.

While you can find alternative solutions with American Express and RBC for the other two programs.

Therefore, it is essential to be equipped with the HSBC World Elite^® Mastercard^®, especially after getting a high welcome bonus as is the case right now :

I have been transferring my HSBC Rewards points to KrisFlyer for two years now whenever a redemption bonus comes up.

The danger: Miles expire, no matter what, after 36 months. So, have a specific goal in mind when transferring your HSBC Rewards points to KrisFlyer.

My goal? Flying First Class on the A380. First Class cabins are becoming extinct, as are A380s.

The most exciting options are the following – provided you can find availability in Saver Award, which is rare (outside COVID-19):

This means that transferring 100,000 HSBC Rewards points to KrisFlyer during a promotion will earn you 40,300 KrisFlyer miles, enough for a one-way First Class flight from Singapore to Hong Kong.

Recently, a unique opportunity arose: availability appeared on the flight from Frankfurt to New York. What’s more, with an Airbus A380 offering the new Suite.

This availability did not last, but I was able to book this flight thanks to the HSBC Rewards points previously transferred to KrisFlyer :

This ticket cost 86,000 KrisFlyer miles and 117 euros in taxes which I paid with the HSBC World Elite^® Mastercard^® for several reasons:

• No transaction fees for foreign currency transactions
• Ability to use the $100 Annual Travel Credit

And I earn 1,022 HSBC Rewards points or 6 points per dollar with this purchase:

• 511 regular points
• 511 bonus points (travel purchase)

It would also be possible to use HSBC Rewards points on this travel purchase (but I prefer to transfer my points to airline partners as in this case).

Under normal circumstances, it would have taken 245,000 HSBC Rewards points to earn 88,200 KrisFlyer miles (HSBC points are redeemed in 10,000 point increments starting at 25,000 points transferred).

But as I mentioned earlier, it’s best to wait for a transfer promotion to maximize your HSBC Rewards points. So I only transferred 215,000 HSBC Rewards points to get 89,010 points. That’s enough to book this First Class flight experience costing 86,000 KrisFlyer miles.

To give you an idea, 215,000 HSBC Rewards points could also have been redeemed for any travel booking, such as an Airbnb bookings, worth $1,075.

So it’s like I bought this ticket from Frankfurt to New York at this price. A great deal for this type of experience and an 8:35 flight! Follow Milesopedia on Instagram to see the experience!

Here is my complete review on this flight.