gateguard0

I'm new to the KrisFlyer program, and I have a question about award availability.

If I search AAA-CCC it shows two flights, AAA-BBB and BBB-CCC, with saver awards waitlisted. If I search AAA-BBB and BBB-CCC separately, it shows saver awards available on the same flights on the same date.

Do KrisFlyer awards actually determine availability on a point-to-point basis rather than segment-by-segment like other *A airlines?

Thanks.

chisquared

I don't know the answer to this, unfortunately. However, I am just a bit curious: which city pairs are you using for your redemption booking search? Thanks.

gateguard0

I have noticed it with AKL-JFK (routing as AKL-SIN-FRA-JFK).

AKL-SIN and SIN-JFK show saver availability, but AKL-JFK shows saver waitlist.

chisquared

Huh, interesting. Maybe part of it is that allowing you to redeem AKL-JFK requires far fewer miles than redeeming AKL-SIN and SIN-JFK separately? (I'm actually not certain this is true. However, I do suspect that it is.)

gateguard0

That is certainly the case. AKL-JFK is some 25% cheaper than AKL-SIN + SIN-JFK. The SQ phone agent also pointed this out. AKL-JFK is available at standard and full award prices, so it is a valid award.

Should I call back until I find an agent who will clear the waitlist based on the segment-by-segment availability, or is this point-to-point availability a reality of KrisFlyer award redemptions.

chisquared

You can certainly try that, but I get the impression that representatives you speak to on the phone actually have no authority to clear waiting lists. They only forward your request to some desk that does. This means that trying your luck by calling them a few times to find an agent willing to clear it for you is unlikely to be fruitful.

However, I'm pretty sure can simultaneously put yourself on the waiting list and redeem the awards segment-by-segment. If/when the waiting list clears, you can cancel the per-segment bookings and have the miles refunded (subject to some admin fee) and then use it to confirm the previously wait-listed flights.

gateguard0

There are some AKL-JFK searches where saver awards are available, but it's much more common to see AKL-SIN + SIN-JFK searches available with AKL-JFK waitlisted.

It certainly looks like this sort of availability is deliberate. As another example of point-to-point (origin to destination) availability, consider SQ26 SIN-FRA-JFK. I can find instances where searching SIN-JFK gives saver availability, while individually SIN-FRA is waitlisted and FRA-JFK is available.

Certainly odd.

SQueeze

It is inventory management and it is mind boggling.
It is the same case with revenue booking classes.
They have different quotas for different city pairs.

gateguard0

For cash flights I understand it. Pricing from all airlines is generally based on origin and destination.

For award redemptions, I have only ever see segment-based availability across several different *A programs.

Learn something new every day, I suppose.

elleana

Gee, and I thought I had it tough trying to get Saver awards ex-SIN.

caimaster

Try calling. The agent might be able to put both savers together as one award ticket manually. Also ask them to give you the 15% discount. I ran into similar problem before booking SFO-SIN-DEL. Not sure if it's because all these flights are 3 sectors and not the normal 1 or 2 sectors.

gateguard0

I called and was told that AKL-JFK was not available at saver level even though the individual components were. Agent said I would have to pay more miles for the sum of the segment-by-segment saver awards. Were you able to get your award priced as SFO-DEL rather than SFO-SIN + SIN-DEL? If so, what's the magic word to get an agent to do this?

caimaster

This was about a year ago. Didn't really had to try, they just booked it over the phone for me. Not sure if things have changed since.

mingster23

Just to share my experience today, originally had my parents booked on SIN-CDG in J on Saver awards and had planned to get them a separate PER-SIN on scoot but was told that apparently for USD100 I could have a stopover in SIN if I ticketed PER-CDG. Specifically went to their office here as opposed to taking my chances with a phone agent even though it cost me $30 to do so and after taking about an hour it all worked out!
$16 to reissue the ticket, the 15% discount was still honoured (computer said yes and the agent decided not to argue) and the best part was only 4000 odd miles extra each to add the PER-SIN segment in J (although taxes and the surcharge ex-Australia is ridiculous)

I'd say try again till you find an agent who can do it. In the end the total miles required per person was 72k as opposed to 85k pre discount or >100k as 2 separate segments.

(I should also note that somewhere along the way the USD100 stopover fee for the saver awards seemed to get forgotten about )

gateguard0

OP here.

I tried calling several times with no luck. Ultimately, I booked SYD-SIN-(FRA)-JFK on the same dates. SYD-JFK showed saver availability while AKL-JFK showed saver waitlist even though its individual segments showed saver availability. My trip ends at ZQN so a positioning flight to SYD isn't much worse than to AKL anyway.

Thanks for the input!