What are the differences between SQ Business Saver, Business Standard and Business Full?

I’m a long term QF Frequent Flyer ‘redeemer’ (via credit card purchases for my business) but this year I’ve started collecting Velocity points and found them great for business class redemptions at short notice… esp PER-SYD-PER on the new A330s. I’ve read the posts about converting Velocity points to KrisFlyer miles and would like to do this to redeem SQ business class seats for a trip to Vietnam for my wife and I PER-SIN-SGN and return. I wanted to know about the SQ ‘Business Saver’ seats for redemption - do these have conditions attached (apart from the the stopover restrictions) because I haven’t been able to find an explanation anywhere of the three types of Business class redemption seats on SQ ie: Business Saver /Business Standard / Business Full. The points table on KrisFlyer website doesn’t explain the difference either. Clearly the lower points required for a Business saver seat is great if its a case of ‘early bird gets the worm’ without any extra catches or conditions compared to a standard business seat redemption.

Hi PerthQFlyer:

Welcome to the community.

Anyway, for SQ’s routing rules on their own flights, stopover is allowed. Free for a return trip, SGD$100 for one way. The latter you need to call KF to do it as you can’t do it online. The agents usually will still give you the 15% discount if you tell them you can’t book it online.

SQ award seats do come in this 3 tiers, and the conditions are the same for all 3, ie. all flexible tickets so you can get it changed or refunded with a fee of US$30. They are all award tickets so won’t earn you any points or status.

So what are the differences? Well, basically is the availability. The Business full is always available (unless the flight is fully sold out) but it’s outrageously expensive, and it offers very little value. Unless you have millions of miles and you earn miles faster than you burn, then you can burn you mile this way. So it is aka business “fool” award.

The standard fare is in between, still not good value, but much cheaper than fool fare, and availability usually very good. I would say you have 95% of finding a seat on any day you want. I would use this only when there is no other choice and you really have to travel on that day.

Saver is the best value and this should be the one you aim for, but unfortunately availability is limited. Depending on route and time you book, sometimes SQ just don’t release seats in saver awards on very popular routes in peak season. But if you book early bout 11-12 months out, usually you won’t have any problem booking the seat. Because all award ticket are fully refundable and changeable, it is advisable to book early and if your plan changes, you can always get a refund or change the date with a minimal fee.

If you can’t find a seat on the date you desire, you can choose “waitlist” on the saver award. It’s a first come first serve basis, but no one knows when the waiting list will clear. Sometimes just a few days, sometimes never. But your mile won’t be deducted until wait list clears.When the wait list clears, you will receive an email alerting you this. You have 24 (?can’t recall on top of my head, maybe 48, please double check) hours to decide to take the award seat or not. If you decide to take it, you need to make sure you have the miles needed for the redemption. But as your mile is in VA and the transfer is instant, it shouldn’t be a problem for you.

Hope I’ve convinced you to become PerthSQflyer!