Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Good Australia business class fares with Singapore Airlines

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As you have no doubt seen in the mainstream media, Australia will reopen for tourism later this month.

I wrote this article recently on how to use Avios to get to Australia. However, I also said in that article that cash is often a better way given how good the deals can be.

Here is an example. Singapore Airlines is currently offering great pricing from Paris to both Melbourne and Sydney. There are also good deals to other spots in Asia.

Typical business class fares are (as you can see on the French website here):

  • Phuket €1,485 (£1,254)
  • Bangkok €1,504 (£1,270)
  • Male €1,832 (£1,547)
  • Denpasar / Bali €1,983 (£1,675)
  • Melbourne €2,204 (£1,862)
  • Sydney €2,446 (£2,066)

The fare rules are:

  • Travel by 30th November (no travel 8th July to 8th August)
  • Stay at least 7 nights
  • Book by 14th February

What is useful is that the calendar during the booking process shows you which dates have the cheapest fare available.

18th March is the first day with availabilty to Melbourne for €2,204, for example, and there are no dates in April. It gets easier after that.

Singapore Airlines is NOT a member of the oneworld alliance, so you can’t earn Avios or British Airways tier points. You can credit Singapore Airlines flights to Virgin Flying Club.

If you don’t want to earn Virgin Points, the mileage earned would need to go into Singapore’s own KrisFlyer scheme or potentially Lufthansa Miles & More. KrisFlyer is not a bad choice as you can top up your balance using American Express Membership Rewards points at the rate of 3:2.

The only downside with KrisFlyer is the hard three year expiry date. You must use the miles within three years or you lose them, irrespective of your status or whatever other miles you earn in the meantime. Miles & More is no better, of course.

We’ve never done a proper Singapore Airlines business class review on the site. Here is a quick look at the 777-300ER seat from 2015. Sinead is working on a Premium Economy review from her Christmas trip which should run in a week or so.

The sale website from Paris is here.


How to earn Star Alliance miles from UK credit cards

How to earn Star Alliance miles from UK credit cards (April 2025)

None of the Star Alliance airlines currently have a UK credit card.

There is, however, still a way to earn Star Alliance miles from a UK credit card

The route is via Marriott Bonvoy. Marriott Bonvoy hotel loyalty points convert to over 40 airlines at the rate of 3:1.

The best way to earn Marriott Bonvoy points is via the official Marriott Bonvoy American Express card. It comes with 20,000 points for signing up and 2 points for every £1 you spend. At 2 Bonvoy points per £1, you are earning (at 3:1) 0.66 airline miles per £1 spent on the card.

There is a preferential conversion rate to United Airlines – which is a Star Alliance member – of 2 : 1 if you convert 60,000 Bonvoy points at once.

The Star Alliance members which are Marriott Bonvoy transfer partners are: Aegean, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Avianca, Copa Airlines, Singapore Airlines, TAP Air Portugal, Thai Airways, Turkish Airlines and United Airlines.

You can apply here.

Marriott Bonvoy American Express

20,000 points for signing up and 15 elite night credits each year Read our full review

Comments (59)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Dwadda says:

    Hmm, anyone able to get this to work. Hitting ‘book now’ on Edge and Chrome does nothing..

  • Brian P says:

    The Singapore Australia article doesn’t state what class the tickets are? Presume business not premium economy, first or economy? may wish to edit…

  • southlondonphil says:

    “The only downside with KrisFlyer is the hard three year expiry date. You must use the miles within three years or you lose them, irrespective of your status or whatever other miles you earn in the meantime.”

    The 3-Year ‘hard expiry’ of points also applies to Lufthansa Miles & More of course.

  • Rob H says:

    Turntable looks err gross.

  • William Smith says:

    It’s a shame that the record player is absolute garbage. That mechanism is in every cheap non branded and “novelty” player out there.

  • Mr. AC says:

    Ordered! Cool and different gift for my vinyl-loving friend. And he doesn’t want it, unique and limited edition and numbered things usually sell on eBay just fine…
    Good job Virgin, this is a fun and unique redemption.

    • Johnny Tabasco says:

      Well it’s unique redemption, I’ll give you that.
      But certainly not worth dropping 20k points on, you won’t make anything close to justifying the points loss by selling it on eBay. It’s cheap plastic and gimmicky, and will have awful sound, perfect for non music lovers everywhere.

    • WillPS says:

      I’m not sure your vinyl loving friend will want to put their precious records anywhere near this thing.

      • Londonsteve says:

        Hear hear. I saw a video where they tested the tracking force of a Crosley turntable, it was at something like 12 grams when in comparison a high end turntable and stylus will track at 1.5 grams. This Crosley will ruin a record rather quickly, which is annoying when you look at the price of new vinyl, or indeed, vintage vinyl in good condition. Cheap record players are anything but because of the carnage they cause.

  • Andrew J says:

    And a Qantas offer has just pooped up on Platinum too – spend £800, get £120, should they SQ deal not be for you when planning a return to Australia travel.

    • Charles Martel says:

      Good spot, I have this on my ARCC. Fingers crossed for the usual February double status credits offer too 🙂

  • Paul says:

    If anyone is considering the record player to actually play records, watch Techmoan’s video ‘PSA – The cheap record player mechanism to avoid’ on YouTube ( youtube.com/watch?v=AXV8tXrPOR4 ) -“This £5 component (or variants of it) is used in most novelty budget record players. That’s fair enough when you’ve paid only £30 for a player to listen to some worn old records as a bit of fun.”

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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