Singapore Reward "Rip-off" [Surprised by Award Price Increase]

Status
Not open for further replies.

Nooks

Junior Member
Joined
May 29, 2016
Posts
42
After searching for months, I finally managed to get my dream booking. Our family of 5 from SYD to SIN return on business class.

I reserved the flights on Saturday the 19th of January at a total cost of 580,000 miles via phone (since I didn't have the points in my account at the time). At the time of reservation, I needed to transfer points from two other sources to finalise the booking. I unfortunately miscalculated the points I needed to transfer (as I hadn't realised the Velocity points came across instantly) so I had to transfer extra miles from American Express which took an extra 2 days. I had the points showing in the account so I went online to complete the booking. It was giving me an error that some of the details of the passengers were incorrect or missing so I went and completed all of the required information for all 5 of us but it would still not let me complete the booking (despite trying several times). I ran out of time and so only had time to call Singapore Airlines today only to be told that the price had gone up to 620,000 miles because of the overnight rate change.

I feel that it is unfair for the price to go up on a flight that has already been reserved. When I made the original booking , I was told I had until November to transfer the points and there was no mention of the fact the points would go up if points were not paid before the 24th of January. The itinerary they emailed me also made no mention of the change of points and confirmed I had until the 26th of November to have the tickets issued.

Interested to hear other's thoughts on whether I'm being unreasonable and what action you'd take. So far, my complaints have fallen on deaf ears and they're not willing to change their mind...
 
I had a similar situation and they told me that if I didn't complete the booking before devaluation kicked in, I would have to use new points valuation for the reserved flights. Sorry you got stung by it.
 
Thanks. If only they'd told me, I would have made the call earlier. I'd done everything else right...

I guess that's what I'm frustrated about, no clear disclosure. Whilst they'd disclosed the devaluation well online etc, I thought since I'd made the booking beforehand, I'd locked in the old pricing.
 
I feel for you, believe me I do, but airline 'reservations' are just that; reservation (i.e. 'reserving a seat'). Tickets are priced at the time of issuing the ticket; it is unfortunate that in your case the timing coincided with their point devaluation.
 
Hi Hossein, thanks for the alternative view. I'm still trying to process whether I'm being unreasonable. The 40,000 extra points for making the call 7 hours late hurts, especially when I could have made the call yesterday with the points all ready to go if I knew this was the outcome. Perhaps I was just naive ...
 
I do have the points with AMEX (fortunately), but had those earmarked for other things.
 
Hi Hossein, thanks for the alternative view. I'm still trying to process whether I'm being unreasonable. The 40,000 extra points for making the call 7 hours late hurts, especially when I could have made the call yesterday with the points all ready to go if I knew this was the outcome. Perhaps I was just naive ...
7 hours late is still late sorry. Sympathetic yes for sure, but do I think you really have a legimate claim, not really. This devaluation has been one we have all been informed of.
 
I was just lucky actually nooks - didn't really think through Hossein's distinction until it occurred to me whilst talking to the rep and at that point, she clearly made the distinction for me. I don't think you really have a case per se other than asking whether they're happy to be flexible given your misunderstanding and 7 hours only over deadline
 
Ps the rep told me that the devaluation only took place from midnight tonight but that's wrong by looks of it
 
Hi Hossein, thanks for the alternative view. I'm still trying to process whether I'm being unreasonable. The 40,000 extra points for making the call 7 hours late hurts, especially when I could have made the call yesterday with the points all ready to go if I knew this was the outcome. Perhaps I was just naive ...

It definitely sucks, but short of SQ taking a sympathetic view, I don't think you have any other option but to pay the extra points. Think of it this way: you got 5x J tickets using points... this must be the unicorn of redemptions; you should be really happy regardless of how many points you've spent.
 
I feel a bit that way too re unicorns as I just redeemed 6 on bc - syd-sin-bkk-open jaw-coughet-sydney - over coming xmas / Jan (albeit one or two minor compromises, such as splitting across two flights from sin-syd on return), so agree it's a pain to pay extra points but it's nice we both scored so many seats on BC - my first time redeeming on SA and was impressed with flex relative to say QF and taxes etc
 
I feel a bit that way too re unicorns as I just redeemed 6 on bc - syd-sin-bkk-open jaw-coughet-sydney - over coming xmas / Jan (albeit one or two minor compromises, such as splitting across two flights from sin-syd on return), so agree it's a pain to pay extra points but it's nice we both scored so many seats on BC - my first time redeeming on SA and was impressed with flex relative to say QF and taxes etc

Exactly; well done! :)
 
Must say I don’t get it. Singapore Airlines Reward Rip Off? I thought they are generous that they let you “reserved” your flights. Yes it is true that they up the redemption rates with a notice only 3 weeks prior. Rip Off is unfair. Try book 5 international award business class tickets with QANTAS or Virgin or Cathay Pacific.
 
I was quite surprised by their generous 'reserved" policy - do the other majors in our region have something similar? (Eg 10 months to finalise tickets)
 
Yeah not really a rip off.....just an error on your part and them doing what they do best "Sticking to their rules"

They can be a little frustrating to deal with sometimes but they didn't really do anything wrong or rip anyone off.

Just bad luck on your side really.
 
well. lets see what would have happened if Singapore Airlines allowed a grace period of say 24 hours.
Then sure as heck someone would be complaining that they only missed the grace period by x hours.

There is only one thing thats fair, SQ announced it in advance, and set the date, and told everyone. Surely someone who was transacting at about this time should have been on top of this.
 
The Frequent Flyer Concierge team takes the hard work out of finding reward seat availability. Using their expert knowledge and specialised tools, they'll help you book a great trip that maximises the value for your points.

AFF Supporters can remove this and all advertisements

I am also surprised about SQ let you reserve your seats. I actually think you are lucky that you can reserve your seats, and take away other people opportunity to book those seats with points available whilst you take time to transfer the points across.
 
I agree - I was surprised with their degree of flex, not to mention their willingness to create round trip tickets with an open jaw and still include free stopover
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Enhance your AFF viewing experience!!

From just $6 we'll remove all advertisements so that you can enjoy a cleaner and uninterupted viewing experience.

And you'll be supporting us so that we can continue to provide this valuable resource :)


Sample AFF with no advertisements? More..
Back
Top