Confirmed - Possibility to book Singapore Airlines First Class with EuroBonus points
#16
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Tokyo
Programs: JAL Metal Card (OWE), SAS Eurobonus Gold (*G), Marriott Titanium (LTP), Tokyu Hotels Platinum
Posts: 21,166
Yes, call and ask. Depending on the agent on the line they might be willing to search for you or it might be they only look up the date you give them. Really depends on how willing the agent is. Usually I book LH or Thai F via EuroBonus and so far the agents were nice enough to work with me. Universal Flyertalk rules apply: YMMV & HUCA
EF won't help, neither will United.com or SQs own website. I guess that's what they figured out when planing for the program: It is virtual impossible to plan and book a trip on the dates the EB customer wants and therefore only a very small number of F suites will be booked via EuroBonus, so no (financial) damage done but a great marketing message released.
I was told it is only possible to book CPH-SIN in SQ F, more routes may or may not be release in the future. Actually, didn't bother too much looking into it as SIN is usually not on my map. If I need to go to Asia I usually go through HKG, BKK or directly to TYO which is served well enough by LH, Thai or CX.
EF won't help, neither will United.com or SQs own website. I guess that's what they figured out when planing for the program: It is virtual impossible to plan and book a trip on the dates the EB customer wants and therefore only a very small number of F suites will be booked via EuroBonus, so no (financial) damage done but a great marketing message released.
I was told it is only possible to book CPH-SIN in SQ F, more routes may or may not be release in the future. Actually, didn't bother too much looking into it as SIN is usually not on my map. If I need to go to Asia I usually go through HKG, BKK or directly to TYO which is served well enough by LH, Thai or CX.
#18
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: AGH
Posts: 5,979
Which would make the arrangement even more useless. I think it was just a marketing initiative without any real intention to really offer it. Same for all other F products which they deliberately left our of the new *A booking engine.
#19
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Preferable @30.000 feet
Programs: More than one
Posts: 1,673
I don't think it's deliberately left out. I think it's more down to the fact that the SK online tools don't support F at all. Despite F being available when booking CPH-SIN directly on the SQ website, you can't book it using the SK website. The same goes for any other routes where SK have code share with airlines who offers F on the same routes.
#20
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: AGH
Posts: 5,979
Which is also a company decision. Somebody responsible for the booking system decided not to include F. Since it can be booked via the call center, it is not a problem of the system itself but just a limitation for the user exposed interface. I don’t care if they just didn’t think about it or if there was a plan to discourages people to book F via EuroBonus as obviously that is quite expensive for SK.
SK has one of the worst booking engines of all airlines I regularly use. That is a fact.
even the corporate booking tool is horrible and the pricing of itineraries which are just deviating a tiny bit from what SK seems to judge as „normal“ are absurd.
SK has one of the worst booking engines of all airlines I regularly use. That is a fact.
even the corporate booking tool is horrible and the pricing of itineraries which are just deviating a tiny bit from what SK seems to judge as „normal“ are absurd.
#21
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Preferable @30.000 feet
Programs: More than one
Posts: 1,673
There are so many issues with the SK online tools and websites that I'm pretty sure it's a question of priority and funding. From time to time I still end up at the old tool with the old layout, which IMHO still works better than the new one.
The latest update they did on the info part is a big step forward IMHO. But there is still plenty room for improvement and everything is developed and maintained by a subcontractor. The contract was recently renewed as far as I know and one of the changes, according to my sources, was more focus on development and less on cost saving. So hopefully we will see improvements
The latest update they did on the info part is a big step forward IMHO. But there is still plenty room for improvement and everything is developed and maintained by a subcontractor. The contract was recently renewed as far as I know and one of the changes, according to my sources, was more focus on development and less on cost saving. So hopefully we will see improvements
#22
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: OSL
Programs: BA Gold | SK Gold | A3 Gold
Posts: 4,553
There are so many issues with the SK online tools and websites that I'm pretty sure it's a question of priority and funding. From time to time I still end up at the old tool with the old layout, which IMHO still works better than the new one.
The latest update they did on the info part is a big step forward IMHO. But there is still plenty room for improvement and everything is developed and maintained by a subcontractor. The contract was recently renewed as far as I know and one of the changes, according to my sources, was more focus on development and less on cost saving. So hopefully we will see improvements
The latest update they did on the info part is a big step forward IMHO. But there is still plenty room for improvement and everything is developed and maintained by a subcontractor. The contract was recently renewed as far as I know and one of the changes, according to my sources, was more focus on development and less on cost saving. So hopefully we will see improvements
#23
#25
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Preferable @30.000 feet
Programs: More than one
Posts: 1,673
When are you flying? As far as I remember SQ is one of the airlines which don't releases F seats for award or upgrade until 2 weeks prior to the flight.
#26
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: OSL
Programs: BA Gold | SK Gold | A3 Gold
Posts: 4,553
Aha! The trip is at the very end of December, so that would explain it as well. SQ only has waitlist saver awards for their own members, and this is of course a very busy period, so I don't have high hopes. But thanks for the pointer, I will check again mid December to see if anything has changed in terms of availability.
#27
Join Date: May 2008
Location: ARN
Posts: 3,471
At the end of December means Christmas and New Year. That's the busiest period of the year for most airlines. I think you can forget about premium seats with SQ at that time. You're lucky if you can grab an economy award seat with Air India during that period.
#28
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: OSL
Programs: BA Gold | SK Gold | A3 Gold
Posts: 4,553
Yeah, that is a busy period of course, although between the two tends to be a little bit quieter as most people travel across the two holidays. Especially for Australians where it is the middle of summer holidays. It was no problem getting SQ in C but I don't have high hopes for scoring F seats two weeks out.
#29
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: LON
Programs: SK*D
Posts: 73
Sorry to reopen this old thread, but what are the odds of being able to book a SQ J fare within Asia in Jan? Is it possible at all or will I have to suck it up and take the options that shows up on EB search? I'm planning to go from DEL to HND and the option that I'm getting a LH itinerary DEL-FRA-HND (which is quite ridiculous) or a 2 stop airport changing itinerary via BKK and TPE/TSA.
#30
Join Date: Feb 2014
Programs: SK Pandion, BA Silver
Posts: 187
Sorry to reopen this old thread, but what are the odds of being able to book a SQ J fare within Asia in Jan? Is it possible at all or will I have to suck it up and take the options that shows up on EB search? I'm planning to go from DEL to HND and the option that I'm getting a LH itinerary DEL-FRA-HND (which is quite ridiculous) or a 2 stop airport changing itinerary via BKK and TPE/TSA.
It is easy enough to check specifically for flights through Singapore if you just search for one way tickets from DEL-SIN and so forth.
As SQ also flies to NRT, I wonder if that is also an option?