A new fare popped up from Delta today to Singapore from Los Angeles and Newark. This is a great deal – $715 and less! That is a tremendous deal for an Asian trip. With a price like this, I would not use miles for this trip. It would cost at least 65,000 miles on any airlines (plus taxes/fees – at least $50). So, here are a couple of ways that you can take advantage of this.
Singapore Sundown Marathon
- May 26, 2012
- 85 SGD (around $67)
- Races available: 10K, Half-marathon, Full-marathon
- Starting time – Still to be confirmed, but it will begin that Saturday evening
- Marathon site
Here is a sample itinerary:
An itinerary from Los Angeles - May 20 - May 28
- An itinerary from Los Angeles – May 20 – 28
Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon
Yet another marathon in Singapore!
- December 2, 2012
- Registration does not begin until June, but last year’s price was $75
- Races available: Kid’s run; 5K, 10K, Half-marathon, Full-marathon
- Starting time: Marathon @ 5:00AM
- Marathon site
Here is a sample itinerary:
Now, where do you stay when you get there? This is not a full-blown Destination report, so I will not go over each of the possible award redemptions, but I did want to give you an idea of what to look for.
An itinerary from Newark - November 26 - December 4
An itinerary from Los Angeles - November 26 - December 4
Hilton HHonors
There are two possible Hilton locations, each of which require 40,000 points per night. The cash value of the room is over $320, so that is not a bad redemption rate
Starwood (SPG)
Starwood has several available properties, but the best apparent deal would be the Sheraton Towers Singapore. The actual nightly rate is over $335, but it is a category 4 which means it costs either 10,000 points for a free stay or 4000 points + $60 a night (for Cash and Points). The cash and points option is a terrific deal for that. You can get 25,000 SPG points with the American Express Starwoods card, so that would easily cover 6 nights in this hotel.
Hyatt
There is one option with Hyatt – the Grand Hyatt Singapore. The point cost there is 18,000 points per night (for 5 nights). Since that also runs over $350 a night, that is not that bad of a deal.
Marriott
There is one option with Marriott – the Singapore Marriott Hotel. It is a category 6 so it is 30,000 points a night (if you stay 5 nights, you only pay for 4). This is also around $350 a night.
If you want to pay for your nights there, there are some great cash deals available. By doing a quick 1 minute search on Kayak, I was able to see some great deals.
A look at hotels on Kayak
In addition to the great deal this airfare is, it also comes with side benefits. From Newark, it gives the flyer a little over 20,000 elite miles (and bonus miles). That means, after flying this route, you will be just shy of Silver Medallion elite status with Delta and have almost the minimum amount of miles needed for a round-trip award ticket in the United States. If you are currently a Gold Medallion or above, you will earn 40,000 bonus miles. At a 1:1 point/cent value, that is worth $400. The ticket itself is only $700, so in essence, it would cost you $300 to go to Singapore! This is a great deal on many levels and bookable throughout the year, though we did have it highlighted for the particular marathons. If you get in on this, enjoy!
