Changing an Economy (M) Ticket with Singapore

[engbren]

I have currently booked Economy (M) class tickets for a family holiday to Vietnam. The rules of which state that changes can be made at $70 plus any applicable fare difference. I'm not sure why but I cannot change my flight itinerary at all when I try to Manage My Booking.

My travel needs have changed and I now need to fly to Europe at the end of the year instead of Vietnam. I have tried to contact Singapore Airlines and in the first call, I was told there was no availability for my preferred itinerary as rebooking had different availability to a new booking and I could call back in a week or so to check whether rebooking availability had changed.

I tried calling again to speak to a different agent and they found availability but gave me a quote which is $7,000 higher than I can see my total itinerary would be when I check fare availability online. When queried again they said this was because a rebooking incurs a different fare calculation. I must admit I am very confused by the difference between the online price for a new booking and the rebooking. I asked to speak to a supervisor but none were available until tomorrow. Hopefully I can get this sorted then!

 

[bam71]

This sounds like a case of the fares/availability being different when you are “inside” the booking, as opposed to a new booking being “outside” your current booking. AKA, Personalised Pricing. If this continues I’d be inclined to cancel ( I think M class on SQ is a $430 cancellation fee).

 

[Quickstatus]

My travel needs have changed and I now need to fly to Europe at the end of the year instead of Vietnam

I dont think you can change the destination of the ticket outside of a full cancellation and rebooking. I think M tickets fall into "Standard" which are generally partially refundable...

 

[Cynicor]

Agree. Just cancel, cop the fee and book something new. This isn’t a change in the ticket.

 

[sudoer]

It would be helpful to give more specifics to gauge how unreasonable the $7000 additional cost is.

You mention the existing booking is for a family - are they also going to Europe, or are you splitting the booking and cancelling their tickets, etc

 

[Ade]

From what I have experienced - @bam71 is on the money - the availability to change an existing booking and making a new booking seems to be different. I have been in a similar situation with Qantas and I was advised that the fare that you see online is for new bookings only. The advise was give by staff at HBA, so I'm inclined to believe that they are correct ...

With what @Quickstatus said - I was once able to change the origin of a ticket with SQ (instead of departing SYD, I changed my ticket to depart BNE), however, I was unable to get SQ to change the destination (BLR, instead of MAA). So in your case, chances are you might have cancel the entire itinerary and book a new one for EU.

re: $7k new cost - could this be because it was indeed possible to change the destination, but only a much higher fare class was available for the dates and destination in EU you were after, and depending on the number of passengers in your original ticket, it could be come up to be $7k ?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

From what I have experienced - @bam71 is on the money - the availability to change an existing booking and making a new booking seems to be different. I have been in a similar situation with Qantas and I was advised that the fare that you see online is for new bookings only. The advise was give by staff at HBA, so I'm inclined to believe that they are correct ...

With what @Quickstatus said - I was once able to change the origin of a ticket with SQ (instead of departing SYD, I changed my ticket to depart BNE), however, I was unable to get SQ to change the destination (BLR, instead of MAA). So in your case, chances are you might have cancel the entire itinerary and book a new one for EU.

re: $7k new cost - could this be because it was indeed possible to change the destination, but only a much higher fare class was available for the dates and destination in EU you were after, and depending on the number of passengers in your original ticket, it could be come up to be $7k ?

The OP says the quote was $7000 higher than what they could see on line for a new booking.

And this is where you just gotta and ask why the phone agents don’t recognise that as a bad option and just say cancelling and rebooking would be cheaper?

 

[engbren]

This sounds like a case of the fares/availability being different when you are “inside” the booking, as opposed to a new booking being “outside” your current booking. AKA, Personalised Pricing. If this continues I’d be inclined to cancel ( I think M class on SQ is a $430 cancellation fee).

This appears to be the case. I thought I made progress today when I was told it would be a total $2,400 change fee, a little less than I was actually expecting. When I agreed to pay the change fee she hesitated and said her system had showed I had to pay a penalty fee bringing the total change amount to ~$7,000. I asked her to explain the penalty to me and she said the $2,400 fee she originally quoted is the new fare per person. However, that doesn’t make sense as there’s approximately $600 difference between what I’ve already paid and the $2,400 new fee making the 5 x $670 = $3,350, not $7,000. When I queried that she said its Singapores policy to charge a different fare to those with existing bookings. At this point I am better to cancel.

I dont think you can change the destination of the ticket outside of a full cancellation and rebooking. I think M tickets fall into "Standard" which are generally partially refundable...

The conditions on the e-ticket simply state a $70 change fee. Plus applicable fare difference The terms & conditions pdf sent along with my e-ticket states:
“Changes to travel plans
For changes to your travel plans, please contact the Singapore Airlines office nearest to you. Service fees for bookings, ticketing and ticket changes may apply.
Contact details and service fees details are available on our website www.singaporeair.com. For tickets sold in USA and only for flights departing from and arriving in USA, fees for cancellations made within 24 hours of initial ticket issuance may be waived.”

Agree. Just cancel, cop the fee and book something new. This isn’t a change in the ticket.

This seems to be the best way.