SQ waitlist cleared... no SMS!

[wafliron]

Has anyone else had issues with SQ SMS-based notifications of waitlists clearing not being sent / not arriving?

I just had a waitlist clear and wasn't notified - only noticed by chance because I didn't trust the SMSes and had been checking the SQ website recently (and am now very glad I did!).

 

[perthtraveller]

Has anyone else had issues with SQ SMS-based notifications of waitlists clearing not being sent / not arriving?

I just had a waitlist clear and wasn't notified - only noticed by chance because I didn't trust the SMSes and had been checking the SQ website recently (and am now very glad I did!).

I'd say I only get a handful of notifications, whether by email or SMS, for flights that have come off waitlist. Sometimes immediately after booking a waitlisted flight, some sectors immediately come off waitlist once you go into "Manage my booking".

Despite system issues, I still love SQ. Almost every flight I waitlist has become available. J Savers heaven!

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Yes also had probs with SMS's - just do not trust them.

 

[wafliron]

I'd say I only get a handful of notifications, whether by email or SMS, for flights that have come off waitlist. Sometimes immediately after booking a waitlisted flight, some sectors immediately come off waitlist once you go into "Manage my booking".

Yes also had probs with SMS's - just do not trust them.

Hmm OK, at least it's not just me. So you guys just regularly check your booking via the SQ website to see if your waitlists have cleared?

Despite system issues, I still love SQ. Almost every flight I waitlist has become available. J Savers heaven!

Well, I've just had a good start in this regard too Hoping it continues this way.

 

[Alanslegal]

Never realised one can elect to receive a SMS when a waitlist clears.

On a different topic, I had a wait list clear a few weeks ago, for a flight in June. Now it allows me to confirm those flights until the day of departure Is it rude? or poor form of me? or even selfish of me to not confirm them until the very last minute? I know my indecision (deciding between a SQ award home or another QF ex-SIN return Y fare) may mean (potentially) someone else out there may be wait listing and possibly miss out altogether.

 

[wafliron]

Never realised one can elect to receive a SMS when a waitlist clears.

Yup, according to SQ SMS or e-mail. But unreliable, as we've established above.

On a different topic, I had a wait list clear a few weeks ago, for a flight in June. Now it allows me to confirm those flights until the day of departure Is it rude? or poor form of me? or even selfish of me to not confirm them until the very last minute? I know my indecision (deciding between a SQ award home or another QF ex-SIN return Y fare) may mean (potentially) someone else out there may be wait listing and possibly miss out altogether.

Hmm, SQ told me that you have a very limited amount of time to confirm your flight after a waitlist clears or you're at risk of losing it again - a timeframe measured in hours. Is that not the case?

 

[Alanslegal]

Hmm, SQ told me that you have a very limited amount of time to confirm your flight after a waitlist clears or you're at risk of losing it again - a timeframe measured in hours. Is that not the case?

That sounds right though not for my current cleared waitlist:-

Your waitlisted flight is available | Booking ref. ABCDEF
Please confirm your booking by going to details page, before 07 Jun 2012 or it will be automatically cancelled

 

[wafliron]

That sounds right though not for my current cleared waitlist:-

Your waitlisted flight is available | Booking ref. ABCDEF
Please confirm your booking by going to details page, before 07 Jun 2012 or it will be automatically cancelled

Ahh OK, so it's on a case-by-case basis for each waitlist that clears? e.g. this particular time it's told you you have until 7th of June, but normally it tells you you only have a few hours / days? Where did the above advice come from? Is it somewhere on SQ's website once a waitlist clears, or was that from the notification SMS / e-mail (that I didn't receive)?

As to your original question... I reckon it'd be "nice" of you to make a decision sooner, but don't think you're doing anything ethically wrong by waiting.

 

[Alanslegal]

Ahh OK, so it's on a case-by-case basis for each waitlist that clears? e.g. this particular time it's told you you have until 7th of June, but normally it tells you you only have a few hours / days? Where did the above advice come from? Is it somewhere on SQ's website once a waitlist clears, or was that from the notification SMS / e-mail (that I didn't receive)?

As to your original question... I reckon it'd be "nice" of you to make a decision sooner, but don't think you're doing anything ethically wrong by waiting.

Yeah the flight in question is actually on the 7th as well, so I have till last minute to confirm. I'll firm up my ideas very soon in any case ie ~two weeks

I found the information on the My Bookings pages within my SQ account.

 

[wafliron]

Yeah the flight in question is actually on the 7th as well, so I have till last minute to confirm. I'll firm up my ideas very soon in any case ie ~two weeks

Lucky you

I found the information on the My Bookings pages within my SQ account.

Righto - I must've just missed it. Will keep an eye out next time.

 

[albatross710]

I think they will send waitlist confirmation closer to the departure date.

The problem with the SMS reminders is the timing. I've received SMS notifications at the weirdest hours. For instance a 5 minute timing change has previously launched an SMS notification to me at about 11:30pm. It's hard ( but not impossible) for SQ to know where in the world each sms recipient is and what time zone.

That sounds new information that waitlists now have until the day of departure to confirm.

 

[Fatcat]

Ive been waitlisted about half a dozen times and notified of clearing through email; they are generally very good with the emails, but cant comment on the sms service.

A slight note of caution with waitlisting though (might be slightly off topic so apologies in advance but some may find this experience interesting);

I booked a redemption saver award in July 2011 SIN-FRA-SIN in F, it was waitlisted, and I received an email in Sept clearing both segments (emails came through on the same day as they were first cleared). I went online and confirmed the flights right away but could not issue the ticket (might have had something to do with the plane being switched from a 747 to the A380). Their call centre couldnt issue the ticket and I was passed around like a hot potato to various "supervisors" over the next 4 months while they tried tell me that a change of equipment (despite the flight number and times remaining the same) was a "schedule change" and hence my ticket could not be honored. They also threw in the line about Suites being a class above F and unavailable in Saver, then tried to persuade me to change to a J standard award for more miles (these were the days before A380 flights were available in Saver).

Despite numerous public examples of other folks having their tickets (confirmed only and not issued) honored when the 747 - 777W/A380 switch occurred (including the SIN-FRA route) and four months of arguing and delayed responses from SQ management (no doubt trying to wear me down), they refused to budge and in the end my redemption was canned for 10k KF miles "compensation". No matter what I said I got the standard line that I wasnt ticketed at the time, "confirmed" meant absolutely nothing and no comment on how others got through. They did at one stage offer to swap it for Lufthansa in F (when there was availability but this dried up after a couple of weeks) at one stage but the flight timings were 9 hrs off on the return leg so I held out and ended up with nothing - I had virtually no status with SQ.

Anyhow apologies for the rant and I think confirming and ticketing are done almost immediately anyhow but be aware that even where your waitlist clears and you confirm the flights there is still the chance SQ will not honor the ticket (if there is an equipment change later) unless you pay the taxes and get it issued.

 

[wafliron]

Ive been waitlisted about half a dozen times and notified of clearing through email; they are generally very good with the emails, but cant comment on the sms service.

Thanks for the feedback - think I might stick to e-mail in the future.

A slight note of caution with waitlisting though (might be slightly off topic so apologies in advance but some may find this experience interesting);

No, thanks for sharing - good to know about.

To be clear, did the 747 -> A380 aircraft substitution happen before you confirmed your flights, or after your confirmed them but before you paid for them / had them ticketed?

Either way, pretty annoying . If it was the former and they cancelled your waitlists at the same time as the aircraft substitution then I personally don't think they'd have done anything wrong, but once they cleared your waitlists and let you confirm them they should have honoured the ticket regardless of aircraft change.

I wonder what was different between you / your situation and the others you mentioned that they wouldn't honour the tickets for you, but would for others?

On a different note (and even further OT):

1) Has anyone else had problems confirming / ticketing previously-waitlisted awards online? When I tried to confirm and pay for the flight that lead to me starting this thread the SQ website took me right through the confirmation / payment process, and then on the very final screen errored out. Error basically said "something went wrong, we've already charged you credit card but will reverse it in the next few days, please call us to sort out ticketing". The booking completely disappeared from "Manage Bookings" on the website at the same time too. All was resolved with a quick call to KrisFlyer customer service - they didn't try to screw me out of the 15% online discount either - but still annoying.

2) Anyone know if SQ will substitute for a larger aircraft (assuming one is available) if load factors potentially justify it? One segment of the trip that lead to me starting this thread is MEL-SIN on SQ238 in August - scheduled aircraft is a 777-300 (refitted) and it's already very full up the back ~4 months out ( F4 P4 A4 Z4 C4 J4 D4 S9 Y9 B9 E9 M9 W0 Q0 N0 H9 V0 T0 L0 K0) - wondering (hoping!) whether there's any chance that they'll swap the 777-300 out for an A380?

 

[Fatcat]

Waitlist cleared on the same day as the aircraft change announcement from memory. They allowed me to confirm the flights online, which I did straight away, and I also tried to issue the ticket straight away (which I always do) but no dice.

Yes to be fair on the one hand it was probably a system error that cleared the waitlist when they changed the equipment, but a little goodwill wouldnt hurt plus once they confirm a ticket they should have the integrity to honor it, especially since it wasnt an error on pricing.

What annoyed me the most was the fact that there were people in the exact same situation who had their tickets honored (folks who held confirmed and issued tickets, AND folks who only had confirmed tickets that had not been issued yet, and I suspect these individuals were PPS members (whilst I expect them to receive preferential treatment in most matters, the degree of difference in this situation was a little extreme). I wasnt amused by the discrimination, status perks like upgrades etc are fine but a binary outcome to fly or not is out of line IMHO.


Ive generally found SQ to be very honest in not trying to rip off the 15% online discount if you have to call the call centre to book redemptions due to their system gliches (which happens quite a lot, at least in the past).

 

[Alanslegal]

Yes to be fair on the one hand it was probably a system error that cleared the waitlist when they changed the equipment, but a little goodwill wouldnt hurt plus once they confirm a ticket they should have the integrity to honor it, especially since it wasnt an error on pricing.

What annoyed me the most was the fact that there were people in the exact same situation who had their tickets honored (folks who held confirmed and issued tickets, AND folks who only had confirmed tickets that had not been issued yet, and I suspect these individuals were PPS members (whilst I expect them to receive preferential treatment in most matters, the degree of difference in this situation was a little extreme). I wasnt amused by the discrimination, status perks like upgrades etc are fine but a binary outcome to fly or not is out of line IMHO.

I would also think it was a technical error that cleared the waitlist. As you said that error probably occurred the same time the equipment change was made and maybe upon the change to a 388, the software caused space/bucket availability to increase. The call centre couldn't do anything as suites are booked into R buckets and first awards are F buckets in SQ's case. But as you do point out, a little goodwill now and then goes a long way and SQ could have / should have escalated the issue to someone who could approve/confirm the awards and we would have another great SQ service thread.

There has been reports by AFF'ers with non-PPS status to have their tickets honored when equipment changes eg. 744 -> 388. I know in the past some people deliberately booked 744 awards in the hope for equipment changes (to a 388/77W).

 

[wafliron]

Just had another waitlist clear with no e-mail or SMS notification - annoying I have to manually check the SQ website every couple of days! At least this one confirmed and ticketed OK online - last one errored out and I had a endure a call to SQ call centre to fix it.

 

[Kraken]

SMS service was ok when I was based in the UK. No idea what happened when I moved down under. Despite me updating my details, I no longer get any 48hrs advance request of check in etc. Decided to re-update. Now I receive check in after my flight. The system still thinks I'm in the UK. Weird!