WAITLISTING HELP

[mlob]

Hi

Im after a bit of assistance with waitlisting. I am new to KrisFlyer and have had a bit of a read here and on various sights but after some clarification.

My family of 4 are booked to fly to Bali early January with Virgin Australia but Im getting nervous. I picked up these flights very cheaply as I had some Amex travel credit to burn. We currently have 4 Business award seats on Singapore for the return leg.

I would like to book some KrisFlyer seats for the trip over as a plan B. Singapore airlines will often still be flying in and out of Denpesar when Virgin Australia have flights cancelled.

I have exactly enough points in my account for 4 standard economy award seats (which are available) OR 4 saver J seats (which are currently available for waitlisting). Not both.

1. Can I initially wait list 4 J seats and then confirm 4 standard economy seats or do I need to have enough points in my account for both bookings?
2. If I can, do the waitlisted seats need to be on a different flight to the confirmed seats?
3. Is it problematic waitlisting a booking for the 4 of us? (as in highly unlikely to come clear).

TIA for any assistance

 

[jbman]

Waitlist everything you want with the points in your account.

Then book what you want with the points you have.

You need points in your account to do the initial waitlists

 

[albatross710]

1. Can I initially wait list 4 J seats and then confirm 4 standard economy seats or do I need to have enough points in my account for both bookings?

IME the system will check that you have enough miles for the booking you are currently making. it does not consider the other waitlist commitments. so you could make the waitlist J bookings one at a time if you need to.

2. If I can, do the waitlisted seats need to be on a different flight to the confirmed seats?

can be on same flight

3. Is it problematic waitlisting a booking for the 4 of us? (as in highly unlikely to come clear).

whatever happens will happen. IME I have preferred to get them cleared one at a time. Then when you have three cleared and a child left behind the staff are more inclined to use their flexibility.

Is this waitlist project just so you can assure yourself of arriving into Bali? While asian airlines such as SQ may not blanket cancel their Bali flights there is no guarantee they will be flying there if VA dont. My understanding is that VA, QF, JQ choose to cancel their flights because their aircraft have less options at the end of the 5-6 flight to get to Bali. SQ and others can much easier handle diversions and last minute cancellations when their operations start closer to DPS.

Alby

 

[mlob]

Thanks for the help!

@albatross710 It is to have a plan B for Bali. Singapore have continued to run as scheduled whilst Virgin are not flying passengers to bali at present at all. they are having trouble even with scheduling recovery flights to get stuck passengers home. Im not exactly sure of the reason but I have been told by various sources that Singapore airlines have more rights at Denpesar Airport and therefore are able to keep flying when Virgin is well down the pecking order.

I appreciate the info. i had read somewhere that confirmed bookings and waitlisted booking couldn't be on the same flight so that is great news.

I have had some dramas though trying to get the four of us waitlisted. Despite showing waitlisting available for the four of us when it comes to the end of making the booking I get a error message saying contact your local office. When i rang up Singapore for more info I was told I would need to ring up for waitlisting and I wouldn't be able to do it online, which seems like very odd advice.

 

[albatross710]

I have had some dramas though trying to get the four of us waitlisted. Despite showing waitlisting available for the four of us when it comes to the end of making the booking I get a error message saying contact your local office. When i rang up Singapore for more info I was told I would need to ring up for waitlisting and I wouldn't be able to do it online, which seems like very odd advice.

i had a similar problem with a waitlist of 4 for our family. In my case it was something to do with waitlisting one of our underage kids on a separate booking. The system would not allow booking of an unaccompanied minor. There was a cryptic message and a form to download. I completed the form and it worked. I wrote the story in the forum somewhere.

As I see it you are kind of doing your own travel insurance. Consider that if there is a volcanic eruption at the time of your holiday, maybe you could have your SQ points taking you to Penang as a hedge instead of to the same constrained airport..

Alby