Need suggestions for planning a trip to Bali, Singapore and Malaysia in July 23

[alphapiper]

Hi,
I'm planning a trip with my wife to Bali, Singapore and Malaysia around mid of next month.
Need help with redeeming points on Flight / Hotel bookings.

Points:
HDFC - 2L
AMEX - 25k

 

[CARDBITRAGE]

You could explore the option of booking a flight with a stopover in Singapore. During the return leg, you could do a stopover in Malaysia. Or vice versa. This can be done free of cost/ by paying a small fee. Singapore stopover can be done with Singapore Airlines and stopover in Malaysia would require you to fly Malaysian Airlines. If you were to consider such an itinerary, please connect with customer care for info about the redemption of points.

 

[alphapiper]

@BLK Great suggestion! I'm a rookie at this though, so may need some more help.
On skyscanner, I'm not getting stopovers for more than ~30 hours. I need ~3 days of stopover in Singapore and ~5days of stopover in Malaysia. i'm flexible on dates (July) and order of country as well.
What are the best ways / tools to figure this out?

 

[SM24]

Wait for Spontaneous Escapes (SE) monthly offer from Singapore Airlines.
Is announced on 15th of every month for travel on selected routes the following month, with black out dates.
If you can plan your trip with stopovers and SE you can expect more bang for your HDFC miles.
(But for SE always check for tnc and compare with regular mileage requirement)

Use Amex for Marriott stays if you find any at good value, unlikely though in SEA with only 25K miles in your kitty.

Cheers!
S&M

 

[CARDBITRAGE]

@BLK Great suggestion! I'm a rookie at this though, so may need some more help.
On skyscanner, I'm not getting stopovers for more than ~30 hours. I need ~3 days of stopover in Singapore and ~5days of stopover in Malaysia. i'm flexible on dates (July) and order of country as well.
What are the best ways / tools to figure this out?

You will have to make the bookings through the respective airlines' websites.
Singapore stopover: https://www.singaporeair.com/flightsearch/multiCityHome.form
Malaysia stopover: https://www.malaysiaairlines.com/in/en.html

Guide:
You can open the link for Singapore Airlines and make the multi-city booking. It's pretty straightforward.
For Malaysian Airlines, select the option 'Bonus Side trip' in the flights booking section. Click on one-way and make your booking.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you are keen on budget, you could use low-cost carriers. You will have to book 4 separate flights though.
For instanace,
BLR-SIN :: SIN-DPS :: DPS-KUL :: KUL-BLR

SIN and KUL can be interchanged based on your preference.

 

[alphapiper]

If you can plan your trip with stopovers and SE you can expect more bang for your HDFC miles.

Does SE allow stopovers as well? I found this, which suggests otherwise.



Also I checked the SE routes last month, doesn't look like there's any option from Blr to Bali. It may / may not be there for July.


If I book all legs individually, I'm getting flight around ~35k. Using Smartbuy, I can use ~25k points and pay remaining ~10k via card. Cheaper I book through Chennai though.

From this information, doesn't look like it would fit my case. Am I missing something? What do you suggest?

 

[CARDBITRAGE]

Does SE allow stopovers as well? I found this, which suggests otherwise.
View attachment 19040

Unfortunately, the spontaneous escape program doesn't allow for stopovers. So you'll need to book regular saver(for round trip) or advantage(one-way) to avail their complimentary stopovers.

Also I checked the SE routes last month, doesn't look like there's any option from Blr to Bali. It may / may not be there for July.
View attachment 19039

If I book all legs individually, I'm getting flight around ~35k. Using Smartbuy, I can use ~25k points and pay remaining ~10k via card. Cheaper I book through Chennai though.

From this information, doesn't look like it would fit my case. Am I missing something? What do you suggest?

Right. There was no option under SE for flights to DPS. So, you'll have to wait for this month's announcement. But as you mentioned, the whole flight itinerary would work out to be under 35K if you were to book each leg individually, which is quite reasonable. You could explore the option of leaving from Chennai as well. But do consider that some low cost carriers would charge you a considerable amount for check-in luggage.

 

[rajgopalsinghal]

Unfortunately, the spontaneous escape program doesn't allow for stopovers. So you'll need to book regular saver(for round trip) or advantage(one-way) to avail their complimentary stopovers.


Right. There was no option under SE for flights to DPS. So, you'll have to wait for this month's announcement. But as you mentioned, the whole flight itinerary would work out to be under 35K if you were to book each leg individually, which is quite reasonable. You could explore the option of leaving from Chennai as well. But do consider that some low cost carriers would charge you a considerable amount for check-in luggage.

What is a complementary stopover?

 

[CARDBITRAGE]

What is a complementary stopover?

For a flight that offers this option, you could leave the airport at your layover city and take the next desired flight out. There would be no or minimal charges associated with such a booking. Suppose you are Flying Etihad Airways India-London Heathrow. You could opt for a stopover in Abu Dhabi, UAE for little to no cost. This way you get to stretch your airfare and explore multiple destinations which just one flight itinerary.

 

[alphapiper]

Pls DM me for KrisFlyer referral

 

[SM24]

Does SE allow stopovers as well? I found this, which suggests otherwise.
View attachment 19040


Also I checked the SE routes last month, doesn't look like there's any option from Blr to Bali. It may / may not be there for July.
View attachment 19039

If I book all legs individually, I'm getting flight around ~35k. Using Smartbuy, I can use ~25k points and pay remaining ~10k via card. Cheaper I book through Chennai though.

From this information, doesn't look like it would fit my case. Am I missing something? What do you suggest?

Oh k. I hadn't read the TnC for SE stopovers.

We all should, closely !🙂


Cheers !
S&M

 

[Riva]

Does SE allow stopovers as well? I found this, which suggests otherwise.
View attachment 19040


Also I checked the SE routes last month, doesn't look like there's any option from Blr to Bali. It may / may not be there for July.
View attachment 19039

If I book all legs individually, I'm getting flight around ~35k. Using Smartbuy, I can use ~25k points and pay remaining ~10k via card. Cheaper I book through Chennai though.

From this information, doesn't look like it would fit my case. Am I missing something? What do you suggest?

From which airlines and dates are you getting individually it for ~35K ?

Am asking as i too was looking for something similar for end of this year. I also have Kris Flyer miles from my previous trip that i would like to utilize.

 

[alphapiper]

I think it was mostly Air Asia, for mid next month. I tried various combination but this one seemed to be the most cost effective.

Blr -> Bali
Bali -> Singapore
Singapore -> Malaysia (Bus travel)
Malaysia -> Blr

If you look from Chennai prices may be even lower.
Happy travels!

Update on my plan:
July was cutting it too close, so we dropped the plan altogether and are planning a trip to Australia / NZ / Turkey in Sept. Pls recommend on which airmile partner / program would suite the best for these 🙂

 

[Riva]

Thanks, unfortunately I am new to the airmiles game and hence cannot recommend, but I am sure experienced folk from the community will help.

 

[sinew]

Disadvantages about booking budget airlines

Return : You find something beautiful while exploring/shopping, luggage requirements will weight on your mind. Low cost carriers charge a bomb for extra luggage and sometimes their prebooking systems dont work. Better to have Air India with their generous allowances

Onwards: You may want to start your vacation in a bit of luxury

 

[CARDBITRAGE]

Scoot currently has some really great roundtrip fares to Indonesia for the next couple of months. It operates out of a few select ports in India though.

 

[alphapiper]

What's a good redemption partner for Australia (airline / hotel). Will be using points on HDFC.
Would it make sense to use smartbuy portal to for flight/hotel bookings?

 

[sinew]

Can you mention your itinerary for Australia or NZ when you are done planning ?

I am interested in going there sometime soon

 

[CARDBITRAGE]

What's a good redemption partner for Australia (airline / hotel). Will be using points on HDFC.
Would it make sense to use smartbuy portal to for flight/hotel bookings?

I think at this point, it is better to redeem your points through smartbuy portal. On smartbuy you would be getting 5x/10x on flights/hotels. That's pretty a decent deal.

 

[faltooAdmi]

You could explore the option of booking a flight with a stopover in Singapore. During the return leg, you could do a stopover in Malaysia. Or vice versa. This can be done free of cost/ by paying a small fee. Singapore stopover can be done with Singapore Airlines and stopover in Malaysia would require you to fly Malaysian Airlines. If you were to consider such an itinerary, please connect with customer care for info about the redemption of points.

I have few questions

1. How to book this free stopover ?
2. Do we need to select multi city or just roundtrip ?
3. Also is it available on revenue tickets as well or just award tickets ?