There are some developments in First class space that are quite nice (if you can pony up the miles). Both of them are incidentally on the A380.

Singapore Suites on the A380 are now eligible for redemption through KrisFlyer miles.

If you add the 15% discount for online bookings, a one way is just 74375 miles and ~150 dollars in taxes and fees! This makes me wish so much that Canadian AMEX Membership Rewards was a transfer partner with Krisflyer… although SPG partners with Krisflyer.

Unfortunately, Singapore does not fly to Canada (hopefully they will with A350/B787’s), so your only options for Singapore First Class/Suites are the following routes (including discount):

San Francisco to Hong Kong:
Suites Class Saver roundtrip cost San Francisco to Hong Kong: 140,250 miles + $346.08 USD

San Francisco to Singapore:
Suites Class Saver roundtrip cost San Francisco to Singapore via Hong Kong: 182,750 miles + $688.92 USD

Los Angeles to Tokyo:
Suites Class Saver roundtrip cost Los Angeles to Tokyo: 148,750 miles + $312.15 USD

Los Angeles to Singapore:
Suites Class Saver roundtrip cost Los Angeles to Singapore via Tokyo: 182,750 miles + $725.96 USD

New York to Frankfurt:
Suites Class Saver roundtrip cost New York to Frankfurt: 114,750 miles + $556.51 USD

New York to Singapore:
Suites Class Saver roundtrip cost New York to Singapore via Frankfurt: 187,000 miles + $877.44 USD

(Take half the miles and roughly half the fees for a one way)

For some reason, going to Singapore raises the taxes/surcharges much more, so the prime spots for redemption are the fifth freedom routes, especially HKG-SFO and NRT-LAX.

Those are actually extremely good redemption rates. It’s on par with Avios, with around the same (if not less) fees on NRT-LAX and even cheaper for HKG-SFO!

Until I get my hands on AMEX in the States or AMEX Canada magically opens a transfer option to Krisflyer, I’d rather spend my SPG on equally phenomenal but slightly more economical redemptions. ;0