Stranded at Heathrow after SQ cancelled our redemption tickets

[Huggle]

We used our KF points to redeem business class flights Sydney/Singapore, Singapore/London, London/Bangkok, Bangkok/Sydney. Our first 2 sectors were on Singapore Airlines & all went well. Our final 2 sectors were on partner airlines. On our 3rd sector we had checked in at Heathrow with EVA Air ( partner airline to SQ) & quite suddenly my husband became very ill. An Ambulance Paramedic attended & an EVa Air representative remained with us & offered support & assistance. Just 20 mins before departure it was deemed my husband was unable to fly but thankfully did not require hospitalization . EVA retrieved our luggage, provided a wheelchair, assisted us through immigration, organised a hotel room & taxi & left contact details should we require further assistance. EVA Air had business class seats available the following evening & stated that all we needed to do was to obtain authorisation from Singapore Airlines for the ticket change. EVa was absolutely wonderful - very customer focused .
Unfortunately Singapore Airlines were most unhelpful, they would not give authorisation for a ticketing change & they cancelled our tickets for the last 2 sectors. We were not a "no show" we had checked in, our luggage was on the aircraft,but apparently SQ has a rule that states once you have commenced the first sector of your journey there can be no changes to the remaining sectors on your tickets whatsoever. My husband has a Medical Certificate which states he cannot fly but apparently this counts for very little according to SQ.
We were in a catch 22!
Hence here we are at Heathrow with no tickets & my husband still very ill . Through my travel agent we were forced to purchase replacement business class tickets for the last 2 sectors of travel. This was a hugely expensive exercise. The next day my husband was somewhat better, still not well but was cleared to travel.
I have lodged a complaint with SQ & am still waiting for a reply.
The reason for my posting this is really as a Cautionary Tale for anyone travelling on redemption tickets with SQ ( using partner airlines). Travel Insurance will hopefully cover the replacement flights ( subject to the assessment of our claim) but you have to find the money upfront to purchase tickets - insurers will only reimburse you once they have a completed claim.
We were extremely disappointed with SQ. I really would have expected better from an airline of their standing. No help, no understanding, no assistance offered when we needed it most ! I would truly hate anyone to go through what we have just endured!

 

[Princess Fiona]

A cautionary tale indeed. Thank goodness you had travel insurance. I hope you both get home safely.

 

[markis10]

I am very sorry to hear of your plight, the last thing you need is stress from a stingy airline. I am also glad that you have insurance, we often get posts of people in similar positions that dont have that safety net. IIRC we had a similar story recently where someone fell ill in BKK and they subsequently had their tickets go no show.

Please let use know what feedback you get from Singapore, it has not been a good few weeks for airlines in that region when it comes to handling things when they go wrong.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Huggie so sorry to hear your woes - but more importantly how is your husband now? I do hope he has recovered. I have a very good contact in KF dept if you can't get satisfaction down the path you have taken - they may or may not be able to help but I am more than happy to share contact details if you hit a hurdle. I do hope things work out for you.

 

[vitagen]

Ouch what a situation, looks like someone from SQ just read the rules without any sort of flexibility in the situation. Your travel insurance should sort it out no worries! Hope your husband is feeling better!

 

[Buzzard]

So sorry to hear of your flight plight. Hope your husband has a speedy recovery. It is just mind boggling that SQ could do this to you especially when EVA was happy to do the right thing.

 

[Huggle]

So sorry to hear of your flight plight. Hope your husband has a speedy recovery. It is just mind boggling that SQ could do this to you especially when EVA was happy to do the right thing.

Thank you all for your kind thoughts & yes we are home safely & my husband is much better. I have had some feedback from SQ informing me that they are investigating my complaint & will revert to me in due course. Thank you Cruiser Elite for your offer & if I do meet a Road Block with SQ I'll get the name of the contact person you refer to if that's OK. It was rather cathartic to share our experience & I felt much better after having done so. So thank you all for listening & I'll let you know how I go with SQ in due course.

 

[albatross710]

Glad to hear that you had travel insurance which is designed to cover these sort of arrangements. Hope your husband is on the mend.

By way of a positive hope when I made a travel insurance claim regarding my cancelled tickets I came out some $10,000 dollars ahead. I forget the exact details but it was a first class redemption which was cancelled and the insurer rules said they assess it as full commercial value. I had flown a J replacement flight so I got to pocket the difference.

Let's hope you have a win as well.

 

[Huggle]

Glad to hear that you had travel insurance which is designed to cover these sort of arrangements. Hope your husband is on the mend.

By way of a positive hope when I made a travel insurance claim regarding my cancelled tickets I came out some $10,000 dollars ahead. I forget the exact details but it was a first class redemption which was cancelled and the insurer rules said they assess it as full commercial value. I had flown a J replacement flight so I got to pocket the difference.

Let's hope you have a win as well.

Thank you albatross 710 this gives me some hope! We are out of pocket over $20,000 & the fact we were traveling on redemption tickets really concerned me as I was unsure how the insurance company would view this! Hopefully our Insurance company( Allianz) will have a similar policy to yours . Thanks ! I'll keep posting & let you know!

 

[foggy]

with travel insurance, did you purchase it separately or was it with your credit card? does travel insurance with credit cards still apply if you use redemption for the flight bookings?

 

[Huggle]

with travel insurance, did you purchase it separately or was it with your credit card? does travel insurance with credit cards still apply if you use redemption for the flight bookings?

We purchased separate travel insurance with Allianz. I thought it best not to rely upon credit card insurance when using redemption tickets. I'm yet to submit the claim as I'm still gathering documents together. I'll keep posting & let everyone know how it goes.

 

[amaroo]

Pretty poor show all round! SQ should be ashamed with such a pathetic and lousy attitude....

Full points + some serious OTT compensation is well due! Good luck

 

[lovetravellingoz]

I'm yet to submit the claim as I'm still gathering documents together..

With Travel Insurance with most policies things actually normally go much smoother if you contact the insurance company ASAP, and follow their instructions, rather than try and claim back later. Your travel agent should have advised you of this. I had two sisters who worked in travel insurance for many years, and this was their strong advice to myself.

If you have not already called them, I would do so ASAP. You will have a 24hr assistance number tat you can call.

With paid travel insurance, I have made two claims for medical reasons, and followed this advice and it went without a hitch. The other advantage is that they will recommend doctors and hospitals if required.

My first claim was when I had a young daughter hospitalised, and we missed our return flights due to this. They arranged, the doctor, hospital, hotel and return flights leaing us completely free to care for our daughter.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

I thought it best not to rely upon credit card insurance when using redemption tickets. .

CC policies vary in conditions of when and how ff awards are covered, but as long as the CC covers you for award flights they are fine for this.

I have claimed once on Amex Plat when my wife had an extremely serious accident, before we left, which caused her to not be able to fly for 6 months. Claiming was painless and they paid for all non-refundable payments.

 

[Alanslegal]

By way of a positive hope when I made a travel insurance claim regarding my cancelled tickets I came out some $10,000 dollars ahead. I forget the exact details but it was a first class redemption which was cancelled and the insurer rules said they assess it as full commercial value. I had flown a J replacement flight so I got to pocket the difference.

With paid travel insurance, I have made two claims for medical reasons, and followed this advice and it went without a hitch. The other advantage is that they will recommend doctors and hospitals if required.

My first claim was when I had a young daughter hospitalised, and we missed our return flights due to this. They arranged, the doctor, hospital, hotel and return flights leaing us completely free to care for our daughter.

Very positive outcomes. Mind sharing which insurer you are with? My annual policy ends in two months so its time to start comparing insurers and policies.

 

[anat0l]

I'm interested to see what SQ do out of this.

I'm sure they will eventually - one way or another - come to the table with an amicable resolution for Huggle.

I suppose SQ (or SQ in UK) were taking the view that it wasn't their fault that you missed the flight, so whatever - the ticket is gone. It may or may not have helped that the change to the ticket came very close or after the departure of your original flight, though suffice to say if it was supposed to cancel then after your "failed to board", then EVA should not have been able to attempt to do anything about your rebooked sector.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Very positive outcomes. Mind sharing which insurer you are with? My annual policy ends in two months so its time to start comparing insurers and policies.

Hospital and return paid flights claim. QBE paid

Monkey bite and rabies shots: TID paid

Cancellation of European Trip: Accommodation, Tours, Cancellation fees to SQ for J Redemptions (including currency fluctuations), Train fares' : Amex Plat Charge Card Insurance (ie free CC Insurance)

 

[albatross710]

with travel insurance, did you purchase it separately or was it with your credit card? does travel insurance with credit cards still apply if you use redemption for the flight bookings?

I made successful claim on a credit card for reimbursing a redemption tix. On the day I cancelled I took a screen shot of the 'commercial' value of the tix but doing a dumy booking on the SQ website.

 

[Huggle]

With Travel Insurance with most policies things actually normally go much smoother if you contact the insurance company ASAP, and follow their instructions, rather than try and claim back later. Your travel agent should have advised you of this. I had two sisters who worked in travel insurance for many years, and this was their strong advice to myself.

If you have not already called them, I would do so ASAP. You will have a 24hr assistance number tat you can call.

With paid travel insurance, I have made two claims for medical reasons, and followed this advice and it went without a hitch. The other advantage is that they will recommend doctors and hospitals if required.

My first claim was when I had a young daughter hospitalised, and we missed our return flights due to this. They arranged, the doctor, hospital, hotel and return flights leaing us completely free to care for our daughter.

Thanks for this information. Actually I did call Allianz that evening when my husband was ill for help, advice & direction. They were somewhat helpful ( quoting from the insurance policy) & gave me a claim number. I asked could Allianz assist with booking forward flights & they said no they don't do that except when the claimant is hospitalized at which time the claim reverts to a "Medical Emergency". As my husband was not hospitalized & was just attended to by a paramedic & then a doctor then apparently we have to claim back the expenses when we return to Australia. The Allianz representative said that "there is no hurry to lodge the claim - just take your time when you get home" - I thought to myself well firstly we have to actually get home & secondly given that the cost of the new tickets was going to be so expensive I really needed to claim ASAP to try & get reimbursed. So in summary Allianz was there on the Emergency Line & they did offer some information but in actuality they offered no practical help - that was left up to me!

 

[SFSC]

Thanks for this information. Actually I did call Allianz that evening when my husband was ill for help, advice & direction. They were somewhat helpful ( quoting from the insurance policy) & gave me a claim number. I asked could Allianz assist with booking forward flights & they said no they don't do that except when the claimant is hospitalized at which time the claim reverts to a "Medical Emergency". As my husband was not hospitalized & was just attended to by a paramedic & then a doctor then apparently we have to claim back the expenses when we return to Australia. The Allianz representative said that "there is no hurry to lodge the claim - just take your time when you get home" - I thought to myself well firstly we have to actually get home & secondly given that the cost of the new tickets was going to be so expensive I really needed to claim ASAP to try & get reimbursed. So in summary Allianz was there on the Emergency Line & they did offer some information but in actuality they offered no practical help - that was left up to me!

This leaves me wondering how a person who does not have much credit limit available on their credit cards would manage to purchase the new tickets. Not everyone carries a charge card as well as credit cards and it would be quite possible to have the credit cards heavily loaded by that stage of a trip.