In the local news a few days back, there was an article about the possibility of air ticket prices in Singapore rising in 2016. (Read the CNA article here). The article cites an industry report which identifies Singapore as a ‘hot spot’, with increased business travel demands fueling ticket price rises.
In my view, any price rise will emphasise the importance of effective strategy and management of frequent flyer (FF) accounts. I have always advocated and personally seen the benefit leveraging FF points as the means to lowering travel costs and unlocking more travel opportunities and in greater luxury. FF redemption is often touted as ‘cheap’ ways to travel in premium classes, compared to thousands of dollars a paid ticket costs. The logic behind this being that, most points are acquired from normal credit card spending, thus turning your daily lunch into your next holiday. In the face of rising ticket prices, greater attention needs to be paid towards maximising points accrual and utilisation.
Much of the traveling public tends to turn towards low cost carriers (LCCs) when looking for cheap airline options. However, leveraging FF points are a far more comfortable option and may be even have less direct out-of-pocket ticket costs. The main limitations with LCCs in the current market is that most LCCs only serve closer destinations, what happens when say, we want to travel farther afield like Europe? As a personal anecdote, I recently made a trip to Hong Kong on Singapore Airlines (return flight review to come). Because it was a rather last minute trip and around the Hari Raya long weekend, the LCCs were charging rather ridiculous sums for the most basic fares. Thankfully, I was able to secure redemption flights, in economy going up and business class coming back. The cost of my tickets? Approximately S$80 in taxes and surcharges total, plus 35,700 Krisflyer miles. The $80 out-of-pocket cash was even less than the LCCs were charging one-way. The 35,700 miles is easily obtainable through a reasonable level of credit card spending a year.
Through the power of FF points, I have been fortunate to enjoy a couple of business class flights per year in the last few years. Premium travel is more attainable than most realise. The effective use of FF points can be a powerful tool to mitigate the effects of rising ticket prices.
If you would like to learn more about the value of effective FF management, feel free to contact me to discuss the possibilities to reduce the cost of your next flight.
Zerotwotwenty 