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Singapore Airlines’ award chart has an amazing sweet spot: Hawaii and Central America are in the same region!
Flights “within” the Hawaii/Central America region are only 35,000 Singapore miles roundtrip in economy and 60,000 miles roundtrip in business class.
That 35,000-Singapore-miles award would cost 80,000 United miles. That 60,000-Singapore-miles award would cost 140,000 United miles.

Singapore is a Star Alliance member, so you can fly United flights on these awards, and Singapore never collects fuel surcharges on United flights.
Singapore miles are easy to get, since Singapore is a 1:1 transfer partner of Ultimate Rewards and Membership Rewards.
You Don’t Live in Singapore, Hawaii, or Central America. So What?
The primary beneficiaries of the Hawaii/Central America mega-region on the Singapore award chart are people who live in the continental United States. Mainlanders can use this sweet spot to get all the flights for one trip and half the flights for two other trips for a bargain price.
I priced out what amounts to a roundtrip from Denver to Honolulu plus two one ways between Central America and Denver for 35,000 total Singapore miles and about $177. That’s one complete roundtrip and halves of two others for less than what United charges for just the roundtrip to Hawaii.
The award is 80,000-United-miles-worth of flights for 35,000 Singapore miles.
- How does this award fit together?
- Who can take advantage of this trick routing?
- What are the routing rules for Singapore awards?
- How can you get Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles?
- How can you book a Singapore award?
Singapore Routing Rules
Full Singapore Award Routing Rules
Relevant rules:
- Singapore Airlines allows six segments per award.
- Singapore allows one free stopover per roundtrip award and up to three additional stopovers for $100 each.
- Singapore does not allow a stopover on one way awards.
- Singapore allows one open jaw per roundtrip award.
The Five Parts of This Award
This award between Central America and Hawaii can go in either direction. The award has five parts and four to six segments.
Option 1–Two Central America Vacations, One Hawaii Vacation:
- One way from Central America to your home airport.
- Stopover at your home airport.
- Roundtrip from your home airport to Hawaii.
- Stopover at your home airport.
- One way from your home airport to Central America.
Option 2–Two Hawaii Vacations, One Central America Vacation:
- One way from Hawaii to your home airport.
- Stopover at your home airport.
- Roundtrip from your home airport to Central America.
- Stopover at your home airport.
- One way from your home airport to Hawaii.
In either case, the stopovers at your home airport which separate the three trips can be as long as you’d like as long as all the flights are flown within 331 days of ticketing.
Also in either case, the award includes two half trips. You have to fill in the rest of the airfare with separate awards or cash tickets.
Variation on Option 1 to Save $100 but Lose a One Way to Central America
- One way from Central America to your home airport.
- Stopover at your home airport.
- Roundtrip from your home airport to Hawaii.
- Have the award continue from your home airport to Central America within 24 hours of landing at your home airport. Do not fly these dummy legs.
This saves $100 by cutting out the second stopover. You must add on the unflown dummy legs to Central America to get the cheaper price for awards “within” the Hawaii/Central America region.
A similar variation is possible on Option 2 to save $100 but lose a one way to Hawaii.
Where Can You Live and Take Advantage?
You only get three segments in each direction between Central America and Hawaii and your home airport has to be on the path of those three segments.
All United hubs in North America fit that rule as do all the cities with direct Avianca or Copa flights to Central America. Full list:
- Newark
- Chicago
- Houston
- Denver
- Los Angeles
- San Francisco
- Washington-Dulles
- Boston
- Fort Lauderdale
- Miami
- Las Vegas
- New York-JFK
- Tampa
- Dallas/Fort Worth
- Orlando
How to Book the Award
You’ll be using Singapore Airline miles to book flights on its Star Alliance partners, United, Avianca, and Copa. The easiest place to search for United flights is united.com. Singapore phone agents will have access to all Saver award space you see when searching united.com without signing in to your United account. (Logging in will show extra Saver space that is available only to people with a United credit card or elite status. Singapore can’t book that space.)
Like always, write down the flight numbers, dates, and cabins, so you can feed them to the Singapore customer service representative when you call to book your ticket.
Example Award
To illustrate the award booking process, I priced out the following economy award, assuming a home airport of Denver:
- San Jose, Costa Rica to Denver in July 2014
- Denver to Honolulu in September 2014
- Honolulu to Denver in September 2014
- Denver to Panama City in April 2015
(Not included: the flights to San Jose to start the Costa Rican vacation and the flights home from the Panamanian vacation. Those must be booked separately.)
That works out to a ten day vacation to Hawaii and two trips to Central America nine months apart.
I learned from Wikipedia that Denver to Honolulu and Panama City can be flown as direct flights, but San Jose to Denver requires two segments. That means that my award will use at least five out of the six allowed segments on a Singapore award.
The Search
I started searching in chronological order because all sections of the award seemed equally easy to find.
Award space was available next month from Costa Rica to Denver in economy on a few dates.
Interestingly United has a single flight number from San Jose to Denver, so even though this is actually two takeoffs, landings, and planes, Singapore would count it as only one of the six possible segments.
For the other three parts of the award, I specifically searched for nonstop flights by checking the appropriate box on the search screen.
Denver to Honolulu has widely available economy award space in September.
The return was equally easy, so I quickly had the ten day vacation to Honolulu in the middle of the award.
The last part of the award was an April 2015 one way from Denver to Panama City. Award space is open in April and widely available in May.
For each flight I found on united.com, I noted the date, flight number, and cabin.
Calling Singapore
We’re flying United and we’re searching united.com, but we have to call Singapore to book since we’re using Singapore miles.
Singapore’s US call center is open 24 hours a day. The number is: (213) 404-0301. There is no telephone booking fee. Always clarify with the agent whether she’s quoting a price in US dollars or Singapore dollars.
As always, if an agent cannot book a flight for you or prices it at a higher price then you are expecting, simply hang up and call back for another representative.
After feeding the agent the flights I’d found, she quoted a price of 35,000 Singapore miles plus $177. That represented $77 in government taxes and $100 for the second stopover. Singapore does not collect fuel surcharges on United flights.
Value of the Award
United charges 22,500 miles each way between the mainland and Hawaii and 17,500 miles each way between the mainland and Central America. The award I priced out for 35,000 Singapore miles is therefore “worth” 80,000 United miles. (You could actually book it for fewer than 80,000 United miles with free one way techniques.)
Singapore Airlines charges 17,500 miles each way between the mainland and Hawaii or Central America. That makes the above award “worth” 70,000 Singapore miles, and we got it for half that.
How to get Singapore KrisFlyer Miles
Singapore is a 1:1 transfer partner of Ultimate Rewards and Membership Rewards.
You can transfer Ultimate Rewards from Chase at a 1:1 ratio in 1,000 point increments.
Be aware that this point transfer may take up to two business days, unlike the normal instant transfer to other Ultimate Rewards partners.
Recap
Singapore Airlines has placed Hawaii and Central America in one region.
If you live in the continental United States, you can use this fact to combine Hawaiian and Central American vacations onto a single award for the same price as booking either vacation separately.
Singapore miles are easy to rack up since the airline is a 1:1 transfer partner of Chase and American Express.
Hopefully booking a similar award to the one laid out in this post will be easy for you. If not, hire the MileValue Award Booking Service to book your dream trip (or trips in this case!) for you.
Just getting started in the world of points and miles? The Chase Sapphire Preferred is the best card for you to start with.
With a bonus of 60,000 points after $4,000 spend in the first 3 months, 5x points on travel booked through the Chase Travel℠ and 3x points on restaurants, streaming services, and online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs), this card truly cannot be beat for getting started!
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this is pretty cool but i am surprised they don’t have any max milage rules? i would think that going from Hawaii to central america via EWR is a major detour…
Does Singapore charge close in booking fees? And can you make changes to dates of later flights both before and after the trip is underway? Are there fees for that? Thanks!
$20 change, $30 cancellation, $75 for changes/cancellation within 24 hours of departure, no close in ticketing fee, no changes after travel commences. see http://www.singaporeair.com/jsp/cms/en_UK/ppsclub_krisflyer/termsconditions-kf.jsp
and http://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/ppsclub-krisflyer/krisflyer-fees/
I was wondering if this also works within the US.
For example, MCO-DEN(home airport. stopover)-HNL-DEN?
Awards within the United States cannot have stopovers according to the rules on Singapore’s website. However, it’s possible you can get a stopover like that since Hawaii is a separate region. Test it out for us.
Hey Scott, what is the best way to take advantage of this if you live in Mexico or Central America and want to make a stop or stops in the US on the way to Hawaii
Like how he showed in the post, but even easier as you already live in Mexico or Central America?
Hi Scott, how would one get a first class routing considering that probably not all segments would be available in first class but would open up at later dates. Can this be done? Would it require paying a bunch of change fees? I’m interested in your thoughts on this…
First of all, all the premium cabin flights will be in recliners (with a few exceptions of flat beds to Hawaii.) The flights to Hawaii will be called First and the flights to Central America will be called Business even though both are in the best cabin on a two-cabin flight.
With the semantics out of the way, you will pay the Business Class price of 60,000 Singapore miles roundtrip if even a single leg is in Business or First. Every time you make a change to a cabin will cost $20.
Great job. Southwest w/ companion pass to Mexico city starting November 2nd! Bam!
Awesome, JB!
Scott, is all of Mexico considered Central America on their chart? Just want to double check as your circle doesn’t include Cabo. I too have the companion pass and would love to use it beginning and end. Can all the legs be flown on United product for this price? Is there any way for me to confirm availability before transferring my UR points?
Shane, referring to their chart (link below), you can see that Hawaii, Mexico, the Caribbean, and all of Central America are included in this region.
No idea about companion tickets.
http://www.singaporeair.com/pdf/ppsclub_krisflyer/charts/StarAlliance_RoundTrip_june13.pdf
It looks like they classify the Caribbean as part of Hawaii/Central America too, so could you do this with trips including the Caribbean and Hawaii instead of Central America and Hawaii? Like AUA>ORD / ORD>HNL>ORD/ ORD>STT?
I am all sorts of confused now. I called to make an award booking and it did not price out at all as imagined. Basically did MSP-AUA-MSP with a oneway later to SFO and it priced out at 25,000 miles per ticket. The agent also said the cap was 8 segments.
Should cost 35k, so book it at 25k happily.
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Another awesome award setup Scott. I’m trying to figure out a way to take advantage of it.
I’d love to fly the to/from HNL legs through IAD or EWR in their awesome business class product, but there is no business availability anytime in Dec/Jan/Feb, the months we’d like to go to Hawaii. Have you looked at those routes much in the past? Any chance the availability will open up?
Those routes have been barren in First Class for a long time. They tend to open up space within one week of departure.
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It sounds like this will work very easily with for someone that lives in Chicago, correct? You need to just start and end your trip in the Caribbean/Mexico/Central America?
Is it possible to add an additional stopover in the United States in Florida as a vacation destination somehow? If so, would the total price of the ticket cost?
For example, can you use this method for the following itineraries? What would the cost be as a result of the stopovers?
Option 1 – home is Chicago
-Cancun to Chicago (extended stopover at home)
-Chicago to Hawaii (1 week in Hawaii)
-Hawaii to Chicago (extended stopover at home)
-Chicago to Florida (additional stopover added)
-Florida to Jamaica (final destination)
Option 2 – home is Chicago.
-Bahamas to Florida (vacation in Florida)
-Florida to Chicago (extended stopover at home)
-Chicago to Hawaii (vacation)
-Hawaii to Chicago (extended stopover at home)
-Chicago to Cancun (final destination or dummy leg)
All three work fine. Remember:
first stopover free. Second = $100. Third = $100.
Do you only get 6 segments regardless of the number of stopovers?
Or would the following itinerary work? (extension of my last post)
Option 3 – home is Chicago.
-Bahamas to Chicago (extended stopover at home)
-Chicago to Hawaii (vacation)
-Hawaii to Florida (vacation)
-Florida to Cancun (final destination or dummy leg)
Scott–can the open jaw be at the stopover? I have a vague recollection of Singapore not allowing that. So could you do HNL-BOS-stopover-CUN-BOS?
On your option 2, does “Hawaii” have to be the same? For example, can the first Hawaii trip be to Kauai and the 2nd to Maui?
That’s fine. Hawaii doesn’t have to be the same.
I just tried booking using LIH as origination and HNL (final destination) on the Hawaiian legs, and the CSR at Singapore stated it has to return to LIH…
Gotta love this game we play. HUCA! ticketed! LIH-SFO-SJD-SFO-HNL. 35k points pp and 1400 SPD total
Thanks Scott!
Awesome! Enjoy the trip.
@Scott Grimmer
kris T&C
G.2.d. If your itinerary includes bookings in different classes of service, the award level corresponding to the highest class will apply for the whole award ticket…kinda sucks.
-also, no open jaws at destination?
-add stopovers for $100ea but max connections is still 3?
“G.2.d. If your itinerary includes bookings in different classes of service, the award level corresponding to the highest class will apply for the whole award ticket…kinda sucks.” Every program works like this.
-also, no open jaws at destination? open jaws are allowed
-add stopovers for $100ea but max connections is still 3? max segments is 3 per direction
[…] interest in having a trip to Costa Rica and another trip to Hawaii, take a look at this idea: https://milevalu.wpengine.com/singapore-sweet…ntral-america/ If you want to use BA Avios, you can look for flights to SJO on US via PHX, or on AA via […]
Thanks Scott! This is awesome. Quick clarification question-
Could I use this to do:
one way from LAX-HON
one way from HON-Guatemala City
one way from Guatemala City-CLT
Wouldn’t that only use one stopver and the openjaw on the way back to charlotte instead of LAX?
Yes
Is this a valid routing:
CUN-LAX
LAX-PTY
PTY-SJU
SJU-LAX
Or would I need to add a dummy leg at the end?
I don’t know. Since no rules are published, it comes down to what can be ticketed. Let me know the results of your experiment.
I had to add a dummy leg on at the end to make it a full roundtrip back to Cancun. It ended up pricing out to 60k miles + $436 USD in Biz/1st Class, as there was no direct dummy LAX-CUN leg within 24 hours, so I had to add an additional $100 stopover. The SJU-LAX leg has a connection in PTY, so I would have exceeded the 6 segment maximum.
could not do an open-jaw?
start in CUN, finish in LAX?
or does OJ have to finish in same region as origin?
Is this route valid for 35 K Singapore miles?
MEX to LAX (April 2015)
LAX to KAUIA or HNL (stay 5 days)
Kauia or HNL – LAX (April 2015)
LAX to -LIMA (May or June 2015)
Thank you. Your blog is the one I look forward to every week, always very helpful and very savvy!
I don’t live in one of the United hubs but was wondering if the following might work….
HNL-DEN-OMA (Stopover)
OMA-IAH-CUN
CUN-DEN (Stopover)-HNL
This keeps me at 6 segments and I just need to book a roundtrip from DEN at some point back to my home airport in OMA (Would likely make use of my Southwest Companion Pass for this). Even with the extra RT out of DEN this seems like it could be worth it!
Should work
When you call to book, do you have to explain whats the stopover, and whats the round trip or can I just feed them dates, airports, and flight numbers?
For example I would just give them this one by one:
5/30
1858hrs PTY>IAD CM488
9/5
545hrs IAD>IAH UA657
1000hrs IAH>HNL UA253
9/12
1535hrs HNL>IAD UA144
11/7
0545hrs IAD>IAH UA657
1015hrs IAH>BZE UA1408
Just feed flights and dates.
Has anyone run into “backtracking” rules? I am trying to do a Roundtrip from Los Angeles to Guatemala City with a stopover in Hawaii and they say I can’t because I have to go back through the mainland to get from Hawaii to Guatemala.
I am moving to Guatemala and will be in LA, wanting to see friends in Hawaii on the way, and open jaw to CLT for a wedding in August.
Booking this award is impossible…
PTY-IAD-LAX-HNL-IAD-IAH-BZE
2x agents are telling me they cannot book this as one reward itinerary because open jaw is not allowed, and another agent i got to the LAX segment where they could not see the saver space that i am seeing on united (logged out)
Finally got an agent to book it and now they are trying to say HNL is a stopover as well even though it should be the destination. He is saying the system is coding BZE as the destination… no wonder award booking services charge a premium, this is a nightmare
Same issue here – a perfectly valid itin is not bookable with the agents right now. Lots of manufactured excuses….
does anyone else have problems with the call center audio as well? the audio starts skipping every 30-60 seconds and makes it nearly impossible to understand the agents.
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1. Are the domestic connections limited to 4 hours or do they allow longer or even 24 hours?
2. I was told the flights need to be operated by United and not something like United operated by Skywest dba’. Is this true? There are no DFW non stop out of usa. Are there any?
3. Is only one open jaw allowed or do they allow more than one?
Thanks
1. On international awards, all connections can be 24 hours.
2. No, United Express–like your example–is fine.
3. One
I am trying to book the following thru Singapore Airlines and the customer service reps are saying I can’t do it because of backtracking:
-Cancun to Chicago (ORD) – July 2015
-Stopover #1 (free) is in ORD.
-Chicago (ORD) to Honolulu. Then Honolulu back to Chicago(ORD).
-Stopover #2 (costs $100) is in ORD again.
-Chicago (ORD) to Nicaragua (MGA).
What backtracking? Each direction looks like a pretty straight line to me.
First, they told me that going to Nicaragua is backtracking because I would be flying past Cancun. I just got off the phone with them for the 5th time today, and they said that I can’t do it because of this rule in their terms and conditions:
“g. Complimentary stopovers are not permitted in a purely domestic itinerary , or within the country of departure in an international itinerary.”
You’re not violating that rule. Your country of departure is Mexico, and you have no stopovers there.
That’s what I keep telling them but they are not budging. So frustrated.
Success! I was FINALLY able to book my itinerary.
Just a note: It costs about $75 more in taxes, than if I would have booked thru United awards. I’m guessing this is because I added a “fare” component with the $100 stopover
Thanks for all this valuable info- a couple questions
#1- can you call Singapore before transfering miles from AMEX to make sure it prices out or do you have tp transfer first and take your chances
#2- when looking for flights on UA- do you have carte blanche for any flights shown or do you have to picj the saver flights versus the full price flights?
Thanks
You can call and try to price it out first, but there’s not a 100% guarantee, the the before and after agents will give the same price. You can only book United Saver award space with Singapore miles.
Finally after 6 phones calls, one of the reps completed my itinerary for 35,000 points.
CUN-EGE-DEN stopover in DEN
DEN-SFO-KOA destination in Kona
KOA-SFO, gotta find a flight from SFO back to DEN or if a saver award becomes available I just change.
SFO-SJD – Dummy leg to Los Cabo.
Pretty good deal, I get my flight back from CUN basically for free. I just have to find a cheap sfo-den flight.
Awesome!
I’ve read this mentioned in other blogs (Hawaii to Central America with Singapore miles), but never found one where there is actually an example of a booking! The other blogs just say it’s awesome that you can do this, but never show an example, so thank you very much for this. This adds to a lot of other possibilities for me living in Hawaii.
Hi
This is super helpful! I’m confused about the first part of the trip. Costa Rica to Denver, do you have to buy a separate one way ticket from Denver to Costa Rica first and then fly back using United ? Do you have to go to the Costa Rica? What if you just want to do Denver to Hnl ?
If you just want Denver to Honolulu, check this out: https://milevalu.wpengine.com/guide-book-united-flights-hawaii-singapore-krisflyer-miles/
I am thinking about going for something similar to “Variation on Option 1” in the post.
PTY-LAX-HNL-LAX-PTY
Does anyone know if I can change the dates for the later segements after I have already flown the first segement?
I know the partner change fee is only $20, but it is unclear if I can change the dates of the Hawaii trip after I have already flown from Central America to my home airport.
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Hi,
Flying Blue also puts Hawaii, Central America and the Caribbean in the same region and it costs only 12.5K miles one-way to fly inside it. Do you know if they allow similar routing with stopover in mainland US?
Thanks!