flyingmusicianlax

Hi All - Booked myself and girlfriend in F to Singapore, me on a saver, her on a standard award (hooray!). BUT, when I tried to add on a segment SIN-KUL (SilkAir in J), hers was confirmed and mine was waitlisted, in spite of the website showing availability on that segment. When I called the KF service line, I was told availability isn't based on individual segments, but the entire itinerary. I'm not convinced, and I seem to recall reading here that individual available segments can be added to awards.

Before I waste (potentially) fruitless hours doing HUACA, does anybody know if adding an available segment individually to a reservation is possible?

Thanks!
FMLAX

P.S. The agent I spoke with also said he would send a 'priority' message to the right people to get the segment confirmed, but I don't trust that this will get done anytime soon and I'd rather not arrive in SIN without a confirmed ticket.

stargold

The agent is right - the segment availability does not mean that you can simply add it onto the existing reservation. I ran into this issue personally a number of times.

Just a guess but it may be related to the more sophisticated revenue management being implemented as part of the switch to Amadeus. All I know is that it's a pain.

I would book a ticket in Y (whether on MI or otherwise) and see if it clears - IMHO the very short flight is not worth paying over the odds just to be on it together.

aviationp

Although HUACA is a routine thing to do in other places, SQ agents are VERY well trained, and doing HUACA will never work. In fact it could go against you.

flyingmusicianlax

Thanks! Just to make sure I'm clear: you would advise booking an award ticket in Y, and, if the J segment clears, cancelling the Y award?

Also, would you be willing to share the outcomes of your experiences with this issue? I couldn't find any relevant info using FT search and I figure it might be useful to other future SQ flyers.

SQ319

There are numerous SIN-KUL flights daily on budget and full service airlines. A ticket for this 35 min flight can for less than SGD100 on budget airlines.

You have to weigh whether it is worth the effort to get this on an award booking and pay the airport taxes etc vs booking a budget flight.

The service on this flight is very limited. Not worth it to book J, imo.

Guy Betsy

Married segment issues.

Adding a segment to a confirmed reservation can cause it to waitlist as the award (and revenue) ticket must be booked as a through reservation that is available. Segment by segment may be available but you can't book it as such.

You can't hang up and call again. Because the SQ computer system is the same as everyone looking at it. Whether its in India or Singapore.

The only way for you to get the seat confirmed is to book the SIN-KUL segment a week after your arrival in SIN. Then once its confirmed. End the reservation. And then retrieve it. To then try to change it to an earlier day (matching your GF's).

Its the married segment thing... really you can't fool it.

This is what I do for revenue bookings. It would work the same as award bookings too.

flyingmusicianlax

Thanks for the info, all!

Here's another question: the original agent who modified my girlfriend's reservation charged me an extra 17,500 miles for the SIN-KUL leg. If the award has booked as a through ticket and the zone has not changed, I shouldn't be paying the extra miles, right?

Very helpful info - thank you! So, let me make sure I've got this right:

1.) Book a confirmable SIN-KUL award on a separate reservation that departs a week after we're supposed to arrive in SIN.
2.) Cancel the reservation
3.) Call up KF and have them reinstate it as part of my original reservation on the desired day.

Is that correct?

stargold

1. I meant, make a standalone booking for the same flight SIN-KUL that you have waitlisted. When/if the waitlist clears, cancel the Y booking.

2. I had to put the second segment on waitlist and then ended up not taking the trip before it was cleared, so no additional insight to share in that regard...It is possible to add the SIN-KUL for the same price (and the additional YQ), provided that the through availability exists. Call back and ask them about it.I think what he meant is, add the SIN-KUL on a date that is available as a through booking (i.e. not the date you actually want, but the next available), then change the second date to the one you actually want. Haven't tried this so I don't know whether it is possible. My impression is that it's one of the RM management devices where the inventory management looks at the rest of your PNR, in which case I can't see that it would work, but I'll leave it to GB to comment further.

flyingmusicianlax

Update: So, I was informed that the additional miles were justified since I booked to SIN and then added SIN-KUL... I feel like this is unfair since you can't book F/R to SIN and then Y or J on to KUL on a through booking via the web.

On the plus side, it seems like SQ has a more sophisticated ability to link reservations, so I just booked the SIN-KUL segment individually for myself and had the agent link them together.

I have to say this whole experience has been very frustrating - I feel like they should go with one story or the other: either it's a through booking and I should have been charged Eastern USA - KUL, or they're separate segments and I should have been able to get a confirmed seat on my own original reservation without having to go through the waitlist nonsense. It's like they get to charge me for separate segments, but will treat it like a through-booking when they're working with confirmable space. They get to have their cake and eat it too.

(Although, for everyone's edification, I was exceedingly nice to the agents on the phone. Just frustrated after the fact with the outcome.)

I'm assuming the answer to this is "no," but I'm going to ask anyway: is it worth it to write a letter to SQ/KF requesting a review of the situation? I really, really feel like the miles should have been charged as a through reservation. But, so far, every agent I've talked to (3 in total) refuse to budge.

P.S. Anticipating someone asking this, the connection in SIN is three hours. So, it would def. qualify as a connection (vs a stopover).