Dearth of Business Saver awards from June onwards

[epsc]

Ever hopeful, having cancelled my planned award trip to Europe in April-May because of the dreaded C, I'm now looking for seats in September-October, but for the life of me I can't find any Business Saver seats back to Sydney from pretty well anywhere after beginning June. Plenty before then. Do they let them go late?

 

[SYD]

Ever hopeful, having cancelled my planned award trip to Europe in April-May because of the dreaded C, I'm now looking for seats in September-October, but for the life of me I can't find any Business Saver seats back to Sydney from pretty well anywhere after beginning June. Plenty before then. Do they let them go late?

There was quite a few Sep/Oct on when I was looking a few weeks ago and nothing practical in Mar-May. But now there’s quite a lot sooner than later. So somethings happened/change?

 

[Ken1]

We're planning to fly to Europe in Feb 2023 and return in early April. I've been watching seat releases each day for a couple of weeks to look at release patterns as this will be our first time flying SQ and while I am seeing Business Saver awards for SYD-LHR and SYD-ZRH most days I have not seen any Saver awards released lately to return to SYD for the following: ZRH-SYD, FRA-SYD, CDG-SYD, MUC-SYD and LHR-SYD. For a couple of weeks when I was doing searches it seemed that Saver seats to and from Europe were more likely to be released for flights departing Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu but not so much Fri-Sun.

The last time I saw any Saver seats released for LHR-SYD, FRA-SYD, ZRH-SYD or CDG-SYD was on Sunday 23 January when seats were released for Thu 12 Jan 2023. A lot of those departing ZRH and CDG were for flights with 13 or 14 hour connections in SIN although FRA-SYD and LHR-SYD seemed to have better connection times and I was thinking I would go for one of those when wanting to book the return flight in a few months.

Every day since Mon 24 January I have only seen Advantage seats at 150K released for any Europe-SYD flights from airports I listed above. For SYD-ZRH I am only seeing Saver awards flights for Mon-Thu dates but am seeing SYD-LHR flights available for every day. Seats were released today for 21 January 2023. I do these searches at 11:00 AEDT each day, as soon as seats are released.

I will be interested to hear if others have seen the same thing with Saver awards not being released for Europe-Australia flights for certain periods in the past.

 

[Matt_01]

@Ken1 when I have booked with rewards with SQ I have noticed that they tend to have particular days and flights that are available as saver and others that are only advantage. From memory xZRH was one of the more difficult locations to find seats as the saver was normally wait listed. Connection times back from the EU to AU can be problematic at time as most of the SQ departures are around mid day getting into SIN between 5-7am FRA and LHR seemed to be the exception as there are evening flights however when I was searching in Oct/Nov Saver was only released xFRA on the morning service which resulted in a horrendous layover to connect to ADL. xLHR had better connection times however I was trying to avoid the London tax. Out of curiosity I did a search from a couple of EU cities to SYD in Jan 23 and could only see Advantage, searching EU to MEL/BNE there is plenty of availability. When searching SIN-SYD it seems like SQ have only released Advantage fares which would be why you are only seeing Advantage fares, who knows if this will change in the future. I always book what is available and if that means having to change plans by a day or 2, the departure/ arrival location I can normally live with that. It does not matter which carrier I am using I just book something that is workable as soon as it become available and then change it if something better is released.

 

[epsc]

We're planning to fly to Europe in Feb 2023 and return in early April. I've been watching seat releases each day for a couple of weeks to look at release patterns as this will be our first time flying SQ and while I am seeing Business Saver awards for SYD-LHR and SYD-ZRH most days I have not seen any Saver awards released lately to return to SYD for the following: ZRH-SYD, FRA-SYD, CDG-SYD, MUC-SYD and LHR-SYD. For a couple of weeks when I was doing searches it seemed that Saver seats to and from Europe were more likely to be released for flights departing Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu but not so much Fri-Sun.

The last time I saw any Saver seats released for LHR-SYD, FRA-SYD, ZRH-SYD or CDG-SYD was on Sunday 23 January when seats were released for Thu 12 Jan 2023. A lot of those departing ZRH and CDG were for flights with 13 or 14 hour connections in SIN although FRA-SYD and LHR-SYD seemed to have better connection times and I was thinking I would go for one of those when wanting to book the return flight in a few months.

Every day since Mon 24 January I have only seen Advantage seats at 150K released for any Europe-SYD flights from airports I listed above. For SYD-ZRH I am only seeing Saver awards flights for Mon-Thu dates but am seeing SYD-LHR flights available for every day. Seats were released today for 21 January 2023. I do these searches at 11:00 AEDT each day, as soon as seats are released.

I will be interested to hear if others have seen the same thing with Saver awards not being released for Europe-Australia flights for certain periods in the past.

And yet there is no shortage of FRA-SYD daily Saver seats at 116k until 31 May 2022, but come June they aren’t around!

 

[SYD]

And yet there is no shortage of FRA-SYD daily Saver seats at 116k until 31 May 2022, but come June they aren’t around!

As per my earlier comment those weren’t around just a few weeks ago.

I also started looking at what few days had SIN-SYD 2x J saver availability to see if I could work a stopover (dangerous as that could be) to make a trip work. Decided against that strategy and hoping to snag some of these new releases for Mar/Apr/May.

 

[Matt_01]

And yet there is no shortage of FRA-SYD daily Saver seats at 116k until 31 May 2022, but come June they aren’t around!

If you search SIN-SYD from 1 Jun 22 there are only Advance seats on offer, no idea if this is deliberate by SQ or if they will change in the future. A random search in Sep/Oct 22 FRA-MEL/BNE x2 in J returns lots of availability.

 

[epsc]

As per my earlier comment those weren’t around just a few weeks ago.

I also started looking at what few days had SIN-SYD 2x J saver availability to see if I could work a stopover (dangerous as that could be) to make a trip work. Decided against that strategy and hoping to snag some of these new releases for Mar/Apr/May.

I’m wondering whether they’re waiting to release the cheap seats at the last minute, once the prospective cautious travellers have secured their return seats at 150k each.

 

[jbman]

Glad I am not the only one who has been seeing this. I had been looking for flights to MUC and noted the same thing with Advantage only offerings for most days. The dates I wanted were Advantage only so I booked them hoping something else comes up in the next few months

 

[Ken1]

@Ken1 when I have booked with rewards with SQ I have noticed that they tend to have particular days and flights that are available as saver and others that are only advantage. From memory xZRH was one of the more difficult locations to find seats as the saver was normally wait listed. Connection times back from the EU to AU can be problematic at time as most of the SQ departures are around mid day getting into SIN between 5-7am FRA and LHR seemed to be the exception as there are evening flights however when I was searching in Oct/Nov Saver was only released xFRA on the morning service which resulted in a horrendous layover to connect to ADL. xLHR had better connection times however I was trying to avoid the London tax. Out of curiosity I did a search from a couple of EU cities to SYD in Jan 23 and could only see Advantage, searching EU to MEL/BNE there is plenty of availability. When searching SIN-SYD it seems like SQ have only released Advantage fares which would be why you are only seeing Advantage fares, who knows if this will change in the future. I always book what is available and if that means having to change plans by a day or 2, the departure/ arrival location I can normally live with that. It does not matter which carrier I am using I just book something that is workable as soon as it become available and then change it if something better is released.

Thanks Matt_01. I'm thinking for the return flight if SQ are not releasing Saver fares by April I may book flying BA using QFF points @ 159K each since I have enough to do that and then if SQ Saver fares come up later I can cancel the QFF booked flights. I know I can book SQ Advantage fares at 150K each but I would rather keep the Amex points I have so I can use them for future SQ Saver 116K fares for a future trip to Europe a year later. Now that I have retired and no longer have business expenses I am not likely to be able to build up Amex points quickly enough to make up the difference.

 

[Peasant]

If you search SIN-SYD from 1 Jun 22 there are only Advance seats on offer, no idea if this is deliberate by SQ or if they will change in the future. A random search in Sep/Oct 22 FRA-MEL/BNE x2 in J returns lots of availability.

Is it allowing you to waitlist for any of these flights in the Saver fare bucket? I have just had a quick look and have the following options available to me (Solitaire):

1 Jun: SQ 232/SQ 26 Saver available (SQ 222 is available to waitlist)
2 Jun: SQ 242/SQ 326 available (requires overnight, but Saver waitlist for SQ 232/SQ 26)
3 Jun: SQ 232/SQ 26 available (SQ 222 is available to waitlist as a Saver)
4 Jun: SQ 232/SQ 26 and SQ 242/SQ 326 Saver available

 

[Matt_01]

@Peasant reading the OP and subsequent posts the issue they seem to be facing is not departing SYD rather than arriving back into SYD.

 

[epsc]

@Peasant reading the OP and subsequent posts the issue they seem to be facing is not departing SYD rather than arriving back into SYD.

Precisely, Matt. No shortage of Saver seats going out, just coming back after 2 June.

 

[Peasant]

Oops, my bad, I had it around the wrong way. I've had another look:

1 Jun: SQ25/SQ211 and SQ 325/SQ221 Saver available
2 Jun: SQ25/SQ211 available and SQ 325/SQ221 on Waitlist (but can be confirmed with 231)
3 Jun: SQ25/SQ211, SQ325/SQ221, SQ325/SQ321 Saver available
4 Jun: SQ25/SQ211 available, SQ325/SQ221 on waitlist
5 Jun: SQ25/SQ211 on waitlist, SQ325/SQ211 Saver available
6 Jun: SQ25/SQ211 on waitlist, SQ325/SQ211 on waitlist
7 Jun: SQ25/SQ211 on waitlist, SQ325/SQ211 on waitlist.

I'd be quite optimistic about them opening up awards on 1-4 June, given the above, and if you can be a bit flexible, but it looks like the weekend may be a bit more difficult.

 

[epsc]

Oops, my bad, I had it around the wrong way. I've had another look:

1 Jun: SQ25/SQ211 and SQ 325/SQ221 Saver available
2 Jun: SQ25/SQ211 available and SQ 325/SQ221 on Waitlist (but can be confirmed with 231)
3 Jun: SQ25/SQ211, SQ325/SQ221, SQ325/SQ321 Saver available
4 Jun: SQ25/SQ211 available, SQ325/SQ221 on waitlist
5 Jun: SQ25/SQ211 on waitlist, SQ325/SQ211 Saver available
6 Jun: SQ25/SQ211 on waitlist, SQ325/SQ211 on waitlist
7 Jun: SQ25/SQ211 on waitlist, SQ325/SQ211 on waitlist.

I'd be quite optimistic about them opening up awards on 1-4 June, given the above, and if you can be a bit flexible, but it looks like the weekend may be a bit more difficult.

Interesting. I am finding Advantage seats only from 1 June onwards for SIN-SYD.

 

[Matt_01]

@Peasant I would suggest your status may have something with the availability you are seeing as I had another look and for the dates you mention the best I can see is Advantage. I am only SG with SQ and not looking to travel back to SYD was just following out of interest. It is good to know that you see better availability and something to put in the back of my mind. In late 2019 early 2020 I was seriously considering giving up QF P1 in favour of Solitaire, then Covid came along.

 

[epsc]

@Peasant I would suggest your status may have something with the availability you are seeing as I had another look and for the dates you mention the best I can see is Advantage. I am only SG with SQ and not looking to travel back to SYD was just following out of interest. It is good to know that you see better availability and something to put in the back of my mind. In late 2019 early 2020 I was seriously considering giving up QF P1 in favour of Solitaire, then Covid came along.

I’m sure that’s right, Matt, I have no SQ status these days. Thankfully I’ve got QF Lifetime Gold as a backup. I still reckon though that SQ will release seats later.

 

[coolkid101]

@Peasant I would suggest your status may have something with the availability you are seeing as I had another look and for the dates you mention the best I can see is Advantage. I am only SG with SQ and not looking to travel back to SYD was just following out of interest. It is good to know that you see better availability and something to put in the back of my mind. In late 2019 early 2020 I was seriously considering giving up QF P1 in favour of Solitaire, then Covid came along.

Pps solitaire have been very well looked after during these times, pampered almost. We've been solitaire quite a few years and I think sq has recently been particularly focused on keeping the group happy and loyal.
I've been getting gifts, personalised service.. Saver award availability is fantastic for first and business for almost all destinations. Ability to even reserve multiple flights which I suspect is making it harder for a lot of other members to find saver availability. When I told the agent I wasnt sure exactly when I wanted to fly they just reserved seats across a series of dates to hold the seats until 2 weeks before flying! Even opening up saver availability on first/suites which we never had luck with before.

 

[Peasant]

Pps solitaire have been very well looked after during these times, pampered almost. We've been solitaire quite a few years and I think sq has recently been particularly focused on keeping the group happy and loyal.
I've been getting gifts, personalised service.. Saver award availability is fantastic for first and business for almost all destinations. Ability to even reserve multiple flights which I suspect is making it harder for a lot of other members to find saver availability. When I told the agent I wasnt sure exactly when I wanted to fly they just reserved seats across a series of dates to hold the seats until 2 weeks before flying! Even opening up saver availability on first/suites which we never had luck with before.

I agree @coolkid101. For the most part I'm pretty happy with how we've been looked after over the last couple of years. Considering the many uncertainties/complexities, they've generally been good at being flexible and going the extra mile. The only two complaints I have are that the new waitlisting policy has removed a lot of the flexibility for close-in redemptions to clear at short notice and there have been a few instances when PPS Connect hasn't been working, I assume due to the contact centres being completely overwhelmed. That said, I've been flying SQ long enough to have a network of great folks who readily resolve many of these niggles.

Now...I'm going to have to ask about the gifts you've been receiving. Aside from my $380 re-qualification vouchers and a nice new leather pouch that came with my new luggage tags, I haven't been quite so lucky, so I'm keen to know more! I'm also hopeful that the events will start up again at some point in the near future, as the CNY events used to be great fun.

 

[coolkid101]

I agree @coolkid101. For the most part I'm pretty happy with how we've been looked after over the last couple of years. Considering the many uncertainties/complexities, they've generally been good at being flexible and going the extra mile. The only two complaints I have are that the new waitlisting policy has removed a lot of the flexibility for close-in redemptions to clear at short notice and there have been a few instances when PPS Connect hasn't been working, I assume due to the contact centres being completely overwhelmed. That said, I've been flying SQ long enough to have a network of great folks who readily resolve many of these niggles.

Now...I'm going to have to ask about the gifts you've been receiving. Aside from my $380 re-qualification vouchers and a nice new leather pouch that came with my new luggage tags, I haven't been quite so lucky, so I'm keen to know more! I'm also hopeful that the events will start up again at some point in the near future, as the CNY events used to be great fun.

We are quite lucky to have a few members of the family all pps solitaire, with my parents having been there for as long as I can remember. Even luckier that we have a direct line to 1/2 agents without going through connect.

Gifts - I say this with a big smile but an embarrassing humility - are almost like getting comped at a casino.. They try to make you forget how much you actually spent to get the "free" gift. We've had everything from meals and events in Singapore, lounge items when they are closed (Adelaide lounge memorabilia), I believe my parents are getting something from the upcoming business class seat momento sale? Or some kind of event where they are selling memorabilia..
The most fun part is invites for focus group events. Having said all that.. We do fly exclusively internationally with sq only and annual spend well into the mid 6 figures a year.