Likelihood of waitlist being converted to a booking

[moffat39]

Have been planning our 25th wedding anniversary trip to Europe for some time and only now in a position to book using points transferred from Amex/Westpac Altitude. Preference is for J Saver ex Brisbane to Frankfurt.

J Savers are available on the Brisbane to Singapore leg but Singapore to Frankfurt is waitlisted. Can any one advise what the likelihood of the waitlisted booking from Singapore to Frankfurt being converted to a confirmed booking to be and what the time frame would be? Planning on travelling in May 2011.

There are J Saver seats available to Copenhagen or Amsterdam but would suit us better to fly into Frankfurt.

 

[albatross710]

Good to see romance is still alive.

You are booking a good way out, you have options.

Are there any J Savers to FRA either side of your preferred travel dates? There are rumours that the SIN-FRA route may one day get an A380. With 10 months out perhaps SQ are keeping their options open for changing the aircraft.

Consider making the waitlisted J saver booking with your preferred dates and giving the booking 2-3 months to clear. By then there may be more information on aircraft changes and you can review your decision.

As a backup, you could make a confirmed booking to one of the other destinations you mentioned. You'll be guaranteed of travelling somewhere on your anniversary. Then if the FRA waitlist clears sometime between now and April 2012, you can cancel the confirmed booking, get the miles back and put them towards the FRA seats. There would be a cancellation charge of ~10,000 miles on this strategy.

I've noticed FRA J savers are more scarce Friday-Saturday. That is just based on the research I've been doing for some particular travel dates.

Also, internal Europe flights are cheap. Train travel is also romantic. If you don't get FRA, you might have fun getting there anyway.

Cheers


Alby

 

[cove]

Very good research Alby I had not seen what you just posted. We are getting ready to book for the Olympics so if I cannot make it to LHR we will fly from Europe to London City seeing it is a light rail ride to our accommodation.

 

[penegal]

The likely hood is that SIN-FRA-JFK will be A380 by then (or at least 77W). I was looking at some dates in April/May2012 and J/F Savers seemed to have been heavily thinned out for post-Feb2012 in recent weeks.


Edit: By the way I assume you mean May 2012, as May 2011 has already happened

 

[moffat39]

Thanks for the tips. I booked BNE to AMS last night departing 6 May 2012. Had no problems usuing the new web site. Cost for taxes and surcharges for the two of us was $769.

Was thinking of TG if no seats available on SQ but points required was 118,000 each compared to 63,750 on SQ (after on line discount) Will follow Alby's suggestion and look at seats to Frankfurt from time to time. Happy to pay the 10,000 point cost if seats come up to Frankfurt

One final question. My wife is allergic to seafood. I had a look at booking meal options on line and seafood came up but it is unclear if you are selecting that you do or do not want seafood. Any comments?

 

[bobsleigh]

Just some additional info on SQ redemption booking waitlists.
Had wife plus 2 offspring waitlisted for 5 months earlier this year on SYD->LHR.
Class was discount economy.
The whole trip fell through and got cancelled 4 weeks before they were due to fly. Ruins ones plans.

Have learnt my lesson:
1) Book as far in advance as possible (up to 320 days I think with SQ).
2) Get confirmed bookings in the bag from the outset, even if it means searching for available flights/dates outside of exact requirement.

 

[moffat39]

Given the comments in the last post I am glad I have confirmed bookings BNE to AMS though will follow Alby's suggestion and keep checking on the Frankfurt and cancel and rebook if necessary.

Have not booked the return flight yet and will do so in a few weeks. Will be coming back early June from CPH and seats available in J at the moment.

Thanks for all the tips.

 

[Alanslegal]

Just some additional info on SQ redemption booking waitlists.
Had wife plus 2 offspring waitlisted for 5 months earlier this year on SYD->LHR.
Class was discount economy.
The whole trip fell through and got cancelled 4 weeks before they were due to fly. Ruins ones plans.

Have learnt my lesson:
1) Book as far in advance as possible (up to 320 days I think with SQ).
2) Get confirmed bookings in the bag from the outset, even if it means searching for available flights/dates outside of exact requirement.

Welcome to AFF and sorry to hear that the whole trip fell through. Your two points are very good and one should definitely try to secure confirmed reservation as soon as possible. Yes getting to London can be quite tough but there's a whole set of other relatively close ports in Europe that one could head to ... and then make their own way into London. AMS,CDG,FRA,FCO are just some examples, even as far away as ATH may be an option.

 

[cove]

Did you split into 2 lots of two? Then look at destination choices of MAN and others as suggested then click on what is available. If you were wait listed for 4 on one flight you reduce your chances exponentially........to virtually zero.

 

[albatross710]

Did you split into 2 lots of two? Then look at destination choices of MAN and others as suggested then click on what is available. If you were wait listed for 4 on one flight you reduce your chances exponentially........to virtually zero.

That is a good point. I am looking at some redemption flights at Christmas to Siem Rep. I have the family waitlisted on 4 different bookings of 1 pax per booking.. I have locked away BNE-SIN-BNE flights on separate and paid bookings. Basically I have reduced the complexity of the required flights to single legs to improve my chances. I've backed it up with my 'waitlist' flight strategy to/from Vietnam in case my Siem Rep flights don't come through we'll still be within striking distance.

Interestingly I currently have 11 separate bookings in the system requiring 4 times as many miles as I have by using the waitlist strategy to hold confirmed seats pending the Siem Rep flights. Depending upon the order in which any waitlists clear will determine our itinerary.

So, my options are: Best case, holiday including air travel to Angkor Wat, Holiday in VN with side trip to Angkor Wat, Holiday in Singapore with sidetrips from there.

Now, can the AUD hang in there a little longer.

Alby

 

[cove]

Gee Alby maybe you need a bigger business so you can make more FF points........of course I am joking!
I do think of all those folks going to the Post Office paying their taxes.....if on we could harvest some of those wasted points opportunities we would never be home waiting for that next trip!