Redeeming Velocity Points for Singapore Airlines flight

[Rayesfeg]

Looking to redeem some of my Velocity points to make a reward seat business class booking on Singapore Airlines. The route would be Sydney - Singapore - London.
There are some rewards seats available around the date range I am looking which is always a hurdle in itself. Where it gets complicated is that there are no flights with business class availability within the same day to complete this journey, so this means I will need to take a Sydney to Singapore flight on one day, and the Singapore to London flight the following day if I want to complete the entire journey in Business class.

The problem is that the Virgin Australia booking website is not showing this as an eligible booking option. It is showing me many other Singapore Airlines flights within the same day in Economy and some in Premium Economy but no full journey in Business class.
It is looking like I will need to make these reward seat bookings separately if I wish to take the entire journey in Business Class. I am happy to do this, but where I am getting a bit of anxiety is if a situation occurred where my first flight might be delayed/cancelled and I don't make it to my second flight, I would forfeit the onward flight to London as the itineraries are separate. I really do not want to be in this situation.

What I am wanting to do is to have the Virgin Australia booking engine provide me with the option to select these flights together in one itinerary so that the airline will 'look after me' in case of any delays/cancellations. Has anyone achieved this before? A multi-city booking is only available for domestic flights so that is not a solution.

Appreciate any insight that might be out there on how I can achieve this.

 

[Gold Member]

This is a known problem with the Velocity online booking engine for transits over a certain number of hours (but still under 24 hours).

I think I read a comment recently from someone pursuing this same problem. TLDR; HUACA many times and eventually got the connection ticketed by a Supervisor. Patience was a virtue.

 

[drron]

Open a KF account if you don't have one and search that to see what SQ makes available with a longer transit. Mine though was simple flying back from BKK on award flights. We wanted to have the morning flight on SQ SIN - BNE. But to do that you need to fly the day before BKK - SIN.
SQ did offer that combination so I rang VA. Took a bit of convincing but finally got it.

 

[MELso]

I had a similar issue late last year booking on QR where the CPH-DOH and DOH-MEL legs were on different days with a 10 hour layover.

Solution was to call up the Velocity phone number and, with flight numbers, destinations and dates in hand (write them down!), ask them to book you a ticket with the both flights on it. It'll then price correctly (assuming same airline/class/<24 hour layover).

 

[WilsonM]

Open a KF account if you don't have one and search that to see what SQ makes available with a longer transit. Mine though was simple flying back from BKK on award flights. We wanted to have the morning flight on SQ SIN - BNE. But to do that you need to fly the day before BKK - SIN.
SQ did offer that combination so I rang VA. Took a bit of convincing but finally got it.

This can work, but know that it could be a bit misleading as SQ shows flights that are available to KF members, but not VA - if you can see both segments on VA, it should be (in theory) possible.

Looking to redeem some of my Velocity points to make a reward seat business class booking on Singapore Airlines. The route would be Sydney - Singapore - London.
There are some rewards seats available around the date range I am looking which is always a hurdle in itself. Where it gets complicated is that there are no flights with business class availability within the same day to complete this journey, so this means I will need to take a Sydney to Singapore flight on one day, and the Singapore to London flight the following day if I want to complete the entire journey in Business class.

The problem is that the Virgin Australia booking website is not showing this as an eligible booking option. It is showing me many other Singapore Airlines flights within the same day in Economy and some in Premium Economy but no full journey in Business class.
It is looking like I will need to make these reward seat bookings separately if I wish to take the entire journey in Business Class. I am happy to do this, but where I am getting a bit of anxiety is if a situation occurred where my first flight might be delayed/cancelled and I don't make it to my second flight, I would forfeit the onward flight to London as the itineraries are separate. I really do not want to be in this situation.

What I am wanting to do is to have the Virgin Australia booking engine provide me with the option to select these flights together in one itinerary so that the airline will 'look after me' in case of any delays/cancellations. Has anyone achieved this before? A multi-city booking is only available for domestic flights so that is not a solution.

Appreciate any insight that might be out there on how I can achieve this.

I'm assuming the SYD-SIN and SIN-LHR connection time is within 24 hours - if this is the case, you should try the VA call centre as others have suggested. But if the flights have a connection time longer than 24 hours they won't put the flights on the same ticket, AFAIK.

 

[Rayesfeg]

Thanks very much for the suggestions all.
I really didn't want to have to do this, but it looks like I will have to call the VA call centre and hope that whoever answers knows how to process this.

I am assuming that it would not be possible for VA or Singapore to 'combine' the two flights on a single itinerary if I book them separately myself? (both flights within the same 24 hour window).

 

[FlyingFiona]

If you are stopping overnight in Singapore and your originating flight is delayed so much that you will miss your connection wouldn't you know in enough time to cancel your onward flight? You could also choose a connection with a second night in SIN as a buffer?

 

[drron]

This can work, but know that it could be a bit misleading as SQ shows flights that are available to KF members, but not VA - if you can see both segments on VA, it should be (in theory) possible.


I'm assuming the SYD-SIN and SIN-LHR connection time is within 24 hours - if this is the case, you should try the VA call centre as others have suggested. But if the flights have a connection time longer than 24 hours they won't put the flights on the same ticket, AFAIK.

I should have mentioned that I knew both flights had VA flight numbers a I had checked that by seeing what was available if a cash ticket.

 

[Rayesfeg]

wouldn't you know in enough time to cancel your onward flight? You could also choose a connection with a second night in SIN as a buffer

Cancelling the onward flight and then having to pay a full fare at last minute prices undoes the whole point of a points redemption. Not a bad point about a second night in SIN but it does add additional cost and time to the journey (I only have limited amount of annual leave otherwise I would consider this).

I should have mentioned that I knew both flights had VA flight numbers a I had checked that by seeing what was available if a cash ticket.

Oh that is a good point! I'll check to make sure they both meet these criteria before calling. Thanks for the comment.

 

[Rayesfeg]

Update on this one:

After 5 attempts to the VA contact centre to book the flights under one ticket, it is apparently not possible.
The first customer service rep couldn't locate the flights (I quoted both the VA and the SG numbers of the exact flights I needed). The second and third said that there was no business availability on the flights I want (I waited overnight to refresh availability and there was still seats available) and the fourth and fifth all told me reasoning around "Singapore Airlines does not allow some flights to be made in a single booking".

Quite a frustrating process given the exact flights can be made under a single ticket if booked using cash, but apparently not using points.. Not too sure if this is the truth or if it was in the 'too hard' basket for the staff member to do.
The contact centre staff did offer alternative booking in Economy and/or Premium Economy which is not what I was after.
Overall a poor outcome on what should have been a simple request...

 

[MELso]

Update on this one:

After 5 attempts to the VA contact centre to book the flights under one ticket, it is apparently not possible.
The first customer service rep couldn't locate the flights (I quoted both the VA and the SG numbers of the exact flights I needed). The second and third said that there was no business availability on the flights I want (I waited overnight to refresh availability and there was still seats available) and the fourth and fifth all told me reasoning around "Singapore Airlines does not allow some flights to be made in a single booking".

Quite a frustrating process given the exact flights can be made under a single ticket if booked using cash, but apparently not using points.. Not too sure if this is the truth or if it was in the 'too hard' basket for the staff member to do.
The contact centre staff did offer alternative booking in Economy and/or Premium Economy which is not what I was after.
Overall a poor outcome on what should have been a simple request...

Can they be made booking through Krisflyer as a Saver award? If not, then it's probably not available.

 

[Rayesfeg]

Can they be made booking through Krisflyer as a Saver award? If not, then it's probably not available.

Yes, I should have pointed out that these flights are available as a reward through KrisFlyer. It has full availability and not a waitlist.

 

[MELso]

Yes, I should have pointed out that these flights are available as a reward through KrisFlyer. It has full availability and not a waitlist.

As a Saver or Advantage?

(Having said that, SQ is holding back J awards from partners - e.g. I don't think there are any J awards to North America on VA. Perhaps they also hold back LHR? Are flights to LGW or MAN bookable?)

 

[Rayesfeg]

Both Saver and Advantage were available when logged in to Krisflyer and doing a search.

I have noticed similar to North America when searching SQ via Velocity - though there is usually some availability via United - albeit last minute bookings as rewards seats to Velocity don't seem to open up until 1 or 2 months ahead of time.