Favorite Cross Pacific Award Travel Hack: Singapore Airlines between Los Angeles & Tokyo

Let me start with a short confession. I love Japan. Like... madly in-love. I love it so much - that I lived in Tokyo for two years. I also love the Japanese airlines (ANA / JAL).

But when given the opportunity to travel to Japan - I make it a point to grab the award winning Singapore Airlines service - on board their daily 5th freedom route between Los Angeles to Tokyo's Narita Airport.

When booked in advance - this flight represents such a great deal in award travel as the non-dynamic pricing the airline uses - makes it easier to book with less surprises, unlike Delta, United, American or the Japanese Airlines.

Step 1: Search for Inventory

To start - create yourself an account on SingaporeAirlines.com. Your KrisFlyer account is your first step in searching for award availability on the airline's website. Their inventory is rarely seen in-full in any other airline websites so it's important that you keep track and remember to use your credentials next time you want to fly to Asia

In our case - we see good amount of seats between LAX (Los Angeles Airport) and NRT (Tokyo's Narita Airport) 350 days out in advance.

Singapore Airlines (known in the industry as "SQ") are quite generous with their award seat inventory - especially when booking in advance - so finding at least 2 seats available in a First Class cabin of 4 seats - is pretty remarkable in the industry.

Step 2: Transfer Your Points

The following programs transfer their points to Singapore Airlines, at different ratios:

• American Express Membership Rewards (1:1 ratio)
• Chase Ultimate Rewards (1:1 ratio)
• Citi ThankYou Rewards (1:1 ratio)
• Capital One Miles (1:1 ratio)
• Marriott Bonvoy (3:1 ratio, plus 5,000 bonus miles for every 60,000 points transferred)
• Bilt Rewards (1:1 ratio)

Award Travel change fees can get $$$ costly - so make sure your itinerary makes sense before booking it. It will become harder to change those award tickets for other open award seats.

Step 3: Book your Travel

Here are some of the redemption rates we found for the LAX-NRT route, per-person, per-way, in points, for September 2025, as an example:

With the mandatory $5.60 in Taxes & Fees - you got yourself some amazing deal.

How to compare the ticket's value?

UpNonStop values Singapore Airline miles at $0.013 cents per point, as of October 2024. (and value above programs at different rates, too)

As such, consider this -

✅ Economy: 38,500 points, represent value of $500.5, vs. cash rate of: $571
✅ Premium Economy: 73,000 points, represent value of $949, vs. cash rate of: $1,284
✅ Business: 123,000 points, represent value of $1,599, vs. cash rate of: $3,149
✅ First: 187,000 points, represent value of $2,431, vs. cash rate of: $11,941

Another way to look at it is to compare it to other airline award rates at the same day, from LAX to Tokyo (Narita or Haneda Airports):

Step 4: Book your Seats & "Book the Cook"

Singapore Airlines will often allow you to grab a complimentary seat in Economy but certainly in Premium Economy, Business and First at the time of Booking. Make sure to do so as you don't want to arrive to the airport and have the last choice of seats.

If traveling in Business or First Class - don't forget to RSVP your meal service ahead of time using Singapore Airlines "Book the Cook" service which is available about 6 months before your departure (and up to 48 hours before takeoff).

Wrap it 🆙

I hope you enjoy the Singapore Airlines Experience out from LA to Japan whenever you get a chance.

If you have those points sitting in the above programs and don't have any plans of using them anytime soon - go grab a seat with your loved one (or by yourself!) and explore everything that Japan has to offer - You won't regret it!