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I live in Singapore and I am planning to to SFO/SJC for a conference. But I want visit my sister and my little nephew who live in London and I wanted see if I can plan for it enroute.

I have not booked the tickets yet, but I can go to SFO/SJC from Singapore via London and better yet, when the conference is over, I can stop by for 2 days in London before returning back to Singapore.

I was planning to fly from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to Singapore via the "other route" and would like to have a 2 day visit in London (with in-transit visa). I tried Google search, but I am unable to find any flights that can help me do this. Has anyone done this travel before? What is best advice to fly from SFO -> London -> Singapore I would consider reducing the cost factor associated with the trip as well?

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    One way? or do you want to go back to San Francisco and if so again via London? This may make a big difference.
    – Peter Hahndorf
    Jan 27, 2012 at 11:03
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    Why don't you add info on when you are traveling, what your flight budget is and what a "two-day stop in London" includes. Do you want full two days so you'd like an ongoing flight in the evening or do you prefer early morning flight or you don't care? And an answer to Peter Hahndorf's question as well, but I suppose you want it just one way.
    – rlab
    Jan 27, 2012 at 12:22
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    Can't help myself. Do you really need to go to London?
    – Karlson
    Jan 27, 2012 at 20:24
  • Thanks a lot for showing interest and trying to provide suggestions. I shall add the details further into my question. I live in Singapore and I am planning to to SFO for a conference. But I want visit my sister and my little nephew in London. :)
    – Senthil Kumaran
    Jan 28, 2012 at 3:02

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I just did a quick search on kayak.com for tickets from SFO to Singapore and Singapore to London.

Based on one way fares for February 10, 2012. The 2 one way tickets through Singapore would be cheaper then flying from SFO to London directly.

So I will repeat the question I had. Do you really need to go to London first? I mean geographically it seems like such a backwards way to go.

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  • Thanks Karlson. Yeah, I am struct at finding appropriate routes as well as I do see a possibility of transit. It is not a case like flying from India, where I can do a visitor-in-transit in London, if I am going to US (Boston/Chicago).
    – Senthil Kumaran
    Jan 28, 2012 at 3:08
  • @SenthilKumaran There are very few direct flights from SFO to Europe. The Cost of a one way ticket for the same date rates at about $1600+ plus it takes 14 hours plus one way. The flight to London via Singapore comes at about $1000 one way so I have to wonder the wisdom.
    – Karlson
    Jan 28, 2012 at 4:25
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Here's what you should try: instead of trying to book a Singapore - London - San Francisco flight for outgoing and San Francisco - Singapore for return flight, book return flights from Singapore to London and then separate return flights from London to San Francisco.

I ran my search on Kayak.co.uk. I looked up PyCon 2012 dates you've linked to for a sample itinerary. For all options, I have taken Singapore outbound flight on 2 March, London outbound flight on 5 March, and San Francisco outbound flight on 16 March.

  • SIN-LON-SFO outgoing, SFO-SIN return: Cheapest result is USD 2390 with British Airways.
  • SIN-LON return, LON-SFO return: SIN-LON cheapest result is USD 950 with Emirates; LON-SFO is USD 680 with Delta, totalling up to USD 1630.

As you can see, by going for the second option you do save a bit. While it does mean it might increase your flight time, it's up to you to decide whether the savings are significant enough. Also, for the sample itinerary I chose, Emirates via Dubai came out to be the cheapest option for SIN-LON; for other dates, it could very well be Cathay Pacific via Hong Kong!

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  • Make sure you key in your frequent flyer number when booking, and for the return flights it might be worth booking flights with airlines under a single frequent flyer alliance rather than spreading your points over 2-3 different programmes.
    – Ankur Banerjee
    Jan 29, 2012 at 22:40

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