lendman

I'm flying tonight from Dubai to Singapore on a United Round-the-World ticket in D-Class. Although there is a nonstop flight on SQ with a nearly empty business cabin, United cannot access the seats so I have to fly through BKK. This is a Round-the-World ticket in D-Class so I need a D-Class seat on SQ and it needs to show up in United's system so they can change my record. I've contacted everyone but it seems there are no solutions. If anyone has any ideas, that would be most appreciated!

keisari

look at this link of *A
http://www.staralliance.com/en/fares...world-fare-tc/

It appears to be that if you want to change class on a business round the world you can add $400 for the Dubai-Singapore segment and be "upgraded" to a higher business class segment.
Not sure if the different flight is worth $400 to you

I am not the expert around here on *A round the world flights/tickets.

zrs70

What is the date of the segment you want?

cfischer

DXB-SIN tonight is D9. Call again.

UA_Flyer

I fly *A RTW often and IMHO, it does not matter how many D seats you see on SQ or *A websites if UA cannot see it, you are out of luck! You can keep calling and may get lucky but chance is slim.

I had GS agents calling PPS agents and vice-versa on several occasions, and never managed to get into D.

The only sure way to get into D on certain SQ routes is to have RTW tickets issued by SQ instead of UA.

I have limited experience purchasing *A RTW tickets on other *A carriers' ticket stocks.

Nicholas

The UA system usually doesn't see any Business Class seats on SQ's 77Ws and 388s -- in any booking class, not just D. Economy and First inventory is typically the same as in the SQ system.

Last week, I called UA from the SQ lounge in SIN, where the agent confirmed what I saw on ExpertFlyer (Z8 C8 J8 D8) and said she'd clear it if UA waitlisted it. But two UA agents -- including one in SLC who used to work on the Alliance Desk before they shut it down in February -- said they can't waitlist on partners (which wasn't a problem in Apollo pre-merger).

At first, I thought UA was doing this, but now I think it's SQ's obsession with "protecting" what they consider a much superior than anyone else's J product on the 388 and 77W -- even though they impose premium surcharges of hundreds of dollars on those flights.

WineCountryUA

pmUA did not allow waitlisting for partner inventory -- such as awards -- http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/18091839-post2.html
(perhaps you are thinking about a long sell for this type of situation)

Nicholas

This isn't about awards. I've had UA (pre-merger) agents waitlist partners, including SQ and NH, on RTW revenue tickets -- no one ever made an issue of it. Then I'd call the operating carrier and ask them to clear the waitlist -- even when the inventory wasn't open in their own system. Once I called the NH office in DC, and they cleared it immediately. SQ agents usually had to escalate it to supervisor level, but it almost always worked.

username

It seems some UA agents don't want to WL or change partner flights because they are afraid the PNR will get messed up and segments would be lost - revenue or not?

Are the SQ C on the 77W and 380 that much better than carriers like OZ and BR and even SQ's own C on other aircraft?

Thanks.

MatthewLAX

SQ has blocked this D-Class since 2011, IRRC.

UA_Flyer

The 77W and A380 have the extra wide J seats in a 1-2-1 configuration. The IFE is also better with more audio/video/game choices and a better screen.

Some of the refurbished 772ER have been installed with 1-2-1 wide seats but inferior IFE.

A330, 772 and 773(non-ER) are configured with 2-2-2 seating and the same IFE as the 772ER.

IHMO, others may have different experience, I actually prefer the BR 1-2-1 seats (same seats as CX and new AA J). This is not to say SQ's extra wide J seats are not good. They are excellent, but I just find them less comfortable and intuitive. One has to manually turn it into a bed and the lounge rest position is almost non-existent unless you turn the seats into the bed position.

SQ does not just block J inventory from RTW on the 77W and A380, it also blocks them selectively on A330 and 772/3 and 772ER routes. I had one red-eye 772 (2-2-2 configuration) flight from SIN to PEK recently being blocked. Although PPS agent told me the J section was half empty and there were plenty of D fares available, but UA just could not see them. I had to suffer on the Air China flight instead.. Both GS and PPS agents were quite frustrated they could not book me into the SQ D.

npei

Have flown SQ J 1-2-1 wide seat and regular J 2-2-2 seat. But I also vote for BR 1-2-1 experience, food is as good as SQ [even though SQ IFE is slightly better, but I don't need to glue myself to IFE for entire flight], especially since easier to get BR revenue and award J seats on UA booking system w/o the SQ run-around.

lendman

So here's what happened: I got on the SQ flight I wanted. Somehow, during one of my earlier in the week calls to Singapore Airlines, a reservation on the SQ flight I wanted got added to my RTW record but it was not associated with my ticket. When I went to the SQ counter in Dubai, they said that they would put me on the flight in United changed my ticket. I called GS and they talked with the SQ staff at the counter and they made it happen. The SQ flight was empty in business so it clearly made sense for them to do this. My experience with SQ is confirmed that the only place to get flexibility is at the check in counter.

MatthewLAX

^ Thanks for reporting back and glad you made the flight.

UA_Flyer

Great! A glimpse of hope for all of us.