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Old Aug 6, 2014, 8:37 pm
  #1  
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buy up to business?

I'm flying on a paid economy SQ flight from FRA to JFK. Does SQ ever let you buy up to the next class of service upon checkin? Does *G help? thanks.
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Old Aug 6, 2014, 9:15 pm
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Originally Posted by spaceman3
I'm flying on a paid economy SQ flight from FRA to JFK. Does SQ ever let you buy up to the next class of service upon checkin? Does *G help? thanks.
You can buy next class if you pay the full price difference. *G is irrelevant.
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Old Aug 7, 2014, 12:34 am
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SQ always let you buy up if business class is not full, they are more than happy to let you do so at EXACTLY the price difference you see online today and day of departure, no exceptions. Unless the price goes up by a lot on date of departure

Thats how SQ keeps their business / first class cabin more "exclusive". One of the plus points of SQ.
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Old Aug 7, 2014, 5:31 am
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Last time I tried that, I was quoted a (one-way) fare that cost more than a round-trip in J booked a few months in advance. In fact, if I remember correctly, it was even more expensive than if I had just booked myself in J in the first place at the time I booked my flight a few months earlier.

It might still be worth asking (no harm in that, after all), but you probably won't get much out of it.
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Old Aug 7, 2014, 9:58 am
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Why not just buy up online now if you know you want to fly J? Since they don't try to dump DOD inventory at low prices like U.S. based carriers do, there's really no point in waiting until check-in.
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Old Aug 12, 2014, 8:37 am
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From my experience, SQ charged me a full J price ticket (less whatever I've already paid for my existing ticket) and it was way too expensive. Just wasn't worth it in my opinion.

And as mentioned by other posters, it is actually cheaper to just book round trip business class tickets beforehand.
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Old Aug 13, 2014, 10:52 am
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Originally Posted by chisquared
Last time I tried that, I was quoted a (one-way) fare that cost more than a round-trip in J booked a few months in advance. In fact, if I remember correctly, it was even more expensive than if I had just booked myself in J in the first place at the time I booked my flight a few months earlier.

It might still be worth asking (no harm in that, after all), but you probably won't get much out of it.
That's because your flight was probably pretty full up front so they were quoting you the difference between full-fare J and your original booking class. If SQ Revenue Management puts the inventory in J, the airport staff can't override it down even if there are a few seats left to sell on the day of departure.
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Old Aug 16, 2014, 12:31 am
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Do different airports have their own policies I wonder?

Back in Feb I was on AKL-SQ-SIN-SQ-AKL J (booking class D) outbound F return. At check-in in Auckland I asked for the buy up price and was quoted NZD$850. Took the offer and F ended up 3/8 (myself included).
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Old Aug 16, 2014, 3:49 am
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Maybe not so much airport-related, as sales city-related, which in this case was AKL, I'm guessing. NZD 850 is a steal for a J to F upgrade, I think. Do you remember how much the difference was at the time of booking? Was this an upgrade for only the outbound leg?
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Old Aug 16, 2014, 11:07 am
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Originally Posted by LyingFlat
Do different airports have their own policies I wonder?

Back in Feb I was on AKL-SQ-SIN-SQ-AKL J (booking class D) outbound F return. At check-in in Auckland I asked for the buy up price and was quoted NZD$850. Took the offer and F ended up 3/8 (myself included).
My understanding is that these mixed cabin fares on SQ are always very expensive, so I wouldn't be surprised if NZD$850 was the fare difference between D/F and F/F
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Old Aug 16, 2014, 11:29 am
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Originally Posted by chisquared
Maybe not so much airport-related, as sales city-related, which in this case was AKL, I'm guessing. NZD 850 is a steal for a J to F upgrade, I think. Do you remember how much the difference was at the time of booking? Was this an upgrade for only the outbound leg?
Yes. Only for the outbound as I was already in F for the return.

Was booked as AKL-SIN D and SIN-AKL P.

Not sure what the difference was at the time of booking. I know that I was booked into standard long term fares. Might get an agent friend of mine to quote it in the GDS on Monday for D outbound and P return and compare it to P both ways.

Originally Posted by aviationp
My understanding is that these mixed cabin fares on SQ are always very expensive, so I wouldn't be surprised if NZD$850 was the fare difference between D/F and F/F
I'm not too sure about that. I know most airlines allow you to circle trip and you pay half the return price.

For example (values aren't accurate).

AKL - SIN - AKL W return may be NZD$2000.

AKL - SIN - AKL D return may be NZD$5000.

So, if you wanted to fly AKL-SIN in W and SIN-AKL in D you would pay NZD$3500.
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Old Aug 16, 2014, 11:36 am
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Also just out of interest, I know MH offer very good airport upgrade prices.

Earlier this year I paid USD$100 to upgrade Y-J REP-KUL.

In April, a family member of mine (who's never had the pleasure of being in the pointy end ) flew AKL-KUL in Y and was offered (didn't ask) a buy up for NZD$400.
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Old Aug 16, 2014, 6:34 pm
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Originally Posted by LyingFlat
Also just out of interest, I know MH offer very good airport upgrade prices.

Earlier this year I paid USD$100 to upgrade Y-J REP-KUL.

In April, a family member of mine (who's never had the pleasure of being in the pointy end ) flew AKL-KUL in Y and was offered (didn't ask) a buy up for NZD$400.
Y must have been overbooked.
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Old Aug 16, 2014, 8:24 pm
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Originally Posted by fly747first
Y must have been overbooked.
On my flight from REP-KUL Y was half full.

That family member of mine was too cheap to pay for the buy-up but said that Y was only 2/3 full.
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Old Aug 17, 2014, 2:30 pm
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Originally Posted by LyingFlat
Yes. Only for the outbound as I was already in F for the return.

Was booked as AKL-SIN D and SIN-AKL P.

Not sure what the difference was at the time of booking. I know that I was booked into standard long term fares. Might get an agent friend of mine to quote it in the GDS on Monday for D outbound and P return and compare it to P both ways.



I'm not too sure about that. I know most airlines allow you to circle trip and you pay half the return price.

For example (values aren't accurate).

AKL - SIN - AKL W return may be NZD$2000.

AKL - SIN - AKL D return may be NZD$5000.

So, if you wanted to fly AKL-SIN in W and SIN-AKL in D you would pay NZD$3500.
I can only quote a current fare and not the one in Feb but it looks the same:

30AUG DEPARTURE DATE-----LAST DAY TO PURCHASE 25AUG/2359
BASE FARE TAXES/FEES/CHARGES TOTAL
1- NZD6209.00 82.20XT NZD6291.20ADT
XT 13.48IA 35.92KK 19.20SG 7.70OO
5.90OP
6209.00 82.20 6291.20TTL
ADT-01 D2SINR P2SINR
AKL SQ SIN2289.86SQ AKL2976.95NUC5266.81END ROE1.178889
So if you see the the NUC fare.. its 2289.86 oneway from AKL to SIN in D and 2976.95 oneway from SIN to AKL in P fare. The difference is 687.09 NUC and the NZD works out to around $ 810.00

I don't know what the xtra $40 is for. Change / ticketing fee from a TA ticket?
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