I am facing a Singapore Airlines Suites class redemption dilemma that pits time and money against fairness, real or perceived.
Before the pandemic in February 2020 I gleefully booked a redemption on the A380-800 in the “new” suites class from London to Singapore. I paid the hefty UK departure tax because I found saver first class space from London to Singapore to Jakarta (125,000 miles). That trip was for July 2020.
As you might recall, the world was largely shut down at that point. It wasn’t a matter of me canceling the trip, but Singapore Airlines not operating longhaul service at all.
I figured I would rebook after the pandemic and Singapore would let me choose a new date, since the cancellation was not voluntary.
But apparently it won’t be so easy…
I put the rebooking off until Singapore lifted its draconian entry restrictions and a little bit longer till the Singapore Airlines call center hold times dropped from nine hours to a more manageable waiting period.
And I hit a brick wall.
“I’m sorry sir. All we can do is refund the miles.”
Really? The agent was not stupid. She understood exactly that I wanted to book the same routing again and acknowledged that it wasn’t I who cancelled the trip, but still said her hands were tied. She even put me on hold and consulted with a supervisor (without me even asking), returning with the same answer.
Here’s the interesting thing. SQ317, the A380 segment from London to Singapore, does not even have standard (“Advatange”) award space, let alone saver space from today through the end of the calendar.
I deliberately booked that longer segment instead of the “blogger special” from Frankfurt to New York because I find that transatlantic flight is too short to properly enjoy the product.
But now I’m stick and there is aded urgency because Singapore announced a devaluation of its KrisFlyer program taking effect next month.
I put the question out on Flyertalk and did not get much feedback, so I’m putting it out here. Where there is a will, is there a way? Does it depend upon the agent? Or am I just out of luck?
I do realize that the pandemic wasn’t the fault of Singapore Airlines. But I also point out that I did not cancel my flight and I don’t think I’m asking for anything unreasonable in asking to be rebooked. In fact, my dates are so flexible I will take whatever date Singapore gives me.
Any insight or advice on my dilemma?
image: Singapore Airlines
Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let’s Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.
Is waitlist space available? I’ve heard that you can call and have your waitlist status revisited.
HUCA
Have you checked FRA-SIN?
I have. There is “advantage” space, but no saver space (which would just make my life easier).
Propose that to them. Explain them that you are willing to book a lhr to fra flight yourself if the honor the flight from fra
I had booked a couple SQ saver flights back when F was wide open last fall. One trip was SIN-HND on SQ in F and then ANA HND-JFK in F. Shortly after that Singapore Airlines cancelled the SIN-HND leg and automatically rebooked me a day later in J, not F. Either way I wouldn’t have made the connection. I contacted SQ and endured the wait times to resolve. I requested the only other First Class flight from SIN to JFK there is, SQ26 SIN-FRA-JFK, which had no saver award space. I was told no, even after a supervisor intervention. They offered a free cancellation. How nice.
I persisted and messaged them through their buggy website. 4 weeks later I received an email response, still a no.
So I called again and spent well over an hour with another agent and supervisor. They agreed to submit my request for SQ26 to inventory management and amazingly it got approved. They ticketed it and I am set.
I will say the agents I dealt with were fairly clueless. One agent after I explained everything said she didn’t know what to do and would have someone call me back. They never did. What was once an airline with superior customer service has deteriorated in my view. Hopefully onboard service hasn’t.
Good luck. At least the call wait times are down.
@ Matthew — I dont understand why you think you are entitled to a rebooking on a date of your choice? I would only expect a refund of miles. You are wasting your time and energy trying to get a different outcome. It ain’t gonna happen.
I am not insisting on a specific date – I’ll take whatever date Singapore can give me, but I want one day. I’ve explained why I think my request is reasonable – they cancelled my flight, not me.
Your request is very reasonable, but they have absolutely no obligation to honor it. And I doubt they would. Airlines permit the rebooking of cancelled flights for new flights that occur within days, not years, of the cancellations. Their only obligation at this point is to refund your miles and taxes paid.
They certainly have an obligation to honour it – see my main comment.
@ Matthew — Sorry, I see now that you are flexible, but I still think your request is completely unreasonable. You could have cancelled and rebooked the “blogger special” when it was widely available for multiple days. Beggars can’t be choosy. What if SQ allow everyone in your position to rebook?
Good luck! Singapore Airlines call center agents are empowered to do absolutely nothing and typically the supervisors are powerless as well. I also had involuntary changes on an award ticket and spent many hours trying to get it resolved without any luck. The agents understood what the issue was and what needed to happen; however, they essentially would just say hands are tied and couldn’t help (and no one to elevate it to). I gave up after probably 20 hours on the phone. Luckily award inventory finally opened for what I needed and I made the change myself. After that experience I no longer touch Singapore awards.
Stay home. Why do you need to fly to Singapore if you will not even get the plane you wanted in first place.
The UK flavour of 261 applies, the carrier must allow you to rebook to a date of your choice. Letter before action, 14 days to get you rebooked or you buy a ticket with ANA (or EK or whoever sells F tickets on the route) and you send them the bill.
And COVID-19 isn’t a force majeure event?
It absolutely is- that’s why your entitlement is confined to the duty of care element and you won’t be getting any compensation on top!
Did they cancel your flight within 14 days of departure?
One problem is they seem to have hired / outsourced to some very unskilled agents in the call centres who’ll have absolutely no way to resolve this or be able to submit to revenue management to consider fixing it
I would have a go at submitting your request in writing with a selection of dates showing A availability from London asking for rev man to consider your request and see what happens / pray
Otherwise unfortunately there are very little rights in this part of the world even when a flight gets cancelled
Doh. PM is right. This is EU261 eligible and right to reroute at a date convenient to you is in play. You may need to write a letter before action to their UK address and potentially take them through our small claims court. This is done online though and is very simple. The BA flyertalk forum has a very good Eu261 thread
Headforpoints also has lots of relevant knowledge – BA really are one of the worst offenders, they actively and systematically lie to their passengers about their rights.
Indeed
I suspect writing in to SQ quoting the EU 261 text and requesting the dates you want (ideally far in the future to allow time to get a response etc) may yield results. The couple of things I haven’t been able to resolve by phone have been resolving in writing
UK_Feedback [at] singaporeair.com.sg
I’d also fill out the COVID-19 rebooking form making it very clear you are exercising your EU rights
If this was a booking on United JFK-LAX that was canceled in March 2020, would you expect the same? If not, why not? Normally I would agree with you, but its been 2 years since March 2020.
I actually would. There’s a United cancellation to Hawaii I should look into as well.
You might have already tried this, but you tried HUCA? Maybe another agent can give you what you want
I know this is a HUGE disappointment for you. It happened to me with Cathay F class – I got some great sweet spot award tickets with CX but covid-19 forced all of us to cancel our tickets including award tickets – they cannot change the dates etc – move on and accept the new award system.
You’ll probably have to spend tens of hours trying and may or may not be able to convince someone to get you the ticket… I’d recommend finding something w/ Advantage (Saver is nonexistent) space on say, Singapore to Sydney, or I was able to do Singapore to JFK via Frankfurt for 237k miles at the Advantage level. Is it a lot of miles? Yea. But AMEX points transfer immediately now, so you can do the transfer and be sure you’ll get the space. Would recommend something like that if you can’t get a confirmed seat before the upcoming devaluation (which is still not really that bad)
Oh gosh,,,i’m so sorry for you,,,I find myself worrying about my flight operating, b trying to get out of middle seat,,,and of course, gas prices and the Biden recession…..
We love first world problems at LALF.
All of that after I survived the Trump COVID…shucks jolly.
I know you’re ethical but maybe it’s time to put the blogger card? What would TPG do, other than blow coke in public? What would Summer do?
Your journalistic integrity is admirable but is costing you free stuff compared to your colleges.
Would visiting the SQ counter at the airport make any sense?
Doutbful, since it involved KrisFlyer miles.
My husband and I had major issues with Singapore airlines for our honeymoon. But I will say, ticket agent at the airport resolved them both times. I will still never ever fly this airline again. But at least they rectified the issue enough for our flight there and back. Good luck!
Putting this out there publicly may help. Bad PR is something they might not want. Especially with regards to customer service. Good luck!
Ugh another Bring me the manager Karen!
Sorry to say it but you’re SOL. This happened with me with Avianca Lifemiles and UA MileagePlus. Neither re-accommodated me but rather only offered a refund of miles and taxes. You will not be rebooked unless the space is available for the same mileage amount. Surprised you’ve not come across this dilemma before.
Was that for flights covered by 261?
Not SOL with some persistance. It gets rather difficult when you’ve used miles from another program but any flight on an UK/EU carrier or a flight FROM Europe the *operating* carrier has to accomodate you on a convenient date.
Usually you need them to book you what you want and then your program to revalidate/reissue the ticket. It can be done, I had a Avianca flight booked with Turkish miles rebooked without award space and reissued by Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles
For Matthew it’s more simple as he used Krisflyer miles and is flying on their metal
Push harder Matthew, I think SQ is being unreasonable here. Your date flexibility is the key.
no A380 from LHR for following months, checked til end October, for yr guide find award space on 22 August, 27 September and 14 october at 125000 miles waiting list but all by 777/300
The “blogger special” SQ A380 Suite Class routes were SIN-HKG and SIN-PVG and vice-versa.
I wish you luck getting them to deviate from the rule book one inch. Singapore airlines back office operations and policies are some of the most anti customer I have experienced. On par with US domestic airlines. Their onboard amenities have declined significantly since the pandemic and aside from the flight crew training and the aircraft they are an average carrier and not worth the premium they try to command. MHO.
Big disappointment, I get it. I had a similar situation in 2020. Probably the best booking I’ll ever have, canceled due to COVID. Let it go. Do something else with your miles, go on another trip and just appreciate what you have. You weren’t inconvenienced, you weren’t harmed.
I think you should keep trying.
Suspect you would be SOL if flying out of the US, but the version of EU 261 that the UK did a ctrl c and ctrl v on at Brexit day contains provisions that if the airline cancels a flight covered by UK law (which an initial departure from the UK qualifies you as) then you have an absolute right to an alternative flight on your choice of date, whether as soon as possible after the cancellation or your choice after. The CAA website is crystal clear on this if you would language to take the Singapore Airlines. There is also a long established series of cases that a validly issued mileage ticket has 100% of the legal rights a cash ticket would.
I’m suddenly feeling very optimistic!
I think it’s no different than booking a new award ticket, you are still subject to award space availability. What with the “revenge travel” that is ongoing, airlines have no trouble selling seats, be it premium or otherwise. I held an award tix in F class from HKG to AKL on CX for 12/2020 travel but was canceled by CX and I have been unable to rebook due to the same situation as yours. I think you might have to wait until the travel “wave” subsides and rebook but you’ll be paying with more miles due to the devaluation. Good luck.
Count yourself as lucky compare to my station. I booked business class redemption from Sumgapore to NY via FRA, with an added ling term stop over at FRA (the old “hidden stop over” truck that SQ is about to get rid of).
I took the first leg of the flight, The ame pandemic, SQ cancelled thr FRA to JFK leg because there’s no end in sight.
And I think I got a measly 20000K miles refund because of the tiring system ♂️
@Matthew. I read through your blog. I do empathize the dilema you are in, but I am afraid it is all about seat availability. After the airline announced the devaluation, seat availability seems to have reduced significantly (either due to increased demand or the airline deliberately reducing availability). Furthermore, you are looking to book Suites class, which is hard to come by these days. I can only say it’s just too bad. If you have re-booked before the devaluation announcement, you could have stood a better chance. The only choice you have now is to try your luck after the devaluation date, or when travel demand eases.
I would say you are out of luck. Anything on the A380 from LHR-SIN seems sold out in the premium cabins for months in advance at the moment. I got a quote back for LHR-SIN in business at GBP10500.00 at any time in the next three months a few days back, normally all the way to Aus is about GBP6000 return so their fares are at a peak.
Also, the A380 is only operating one of the daily services at the moment while it would normally operate two or three so suites are in very short supply even for money.
Am sorry you missed out on your flight because of Covid-19 when millions lost their lives.
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