THE long-awaited vaccinated travel lane (VTL) scheme that allows fully-vaccinated individuals to enter Singapore and for residents here to take a holiday and return without quarantine has expanded from two countries, Germany and Brunei, to a total of 11, including the US, UK, Canada and some popular EU destinations.
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In response to requests from parents, the Singapore government on Monday (Oct 11) also extended VTL travel to children under 12, even though they are not eligible for vaccination in many countries, including Singapore. Those under two years old will also be exempted from polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing that’s required for the rest of the group that is travelling.
For those itching to travel, now would be the time to start checking out airfares for these closing months of the year.
We’ve done an initial sweep of the most wallet-friendly routes (all of which include VTL return flights) covering as many as 15 destinations available for two-week periods in October, November and December for your consideration — provisionally focused on SIA’s economy class offerings, and some of these do have slightly cheaper two-stopover options.
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The screenshots that follow were captured between October 11 and 12, and are all from SIA’s website.
The United Kingdom — London calling, and prices are pretty attractive if you’re not planning a year-end trip:
October — S$1,082.20
And here are prices for the United States — destinations include New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle:
New York
October — S$1,517.10
South Korea — this route only commences in mid-November, so here’s what fares look like for those two months:
November — S$1,327.10
France — here are the cheapest options for Paris via SIA:
In October, a single adult ticket costs S$958.30
Italy — a ticket to Rome in October costs a veritable arm and leg, but the price mercifully goes down for November and December:
Rome
October — S$3,165.80
Spain — Barcelona fares look pretty attractive on the whole:
October — S$959.20
Germany — here’s what fares are looking like for Frankfurt and Munich, the two available destinations so far for the given three periods:
Frankfurt
October — S$1,410.70
The Netherlands — tickets to Amsterdam appear not too pricey on the whole over the three months:
October — S$1,446.60
Denmark — here’s what it’s looking like for non-stop flights back and forth to Copenhagen:
October — S$1,678.30
Canada — Direct flights to Vancouver begin only in December, but in the meantime, it’s still possible to fly there and back with a layover.
Not cheap though, be warned, you're looking at shelling out some S$3,282.90
And finally, Brunei — at the moment, SIA only specifies a schedule for one Wednesday weekly flight, SQ143, ending Oct 29.
For a trip spanning Oct 13 to Oct 27, the fare comes to S$459.30
So there you have it. It’s also worth noting that these are the bald ticket prices — you’re going to have to factor in the cost of the PCR tests each traveller in your group will have to go through, any destination quarantine or testing requirements that may exist, and of course, the accommodation you’ll need to book for isolation after returning from your trip and taking the arrival PCR swab, while waiting for their results, among other pandemic/endemic-induced measures now in place for travellers.
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This article was originally published in The Business Times.