Originally Posted by
invisible
So if you are lucky to get a knowledgeable agent who knows that AS is not Star Alliance and knows that AS flights are bookable via SQ - perfect. Otherwise, prepare to do HUCA.
Be prepared that you might spend the whole day or two trying to reach someone who is knowledgeable. Also, my luck was higher with chat compared to live call - three agents told me that either Alaska is not Star Alliance so it is not bookable, or I need to go to Alaska website and book my award flight there (sic!) or giving me only United flights despite me several times telling that he needs to look for AS flight. With chat, I was luckier - it took only the second try and the whole booking was done in 30 min.
That still doesn't really feel all that positive, and little different from my experience last year except that I had to do it in the middle of the night (UK time) as they were so busy during the day the chat requests just timed out. You'd reasonably expect SQ to train their staff in how to book a partner flight, and to know or at least be able to see which airlines are Star Alliance and other partners - even and especially if there is a good reason why they can't be booked online. The whole thing about having to differentiate between alliance members and partners, and indeed SQ themselves when searching seems unnecessarily complicated in any case.
Just one of a few reasons why I came to regret investing in the scheme and will be asking for our accounts to be closed once we've managed to use as many of our few remaining miles as possible.