SQ charging for priority Y seats

[dajop]

I noticed this the other day doing a seat allocation for redemption booking using Krisflyer miles, that SQ is now charging $50USD/sector for allocation of "priority" (exit row/bulkhead) seats in the economy cabin.

For those not in flyertalk full discussion is here.

For me very disappointing as (a PPS) I've always managed to have exit row seats allocated travelling in whY (like I have on QF). Seems that SQ is heading down the LCC path pretty quickly, and coupled with the jacking up of taxes/surcharges I'm rapidly changing from an SQ supporter to someone not as interested in flying SQ.

 

[Evan]

SQ is more or less our standard carrier for work given i fly Ex SIN so much, but $50 is rich for a lot of sectors !
E

 

[JohnK]

Another cash grab. Just like taking cream off the top. How long before this spreads to other notable full service carriers?

 

[Arthur Hodgson]

I flew SQ C class SIN-SYD last week.

It was the 00:30 departure so a breakfast is pretty much all you would expect (or want for that matter).

Anyways, the only thing that looked at all half reasonable was the "American breakfast", but when I enquired I was told it was "off", as only 3 had been boarded.

I had to have some toasted sandwich type concoction which any McDonalds would have put to shame. Pretty disgusting, really.

 

[Evan]

Recently SQ have has some terrible food, to SIN-PVG and SIN-SGN i have had meals that i did not want to eat ! and i am hardly fussy, but fatty under cooked chicken was the best option.. no thanks !
But both those were in whY so what can you expect. I just wanted to sleep anyway.
E

 

[Keith009]

I flew SQ C class SIN-SYD last week.

It was the 00:30 departure so a breakfast is pretty much all you would expect (or want for that matter).

Anyways, the only thing that looked at all half reasonable was the "American breakfast", but when I enquired I was told it was "off", as only 3 had been boarded.

I had to have some toasted sandwich type concoction which any McDonalds would have put to shame. Pretty disgusting, really.

Yeah not a big fan of the sleeper services where you only get supper after take off OR brekky before landing. Feels a bit cheap. BA has something similar but at least they provide food in the lounge for sleeper pax. Then again I love plane food so I'd always avoid such services.

 

[oz_mark]

Another cash grab. Just like taking cream off the top. How long before this spreads to other notable full service carriers?

If QF are really going to head down the path of pre-selecting dom seats as has been rumoured, I would reckon about the same time they introduce that

 

[JohnK]

A friend travelled to Thailand with me recently and he is 6'4". I booked his flights back in July through Travel website and the routing was SYD-SIN-BKK-SIN-BKK, obviously, with SQ.

I know he gets very uncomfortable in normal WHY seating so a few weeks before we left I recommended he call SQ and get them to put a note in his itinerary that he would prefer exit row seating. He got his assistant to call SQ and low and behold they pre-allocated exit row seats for both outbound flights. Fantastic news and when I met him in Thailand on the first night he was very relaxed and happy with the flights.

Having dinner on the last night before we left Thailand I asked him if he had exit rows pre-allocated for the inbound flights. No he did not. I had not seen him again until yesterday and asked how his flights were back from Thailand. Arrived at BKK airport early and enquired about exit row seating. No problem and he was given a boarding pass for exit row seat on the BKK-SIN sector. He got to SIN and then asked about exit row seating for the SIN-SYD sector and the person was reluctant to do anything. My friend finally managed to convince the customer service agent to allocate an exit row seat for him, due to his height and discomfort, and low and behold another exit row boarding pass for the SIN-SYD sector.

At no stage did SQ ask for any payment for pre-allocating or even allocating exit row seats. Now all of this has happened with no status on SQ, not even enrolled in KrisFlyer, and flights have hopefully credited to BMI, which I will need to check later. It does not hurt to ask. YMMV!