Saver Awards to/from Oz appear to have dried up!

[Cruiser Elite]

coolkid has also forgotten to add that ‘Reserved’ seats require no pts until actually confirmed and ticketed - Ticketing Time Limit (TTL) can also be pushed right back to virtually flt date - good luck to him and all those who have earned status - I am still and always have been way down in pecking order as basically SQ R/F/J Savers were always pretty easy to acquire when 380s had 12 Suites and 777s had 8 F - the game has now changed with halving of that stock and of course Covid decimating basically all airlines capital base

I have no problem with any decision SQ make re rdpt stock - they still are and prolly always will be best premium airline operators going around - we will need to change or at least modify our MOs to game the system going forward - sky is not falling in - if we all thought status quo would be maintained post Covid then we were all in La-La-land

I fully expected a 12month period post Covid where I would be basically buying comm tix rather than having the feast of R/F/J rdpts we enjoyed for 12 or so years pre Covid - but as always IMHO and YMMV

 

[Duffa]

Funny, it was only last month that I was fretting about blowing nearly all of my "Covid-amassed" points; listed below for your perusal.

Nov 2021 Mrs D, MEL-LHR
Dec 2021 Mrs D + Granny D LHR-MEL
Jan 2022 mika_duffer + 1 CDG-MEL
Feb 2022 Mrs D + I CDG-MEL
May 2022 Mrs D + I GVA-IST (codeshare TK)
May 2022 Mrs D + I IST- MEL
Jun 2022 Risotto + 1 MEL-MUC
Jul 2022 Risottos + 1 MUC-MEL

All in J


I think that availability will improve in a few months when the PPS thing blows over but I don't have many points left !!!

 

[mel-world]

Looking at the last 20 or so posts above, at least, from July, about 10% more points will be required to hold all those bookings so they might be exhausted just a little bit quicker!

 

[Mr H]

Looking at the last 20 or so posts above, at least, from July, about 10% more points will be required to hold all those bookings so they might be exhausted just a little bit quicker!

There are no points involved in holding the bookings. They are marked as reserved and would have a ticketing deadline shortly before departure. Most of those flights will depart with nobody in premium cabin award seats.

 

[mel-world]

There are no points involved in holding the bookings. They are marked as reserved and would have a ticketing deadline shortly before departure. Most of those flights will depart with nobody in premium cabin award seats.

I know we are OT but that is disappointing given the number of people anxious to get just two premium seats on SQ with points expiring after Covid despite extensions. They must really be valuable customers for SQ to forego either real revenue from sales or 'revenue' gained by others using up their points - that must sit somewhere within SQ as a potential liability, unless they just lapse unused after 3 years.

 

[Mr H]

I know we are OT but that is disappointing given the number of people anxious to get just two premium seats on SQ with points expiring after Covid despite extensions. They must really be valuable customers for SQ to forego either real revenue from sales or 'revenue' gained by others using up their points - that must sit somewhere within SQ as a potential liability, unless they just lapse unused after 3 years.

If the award seats go out empty then SQ will just persuade themselves that there is not much demand for them.

 

[coolkid101]

SQ, unlike qantas and virgin, don't care about empty premium seats. They prefer to maintain the "exclusivity" of their premium cabins. Similar to cathay. So unlike qf and American carriers granting upgrade requests to fill premium cabins and getting the extra revenue from those, sq won't do that. They'll keep the seats for revenue pax and if not, leave them empty rather than convert to award inventory. They've operated like this since the start.

And yes, reserved tickets cost nothing to be held. It would have made no difference to me personally anyway, i have enough points to pay for everything up front if I needed to, with free cancellations and no expiry for my miles it doesn't matter if they sit as ticketed reservations or reserved.

And yes, pps is valuable to sq, very much so. Similar to Marco polo is for cathay. Revenue based. Pre covid we would be spending 6 figures a year on premium cabin paid tickets, so of course Sq would value pps more than someone who just has a stash of miles they are trying to redeem, but that's the same with every program! P1s I'm sure enjoy similar benefits

I also like to think that sq has always been more generous with releasing award availability than qantas.

Maybe I shouldn't have broken cover on this. I think it's stirred up people who have to burn points before expiry who have gotten used to seeing good availability with sq.

 

[drron]

I think you will find that particularly with the F cabin the seats are not going out empty just filled with revenue pax rather than reward pax.

 

[coyote25]

Definitely people have grabbed seats or reserved them as an elite member. I’m been watching IST-SIN and there was Saver Award for J in the 1-2 weeks at the end of the booking window every day.

I was looking to book the day that my booking date opened in 9 days. However as soon as the redemption increase was announced 90% of the saver J awards are either entirely gone or now waitlist request.

Obviously the announcement has pushed people to book or reserve. I’m just hoping that this settles a little when the date I really want opens in 9 days (flexible a few days either side).

Have loved KrisFlyer program as usually J and F awards open on most routes when the flight first opens for bookings. Hopefully that comes back after the point increase even if only for 1 or 2 premium seats per flight.

 

[Duffa]

Pre covid we would be spending 6 figures a year on premium cabin paid tickets

Hahahaha what?? That's a minimum of $100,000
$100 $200 $300 $400 $500 and $600..... There's six figures that I have spent on revenue flights!
Wish I had your disposable !!!

 

[Duffa]

Am I missing something???

 

[Mr H]

Am I missing something???

I don't think you are missing anything - you have just found one of the sweet spots in the redemption chart.

 

[Matt_01]

I think we should be directing our anger and irritation at Sq (not the poster who I gather is SQ Solitaire PPS) for allowing this block booking / holding of Saver J /F awards....the only thing the poster did wrong imho is to boast about it on this forum....having been on this forum for nearly 20 years, it is amazing how posters like to come on these forums to boast.....just about everyone does it!

Why should we direct 'our anger and irritation at Sq', QF changed their rules back in middle 2019 and most seemed to be in uproar. A year or so earlier (maybe more) SQ had reduced fuel fines, increased reward availability and the VA/SQ points transfer and or redemption's were in full swing. Move forward to 2022, SQ increase the points requirements and everyone seems to be crying fowl. Those who at the highest status levels be it SQ, QF, BA, AA etc are most likely not likely to divulge the secrets we can get away with. One of my best mates is SQ solitaire and over the years we have debated the pros and cons of Solitaire vs P1 and have yet to agree as our travel habits are different.

 

[Mr H]

Why should we direct 'our anger and irritation at Sq', QF changed their rules back in middle 2019 and most seemed to be in uproar. A year or so earlier (maybe more) SQ had reduced fuel fines, increased reward availability and the VA/SQ points transfer and or redemption's were in full swing. Move forward to 2022, SQ increase the points requirements and everyone seems to be crying fowl. Those who at the highest status levels be it SQ, QF, BA, AA etc are most likely not likely to divulge the secrets we can get away with. One of my best mates is SQ solitaire and over the years we have debated the pros and cons of Solitaire vs P1 and have yet to agree as our travel habits are different.

You have been trying to make a point for a couple of days now, but I'm blowed if I can tell what it is.

Nobody is crying fowl (or even crying chicken) at the increase in points requirements. They are crying foul because they see people hoarding scarce resources that they have no intention of using - to the exclusion of other people. It reminds me of the toilet paper hoarders. Just because someone can do it does not mean they ought to do it.

 

[cagiva]

Hi all. Got a ticketed J redemption to MXP in August. Am waitlisted on a return in September, with a few waitlist backups from other airports. What do you think the chances are of a return being confirmed after the 5th July? Kinda sucks but would be happy to pay the extra miles at this point.
Also looked at waitlisting departure from BCN. If this did come through and I did not fly the BCN-MXP leg would I be able to board in MXP as the flight transits there?
Thanks for any help.

 

[JessicaTam]

Hi all. Got a ticketed J redemption to MXP in August. Am waitlisted on a return in September, with a few waitlist backups from other airports. What do you think the chances are of a return being confirmed after the 5th July? Kinda sucks but would be happy to pay the extra miles at this point.
Also looked at waitlisting departure from BCN. If this did come through and I did not fly the BCN-MXP leg would I be able to board in MXP as the flight transits there?
Thanks for any help.

No. As soon as you skip a flight the rest of the itinerary is gone.

 

[jkoh]

Still no signs of J saver back into the pool for MEL departure, will keep checking between now and deadline in hope something pops up.

I've redeemed an Economy Saver for my dad in Oct- the departure flight is on waitlist but have a confirmed for return flight... anyone with economy waitlist knows if this is risky to wait out or just pay for the flight?

 

[odysseus]

It's certainly a significant risk. You'll get notified two weeks out so if you're comfortable with a contingency e.g. buying Scoot 1 way MEL-SIN which is currently $550 two weeks out, as a backup plan then it may be worthwhile. Also, the waitlist isn't fully reliable (ie sometimes availability comes up without notification despite being on the waitlist) so it's worthwhile to keep an occasional eye on it.

 

[cagiva]

Bugger!! It would have been a saver fare too! Thanks for your reply.

No. As soon as you skip a flight the rest of the itinerary is gone.

 

[jkoh]

It's certainly a significant risk. You'll get notified two weeks out so if you're comfortable with a contingency e.g. buying Scoot 1 way MEL-SIN which is currently $550 two weeks out, as a backup plan then it may be worthwhile. Also, the waitlist isn't fully reliable (ie sometimes availability comes up without notification despite being on the waitlist) so it's worthwhile to keep an occasional eye on it.

Not sure if I got lucky but received e-mail today that my waitlist can be confirmed so thankfully haven't made a separate standard booking (for peace of mind so was going to just book and pay instead of waiting for redemption).

Maybe economy seats are much easier to secure?