So my wife and I decided that we wanted to go to Asia. To where within Asia was tricky since there are so many options. We finally decided that we wanted to go to Tokyo, Maldives and Ko Samui. We also wanted to travel in business class for the whole trip.
A basic RT ticket to Thailand is 155K/person in business class with Aeroplan however we only ended up using 150K/person because our turnaround point was the Maldives (Indian Subcontinent) and it is the furthest point in our travels. Aeroplan also allows two stopovers (only can be done via the phone) so our trip ended up looking like this. IAH -> YYZ -> HND (stopover) -> KUL -> SIN -> MLE (Stopover) -> SIN -> BKK (stopover) -> TPE -> IAH. We could not book our ticket all the way through to Ko Samui because of Aeroplan’s rules (Maximum Miles, etc.) so we booked our own flights from BKK -> USM.
I called the agent and had her book. At the time of booking flights from SIN -> MLE and MLE -> SIN were not in business class on Singapore Airlines. From my understanding Singapore Airlines releases very few reward seats and is difficult to get so I booked it anyways. However, since it was a business class reward, if seats came available I could call in and exchange my economy seats for business class. This is exactly what I did! I will post how I did this later.
How much time do we have? Well we left on February 1st and are returning on the 25th.
| Flight | From | To | Notes |
| AC592 | IAH
Feb 1 – 06:50 |
YYZ
Feb 1 – 10:53 |
2.5 Hour Layover |
| AC5 | YYZ
Feb 1 – 13:35 |
HND
Feb 2 – 16:55 |
3 Full Days in Tokyo! |
| NH885 | HND
Feb 6 – 00:05 |
KUL
Feb 6 – 6:45 |
3.5 Hour Layover |
| SQ107 | KUL
Feb 6 – 10:25 |
SIN
Feb 6 – 11:25 |
9 Hour Layover – Turned into a Stopover |
| SQ452 | SIN
Feb 6 – 20:35 |
MLE
Feb 6 – 22:10 |
8 Full Days in Maldives! |
| SQ451 | MLE
Feb 14 – 23:25 |
SIN
Feb 15 – 07:15 |
6 Hour Layover |
| SQ974 | SIN
Feb 15 – 13:10 |
BKK
Feb 15 – 14:35 |
11 Days in Thailand! |
| BR212 | BKK
Feb 25 – 12:10 |
TPE
Feb 25 – 16:45 |
5.5 Hour Layover |
| BR52 | TPE
Feb 25 – 22:10 |
IAH
Feb 25 – 21:40 |
Home ☹ |
What are some tricks to help identify the availability of SIN-MLE in J when it appears? About how many days away from flying did the inventory release?
Hi Dennis,
As you know, Singapore Airlines reward availability via other reward programs like AC, United, etc. can be limited and hard to get. If you are dead set on flying Singapore Airlines and have points with Chase or another transfer partner, I would suggest transferring them directly to Singapore Airlines and book your flight there. You will have much more access including their famous First Class Suites.
However if your miles are stuck with AC like mine, I stalked the availability. You will need to check everyday (maybe even multiple times a day) for the flight and if you find it, pull the trigger! If you are tech savvy like me, I wrote a little program to login to Aeroplan’s website and check if there was a business class flight. This is what I did and then immediately called Aeroplan to book.
I booked my flights about 6 months prior to my departure and the two Singapore Airline flights didn’t have J class available but I booked anyways as part of a larger trip. About 2.5 months later a flight one of the flights opened up (about 4 months prior to departure). About 2 weeks before the departure of my other flight, J class opened up. So you can see, even though I booked well in advance, it wasn’t available but opened up in the end.
Tip: If you book a business class reward with Aeroplan as part of a larger trip and a few segments are X class only at the time of booking that is okay. If J class opens up you can simply call them and they will put you in J class at no cost.
Hope this helps!