Singapore and Upgrades
 

Apologies I have searched through the forums regarding upgrades and most throw up results about mileage upgrades (of which I have no Krisflyer miles) and SQupgrade which I am not at the stage to be invited for this yet since the flight is still over 7 days out.

Also first time flying SQ.

Basically I've booked into PE on SQ51 (MAN-IAH) and I was looking at the possibility of upgrading into business. I have looked at the fare difference currently coming in at £2100 for both legs. I did have a quick check on the SQ seat map to see how available the seats are and currently the A350 being 2 months out has 34 seats remaining in Business.

So...

Do SQ upgrade Star Alliance gold members complimentary?
Do they even upgrade at all? (to preserve the exclusivity)
Can you pay at check in? (full price, reduced rate)
SQupgrade options? (Likely bids)

Thank you for your time.

Hi Rosierd,

Regretfully Singapore Airlines is one of the strictest airlines in the world, when it comes to upgrades. To answer your questions:

*Do SQ upgrade Star Alliance gold members complimentary?

No never. They almost never upgrade their own Krisflyer Elite Gold members. Their policy is not to overbook and not to upgrade. When there is an operational issue, such as rebooking because of a delay or technical problem and Economy Class is full, they upgrade their Lifetime Solitaire PPS Club Members first, then their Solitaire PPS Club Members and then PPS Club Members. These three tiers in their loyalty program, come after Krisflyer Blue, Krisflyer Elite Silver & Krisflyer Elite Gold. These PPS tiers are exclusively for passengers who travel with Singapore Airlines in Suites, First & Business Class and require a minimum spending of 25.000 Singapore Dollar per year in these cabin classes.

*Do they even upgrade at all? (to preserve the exclusivity)
See answer above and correct, they want to preserve the exclusiveness of their premium cabins.

Can you pay at check in? (full price, reduced rate)
*As far as I know, buying an upgrade at the airport from Premium Economy to Business Class is not yet possible, since it is a relatively new cabin product. But maybe I am wrong on this and somebody else might be able to correct me. An upgrade from Economy Class to Business Class can be bought at most destinations, but always for the full fare difference and the booked ticket class has to allow this. The last time I have seen a promotional 500 Euro one way Economy Class to Business Class upgrade offer at the check-in counter in Europe, was when Singapore had just been hit by the SARS outbreak and the flights were practically empty.

SQupgrade options? (Likely bids)
They currently only have an upgrade bid option, by email invitation only, from Economy Class to Premium Economy Class, to promote this new cabin product. Their is no upgrade bid option from Premium Economy Class to Business Class.


Sorry to disappoint! The only real option, if you want to travel in Business Class is to buy a ticket or try to upgrade by using frequent flyer miles from another Star Alliance carrier. But even with using miles for upgrades, Singapore Airlines prioritizes their own Krisflyer members regarding upgrade award availability. From what I read here, upgrade award availability for frequent flyers from other Star Alliance carriers is very limited or often not available.

Nevertheless it's a great airline!

They do upgrade KF Gold but it's extremely rare. Never heard of a *A being upgraded though. As a data point, a former colleague of mine (KF Gold) was upgraded twice in 2014 ex-SYD, within a 4 month period. I did some asking around and found out it was more common (in the loosest sense of the word) at SYD compared to other outstations. Probably not relevant anymore though.

Rosierd, I strongly recommend you cancel the PE reservation immediately and book the Business seat. Believe me its worth it not only from a comfort perspective but ambience as well. ;)

Some trip report I have read gave negative comments on the new SQ A350 Biz seats. Some TR can be found in FT too.

This is interesting, and I wouldn't be surprised to see things stay this way. I think SQ would prefer to see full-paying (and the handful of redeeming) pax in a biz class that is not devalued by filling up every single seat due to a bidding system for upgrades.

Only time I could see this happening is on a flight with the vast majority of seats empty, where they could auction off an entire back section but not all remaining biz seats in general.

i fly 4x a year and always on SQ. I was on KF Elite Silver back then and put my mileage on Aegean Airlines which is Star alliance Gold.

I got an upgrade both legs of the journey.
1. SYD-SIN (772) *announcement was made and they called my name and learnt that i got an upgrade from economy to business.

2. SIN-SYD (380) *when they scanned my BP at the gate it beeped. and they manually issued me business BP.

The following year, I was lucky again to be upgraded. I think its more of the loyalty to the airline and the status you carry (KF or Star alliance).

Also, this year I use KF to upgrade PEY to Business. Not hard at all. I did it online and it was quick and easy to do.

Back in 2013, 2 travel companions and myself were upgraded on a MEL - SIN flight. 1 friend of mine on my booking were upgraded at check in counter and then my other non status friend upgraded at the gate (I think the check in clerk felt sorry for him). At that time I was only star gold.

IMHO this is an urban legend, obviously strongly believed by a lot of frequent flyers.

SQ has certain routes with strong demand, OZ for instance, where upgrades are more commonly happening (once it happened to me out of MEL). But on the other hand there are a lot of routes in the network with quite sluggish demand in Y (a lot of regional routes among them). To my observation SQ hardly manages to fill Y and C to 100%. It almost guaranteed to get a seat on last minute bookings/changes in Y (in C its a bit more difficult).

With the introduction of PEY, to my observation if Y is overbooked, they upgrade now quite some people into PEY.

I am a KF Gold since 3 years and fly regularly from HK to Europe or to USA in Eco. Never be upgraded to Biz at all. Only once I could upgrade with Miles from PE to C to Dusseldorf. At the Counter I remember upgrade from Frankfurt to Singapore from Eco to Biz (PE not yet available) they mention a price of 2000 Euro.

Try to book weekend flights and not midweek or Monday departures.

I mostly book flights depart on Thursday / Friday to and return on Saturday / Sunday due to arrive then back to work on time.

In my experience, upgrades far more likely to happen on intra-ASEAN flights.

Invited to bid for upgrade Singapore?
 

Hi

Wondered if I could have some advice. I have been invited to bid for an upgrade to Premium Economy on an upcoming return flight Houston Manchester.

Has anyone done this and been successful and if so, how much should I bid. It is giving me suggestions of 250+ for outbound snd approx 375+ dollars for return.

What do you guys think. Any advice would be appreciated TIA