SQ Tips, Trips and Tales

[SOPOOR]

I really wouldn't worry about taxes. You'll pay several hundred dollars surcharge to leave the UK in a premium cabin (anything but economy). But otherwise taxes from other ports in Europe will be in the region of a hundred or so dollars. Not worth losing a seat over. (No additional taxes flying in to the UK, only out).

Booking at short notice all depends on the route. You can often find seats with creative routes (for example MEL/SYD to Bali on Qantas followed by Emirates out of Bali to anywhere in Europe). Or you can look at second tier carriers (Air India for star alliance for example). And single seats always easier than two or more. Using the multi city tool can find departures AU-Asia followed by connections from Asia to Europe, these connections may not show up on a single point-to-point search.

Failing all of those, and any last-minute release of seats (like Cathay or Lufthansa, or even emirates), you either change dates or buy a ticket.

I think your return dates may also run into school holidays making availability harder?

(Appreciate this is an SQ thread, but I think the OP mentioned availability of points on other programs and carriers)

oh yeah sorry, I got my lingo wrong, I just lump taxes and surcharges into the same categeory, to me whether I pay surhcarges or taxes doesnt matter, its all about the final dollar value

 

[MEL_Traveller]

oh yeah sorry, I got my lingo wrong, I just lump taxes and surcharges into the same categeory, to me whether I pay surhcarges or taxes doesnt matter, its all about the final dollar value

The difference is that taxes are taxes. They are what they are. The most notable thing for Europe is the tax ex UK (very high). Surcharges on the other hand can make or break an award. If an airline charges a $600 fuel surcharge, but another doesn't, it's something to consider.

As SQ doesn't charge fuel surcharges, you should just go ahead and make a booking rather than trying to figure out the total taxes, fees and surcharges. The taxes will be what you have to pay for the itinerary, no extras.

 

[Clive005]

Hi all, Im about to book a flight for my wife, 12 year old son and myself in J from Adelaide to Europe around early sept 2019, most of the time based around Germany, looks like most availability and well timed flights is from Ade to Frankfurt? any advice on any other locations that should have plenty availability as not to fussed were we land as we are looking at it as a bit of a adventure and will train it to our destinations?
also any advice on booking it through SQ or Velocity ?
we traved to Singapore in J last year and now are hooked

Any advice welcome

Clive

 

[LadyC]

I never book SQ through Velocity but that is just because of where I funnel my points. Two other options are to fly into either Munich or Dusseldorf. I have found that Frankfurt J availability is harder to come by than either of those two cities.

 

[SOPOOR]

The difference is that taxes are taxes. They are what they are. The most notable thing for Europe is the tax ex UK (very high). Surcharges on the other hand can make or break an award. If an airline charges a $600 fuel surcharge, but another doesn't, it's something to consider.

As SQ doesn't charge fuel surcharges, you should just go ahead and make a booking rather than trying to figure out the total taxes, fees and surcharges. The taxes will be what you have to pay for the itinerary, no extras.

yes I have learnt that any flight leaving the UK the taxes are very high, and thats unavoiadble unless you leave from a differnet country,
so what you are saying is that the tax to leave uk, is about $300 AUD, will be applied to every rewards programs redemption and at the same amount?

being a typical consumer, in the past ive never considered the breakdown, I just get a quote for points, and how much I have to pay in cash/credit, and then compare options

but I assumed that all airline charge a fuel surcharge and theyre roughly in the same league, eg it will never be $0 vs $600

edit: so what you are saying is that SQ doesnt have fuel charges and any extras you have to pay are taxes only, so its the best deal Im going to get of any airline program , and the only factor is poitns required???

 

[MEL_Traveller]

but I assumed that all airline charge a fuel surcharge and theyre roughly in the same league, eg it will never be $0 vs $600

edit: so what you are saying is that SQ doesnt have fuel charges and any extras you have to pay are taxes only, so its the best deal Im going to get of any airline program , and the only factor is poitns required???

Yup. It's absolutely the case that one airline might charge $0 and another $600 on top of the actual tax (levied by the government, which is fixed for every airline, and any airport charges for security and the like, which is fixed for every airline).

A recent trans-atlantic flight I took was simply government taxes flying AA, but the same flight on BA was an extra USD450 in BA's fuel surcharges.

SQ doesn't charge fuel surcharges, and charges fewer points than QF for the same flight. So if booking SQ, you can rest easy that they'll only charge you what they have to pay to the government, nothing more. If you can fly out of anywhere in Europe rather than the UK you'll save several hundred dollars in government taxes, and while that also applies equally to all other airlines, most others will levy a fuel surcharge.

 

[tizey]

Taxes arent just taxes, and points arent just points...

eg. Mrs tizey & I are flying JL back NRT-MEL in J next month.. booked with separate programs, but same flight (sitting next to each other).

Using AA Miles = 40,000 miles + $51.00 AUD
Using QF Points = 78,000 points + $135.40 AUD

Same can be said with SQ.
MEL-SIN-PEK in F for 2pax was $182 in taxes + 192,000 KF Miles
MEL-HKG-PEK in J/F for 2pax with QF/CX was $533 in taxes (+ fuel surcharges) + 232,000 QF Points

so I'm much more inclined to spend more to acquire KF miles than I am QF - knowing I'll get a better deal coming to redeem them.

 

[drron]

And for next year flying SYD-LAX 96000 points + $507.76 on QF
On AA 80000 + $114.67.

 

[SOPOOR]

Taxes arent just taxes, and points arent just points...

eg. Mrs tizey & I are flying JL back NRT-MEL in J next month.. booked with separate programs, but same flight (sitting next to each other).

Using AA Miles = 40,000 miles + $51.00 AUD
Using QF Points = 78,000 points + $135.40 AUD

Same can be said with SQ.
MEL-SIN-PEK in F for 2pax was $182 in taxes + 192,000 KF Miles
MEL-HKG-PEK in J/F for 2pax with QF/CX was $533 in taxes (+ fuel surcharges) + 232,000 QF Points

so I'm much more inclined to spend more to acquire KF miles than I am QF - knowing I'll get a better deal coming to redeem them.

When I got my first student credit card I just didn't pay too much attention to much and after a few years i had 50 to 70k points Qff and in excitement had enough flights to bali
So I booked. Jetstar.

Ended up paying 50 to 70k in points plus about $325 in taxes/surcharges and my Gf at the time came along and she bought the flight on sale. With cash and paid something like $360

So.naturally I was bitterly disappointed .
Still don't know to this day whether it was surcharges or taxes or levies or Whatever but I now just look at the total cost. Hence a recent booking I made for someone else whom I convinced them. Not to depart from UK, so they're departing from cdg

 

[SOPOOR]

And for next year flying SYD-LAX 96000 points + $507.76 on QF
On AA 80000 + $114.67.

Taxes arent just taxes, and points arent just points...

eg. Mrs tizey & I are flying JL back NRT-MEL in J next month.. booked with separate programs, but same flight (sitting next to each other).

Using AA Miles = 40,000 miles + $51.00 AUD
Using QF Points = 78,000 points + $135.40 AUD

Same can be said with SQ.
MEL-SIN-PEK in F for 2pax was $182 in taxes + 192,000 KF Miles
MEL-HKG-PEK in J/F for 2pax with QF/CX was $533 in taxes (+ fuel surcharges) + 232,000 QF Points

so I'm much more inclined to spend more to acquire KF miles than I am QF - knowing I'll get a better deal coming to redeem them.

One of my current goals is to do F in Emirates, etihad and Kris long haul

Genuinely annoyed at Emirates and etihad whom now require 400k+ Qff points and charge $1100 to $1600 on top with the new sector charge of $300usd just to redeem with them

So now my go to program is Kris, and I'm very happy with them and try to give all my loyalty to them

 

[SOPOOR]

Taxes arent just taxes, and points arent just points...

eg. Mrs tizey & I are flying JL back NRT-MEL in J next month.. booked with separate programs, but same flight (sitting next to each other).

Using AA Miles = 40,000 miles + $51.00 AUD
Using QF Points = 78,000 points + $135.40 AUD

Same can be said with SQ.
MEL-SIN-PEK in F for 2pax was $182 in taxes + 192,000 KF Miles
MEL-HKG-PEK in J/F for 2pax with QF/CX was $533 in taxes (+ fuel surcharges) + 232,000 QF Points

so I'm much more inclined to spend more to acquire KF miles than I am QF - knowing I'll get a better deal coming to redeem them.

It's examples like that that have led me to stop pursuing Qff points except for sign on bonus etc.
And since the majority of my earn is amex MR, they either sit in amex program or are transferred to Kris

I also. Did a silly thing recently transferred some. To Emirates and got caught out 1:0.75 ratio too

 

[MEL_Traveller]

When I got my first student credit card I just didn't pay too much attention to much and after a few years i had 50 to 70k points Qff and in excitement had enough flights to bali
So I booked. Jetstar.

Ended up paying 50 to 70k in points plus about $325 in taxes/surcharges and my Gf at the time came along and she bought the flight on sale. With cash and paid something like $360

So.naturally I was bitterly disappointed .
Still don't know to this day whether it was surcharges or taxes or levies or Whatever but I now just look at the total cost. Hence a recent booking I made for someone else whom I convinced them. Not to depart from UK, so they're departing from cdg

It was the fuel surcharge! Taxes for departing Australia are currently around $85 - a $60 departure tax or whatever and a $21 passenger movement charge and another $4 for something else. So my upcoming Lifemiles redemption, which doesn't charge fuel surcharges, comes in at USD89 in total taxes and fees. USD25 is an award booking fee leaving USD64 over, which is around AUD85.

Some other carrier will charge far above that.

While it is important to look at the total cost when comparing different FF programs, if you are redeeming points through a program that doesn't charge fuel surcharges, there's not much to be gained by asking airlines to price out the taxes (especially if you're going to miss out on seats)... they are what they are, and will generally be quite low compared to the programs that do charge fuel - which can be many hundreds of dollars more than those who don't.

When I look at travel to say Asia or transatliantic - if I find seats via the Qantas program I have to look and see what the fuel surcharges are. Because it might almost be cheaper to buy a ticket than redeem one. But if I find an award flight on AA.com I just book it, knowing the tax will be whatever it is.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Someone was asking somewhere about J amenity kits? Here are some pics of the new J amenity kit - I think these are going to be permanent but TBH I forgot to clarify when I grabbed this on recent flt. I will clarify next weekend unless someone else can do so before me.

 

[whughes3]

There is an FT thread on the new amenity kits (received one of these myself last Tue on SQ238):
New J Amenity kit? - FlyerTalk Forums

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Part of my feedback to SQ today:

"Also please see attached image of a salad served to me on one of these flights. Please pass this onto the head of your Catering Department and to those alleged ‘World Class Chefs’ with my thoughts. Arugala? Seriously? Arugala? I spent over 30 years on our family farms in Australia spraying this type of noxious weed so that we might promote the growth of decent grasses etc that might indeed pass on some valuable nutrients to our livestock? Arugala? Really? To think of the many $1,000s of dollars we wasted spraying this type of weed when we could have harvested it and sold it to Singapore airlines so they could in turn disappoint their premium cabin passengers – I am so stupid! I was also not aware of the obvious world wide shortage of quality lettuce which clearly precipitated the requirement to serve these weeds."

 

[Steady]

With the SQ222 / SQ802 SYD x SIN - PEK combo with an overnight stop in SIN, is checked luggage generally collected in SIN, or is there an option to check them right through to PEK?

 

[Tassieoptom]

With the SQ222 / SQ802 SYD x SIN - PEK combo with an overnight stop in SIN, is checked luggage generally collected in SIN, or is there an option to check them right through to PEK?

Would assume collected, but others may know better than I.

 

[Tassieoptom]

There is an FT thread on the new amenity kits (received one of these myself last Tue on SQ238):
New J Amenity kit? - FlyerTalk Forums

So it seems are a trial run on certain routes only at this stage. I always thought SQ were very staunch in their claim to not provide a kit that is not wanted to avoid waste.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Check it through to PEK - collect it in SIN - whatever you request - it is SQ and not some second tier carrier like QF.

 

[SOPOOR]

Part of my feedback to SQ today:

"Also please see attached image of a salad served to me on one of these flights. Please pass this onto the head of your Catering Department and to those alleged ‘World Class Chefs’ with my thoughts. Arugala? Seriously? Arugala? I spent over 30 years on our family farms in Australia spraying this type of noxious weed so that we might promote the growth of decent grasses etc that might indeed pass on some valuable nutrients to our livestock? Arugala? Really? To think of the many $1,000s of dollars we wasted spraying this type of weed when we could have harvested it and sold it to Singapore airlines so they could in turn disappoint their premium cabin passengers – I am so stupid! I was also not aware of the obvious world wide shortage of quality lettuce which clearly precipitated the requirement to serve these weeds."

View attachment 135734

Not sure if this kind of humour or sarcasm they would understand, but funny nonetheless