KrisFlyer redemption mystery; LHR-ADL

[Caversham04]

I've just tried to book one-way redemption flights from LHR to ADL for January 2015. I checked the paid fares, and there was space available on our preferred pairing of the 22:05-ish departure for LHR-SIN / 23:50-ish departure for SIN-ADL. However, when I changed to a redemption flight, the 22:05-ish departure from LHR wasn't even listed, and there was little (if any) availability at the cheapest (Saver) redemption rates for the other departure times; most were wait-list only, but with availability at the higher redemption rates. Fair enough, I thought - I've left it too late........

Just to check (because I knew the flight wasn't full as seats are available for paying passengers), I then tried to book LHR-SIN and SIN-ADL separately, and both of these legs WERE available at the Saver fare when booked individually confused, although the mileage cost was slightly higher (a combined cost of about 50k miles when booked separately versus around 40k miles when booked as a single connecting LHR-ADL flight). I was willing to fork out the extra miles as the 22:10-ish LHR-SIN flight works best for me (by a long way) for minimising the jetlag, but I'm not sure why the flights were available separately at Saver rates, if you can't book the combined flights......? Have I been cunning to get those flights at Saver rates at all (albeit at slightly higher mileage cost than for a combined ticket), or have I missed a trick and should I contact SQ and see if I can get the redemption flight at the lower combined mileage-rate?

 

[markis10]

SQ seem to like playing games with their award inventory.

 

[ermen]

Probably married segment issues.

My tips to get around it (may or may not work... Ymmv)


1/ Call them and try to book into the flights you want... If they show availability, then try and bargin for the 15% discount as the website is unable to get the flight you want

2/ If 1 is not succesful, book a dummy LHR xSIN ADL online, then call up Krisflyer to move the flight(s) to what you want. Changed are free and you get the 15% pts discount

3/ if 2 doesnt work, book LHR to ADL but request a stopover in Singapore. The segments will then be viewed individually and you will get on if there is availability. Downside is you lose the 15% points discount AND have to pay an extra US$150 stopover fee from memory. This is almost guaranteed to work but costs the most

YMMV

 

[Caversham04]

Probably married segment issues.

My tips to get around it (may or may not work... Ymmv)


1/ Call them and try to book into the flights you want... If they show availability, then try and bargin for the 15% discount as the website is unable to get the flight you want

2/ If 1 is not succesful, book a dummy LHR xSIN ADL online, then call up Krisflyer to move the flight(s) to what you want. Changed are free and you get the 15% pts discount

3/ if 2 doesnt work, book LHR to ADL but request a stopover in Singapore. The segments will then be viewed individually and you will get on if there is availability. Downside is you lose the 15% points discount AND have to pay an extra US$150 stopover fee from memory. This is almost guaranteed to work but costs the most

YMMV

Thanks; worth a go for options 1 and 2; option 3 sadly won't work because of the dates when I have to leave the UK and be back at work. Otherwise a few Singapore Slings at Raffles would be just what the doctor ordered......

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Option 1/ has worked for me to Europe in the past.

Being friendly and polite seems to do wonders for me when I ring the Sydney number for both SQ and *a Awards.

 

[mitwg]

Another trick.

Try the SQ mobile app - it sometimes displays reward tickets with different connection options than the website.

You didn't hear this from me

 

[Caversham04]

Thanks to all for the suggestions.

No luck with the SQ Mobile app, unfortunately, and I decided to grab the flights online at the higher mileage as I didn't have time to give them a call. It also means that I've locked in the exit row seats for both legs - there weren't many exit row seats left (unless you like the middle seat ). I didn't want to risk the delay of several days that I usually see between booking / changing flights via the Call Centre and the website reflecting the changes and allowing me to book seats. I'll still give the Call Centre a ring to see if they'll honour the lower mileage that would have been charged for a combined flight....... Will confirm success (or not) once I have time to give the a ring.

 

[cfellows]

I have noticed recently that the redemption bookings are a bit sparse also. Such as if I check the paid fares there are about 6 options of timing, same search with a redemption fare and only given two timings.

What is the deal?

 

[lovetravellingoz]

I have noticed recently that the redemption bookings are a bit sparse also. Such as if I check the paid fares there are about 6 options of timing, same search with a redemption fare and only given two timings.

What is the deal?

On many routes it has been the deal since I have been redeeming over the last 5 years, that one does not always get the same choice as "paid" tickets.

 

[Caversham04]

I have noticed recently that the redemption bookings are a bit sparse also. Such as if I check the paid fares there are about 6 options of timing, same search with a redemption fare and only given two timings.

What is the deal?

I wish I knew; it's the first time that I've had any major issues with availability of Miles flights at the lowest (Saver) rates as I normally book 11-12 months ahead, and I certainly don't recall particular departure-times from LHR not even being listed as an option (at any Redemption level). As a work-around, I mentioned that the flights I wanted were available at Saver rates as individual segments (LHR-SIN and SIN-ADL) but not as a single LHR-xSIN-ADL ticket, so I've paid around 10,000 miles more to get the flights I want. Will post again once I've spoken to KrisFlyer Customer Services and tried to get them to honour the lower (40,000-ish mile) cost for the through ticket.

 

[thehound]

Probably married segment issues.

My tips to get around it (may or may not work... Ymmv)


1/ Call them and try to book into the flights you want... If they show availability, then try and bargin for the 15% discount as the website is unable to get the flight you want

2/ If 1 is not succesful, book a dummy LHR xSIN ADL online, then call up Krisflyer to move the flight(s) to what you want. Changed are free and you get the 15% pts discount

3/ if 2 doesnt work, book LHR to ADL but request a stopover in Singapore. The segments will then be viewed individually and you will get on if there is availability. Downside is you lose the 15% points discount AND have to pay an extra US$150 stopover fee from memory. This is almost guaranteed to work but costs the most

YMMV

Has anyone had any success with booking via phone 2 or more segments that show individual availability but not as a complete itinerary, whilst still getting the 15% discount?

 

[Caversham04]

Has anyone had any success with booking via phone 2 or more segments that show individual availability but not as a complete itinerary, whilst still getting the 15% discount?

OK - I have just called the KrisFlyer Customer Service number to ask about the issues with my flight. To re-cap, I tried to book LHR-xSIN-ADL online as a single flight booking but the 22:05 departure that I wanted wasn't even listed, so I resorted to booking the LHR-SIN and SIN-ADL flights separately (at a higher cost in miles) as these WERE available as individual flights.

The CSR advised that the Redemption Seats that are available for a single booking LHR-xSIN-ADL come from a different allocation to the Redemption Seats that are available for LHR-SIN and SIN-ADL as separate bookings (don't ask me why.....). The CSR confirmed that his system shows no availability for LHR-xSIN-ADL departing at 22:05 on the day I want (the same result as when I tried to book it online), which is why I couldn't book that flight for ~40,000 miles.

The system apparently DOES still show availability for separate LHR-SIN and SIN-ADL bookings, at a combined cost of ~50,000 miles, as per the reservations that I have made.

On that basis, it seems to be an unfathomable piece of logic relating to the way that SQ make Reward Seats available, rather than an error in the online booking tool itself.

I asked whether they would honour the 40,000 mile cost for the combined flight rather than the 50,000 mile cost I paid as 2 separate flights, but the CSR said there was nothing he could do apart from cancelling my existing separate bookings (and forfeiting the Preferred Seat fees) and then re-booking as a combined LHR-xSIN-ADL flight, which we'd already established as not being available for the dates I wanted.

Ermin's Option 2 (book for a different date as LHR-xSIN-ADL at 40,000 miles and then ring up to switch the dates) might have worked if I hadn't already booked the flights separately, but sadly the info. above from the CSR makes Option 1 a non-starter.

 

[ermen]

There was another way but not sure if would be any cheaper (i.e. option #3)
you will need to pay like US$150 more as "stopover fee" even though your stop in singapore is a transit and pay full points as well.

 

[Jeffrey O'Neill]

The tip to try the SQ mobile app helped me out. Weird why they display different availability.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Another trick.

Try the SQ mobile app - it sometimes displays reward tickets with different connection options than the website.

You didn't hear this from me

Will have to remember this. But so far I have been pretty fortunate in virtually always getting what I want....but I do book early in the main.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

The SQ mobile app has been updated recently and many of the 'different' redpt options no longer appear - the fix has unfixed it.

As for flt combos not appearing as 'Available' when individual sectors do show 'Available' then this is nothing new - I have had to deal with this when trying to secure PEK-SIN-MEL / PVG-SIN-MEL over the years - even Crystal tells me there is nothing she can do once rdpt allocation is exhausted. KF call ctr staff do not even know the precise formulas used to allocate rdpt space so if the occasionally sound a bit vague in that area pls do not be too hard on them - basically they can hook you up with availability they see on the screens in front of them and that is it.

Now having said all that rdpt booking space does sometimes change - closer to dep you can sometimes see availability that was not their previously.