Tweet
I fly economy class on Singapore Airlines very often. SQ are a joy to fly in Y.
SQ has a superb Y product. From that starting assumption, you can optimize the Y experience further, for example, by choosing flights operated by newer aircraft types (Better IFE on A330/A380/77W than refitted 777), and flying middle of the week (Planes less full on Wed) or picking the right seat in the Y cabin. Emex or bulkhead? Upper deck or lower? Some seats recline less than others, some older planes have seats with bulky IFE boxes underneath. Front of plane gives you pole position for the race to immigration, but the rear of the plane is where the empty seats are…
And for the real connoisseurs of the art of flying Y, there is the “bunched bus" effect: In the same way in Singapore along Orchard Road where sometimes a full SBS Transit bus number 36 comes along packed to the gills, and just behind it there is an empty 36, there are some quirks in flight schedules where two SQ flights to the same destination are scheduled very close to each other, resulting in the later flight usually being far emptier than the earlier one. The old SIN-PEK schedule (No longer valid with the introduction of the A380 flights to Beijing) comes to mind, where SQ806 had a 4.55pm departure, followed by SQ810 at 6.10pm.
But enough talk about Y. Sometimes you just want something more: space to sleep, or work, or both. Or just a way to destress, and treat yourself to something even better.
That was exactly how I felt last month, as I was about to embark on a trip to San Francisco. I was booked on SQ16: Six hours from Singapore to Incheon, an hour or so in transit, then a long ten+ hour flight to San Francisco, for a total duration of more than 18 hours.
I’ve done SQ16 in Y on many occasions. This time I thought I would do it in Business.
I’ve had fairly good luck with Krisflyer business saver award redemptions and business saver upgrades over the years. However, business savers are not easy to come by for SIN-SFO. My schedules are rarely set far enough in advance for me to snag these seats early.
A quick check online revealed that no saver upgrades were available from SIN-SFO, however, a couple of test bookings showed that business saver flight awards were available for ICN-SFO (but not SIN-ICN). On many occasions business saver award availability usually translates to saver upgrade availability. Some on this forum say that saver awards and saver upgrades come from different buckets of inventory, but there seems to be some correlation between availability of these. Anyone know if they are from the same inventory?
I called SQ’s Krisflyer call centre to ask if I could redeem a saver upgrade just for ICN-SFO? Not possible, as my ticket had this as a single sector SIN-SFO.
Hmmm…time to get a little creative. I called my travel agent.
“You know my trip to San Francisco, it is currently ticketed SIN-SFO as a single sector. Is there any fare difference if you change my reservation to SIN-ICN and ICN-SFO as two separate sectors?” I asked.
“There is no fare difference if there is no stopover. “ she answered.
“Great…please do that, and thanks for your help!”
My ticket was reissued as SIN-ICN and ICN-SFO, both on SQ16.
I went online to the Krisflyer website. Bingo! Saver upgrade availability to business was available on ICN-SFO. I selected that option online and clicked through to the next step.
That’s when SQ’s Useless New Website™ threw me out of my upgrade page and back to the start screen, with no memory of my recent interaction online. What? Is this the online equivalent of dementia or Alzheimer’s? That website had been fairly stable for a while, then recently began acting up again.
Will SQ ever deliver an online experience that matches their inflight experience?
Until then, I will keep the Krisflyer member hotline phone number handy. A call to the hotline, and my business saver upgrade was done over the phone in minutes by a very polite and helpful agent.
And to add icing to the cake, I went online to select my seat and snagged 11K, first row of Business Class in the front business mini-cabin of the 77W. A very desirable J seat indeed!
Point-wise, the Krisflyer award chart has a few idiosyncracies: a business saver upgrade redemption SIN-SFO is 65,000 points, but ICN-SFO is 60,000 points. An upgrade for the full SIN-SFO sector would have been far better value. In fact, a saver upgrade on HKG-SFO (On SQ2) is 55,000 points: 5K fewer points for a flight a couple of hours longer than SQ16 on the US-bound leg. Go figure! But a saver upgrade is still better value than a standard upgrade requiring 2X the points.
So I would fly the SIN-ICN leg in Y, then continue ICN-SFO in J on the same flight. The SIN-ICN leg is a daytime flight – perfectly comfortable in the back of the bus. The ten hour 50 minute ICN-SFO sector would be where SQ J would really shine: A spacious seat, full dinner service, and a flat bed for the rest of the overnight flight. I was excited!
Would this live up to expectations? Read on to find out!
SQ has a superb Y product. From that starting assumption, you can optimize the Y experience further, for example, by choosing flights operated by newer aircraft types (Better IFE on A330/A380/77W than refitted 777), and flying middle of the week (Planes less full on Wed) or picking the right seat in the Y cabin. Emex or bulkhead? Upper deck or lower? Some seats recline less than others, some older planes have seats with bulky IFE boxes underneath. Front of plane gives you pole position for the race to immigration, but the rear of the plane is where the empty seats are…
And for the real connoisseurs of the art of flying Y, there is the “bunched bus" effect: In the same way in Singapore along Orchard Road where sometimes a full SBS Transit bus number 36 comes along packed to the gills, and just behind it there is an empty 36, there are some quirks in flight schedules where two SQ flights to the same destination are scheduled very close to each other, resulting in the later flight usually being far emptier than the earlier one. The old SIN-PEK schedule (No longer valid with the introduction of the A380 flights to Beijing) comes to mind, where SQ806 had a 4.55pm departure, followed by SQ810 at 6.10pm.
But enough talk about Y. Sometimes you just want something more: space to sleep, or work, or both. Or just a way to destress, and treat yourself to something even better.
That was exactly how I felt last month, as I was about to embark on a trip to San Francisco. I was booked on SQ16: Six hours from Singapore to Incheon, an hour or so in transit, then a long ten+ hour flight to San Francisco, for a total duration of more than 18 hours.
I’ve done SQ16 in Y on many occasions. This time I thought I would do it in Business.
I’ve had fairly good luck with Krisflyer business saver award redemptions and business saver upgrades over the years. However, business savers are not easy to come by for SIN-SFO. My schedules are rarely set far enough in advance for me to snag these seats early.
A quick check online revealed that no saver upgrades were available from SIN-SFO, however, a couple of test bookings showed that business saver flight awards were available for ICN-SFO (but not SIN-ICN). On many occasions business saver award availability usually translates to saver upgrade availability. Some on this forum say that saver awards and saver upgrades come from different buckets of inventory, but there seems to be some correlation between availability of these. Anyone know if they are from the same inventory?
I called SQ’s Krisflyer call centre to ask if I could redeem a saver upgrade just for ICN-SFO? Not possible, as my ticket had this as a single sector SIN-SFO.
Hmmm…time to get a little creative. I called my travel agent.
“You know my trip to San Francisco, it is currently ticketed SIN-SFO as a single sector. Is there any fare difference if you change my reservation to SIN-ICN and ICN-SFO as two separate sectors?” I asked.
“There is no fare difference if there is no stopover. “ she answered.
“Great…please do that, and thanks for your help!”
My ticket was reissued as SIN-ICN and ICN-SFO, both on SQ16.
I went online to the Krisflyer website. Bingo! Saver upgrade availability to business was available on ICN-SFO. I selected that option online and clicked through to the next step.
That’s when SQ’s Useless New Website™ threw me out of my upgrade page and back to the start screen, with no memory of my recent interaction online. What? Is this the online equivalent of dementia or Alzheimer’s? That website had been fairly stable for a while, then recently began acting up again.
Will SQ ever deliver an online experience that matches their inflight experience?
Until then, I will keep the Krisflyer member hotline phone number handy. A call to the hotline, and my business saver upgrade was done over the phone in minutes by a very polite and helpful agent.
And to add icing to the cake, I went online to select my seat and snagged 11K, first row of Business Class in the front business mini-cabin of the 77W. A very desirable J seat indeed!
Point-wise, the Krisflyer award chart has a few idiosyncracies: a business saver upgrade redemption SIN-SFO is 65,000 points, but ICN-SFO is 60,000 points. An upgrade for the full SIN-SFO sector would have been far better value. In fact, a saver upgrade on HKG-SFO (On SQ2) is 55,000 points: 5K fewer points for a flight a couple of hours longer than SQ16 on the US-bound leg. Go figure! But a saver upgrade is still better value than a standard upgrade requiring 2X the points.
So I would fly the SIN-ICN leg in Y, then continue ICN-SFO in J on the same flight. The SIN-ICN leg is a daytime flight – perfectly comfortable in the back of the bus. The ten hour 50 minute ICN-SFO sector would be where SQ J would really shine: A spacious seat, full dinner service, and a flat bed for the rest of the overnight flight. I was excited!
Would this live up to expectations? Read on to find out!
Comment