SQ Tips, Trips and Tales

[MELso]

I like the Lobster Thermidor.

Did the Lobster Thermidor last year in J and it's very tasty (but very rich). As it's one of the 'signature' BTC dishes, it's certainly worth a try at least once.

 

[daft009]

What class are you flying?
Sacre bleu!

We were in J

 

[Steady]

Rooey even at kiosks in MEL their is dedicated F counter so don’t panic - you know SQ adore you and fawn over you every second

Does SQ use row F counters in MEL? I see this post from @whughes3 mentioning it is at the LH end of the international check in area




Am i correct in my understanding that its ok to delay collecting luggage a few hours on arrival into SIN, and it will be safe and put aside for collection when departing?

 

[whughes3]

Does SQ use row F counters in MEL? I see this post from @whughes3 mentioning it is at the LH end of the international check in area

View attachment 515595


Am i correct in my understanding that its ok to delay collecting luggage a few hours on arrival into SIN, and it will be safe and put aside for collection when departing?

That was 8 Years ago and is probably ancient history. I said goodbye to SQ some time ago.

 

[MELso]

Does SQ use row F counters in MEL? I see this post from @whughes3 mentioning it is at the LH end of the international check in area

View attachment 515595


Am i correct in my understanding that its ok to delay collecting luggage a few hours on arrival into SIN, and it will be safe and put aside for collection when departing?

Yes, that's where they are.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Am i correct in my understanding that it’s ok to delay collecting luggage a few hours on arrival into SIN, and it will be safe and put aside for collection when departing?

Correct!

It will be taken off the carousel and stored at the left luggage office.

Just remember to enter singapore at the terminal you arrived at! For example if you land at T2, but go to the lounge in T3, you must go back to T2 to enter and get your bag. Otherwise you’ll have to try and retrieve it from landslide, which will lead to delays.

 

[Steady]

That was 8 Years ago and is probably ancient history. I said goodbye to SQ some time ago.

No worries, that’s why I was asking

 

[bussyboy]

How does guest lounge access work on SQ? I'm trying to convince my sister to join me in Singapore a few days before i fly onward to India in Suites. If she's on SQ economy back to Perth can she join me in any SQ lounges before her flight out of Changi?

 

[daft009]

How does guest lounge access work on SQ? I'm trying to convince my sister to join me in Singapore a few days before i fly onward to India in Suites. If she's on SQ economy back to Perth can she join me in any SQ lounges before her flight out of Changi?

Has to be same flight

 

[mel-world]

As someone who almost always enjoys the reports and useful information on AFF, I do sometimes feel a bit of a fraud as I can no longer afford to fly frequently. Being on a fixed, and sadly ever reducing budget, we are restricted to one or two substantial holidays a year so able to plan way ahead and use some of the hints I've learnt from AFF over the years.

We try to plan one 6 week trip overseas and a 4 week trip within Australia and eat gruel for the rest of the year as we still want to fly J intentionally and I am still lucky enough to maintain TPPS for just one more year. For this reason, I have always been an apologist for SQ - they have yet to let me down. I'd love to be able to book R/F again but will just have to read your reports and remember past memorable experiences.

I thought I could give anyone looking to get the best value out of booking SQ to Europe our plan for a trip just secured when you do not have as many Krisflyer points as you used to have available. You do have to book some award flights around the day they become available and even some of the more restrictive J fares go quickly.

Our plan is to fly to Frankfurt (end May to early July '27), as we like the day flights as often as possible and the 380 usually has good availability. However, we did not have the points for MEL-FRA return.

If we booked MEL-FRA return next week the price for the 2 of us would have been more than A$38,000. If we booked the same route on the dates we want to fly next year, the tickets would have cost over A$24,000.

Here is what we did:

MEL-SIN - Aeroplan awards - 80k pts purchased for A$3000 + 72k extra during a 90% promotion. Used 152k points + A$300 for 2 x J MEL-SIN - fully refundable if circumstances change.
SIN-FRA-SIN - Cash tickets - SGD10550 = approx A$11650 at today's rate + A$35 WISE exchange fee.
(SQ immediately offered us 11D/F for both legs - thanks very much).
SIN-MEL - 2 x SQ J Saver tickets at our preferred departure time (SQ217) using a mixture of SQ and VA points to get us 144k Krisflyer points + A$111.
(These were secured on the morning they were released at around 0800 SIN time).

Total cost for 2 = about A$15050 - a saving of approx $9k, (or more, if booked closer to departure).

PS, I know we could have done even better maybe going via DPS, MNL or CGK or using a different (ME) airline from Asia to Europe but this itinerary offers the minimum stops and our preferred airline all the way.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

As someone who almost always enjoys the reports and useful information on AFF, I do sometimes feel a bit of a fraud as I can no longer afford to fly frequently. Being on a fixed, and sadly ever reducing budget, we are restricted to one or two substantial holidays a year so able to plan way ahead and use some of the hints I've learnt from AFF over the years.

We try to plan one 6 week trip overseas and a 4 week trip within Australia and eat gruel for the rest of the year as we still want to fly J intentionally and I am still lucky enough to maintain TPPS for just one more year. For this reason, I have always been an apologist for SQ - they have yet to let me down. I'd love to be able to book R/F again but will just have to read your reports and remember past memorable experiences.

I thought I could give anyone looking to get the best value out of booking SQ to Europe our plan for a trip just secured when you do not have as many Krisflyer points as you used to have available. You do have to book some award flights around the day they become available and even some of the more restrictive J fares go quickly.

Our plan is to fly to Frankfurt (end May to early July '27), as we like the day flights as often as possible and the 380 usually has good availability. However, we did not have the points for MEL-FRA return.

If we booked MEL-FRA return next week the price for the 2 of us would have been more than A$38,000. If we booked the same route on the dates we want to fly next year, the tickets would have cost over A$24,000.

Here is what we did:

MEL-SIN - Aeroplan awards - 80k pts purchased for A$3000 + 72k extra during a 90% promotion. Used 152k points + A$300 for 2 x J MEL-SIN - fully refundable if circumstances change.
SIN-FRA-SIN - Cash tickets - SGD10550 = approx A$11650 at today's rate + A$35 WISE exchange fee.
(SQ immediately offered us 11D/F for both legs - thanks very much).
SIN-MEL - 2 x SQ J Saver tickets at our preferred departure time (SQ217) using a mixture of SQ and VA points to get us 144k Krisflyer points + A$111.
(These were secured on the morning they were released at around 0800 SIN time).

Total cost for 2 = about A$15050 - a saving of approx $9k, (or more, if booked closer to departure).

PS, I know we could have done even better maybe going via DPS, MNL or CGK or using a different (ME) airline from Asia to Europe but this itinerary offers the minimum stops and our preferred airline all the way.

Shame you couldn’t get Aeroplan all the way for $10400 for the two of you on SQ. I just brought a friend back from FRA in June next year, SQ all the way, but into ADL. But plenty of seats out of FRA! And you would have kept your 144k KF points.

The fully cancellable award for aeroplan… did you pay 52.5k per person one way, or the higher 68.5k? The higher priced award, allowing free cancellation, is actually higher than paying the cancel fee in cash.

 

[mel-world]

Shame you couldn’t get Aeroplan all the way for $10400 for the two of you on SQ. I just brought a friend back from FRA in June next year, SQ all the way, but into ADL. But plenty of seats out of FRA! And you would have kept your 144k KF points.

The fully cancellable award for aeroplan… did you pay 52.5k per person one way, or the higher 68.5k? The higher priced award, allowing free cancellation, is actually higher than paying the cancel fee in cash.

Thanks for the additional info. I wanted stopovers in SIN in both directions to visit friends so did not even look at the direct option. A direct 24-hour journey is hard at our age.

I'll bear in mind the option to pay cash for a cancellation. Do the points get refunded immediately - or at all?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks for the additional info. I wanted stopovers in SIN in both directions to visit friends so did not even look at the direct option. A direct 24-hour journey is hard at our age.

I'll bear in mind the option to pay cash for a cancellation. Do the points get refunded immediately - or at all?

So for 5000 points extra you can stopover on an aeroplan award. Basically $100 extra. And you can do that both ways! Up to 39 days or so (might be more actually).

If you have purchased the more expensive award - the latitude - the cancellation will be free and you’ll get back all your points. But if you use the award, you’ve paid $320 for the benefit of ‘free cancellation’.

for a standard award, it’s $100 to change route or dates, and $150 to cancel. And al, you miles go back into your account.

The latitude award is rarely worth it, unless you are doing something like a back-up that you are almost certain you won’t be using.

And even with the regular award and $150 cancellation, it might be covered by your insurance anyway for an insured event.