Singapore Mileage Run Adventure

This article is Singapore Mileage Run Adventure. It is a collection of reviews of the experiences I had when I traveled to Singapore on a mileage run on Delta Airlines.

Singapore

Singapore is one of those locations that seems exotic. You see images of the Marina Bay Sands and all the gardens around the city lit up at night and it makes you feel like you want to go to the area.

Even the airport is a destination itself where you can find a movie theater, rooftop pool, numerous lounges, gourmet dining and upscale shopping.

A buddy of mine wrote a post about why the Singapore Changi Airport is his favorite in the world on BaldThoughts.

After reading that I knew I had to visit!

Mileage Run Background

In the past, mileage runs used to be thing that bloggers and other travel enthusiasts did often to maintain status or to explore new places. These days with all three major carriers operating on the revenue model, they are nearly extinct.

Flying from New York to Singapore is around 20,000 miles of flying.

In the past, if you traveled 20,000 miles, you could earn as much as 50,000 redeemable miles just for going thanks to elite bonuses and special earning opportunities.

Today, the 20,000 miles will give you elite qualifying miles; however, you may only earn about 4,000-6,000 redeemable miles. 50,000 miles could give you round trip business class tickets to the Caribbean or an economy trip to Europe or one way business class. 4,000 miles doesn’t get you very far.

In certain circumstances it could still be worth it if you need to reach certain elite qualifying miles thresholds such as to jump to the next tier.

For my friend, he went on a couple Singapore trips in order to earn Diamond Status on Delta. You can read about his adventure: Singapore Adventure

Delta Mileage Run

For my trip, I recently participated in a status match with challenge on Delta Airlines, where I matched my Alaska Air MVP Gold 75k status to Delta Platinum.

The status was immediately matched to Platinum and then I was required to earn 18.5k elite qualifying miles (MQMs) within 90 days of the match in order to keep the status through the end of the following earn.

I had a trip to the Caribbean Planned for Mission Trip, where I was able to benefit from having Platinum Status but it would be way short of the necessary MQMs needed.

Enter the mileage run to Singapore.

Flights from New York to Singapore could be purchased for between $500-$650 depending on the day of the week throughout the year.

So it is possible to spend $500 to earn Delta Platinum Status.

In my case, I needed to position to New York in order to do the mileage run so my costs were closer to $700 all in with using a combination of cash and miles for the positioning flight.

My flights would be in economy cabin; however, Delta fortunately upgraded me to the Comfort+ section for all the flights thanks to the matched Platinum Status.

While my friend got to fly in Delta One as shown above. My seats looked more like this:

The seat was comfortable and I had plenty of leg room.

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My trip was booked on three itineraries:

1. Minneapolis to New York on American Airlines using Alaska Air miles in economy
2. New York LaGuardia to Singapore in economy with upgrade to Comfort+
3. Detroit to Minneapolis on American Airlines

Note: I was a bit under the weather in Detroit so I did not return to New York on Delta. Instead I returned to Minneapolis using American Airlines. Otherwise I would have had to overnight in New York before being able to return home.

It is not recommended to skip a segment on your itinerary because it will cancel additional flights in the reservation and it could be against the terms for your airline.

Trip Report

The Singapore Mileage Run Adventure includes the following posts:

• Singapore Mileage Run Adventure Introduction
• PGA Club Lounge MSP Airport (Priority Pass Lounge)
• American Airlines Minneapolis to New York LaGuardia
• Delta Sky Club LaGuardia
• Flying Delta Airlines New York LaGuardia to Detroit
• Delta Airlines Detroit to Tokyo Narita on 747
• Korean Air Lounge Experience Tokyo Narita
• Exploring the Delta Sky Club Tokyo Narita
• Up in the Air on Delta Airlines Tokyo Narita to Singapore
• dnata Lounge Singapore
• SATS Premium Lounge Singapore
• Plaza Premium Lounge Singapore
• Delta Airlines Singapore to Tokyo Narita
• Experiencing Delta Airlines Tokyo Narita to Detroit
• American Airlines Detroit to Chicago O’Hare
• Visiting the American Admiral’s Club Chicago O’Hare
• Flying American Airlines Chicago O’Hare to Minneapolis