Hi
I recently travelled from Chennai (India) to Sydney. I was booked in for Friday night 23.30 flight from Chennai to Singapore and then Sunday night 20.30 flight from Singapore to Sydney. I originally wanted to spend the night in Singapore (more on that later) without having to check out my luggage. The SQ office in Chennai said that the baggage cannot be interlined and I have to take them out and clear customs. I went to the Chennai Airport at about 20.30 on Friday and asked the check-in clerk. He also said that it cannot be done. However, when he proceeded to check in he himself was surprised that the system has checked in for both the flights. He then called his manager and he said that as it is probably within 48 hours, it could be done and interlined my baggage and gave me both boarding passes.
Is there a universal policy on this? Is it just SQ having the 48 hours or all airlines have a 48 hour policy. I was pretty happy with SQ.
The second part of the story - I was really tired after my Indian trip. So I infact wanted to straight head back home (Sydney) without spending a night in Singapore. So I tried to change my second leg from SIN - SYD. The Chennai SQ office waitlisted me for Saturday 20.30 flight and said that if it clears I can pay $50AUD (as per tkt conditions for change of dates) and change. However, by the time I checked in at Chennai, the wait list did not clear. The check-in clerk suggested that I check at the transfer desk in Singapore.
When I arrived at Singapore at 6 am on Saturday i headed to the transfer desk and asked if I could go on Saturday itself. The girl then said that there is a seat on the 9.40 am flight and if I wanted to go on that. She then printed the boarding passes and sent instructions to transfer my luggage to the new flight. She did not ask me for the $50.00. I was very impressed that they could transfer the baggage so quickly. What is the story about $50.00? Are they usually flexible?
Arun
I recently travelled from Chennai (India) to Sydney. I was booked in for Friday night 23.30 flight from Chennai to Singapore and then Sunday night 20.30 flight from Singapore to Sydney. I originally wanted to spend the night in Singapore (more on that later) without having to check out my luggage. The SQ office in Chennai said that the baggage cannot be interlined and I have to take them out and clear customs. I went to the Chennai Airport at about 20.30 on Friday and asked the check-in clerk. He also said that it cannot be done. However, when he proceeded to check in he himself was surprised that the system has checked in for both the flights. He then called his manager and he said that as it is probably within 48 hours, it could be done and interlined my baggage and gave me both boarding passes.
Is there a universal policy on this? Is it just SQ having the 48 hours or all airlines have a 48 hour policy. I was pretty happy with SQ.
The second part of the story - I was really tired after my Indian trip. So I infact wanted to straight head back home (Sydney) without spending a night in Singapore. So I tried to change my second leg from SIN - SYD. The Chennai SQ office waitlisted me for Saturday 20.30 flight and said that if it clears I can pay $50AUD (as per tkt conditions for change of dates) and change. However, by the time I checked in at Chennai, the wait list did not clear. The check-in clerk suggested that I check at the transfer desk in Singapore.
When I arrived at Singapore at 6 am on Saturday i headed to the transfer desk and asked if I could go on Saturday itself. The girl then said that there is a seat on the 9.40 am flight and if I wanted to go on that. She then printed the boarding passes and sent instructions to transfer my luggage to the new flight. She did not ask me for the $50.00. I was very impressed that they could transfer the baggage so quickly. What is the story about $50.00? Are they usually flexible?
Arun