New Singapore Air website

[Foreigner]

The new website has just come on, seems today. Bit slow with response time. Perhaps too much web traffic.

 

[cove]

I did two itineraries for a youngun today and when I printed the proposed itinerary there were no dates on the print out.
It ran like a real clunker but at least it started to work.
I got the mission impossible of a trip during school holidays with specific out and back dates to set tonight on points.

 

[thewinchester]

Well, just took it out for a spin.

Their code is extremely dirty, and there's a lot of jQuery used but they're not pulling the jQuery library from a content distribution network which would go a long way to improving speed.

For me, I detest the big waste of space and the placement of key buttons below the fold. Font selection is also questionable, with two different fonts used and the one chosen for the menus lacks appropriate size, clarity, and cogitative assistance.

The site is streets ahead of their previous version from a look and feel perspective, but it still has a bit of a way to come.

 

[Foreigner]

With the former website, I could select itineraries under "My Bookings" for my children traveling in July. With the new website, I'm not sure where that selection has disappeared. Maybe it's there but I haven't looked hard enough.

 

[kamchatsky]

Pretty slow. I would give it another 2 months before all the teething problems get fixed!

 

[TiredOldFlyer]

Found it very slow.
Tried a mixed class redemption booking BNE to SFO - Can't seem to be
able to do it ! Could only do it on two PNRs eg BNE to SIN in J and then
SIN to SFO in F.

 

[Foreigner]

Found it very slow.
Tried a mixed class redemption booking BNE to SFO - Can't seem to be
able to do it ! Could only do it on two PNRs eg BNE to SIN in J and then
SIN to SFO in F.

I find it more useful to speak to SQ on phone. They'll reveal to you availability and also suggest alternatives. Oftentimes it pays to consider alternatives...for example LAX in place of SFO or, say, MEL in place of BNE.

I booked my daughters in J from ATH to MEL as all other European cities and SYD were not availables for the dates in July. SQ rep suggested the above cities.

 

[TiredOldFlyer]

Thanks Foreigner.
The old web site would default to the available seat class eg If you tried to book
F from Brisbane it would default back to J as First class in not flown by SIN. So if
you wished to fly F BNE to SFO it would show J from BNE and F from SIN. Now if you
try to do the same it comes back with "no seats available".
I rang SIN and they told me that its a glitch in the new web site. They will do the
booking on the 'phone and charge the internet price .
It seems not only is the new web site slow but I waited an unusually long time to be
answered on the phone- more like ringing TELSTRA, but having faith in Singapore I'm sure they will sort it out fairly quickly.

 

[cove]

SQ will have a bit of a crisis with this site by the middle of this week I think.
Waited for about 20 minutes on the call centre then gave up.
There is little chance you would want to buy a ticket on line based on tonight with this booking engine.

 

[TiredOldFlyer]

I have in the past when having problems rung the local shore office and had a points booking sorted. The Brisbane Office seems to be very pro-active and helpful. If all else fails you could also try a local Travel Agent.
Many of them will book a points ticket for you at a small charge - generally about $100. I don't know if they have special access but this also seems to work.

 

[Vanessa Svetec]

I keep getting a 'down for maintenance' error message.

 

[burmans]

I keep getting a 'down for maintenance' error message.

Up for me!

 

[futaris]

Shame that it's no quicker at searching KrisFlyer redemptions. It would have been nice to see a calendar view a la QFF...

 

[thewinchester]

Just encountered another major issue, which is search engine management. You launch a new a new site, and fail to do the requisite works to ensure old page addresses map to the new ones.

As a consequence, any search related to SQ will have the old page address, and as soon as the customer hits the link, it will arrive at the SQ site and having no idea what to do sends the person back to the homepage.

Sorry, that's site upgrade 101. Poor form SQ, poor form.

 

[globalexplorer]

Gotta say that I hate the new website. Did a booking yesterday and it was a real pain in the a#se.

First problem - wouldn't accept by Amex for payment, kept returning a 'speak to your bank' message. I called Amex and they couldn't find a problem from their side and while I was talking to the Amex guy I tried to pay again using my Mastercard - went through without a hitch!

Second problem - didn't seem to retain any of my profile details and said that I needed to re-enter everything after I had made my booking (FF #, passport details etc). I eventually had to give up because it had a default setting for my sex as female (which I am not) and it was greyed out so I couldn't change it I still haven't been able to rectify that problem.

One positive is that it is good to see all of your past flights with SQ over the last 12 months - I didn't realise I had flown so much with them - stopped counting at 28:shock:

 

[albatross710]

The site is certainly more than a cosmetic makeover.

The way the redemptions are coming through is quite clunky. As previously pointed out by TiredOldFlyer it no longer shows multi-class redemption options if the higher class is not available on all legs. I wonder if this reflects a change of business rules or just an oversight.

My flight history is not showing.

I'm concerned that there are so many bugs and errors coming through from users. Very unusual given that the website is a core business functionality for them.

I wonder how they are capturing the various levels of UI problems.

Alby

 

[cove]

I hope I dont need to use this site in the next couple of weeks so SQ can have a go at fixing stuff.
Incidentally my Westpac Amex Platinum Kris Flyer got rejected twice and my bank said it was not rejected by Westpac.(they did not receive the request)
I then paid with Amex Ultimate so that part of the site is in a bit of disarray.

 

[Egg]

Hate it.

As far as redemption bookings go at least, it does not appear to do anything better than the old site, it has no new features, and it's more coughbersome to use. If they're going to bother revamping, they should at least add a few features - calendar view or at least the option of moving back or forward one day from the results screen. They also haven't fixed the problem of a flight showing as available in some combinations, when the same flight shows as waitlist only in others.

I also preferred the the shades of blue/grey for fare options and availability, rather than the shades of... ivory(?)

Was it possible to book mixed class fares available on the old site? I thought it only gave this option when your selected class was not available for one of the legs. Eg, if you tried to choose F on a SYD-LHR, it would offer you business on an A380 and First on a 777-300ER. The fact that they now allow F suite redemptions has changed this functionality because choosing first actually brings up first on A380 flights. As I'm not particularly interested in spending a million or so points on a suite, I, for one, preferred the old setup. I guess the only way of doing J on the A380 connecting to F on a 777 is to ring the call centre and lose the online discount...

 

[Foreigner]

I hope I dont need to use this site in the next couple of weeks so SQ can have a go at fixing stuff.
Incidentally my Westpac Amex Platinum Kris Flyer got rejected twice and my bank said it was not rejected by Westpac.(they did not receive the request)
I then paid with Amex Ultimate so that part of the site is in a bit of disarray.

Coincidence, maybe?
I really doubt if the credit card issue relates to SQ's new website. I used mine twice tonight to pay the ATO and there was no rejection.

 

[cove]

I followed this up today as my card is a little over $100k in credit so I was not super happy that I could not pay two sets of flight charges for about $1k in total.
My Amex Ultimate went straight thru so I don't know why my other transactions disappeared into Internet Land and never re-appeared.
I am travelling from Saturday night so I can avoid booking stuff for a fortnight.