SQ Availability 18th Feb

[Bolthead]

We have recently decided to do a last minute trip to Shanghai to visit our son and check out the Ice Festival in Harbin. We are only looking at SQ flights as we want to earn Velocity points as well as use an upgrade certificate we have. Checking on the SQ website there appears to be slim pickings when it comes to Y seats. So much so that a number of flights appear to be booked out. I know it is Chinese New Year however we assumed (rightly or wrongly) that the main bulk of travel would be over by the 18th Feb. I then checked on Expert Flyer and found this ... The graphic is a bit rough however you can see that the majority of the seats are blocked and occupied. This is the same story on most flights on this date. Does anyone know why that many seats are blocked? Thanks for your help...

Bolt

 

[Bolthead]

We have recently decided to do a last minute trip to Shanghai to visit our son and check out the Ice Festival in Harbin. We are only looking at SQ flights as we want to earn Velocity points as well as use an upgrade certificate we have. Checking on the SQ website there appears to be slim pickings when it comes to Y seats. So much so that a number of flights appear to be booked out. I know it is Chinese New Year however we assumed (rightly or wrongly) that the main bulk of travel would be over by the 18th Feb. I then checked on Expert Flyer and found this ... The graphic is a bit rough however you can see that the majority of the seats are blocked and occupied. This is the same story on most flights on this date. Does anyone know why that many seats are blocked? Thanks for your help...

Bolt

Just as expected..... Chinese New Year is the reason. Apparently seats are slim pickings however with a bit of luck we can grab a few. Still don't know why Expert Flyer says the're blocked because according to SQ most of the seats are occupied... I'm getting the feeling I am talking to myself...

 

[Cruiser Elite]

No your not Bolt - we are listening but I don't think there is much anyone can contribute. As I have posted in SQTTT thread flts to/fro China first 3 weeks Feb very heavily booked all airlines that service Chinese ports - it's just typical of CNY period.

I usually avoid CNY period if poss but this year no choice I have to be in thick of it - I was lucky to snare rdpts but I was within a day of purchasing comm tix on CA on MEL's advice.

 

[Bolthead]

No your not Bolt - we are listening but I don't think there is much anyone can contribute. As I have posted in SQTTT thread flts to/fro China first 3 weeks Feb very heavily booked all airlines that service Chinese ports - it's just typical of CNY period.

I usually avoid CNY period if poss but this year no choice I have to be in thick of it - I was lucky to snare rdpts but I was within a day of purchasing comm tix on CA on MEL's advice.

Thanks Cruiser... I told my wife that it was a bad time of the year to travel however considering we are now at the tail end of her 12 months off from work she wanted to squeeze one more trip in. It appears the majority of the problem is SYD-SIN as all other flights appear to be not as cramped. The other painful thing was this upgrade voucher we had. SQ customer service after 2 phone calls yesterday said we had to go through SYD ticket office and of course they won't open until today. They in turn said we had to book the tickets through an agent and of course I haven't used one in years. Luckily I found a very delightful young lady at Flight Centre who had no idea what an upgrade certificate was but 1.5 hours later she is now an expert. We are going to Chengdu (check out the Pandas) and Harbin (Ice Festival) for the first time as well as our son in Shanghai and looking forward to it.