SQ 25 delayed on July 17/18

[luxury-lizard]

We were booked on SQ FRA-SIN-MEL departing July 18 (SQ 25, which originates in JFK). Woke up at 6am as we had a 9am train from Stuttgart to FRA booked. Alert received (SMS and e-mail) that SQ25 delayed from 12:30pm to 14:30 (this later became 15:40) - panic - this meant we would miss our connection in SIN to MEL - as these were business class award seats - I jumped on the phone to SQ and asked for a re-schedule - agent said yes but it would "take time" as we had already checked-in online. Well while on the train to FRA received an e-mail with new itinerary and e-tickets. Good news - was worried about being bumped to Y as we were on award tickets. (new flight departed at 11am ex-SIN).

On checking in at FRA at 10am (unfortunately train tickets were fixed so had to depart Stuttgart even though we would have preferred to delay this) - on checkin agent gave up a letter outlining the delay (reason weather in JFK delayed departure from there) - SQ had also booked out an entire restaurant at FRA so passengers could enjoy a complimentary lunch ( business and first passengers) had a separate section .(letter also outlined how to claim compensation under EU261) ... upon boarding each passenger was given a box or bag of chocolates (depending on class of service). Upon arrival SQ had a number of desks setup for arriving passengers with at risk/missed connections - boarding passes ready for new flight etc etc,....

All in all - very well handled by SQ considering delay was not their fault. Beats many of the horror stories one reads on blogs about poor handling of delays by airlines.

Unfortunately - we missed our final flight from MEL-SYD so had to overnight at MEL airport ParkRoyal and fly home this morning, (We had booked to MEL as these were the only J award seats available when we booked our original flights). SYD WL did eventually come through but higher points were then required so we gave it a miss as we had already paid for MEL-SYD flights - well travel insurance should cover this off.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

If arrival at MEL was more than four hours after the originally scheduled time you may have a case for 600 euros compensation per person. However, if the delay was due to weather (or more likely ATC control in the event of bad weather) this might evaporate. (Although 'bad weather' is not always 'extraordinary' for the purposes of EU261)

If the airline is successful it might reduce the airline's obligation to providing you with meals and refreshments, which they did (although arguably they could have discharged that by you having lounge access).

Did SQ indicate you were entitled, or just give you infomration on how to claim (as required by law)?

 

[luxury-lizard]

If arrival at MEL was more than four hours after the originally scheduled time you may have a case for 600 euros compensation per person. However, if the delay was due to weather (or more likely ATC control in the event of bad weather) this might evaporate. (Although 'bad weather' is not always 'extraordinary' for the purposes of EU261)

If the airline is successful it might reduce the airline's obligation to providing you with meals and refreshments, which they did (although arguably they could have discharged that by you having lounge access).

Did SQ indicate you were entitled, or just give you infomration on how to claim (as required by law)?

Letter only indicated how to apply - final arrival in MEL was pretty much 4 hours after originally scheduled (if you count arrival at gate instead of touch down) - I am not expecting financial compensation under EU 261 but will give it a shot - all in all, I was pretty impressed with SQ's handling of the delay. Biggest frustration was missing last flight out of MEL to SYD by about 15? minutes - arrived at gate at 8:30pm - last flight was at 9:15pm (but we needed to clear immigration, bag collection and customs - then check-in with Virgin about 20 minutes before flight - didn't even try - went straight to ParkRoyal (we had booked a room and changed our Virgin flight to Sat AM just before departing FRA).

 

[MEL_Traveller]

The final arrival time is the time at the gate, not touchdown I've jad kickback from an airline saying the flight arrived 3hrs58mins so no compensation. I had to write back stating this was the time the flight landed, but it then had to get to the gate. (They paid )

it cannot hurt to put in a claim. If you don't want to make a big deal of it with SQ direct you could always go through one fo the claims companies. They will take 25-33%, but at least then you are at arm's length with your relationship with SQ. The claims companies have access to the flight management systems and can pretty much determine straight away whether the claim has legs. With the airlines you might have to go through some hoops.

 

[dajop]

I have noticed a few weather travel waivers for the north east US recently, and noticed a lot of trans Atlantic flights that left on evening of 17th, like SQ 25 left 1-3 hrs late. (I checked LH, BA and DL flights that were supposed to leave around same time as SQ25).

Also noted that SQ207 is scheduled to reach MEL at 17:10. Flightaware shows that on the 19th SQ 217 reached gate at 20:16, less than four hours later than scheduled arrival of SQ 207.

Therefore I suspect the EU261 provisions regarding compensation may not apply, so wouldn’t be holding hopes to high.

 

[luxury-lizard]

I have noticed a few weather travel waivers for the north east US recently, and noticed a lot of trans Atlantic flights that left on evening of 17th, like SQ 25 left 1-3 hrs late. (I checked LH, BA and DL flights that were supposed to leave around same time as SQ25).

Also noted that SQ207 is scheduled to reach MEL at 17:10. Flightaware shows that on the 19th SQ 217 reached gate at 20:16, less than four hours later than scheduled arrival of SQ 207.

Therefore I suspect the EU261 provisions regarding compensation may not apply, so wouldn’t be holding hopes to high.

Thanks for looking up the exact details - I'm quite sure you are correct re compensation - I really not concerned one way or the other.

 

[Melburnian1]

This shows not just good handling of a delay but the advantage of travelling with an airline (in SQ) that has a higher frequency of flights (to MEL) than many competitors. With five a day fairly evenly spread, provided there are seats available this really helps to avoid a '24 hour' delay when problems occur with another connecting flight.

 

[SOPOOR]

how awesome is singapore airlines,
after reading article after article on usually qantas behaving badly, its so nice to see an airline do such a nice courteous thing

singapore airlines reputation has just increased even more in my mind

 

[N860CR]

They do seem to handle delays well. Last trip back to SA I risked the 50 min connection CPT-SIN-SYD and missed it (CPT/JNB-SIN was 45 late due to a longer route to avoid a cyclone). As we walked off the plane at SIN, they had boarding passes in hand for the next service and walked us up to the lounge.

 

[N860CR]

Just thought I'd add another little story to this one. I spoke to my brother last week who had come home from Amsterdam on SQ earlier in the year. Turns out a technical delay caused him to miss the daytime connection SIN-SYD. Singapore organised transport, a hotel for the day and oddly a seat on QF2 that night.

That said... there was no mention of the EU compensation and he didn't know anything about it. A followup has been sent to SQ so we'll see what they say.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

You have two years... plenty of time.

 

[N860CR]

Only took 2 weeks to get a response. They’ve agreed to pay 600euro and included documentation to sign. Seems like it’s handled directly by the Amsterdam office. Only annoyance is they want to make a 600euro transfer into an Au bank account, so there will be some losses in fees.