Philip Bergqvist

About a year ago, my AwardFares co-founder and I booked round-trip First Class flights to Singapore during the special deal that was being offered by Lufthansa at the time. Our trip was initially booked on code-share Singapore Airlines flights in both directions, however, thanks to a cancellation and schedule change we were able to rebook our outbound flight in order to try SWISS First as well.

A true bucket list item, and one of the best cabins in the sky. Here’s a detailed summary of our recent experience on Singapore Airlines’ First Class Suites from Singapore to Frankfurt.

Delta now offers quite a few routes to Tokyo, including Seattle (SEA), Los Angeles (LAX), Minneapolis (MSP), Detroit (DTW), Atlanta (ATL), and Honolulu (HNL). All routes fly to Haneda (HND). However, the new Delta One Suites are only available on two planes Delta flies: the Airbus A350-900 and the Airbus A330-900neo. On the routes crossing the Pacific to Asia, Australia, and Oceania, you’re basically guaranteed to be on a plane with the new Delta One Suites. For other routes, you’ll have to check carefully what aircraft/cabin is being used!

On a recent trip out of Tokyo Haneda (HND) airport, I had a chance to visit the Delta Sky Club for the first time. Their lounge in Tokyo is actually the only international location offered by Delta, and it might be one of the best Delta Sky Club lounges I’ve visited.

With the upcoming transition for SAS from Star Alliance to SkyTeam, there are opportunities to keep your status with Star Alliance by status matching your current EuroBonus status to other programs. One of the best options is the Miles & More status match offered by Lufthansa.

On a recent trip between Tokyo and the US west coast, I tried ZIPAIR for the first time. The airline is a low-cost carrier owned by Japan Airlines (JAL). However, what makes ZIPAIR extra interesting (compared to other LCCs) is that they offer premium seating options with full-flat “Business class” seats.

I had to make a last-minute flight booking on a recent trip between Taipei and Tokyo. There are many airlines on this route, with Japanese airlines like ANA and JAL and Taiwanese carriers like EVA Air, China Airlines, and STARLUX. Unfortunately, STARLUX tickets are usually much more expensive, but the prices were roughly the same on this occasion, so it was a perfect time to finally get to try STARLUX. The narrow-body A321neo was the cheapest option, but STARLUX actually operates all of their different aircraft types on this route, including the A350 and A330-300neo.

I was looking to book a flight from Amsterdam (AMS) to Copenhagen (CPH) and remembered I still had some miles in my Delta SkyMiles account. Luckily, it was just enough for a one-way Economy redemption on KLM, which I found thanks to the new Delta SkyMiles integration in AwardFares.

I had been monitoring award availability to fly back to Europe for Christmas. During the middle of October (two months before the departure date), some Business class seats opened up on SK984, the SAS flight from Haneda (HND) to Copenhagen (CPH).

During the past couple of months it’s been especially difficult finding Business Class redemptions between Europe and Tokyo. However, thanks to one of my AwardFares alerts, I was lucky to discover one day that there were 2 seats available from CPH to HND via BKK, which I snagged immediately!

I recently booked a last minute award trip from Europe to Tokyo. On hand I was very happy that my AwardFares alert notified me that two business class seats became available on the date I wanted. However, on the other hand, it was with Lufthansa, a business class product I haven’t really heard great things about. In any case, I’m always happy to try something new!

I recently had a very long journey back to Europe from Taipei. Due to lack of any better award availability, I ended up booking a route taking me from Taipei to Barcelona via Vienna and Frankfurt. While definitely not the quickest route, it at least gave me a chance to try a nice variety of airlines (EVA Air, Austrian, and Lufthansa).

We’re thrilled to announce the rollout of some great new features that we know you’re going to love! As we continue to innovate and improve our platform, we had the chance to incorporate some of your feedback in this new version of AwardFares.

On a recent trip to Tokyo I ended up initially booking an economy flight with Finnair. However, I was surprised to see that I was able to upgrade from economy to business for only €350! That was definitely too good to pass up on, especially since I had been looking forward to try Finnair’s new “non-reclining” business class seats.

One of the best ways of booking your perfect award trip is to plan far in advance. While most airlines continuously release new award seats throughout the year, it’s always best to book as soon as you have set dates for your trip. Additionally, most loyalty programs are quite flexible when it comes to award bookings, often allowing you to cancel them with minimal fees. It’s better to have a ticket booked than to leave points idling in your account.

One of the great perks of having Oneworld Emerald status it that gives you access to many great first class lounges around the world. Prior to a late evening Finnair departure out of Haneda I was able to enjoy a couple of hours in the JAL First Class lounge at Haneda (HND) in Tokyo.

After having recently acquired my SkyTeam Elite Plus status, through the Delta Skymiles status-match program (matching my BA Executive Gold), I was looking forward to try my first long-haul SkyTeam flight onboard Taiwan’s state-owned carrier. A long 13.5 hour flight from Amsterdam (AMS) to Taipei Taoyuan (TPE) and then connecting onwards to Tokyo.

Most of far East Asia is unfortunately still closed (Taiwan, Japan, China). However, South Korea is open, and fairly easy to visit now. Before your trip, make sure you apply for your K-ETA online. As of August 2022, you also need a pre-departure COVID test (PCR max 2 days before, or Antigen max 1 day before your flight). You’ll also want to apply for a Q-code online (so that you don’t have to fill out the health declaration by hand). At this time, you also have to take an arrival PCR test. Be sure to make a reservation in advance (read more about that below).

Singapore Airlines (SQ) is a great airline and serves as a major hub in Asia, serving North America, Europe, and Oceania. Finding award redemptions has always been tricky, but since the start of the COVID pandemic, redeeming award flights on Singapore Airlines through partner programs has become even more difficult and with many restrictions.

After a long break during the COVID-19 pandemic, THAI First Class redemptions are finally back to an increasing number of routes. The first route to receive First Class was the London route, back in April of 2022. Now, Tokyo is also available, and Osaka is coming in September 2022.

Some exciting news from EVA Air, who have announced they will be launching a brand new route connecting Taipei and Munich. The Milano route is now also officially resuming after being delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

We’re glad to finally release a couple of new features that we’ve been working on for quite a while! Today we’re releasing three brand new features:

EVA Air’s Infinity MileageLands program offers fantastic value, but its award redemptions can be quirky. I recently made my first award redemption using their frequent flyer program, and the process was not straightforward, especially since I was booking a flight for two people, myself and a travel companion.

On April 1, 2022 Malaysia completely opened their border to foreign travelers, without any quarantine for those who are fully vaccinated. The process was however much easier said than done. The main requirements are:

For a recent trip in between Vancouver (YVR) and San Francisco (SFO) in March of 2022, I chose to fly with Air Canada in Business on their 737 MAX 8. I wasn’t really sure what to expect for this short Business flight, however my expectations were definitely exceeded.

Earlier this year, in February, SAS announced that they will start to fly from Stockholm (ARN) and Copenhagen (CPH) to Toronto (YYZ). Award tickets were finally released and made available to book!

Recently while trying to book a flight back to Asia from North America I was happy to find that there were a lot of award seats available right now. I mostly checked departures from the West Coast of North America, traveling from Vancouver, San Francisco or Los Angeles, to destinations such as Tokyo, Singapore, Malaysia, and Taipei. Primarily served by United, ANA, EVA, and Air Canada.

UPDATE (SEPTEMBER 2024): SAS is now part of SkyTeam. It’s no longer possible to redeem SAS EuroBonus points on Star Alliance partners. Check our latest guide and learn how to book SkyTeam award flights with EuroBonus.

Historically Lufthansa First class partner award redemptions have only been available 14 days in advance, making it a little difficult to plan trips with them. However, it seems that has now been extended to up to 30 days in advance. We’ll have to wait and see whether or not this is a permanent change.

Today’s journey started months ago when I read that Taiwan’s flag carrier, China Airlines, would be arranging a special 747 farewell flight as they would be retiring their 747 fleet. Furthermore, this wasn’t just a regular “flight to nowhere”. The goal was to fly to Japan, passing the iconic Mt. Fuji, and then return to Taiwan. Since I’m currently living in Taiwan I thought I would try to get a ticket on this special flight.

A simple tool that helps you analyze and forecast your SAS EuroBonus activity. Simply import your point activity from your EuroBonus profile. All calculations are performed directly in your browser. Your data is kept private and is not uploaded/processed by our servers.

We’re making some adjustments to the pricing of AwardFares (only affecting new subscribers), but are have also released some useful new features that are available now to all Gold and Diamond subscribers.

Earlier during the year SAS stopped the ability to book Star Alliance awards using EuroBonus points. However, SAS have now (partially) resumed the ability to book these flights. The service is currently only available by phone. The online booking service is unfortunately still closed at this time.

Update (April 17, 2020): Award space with United MileagePlus is now wide-open on the Cape Town and Cancun routes. Interestingly only Business awards are available on the Cancun route.

Back in January I flew Japan Airlines (JAL) from Seoul Gimpo (GMP) to Tokyo Haneda (HND). It was definitely one of the better economy flights I’ve experienced recently. From the crew and cabin, to the seat and food, everything was excellent. My only complaint was not being able to choose my seats in advance. Read more about that below.

The recent 2019-20 coronavirus outbreak (SARS-CoV-2 / COVID-19) is definitely having a large impact on the travel and airlines. Whether you’re currently travelling or planning to travel there are many different aspects that may affect you, including suspended flight services and country travel restrictions.

SAS EuroBonus has just released award availability on the new ANA direct flight between Stockholm Arlanda (ARN) and Tokyo Haneda (HND). Award space is currently wide-open, which is a rare sight for any Tokyo route. A maximum of 3 economy seats and 2 business seats have been released per day. Get your flights while they last!

Welcome to AwardFares! Traveling on a lie-flat business class seat, champagne in hand, on your way to a dream destination is much closer than you think – all booked using points and miles. AwardFares is your expert co-pilot, designed to make finding and booking those valuable award flights easier and more efficient than ever before.

We recently announced a new Gold/Diamond feature that lets you see cabin information for certain flights. Read more here Introducing Cabin Annotations. Today we’ve released cabin annotations for many more airlines and even added support for seat maps.

Lufthansa currently offers First Class with 3 different aircraft types on 30 routes (20 from Frankfurt and 10 from Munich). Most routes are quite consistent, but some changes do occur so it can be difficult to keep track them. Here’s an updated list of all routes as of December, 2019.

Cabin type information is now available for certain flights. Most Singapore Airlines flights and some ANA flights will now display the type of cabin used for that particular flight, if the information is available. Note that this feature is only available to Gold and Diamond members.

Scandinavian Mountains Airport (SCR/ESKS) is a new airport in Sweden that will begin operations during December 2019. The airport will serve the Sälen, Idre, and Trysil ski resorts. SAS will operate seasonal flights from Copenhagen (CPH), Aalborg (AAL), and even London Heathrow (LHR). SAS Press Release

Haneda International Airport in Tokyo offers tours of the aircraft maintenance facilities. There are two tours available, one operated by ANA and the other by their main competitor JAL. Both are free but you need to make a reservation ahead of time. Note that the tours are in Japanese only but are still suitable for non-Japanese speakers.

Recently we noticed that EuroBonus award availability can differ depending on which “point of sale” (country) you are searching from. Depending on which version of the SAS website you access you will search availability for a different point of sale.

Just a small update today. We have now added a new zone for Scandinavia so that you can easily find award flights to or from all Scandinavian airports.

With the opening of the new Beijing Daxing airport (PKX) we will start to see some airlines add and move operations to the new airport. Here is a summary of all confirmed operational updates so far, grouped by alliance.

The AwardFares calendar is one of the easiest ways to find great award redemptions. Today we’ve enhanced the calendar to show additional “special” dates (beyond the normal 60 days). You can now browse 400+ routes during Christmas and New Year between December 20th and January 8th.

It’s now possible to search with date ranges. Start by selecting a start date as usual. Once you’ve done this a new “Until when?” box will appear. Now select a second date to create your date range.

Based on all the feedback we have received after the launch of the new AwardFares UI, we are now releasing some improvements that should make it easier to build journeys. We hope you will appreciate these improvements, and please keep sending us feedback!

Earlier this year nearly all Thai Airways long-haul award availability disappeared. Now it seems most of that availability is back, especially on the Paris (CDG) - Bangkok (BKK) route. There’s lots of availability, including both Business and First during the next couple of months.

Copying/exporting journeys has been available in AwardFares for a long time. To do so, simply click “Copy” and you’ll receive a text description of your journey:

During the last few months we’ve been working very hard on a completely new version of AwardFares with many new features and improvements. Today we’re launching the new version to everyone together with a new Diamond tier.

On Feburary 18 EVA Air launches their new European route to Milan (MXP):

With the opening of Beijing Daxing airport (PKX) LOT Polish Airlines is the first Star Alliance member offering award availability to the new airport. Starting on October 28 they will be moving 4 of their 7 weekly flights from Beijing Capital (PEK) to Beijing Daxing (PKX).

After flying economy to New Zealand I decided it was worth to spend some miles on a business class flight back to Europe. With some luck I managed to find a routing via Taipei and Paris. The first leg of the journey from Auckland to Taipei was an Air New Zealand flight in a 787-9 Dreamliner in Business Premier.

This was my first time flying Qatar Airways and it was probably the longest economy flight I had ever taken. The trip consisted a 6 hour flight to Doha followed by a 16 hour flight to Auckland.

Over the past couple of weeks we’ve been having issues fetching availability data for Thai Airways, Singapore Airlines, and TAP. However, after some hard work, this is finally back. There are some limitations though described below.

Awards are now available on ANA’s new A380 service between Tokyo Narita (NRT) and Honolulu (HNL). Book while seats are available as they’ll probably disappear quickly!

Two big announcements today. First, we’re introducing AwardFare Alerts. Second, we’ve added First Class awards for some Singapore Airlines.

Lots of updates, including our Black Friday Offer, introducing AwardFares Trips, Singapore Airlines availability, New Routes & Map.