Difficulty Redeeming Singapore Airlines points on Virgin Australia

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repete

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Jun 12, 2009
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Hi all,
Just having a hard time trying to burn some points and whilst I try and contact the airlines etc., thought I'd just 'dump' on here and see if people had any great ideas/feedback!

The background: We hail from CBR and have family in PER we were keen to visit. Since we had 90k or so miles from previous trips in our Singapore Air account, we were pleased with the announcement of their alignment last year, with our points set to expire this year. So, when redemption tables came out, I checked out the rates and targetted getting around 6*18,000 points for my wife and 3 kids to redeem for return trips CBR to PER. I am Velocity Gold and was going to redeem pts for my own ticket. Anyhow, after some spending on gift cards and the like (!) we pretty much achieved the target late Feb and was all set to try and redeem some of our points...

Attempted redemption: So, the short story is that over three separate occasions this week of phone calls with SQ, I am told that for the whole month of August and September there are no redemptions available CBR to PER! So we have over 100K of SQ points all ready to go but it seems we can't use them!? How 'tight' is this alliance if we can't redeem something like this 6+months out? Is there any tools / way of checking if there are seats available for redemption other than ringing and waiting and waiting whilst the SQ people search to no avail? Any other ideas for how we can get to PER with the points??

Thanks!
 
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Thanks heaps Rok! Will be keen to give that one a go... I guess the danger is that I will lose a set of points or be stranded with a couple of tickets since they're non-refundable? I guess if I can't use them otherwise I'm not really losing out!!
 
Try getting SYD-PER or MEL-PER first? And then see if they can add on CBR-SYD or CBR-MEL sectors. If you can get SYD-PER is it feasible to drive there to pick up the flights? Also you may try 3 person per flight. 6 is a big ask.
 
My Sister lives in Singapore and has loads of SQ points but in 3 years has never managed to find a flight she can reclaim them on! I think SQ are generous with their miles but tight when it comes to letting you redeem them.
 
My Sister lives in Singapore and has loads of SQ points but in 3 years has never managed to find a flight she can reclaim them on! I think SQ are generous with their miles but tight when it comes to letting you redeem them.

How far out does she look for flights?
Mrs GPH is in charge of travel in our house and is searching almost daily , up to a year out, as a consequence has been quite successful.
 
Have to say she is not that organised and it is normally only a couple of months before they want to fly which i suspect is the problem
 
Have to say she is not that organised and it is normally only a couple of months before they want to fly which i suspect is the problem

Sounds like it. Maybe best option is upgrade or similar using points
 
Have to say she is not that organised and it is normally only a couple of months before they want to fly which i suspect is the problem

Couple of months can be a problem. Look for way into the future, or <1 month when they know better what loadings are like.
 
Couple of months can be a problem. Look for way into the future, or <1 month when they know better what loadings are like.
I booked SYD - SIN 6 months out over school holidays and on Grand Prix weekend for 4 last September. Seems to me that's pretty good, all FF programs restrict to some degree award tickets, having searched for trial bookings I think SQ are pretty good.

6 in one booking, sorry but I don't think any airline would offer that award option. An try and book 2 months out with just about any FF program would possibly be a problem. Having said that I was actually looking at SQ flights to Asia in 2 months just last week and there was some availability but I must admit only for 1 person.
 
An update if people are interested in such a thing :confused:

Short story is to report gladly that we now have our 3 return tickets for CBR to PER via Syd, albeit for November! The forum helped stimulate my thinking about SYD options so thanks!

Extended story is to note that it is for November when we were trying September. In the end we gave Krisflyer a brief to search ANY dates between Sept and Dec basically to see if they could find anything!! We had lots of rejections, until finally a date in November appeared for some reason. Couldn't do the CBR -SYD leg though as well we were told, so we said thanks and we'd use our three days to think about it. In that time, submitted another request to add CBR-SYD return to it. I could've sworn the lady from Singapore who rang back with a 'new' itinerary from the second request said "I can't find anything from CBR - SYD.." then a few seconds later "so I'll send you through your itinerary with flights from CBR to PER via SYD"!! Needless to say, even though I think they grabbed the worst possible connection times, we grabbed it! Rang up and made final payment etc. tonight.

Does anyone know how I can understand the taxes component we've had to pay? Since I had to book a paid fare separately for myself to travel with rest of fam, I thought it all used to show up on the itinerary - but nothing is split out. When I searched on the website as I was making a booking it only had taxes listed at something like $8 and $15 per leg? Anyhow, the tix from Krisflyer each cost $117.70SGD in taxes (made up of QR: 79.80; WG: 16.30 and YQ: 21.60 - means nothing to me?!) Just thought it was a little high?

Overall, don't think I'll be pursuing the Krisflyer points redemption on DJ again in a hurry! Seems like pretty hard work, but I am grateful this worked out in the end. I was also mildly disappointed in VA's assistance to help me use points to book my own leg. No big issue as a 'comped' gold, but thought they might try harder to release redemption fares for 8 months out when there were none available on the site. Anyhow, looking forward to heading West to see family and enjoy the Virgin onflight experience. Actually, one final question if I may (though I'm more interested in the 'taxes' question), since I booked as gold my ticket says 32kg or whatever complimentary baggage. I won't be gold though when I fly... will that still stand do you think??

Thanks all...
 
Can I be so bold as to 'bump' this thread and seek further comment...

The time is fast approaching (next Thurs) for our CBR via SYD to PER return flights. Since I booked my own seat via VA direct and possibly because I did so as gold (? - now silver), I've been able to go in and select seats for myself + infant (can choose row 3 on CBR to SYD leg and row 10 SYD to PER). Anyhow, I'm not sure I'll be taking these seats since I'm supposed to be linked with the redemption flights for my wife and two other kids. I'm guessing their seat selection won't be so generous?!? Anyhow, upon trying to explore this, I rang up Velocity tonight. Singapore Airlines have booked all flights for my wife and kids on one reservation no., which means I can't access it online (too many flights). Velocity and Virgin both told me they can't split the booking into 2 flights each way, so that I could access them. They also told me they can't do anything about seat preferences because Singapore Air have to do that?!?! To me, this seems incredibly frustrating, restrictive and near useless for me to check/update anything. Does anyone have any idea of whether this can be amended?? Short of that, I suggest again I have found this a very non-user friendly method of trying to redeem points.
(Interesting to note too that Singapore Air haven't sent me information about the latest plane change time which I was notified about through the Virgin booking.)
 
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