SQ Tips, Trips and Tales

[Cruiser Elite]

wow, changed some award flights online (same destination), just a date change from Mar/April to August now
Took 5min and painless online.
no $ involved either for change of date
no extra miles either (outward journey was originally saver and still is, return journey was advantage and it still is)

Standard fare with SQ - provided equivalent award inventory is available date changes have always been straight forward at no extra cost

 

[daft009]

Standard fare with SQ - provided equivalent award inventory is available date changes have always been straight forward at no extra cost

Thanks. Thought it might be the case but never had to change pre covid. Was preparing for $100-150 fee but pleasantly surprised

 

[daft009]

wow, changed some award flights online (same destination), just a date change from Mar/April to August now
Took 5min and painless online.
no $ involved either for change of date
no extra miles either (outward journey was originally saver and still is, return journey was advantage and it still is)

Return on J confirmed with 2.45hr transit
Return on R also confirmed with 20hr transit.
Let's see which one pays off come August LoL

 

[mel-world]

Can anyone answer this quick question, please. Pre-Covid, duty free purchases for flights departing to Australia had to be ordered 90 mins prior to departure and were delivered to the Gate.

I do not have 90 mins transferring from Beijing to Melbourne so have ordered via IShop Changi. It was easy and did not seem over expensive. They say the goods will be at the Information Counter in T3 but I believe they should still be delivered to the gate.

Has anyone used this method and, if so, can you confirm the procedure?

 

[coriander]

I had posted a message back in December on this thread regarding a cancelled reward flight:
Thread: Best Way to contact SQ these days

I thought I'd follow up my subsequent experience with SQ.

As has been the experience of many others here, I tried ringing SIA on a number of occasions: either I gave up after 2 hours on hold, or the line was suddenly disconnected after about the same length of time.

About mid-January I finally got through after a 90 minute wait. The callcentre person looked at flights and told me to cancel the booking completely and rebook in two sectors, ZRH-SIN in F and SIN - MEL in J.
"Can you do that for me please? "
"No, you must do it online yourself."
Ok, so I HUACAed. Online there was NO availability on either sector, not even a waitlist for the desired day nor anything either side of it..
I tried again a few days later and was told the same thing after 2 hours on hold.

Quite despondent about the whole thing. Mrs C NOT happy - very stressed.

Anyhow a few days later I transferred some points over to KF (having NOT read the fora here) to book a flight for my son to EU in March (plenty of Y availability MEL-LHR return for March which surprised me).

Even more surprisingly, I received an email from KF a day or two later welcoming me as an Elite Gold member.
Wow! That was unexpected.

Hmm...... I wonder.

I rang SIA, punched in my membership number and within 15 seconds was transferred to a brilliant operator, "Ron".
I explained the problem - he grasped the issue straightaway, put me on hold a couple of times, then came back, saying he had to talk to booking admin.
He came back to me saying what I knew - ie change of aircraft meant no F SIN-MEL.
"Ok, I'm happy with J in an A350", I said. "Can you book me in J on the flight?" (fingers crossed as this was previously the sticking point).
"Oh absolutely, no problem, it will take me a few minutes though".
After a bit of to-and-fro over 75 minutes, most of which was on hold, but him coming back every few minutes apologising for the delay.
"Ok Dr coriander, I've rebooked you in J on the SIN-MEL flight. You will have just received a text saying you're waitlisted (yes I did), don't worry about that, it's just the system opening up your tickets..
"One more thing, there is a fee of 7000 KF miles per passenger because original booking was on saver, this one has to be on Advantage. Is that ok?"
At this point I was just relieved to have sorted my flight home.
"Yes of course"
"Would you like me to assign your seats now?"
"Yes please". I gave him the seats we wanted.
"Ok, all done. You should receive an email with your e-tickets shortly. Please do not hang up, stay on the line with me until you receive the email. I want you to check that the e-tickets are correct."
A minute or so, email arrived. I checked the e-ticket: PERFECT! ZRH-SIN in F, SIN-MEL in J confirmed.
"Yes I have the e-tickets now."
"Thank you Dr C, have a nice day".

Whew! Ron had been so very helpful, courteous and had excellent diction (not a heavy accent at all) so I provided SIA with 10/10 feeback for him.

A few days later my phone rang showing a +65 number.
Oh no, my heart sank. Now what?

"Good morning Dr C - this is Sylvia, manager of ticketing (I think that was her title -can't remember exactly) we have been looking at your recent booking changes....... "
Aaaargh! NO!
"It appears that a mistake has been made....."
Aaaaaaargh NO! NO!
"You have been charged 14,000 miles for the change of itinerary. That was a mistake by our system: you should not have been charged those miles."
"We will refund the 14,000 miles to your account within the next 24 hours - please accept our apologies for this error on our part."

Whew!

So it's all sorted. I wonder if the dramatic change in attitude and helpfulness was as a result of achieving EG status or whether they were finally catching up on their backlog of cancelled / altered bookings.

 

[Pointy Bird]

I had posted a message back in December on this thread regarding a cancelled reward flight:
Thread: Best Way to contact SQ these days

I thought I'd follow up my subsequent experience with SQ.

As has been the experience of many others here, I tried ringing SIA on a number of occasions: either I gave up after 2 hours on hold, or the line was suddenly disconnected after about the same length of time.

About mid-January I finally got through after a 90 minute wait. The callcentre person looked at flights and told me to cancel the booking completely and rebook in two sectors, ZRH-SIN in F and SIN - MEL in J.
"Can you do that for me please? "
"No, you must do it online yourself."
Ok, so I HUACAed. Online there was NO availability on either sector, not even a waitlist for the desired day nor anything either side of it..
I tried again a few days later and was told the same thing after 2 hours on hold.

Quite despondent about the whole thing. Mrs C NOT happy - very stressed.

Anyhow a few days later I transferred some points over to KF (having NOT read the fora here) to book a flight for my son to EU in March (plenty of Y availability MEL-LHR return for March which surprised me).

Even more surprisingly, I received an email from KF a day or two later welcoming me as an Elite Gold member.
Wow! That was unexpected.

Hmm...... I wonder.

I rang SIA, punched in my membership number and within 15 seconds was transferred to a brilliant operator, "Ron".
I explained the problem - he grasped the issue straightaway, put me on hold a couple of times, then came back, saying he had to talk to booking admin.
He came back to me saying what I knew - ie change of aircraft meant no F SIN-MEL.
"Ok, I'm happy with J in an A350", I said. "Can you book me in J on the flight?" (fingers crossed as this was previously the sticking point).
"Oh absolutely, no problem, it will take me a few minutes though".
After a bit of to-and-fro over 75 minutes, most of which was on hold, but him coming back every few minutes apologising for the delay.
"Ok Dr coriander, I've rebooked you in J on the SIN-MEL flight. You will have just received a text saying you're waitlisted (yes I did), don't worry about that, it's just the system opening up your tickets..
"One more thing, there is a fee of 7000 KF miles per passenger because original booking was on saver, this one has to be on Advantage. Is that ok?"
At this point I was just relieved to have sorted my flight home.
"Yes of course"
"Would you like me to assign your seats now?"
"Yes please". I gave him the seats we wanted.
"Ok, all done. You should receive an email with your e-tickets shortly. Please do not hang up, stay on the line with me until you receive the email. I want you to check that the e-tickets are correct."
A minute or so, email arrived. I checked the e-ticket: PERFECT! ZRH-SIN in F, SIN-MEL in J confirmed.
"Yes I have the e-tickets now."
"Thank you Dr C, have a nice day".

Whew! Ron had been so very helpful, courteous and had excellent diction (not a heavy accent at all) so I provided SIA with 10/10 feeback for him.

A few days later my phone rang showing a +65 number.
Oh no, my heart sank. Now what?

"Good morning Dr C - this is Sylvia, manager of ticketing (I think that was her title -can't remember exactly) we have been looking at your recent booking changes....... "
Aaaargh! NO!
"It appears that a mistake has been made....."
Aaaaaaargh NO! NO!
"You have been charged 14,000 miles for the change of itinerary. That was a mistake by our system: you should not have been charged those miles."
"We will refund the 14,000 miles to your account within the next 24 hours - please accept our apologies for this error on our part."

Whew!

So it's all sorted. I wonder if the dramatic change in attitude and helpfulness was as a result of achieving EG status or whether they were finally catching up on their backlog of cancelled / altered bookings.

That seems like the best reason to upgrade to Gold - just did this yesterday with Amex to SQ transfer.
It is the 1st time I have any status since they ceased giving status for rewards flights on Qantas...

 

[Peasant]

Can anyone answer this quick question, please. Pre-Covid, duty free purchases for flights departing to Australia had to be ordered 90 mins prior to departure and were delivered to the Gate.

I do not have 90 mins transferring from Beijing to Melbourne so have ordered via IShop Changi. It was easy and did not seem over expensive. They say the goods will be at the Information Counter in T3 but I believe they should still be delivered to the gate.

Has anyone used this method and, if so, can you confirm the procedure?

I can't confirm this particular procedure for you @mel-world I'm sorry. That said, a couple of years ago I forgot to collect my duty free when I reached the gate. A quick call once I got home and it was refunded about 15 minutes later, so the moral of the story is they were quite good to deal with by phone. My advice would be to give them a call and clarify before you depart.

On a side note, a couple of weeks ago I was told that cosmetics can no longer be delivered to the gate for Australia flights. No issue buying duty free booze however (the important stuff) but the long-honoured discount seems to have been enhanced...

 

[I love to travel]

I can't confirm this particular procedure for you @mel-world I'm sorry. That said, a couple of years ago I forgot to collect my duty free when I reached the gate. A quick call once I got home and it was refunded about 15 minutes later, so the moral of the story is they were quite good to deal with by phone. My advice would be to give them a call and clarify before you depart.

On a side note, a couple of weeks ago I was told that cosmetics can no longer be delivered to the gate for Australia flights. No issue buying duty free booze however (the important stuff) but the long-honoured discount seems to have been enhanced...

Why would cosmetics be treated differently?

 

[Peasant]

Why would cosmetics be treated differently?

The impression I got was they no longer have the manpower to do the gate hold deliveries.

 

[sudoer]

Hi all, a question for the SQ brains trust but a little context first:

My SO needs to travel from Sydney to Nagoya in mid-late March. We are trying to avoid a TYO transit in case the Japanese government quarantine arrangement is still in place - a family member could pick her up from NGO for home quarantine, but if she transits in TYO she needs to quarantine at a hotel there before her onward flight, and TYO is too far for family to drive to pick her up (about 14 hours round trip..).

This leaves either SQ and TG as options into NGO with transits in Singapore and Bangkok respectively. She will be flying either economy or premium economy, so I have preemptively matched her Qantas Plat to United MileagePlus.

My question is - how does SQ view crediting points & SC to VA, while flashing a *G card at the lounge for access? She's not fussed about any of the other *G luggage or boarding benefits. I may or may not be trying to siphon her VA points & SC via family pooling.. so any help appreciated!!

 

[Matt_01]

My question is - how does SQ view crediting points & SC to VA, while flashing a *G card at the lounge for access?

*G pax will have access to the Krisflyer Gold Lounge which is not the business lounge SQ also sends their own *G to this lounge. She would you need to travel in J to get access to the Krisflyer Silver Lounge (business lounge). I seem to recall seeing somewhere that the new Gold lounge opened mid last year, not sure if there are current restrictions due to covid. As for the VA question I wouldn't think it would be a problem and in the past have sent SC and points to VA when travelling on SQ marketed flights, again not sure if anything has recently changed as a result of VA2.

 

[sudoer]

*G pax will have access to the Krisflyer Gold Lounge which is not the business lounge SQ also sends their own *G to this lounge. She would you need to travel in J to get access to the Krisflyer Silver Lounge (business lounge). I seem to recall seeing somewhere that the new Gold lounge opened mid last year, not sure if there are current restrictions due to covid.

I believe the KF Gold lounge is still closed so *G pax are being sent to the SilverKris lounge, but she would be happy with either now the KF Gold lounge has showers.

https://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/sg/flying-withus/before-the-flight/lounges/alternative-krisflyer-gold-lounge/

As I type this I've realised she could resort to the Plaza Premium as a fallback given she holds a supp Amex Plat card.

As for the VA question I wouldn't think it would be a problem and in the past have sent SC and points to VA when travelling on SQ marketed flights, again not sure if anything has recently changed as a result of VA2.

I think crediting to VA is still fine, I guess the question was more so whether SQ have an issue with crediting to one program while obtaining elite benefits from another, and whether the UA number needs to be on the booking at check-in then switched to VA in the lounge as is the case with some other programs.

 

[Matt_01]

I believe the KF Gold lounge is still closed so *G pax are being sent to the SilverKris lounge, but she would be happy with either now the KF Gold lounge has showers.

https://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/...ht/lounges/alternative-krisflyer-gold-lounge/

Getting access to the SilverKris lounge is even better, I did not check what was open. I would be interested to see the new KF Gold lounge as the old one was not flash. Normally I was in J however was once on a Y+ flight and got to experience the old KF Gold lounge, it was not flash.

I think crediting to VA is still fine, I guess the question was more so whether SQ have an issue with crediting to one program while obtaining elite benefits from another, and whether the UA number needs to be on the booking at check-in then switched to VA in the lounge as is the case with some other programs.

I wouldn't have thought it would be an issue but now understanding what you are asking. UA/ SQ no problem, put VA into the mix and I do not know the answer as VA is just a partner (both) but not *A.

 

[mel-world]

I can't confirm this particular procedure for you @mel-world I'm sorry. That said, a couple of years ago I forgot to collect my duty free when I reached the gate. A quick call once I got home and it was refunded about 15 minutes later, so the moral of the story is they were quite good to deal with by phone. My advice would be to give them a call and clarify before you depart.

I took your advice (thanks) and contacted them by WhatsApp - their only option. No gate delivery, only collection at the Information Counter in T3 - straight opposite Immigration. I have a midnight transit departure and they did say the counter may not be staffed but they provided an option to collect the duty free.

Hope that's useful if wanting to collect or buy Duty Free in Singapore. You need over 90 mins as a transit time to purchase at any outlet at Changi if transiting to Australia (or the US).

 

[Matt_01]

Go buy yourself a lottery ticket @Matt_01 - getting a 9 minute wait time is unheard of for the SQ call centre these days.
It's your lucky day!

I should have taken you advice and gone down the lottery path. A change is required have called twice in the past 3 days normally giving up around the 2.5 hour mark. Having another attempt this evening, phone is on charge and volume set low. 2 hours and still listening to how to book, Kris our chat bot etc. I cannot see myself reaching/ grabbing for the phone anytime soon and am wondering if I will fall asleep before they answer

 

[Finale]

My last 6-7 calls had 10 min hold max since Dec. One was instant. On the other hand, over 1 hour every time with QFF and issue still not resolved after being told I would be contacted by email a week ago. Didn't win powerball tonight though.

 

[Pointy Bird]

That seems like the best reason to upgrade to Gold - just did this yesterday with Amex to SQ transfer.
It is the 1st time I have any status since they ceased giving status for rewards flights on Qantas...

Well, I have been on hold tonight for 2 hrs plus so far - I guess that having upgraded status to Gold makes no difference to wait times after all...

 

[Matt_01]

At 2 hours 44 minutes the call was disconnected so will try again tomorrow.

 

[NoName]

Currently have a confirmed J redemption FCO-SIN-BNE but would like to waitlist F from CDG-SIN as well. Do I need to ring up and get them to waitlist the entire CDG-SIN-BNE mixed class itinerary or just waitlist CDG-SIN in F and then if it clears call up to add the leg to BNE?

 

[henrus]

I haven't found this mentioned anywhere online but it seems SQ is using the Plaza Premium lounge in Brisbane for SQ246.

The Plaza Premium lounge is open 5:30pm to 10:30pm Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so business class and star alliance gold get access as a if its a contract lounge. VA Gold/Plat don't get access and if flying on SQ256 or SQ236 there is no access as it's not open.