Hey {{first name | reader}},
Happy Monday! Coffee's ready, and we're starting the week strong. Today's post is a mix of award deals, a new route announcement, and a hotel review that's equal parts funny and painful.
Here's what's inside today's post:
Flying Blue: new Promo Rewards for February
Singapore Airlines is officially coming back to Riyadh
Dan & Oskar's latest hotel review: W Times Square… would you stay here?
Flying Blue: new Promo Rewards for February
Air France – KLM's Flying Blue just dropped fresh Promo Rewards for February, which means discounted award pricing on select routes. A few things to know before the list:
Promo Rewards are limited + can disappear once seats get snapped up.
Not everyone has access to the same availability.
It's always worth searching even routes that aren't advertised — sometimes you'll spot lower pricing than usual on random cities, though not publicly shared.
Now, the good stuff (the month's headliners):
Premium Economy:
Las Vegas (LAS) from 30,000 miles one-way
Europe to Saint-Denis (Réunion) for 37,500 miles one-way
Business Class:
Washington D.C. (IAD) from 45,000 miles one-way
St. Maarten (SXM) from 63,750 miles one-way
Abidjan from 63,750 miles one-way
San José from 63,750 miles one-way
Nairobi from 63,750 miles one-way
Fortaleza from 63,750 miles one-way
Keep in mind that some of these routes are said to only be available for Flying Blue Extra members, which is a paid subscription. But it is always worth checking out.
Singapore Airlines is officially coming back to Riyadh
Singapore Airlines is officially coming back to Riyadh — and this is a real relaunch (nonstop, not some random tag-on route).
Singapore Airlines A350 Medium Haul Business class
Starting June 2, 2026, Singapore Airlines will operate 4x weekly nonstop between Singapore (SIN) and Riyadh (RUH) on the medium-haul Airbus A350-900 configured with 303 seats (40 Business / 263 Economy).
Schedule (subject to approvals):
SQ498 SIN → RUH (Tue/Thu/Sat/Sun)
Jun 2 – Oct 24, 2026: 18:20 → 21:45
Oct 25, 2026 – Mar 27, 2027: 17:40 → 21:35
SQ499 RUH → SIN (Tue/Thu/Sat/Sun)
Jun 2 – Oct 24, 2026: 23:00 → 12:15 (+1)
Oct 25, 2026 – Mar 27, 2027: 22:50 → 11:50 (+1)
This is exciting because:
More premium capacity into a fast-growing market. Riyadh has been exploding with corporate + events demand, and premium carriers putting planes back in is a signal.
More one-stop routing options for the broader region, especially if you're building creative itineraries via Asia.
It also makes Scoot's existing Jeddah service feel more like a "Saudi footprint" than a one-off.
Dan & Oskar's latest hotel review: W Times Square… would you stay here?
Okay. This one is funny… but also painful.
They checked into W Times Square expecting a "yeah it's Times Square, it'll be fine" situation.
Instead, the vibe was:
Dusty / worn / "serial killer hallway lighting" energy
One working elevator (and staff basically saying "yep")
A room that's… big (they used a suite upgrade voucher), but still gave off motel-in-a-costume vibes
Location is obviously elite (you step outside and boom, Times Square) and the views from the room were stunning, but the hotel itself felt like it was begging for a renovation.
The most hilarious part: the suite they got was valued at about $870/night and basically I would not pay that in a million years, but you guys know how expensive New York City hotels can get, so it is a kind of situation where I don't know what I would want.
Then the final score landed at 40/100 — which is brutal in a "we travel for a living" way.
If you've ever wondered "should I book a hotel just because the location is perfect?" — this video is the cautionary tale.
The takeaway: location matters, but if the property itself feels neglected, no amount of Times Square energy can save it.
That's it for today. More deals and strategies coming your way on Wednesday.
Catch you in the clouds,
Tomi