NetJets Germany

So I am just off the phone to the KF contact centre, and I would like to know if anyone else has experienced the same thing that has happened to me just now:

I called in to reserve an award ticket, as I did not have sufficient miles in my account to issue the ticket immediately. I have transferred some miles from my credit card that should hit my KF account over the next 1-2 days. In the past I was always able to secure the seats and reserve them for a few days without any charge. However, the agent just now stated that since 1 Jan 2019, a USD25 offline service fee per ticket had been instated which would be charged whenever someone wanted to reserve a ticket. When I asked why this type of fee was not mentioned anywhere on the website, I was informed that the ability to hold / reserve a ticket with insufficient miles in the account was an unpublished benefit that was only made "exceptionally", and for this reason there no reference to this fee on the SQ website.

Has anyone else come across this in 2019 yet? Every time I had made a similar request in the past I was able to get away with it for free, so whilst I am happy that I am still able to reserve a ticket in the first place, I am a bit disappointed that they seem to have started charging for it now.

NYCroots

Not true in my case. I put an award on hold two days ago without having to pay any sort of fee (other than my own time, because it took until my third call to get a rep who agreed that awards can be placed on hold).

hclee01

This is the published service fees on SQ website:

https://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/s.../service-fees/

Additional service fee of USD 25 or 2,500 KrisFlyer miles will apply for the selected services rendered offline by any Singapore Airlines office or reservations hotline:

• Redemption ticket bookings
• Redemption ticket changes
• Redemption upgrades
• KrisFlyer membership services, including updating of passport details, adding or changing Redemption Group Nominees

Offline service fees will be waived for transactions that cannot be performed online, and for all PPS Club members and supplementary cardholders.

As such, SQ technically can choose to enforce to charge the fees given that this is published rates (with exception for PPS club members), Any waiver of such fees is really at the "goodwill" of SQ.

Wongo

I've done an award booking with SQ, the lady on the line said since your route cannot be booked online we can waive the fee. Otherwise she would charge me fee as per T&C.

PiperAtGatesofDawn

NetJets Germany

Only that the service I required was not available online, so based on your above quote I should not have been charged.

That's what I am used to from the past.

One-way saver with stopover in SIN for a USD100 fee. Impossible to book online, hence the need to call up and - as we all seem to be in agreement over - a valid reason not to be charged a fee.

One key element that nobody else seems to have picked up on is that I was told by the KF agent that, as my request to reserve a ticket was something that is not officially possible, the fees which are shown online do not apply to my request. Instead, an "internal protocol" change that came into effect on 1 Jan 2019 now apparently requires KF members to pay this USD25 fee. This just sounds weird / fishy to me.

So I called another KF agent just now to ask if the first agent's information had been correct, which she confirmed to be the case, only that based on her understanding it is not due to the internal protocol change (Which apparently relates to commercial bookings instead), but that this fee falls under the general offline service fee umbrella of USD25 which is shown on the website and which has been in effect since 1 May 2018.

When I countered that what I was trying to do could not be done online, therefore why should the offline service fee be charged, today's agent replied that the waiver for offline fees operated under the overarching principle that enough KF miles had to be in the member's account to process any requested offline booking. Seeing as I did not have enough miles in my account to issue the one-way saver with stopover ticket, KF are correct to charge me the USD25 fee to reserve the ticket.

While I am not happy with the outcome, at least I can now follow better why they think I ought to be charged this fee. I am, of course, however wondering why I was not charged the same fee in the past, or why others - such as two other posters in this thread - did not have to do so... (Not that I begrudge you for not having to pay a fee!)

demue

You may be one of the "early victims" of a tightening in policy. Request like yours are becoming more and more common from what I have heard from some Supervisors / Managers especially with all the influx of US CC points into KF.

One can read almost every other day here on FT about people trying to secure premium awards on SQ before making the transfer into the KF program.

Hence, the umbrella booking fee provision is being adhered to more and more. Not an unreasonable step in my book as per program rules such holds without sufficient mileage in the account could also be rejected. I rather have the option.

SQ can then decide if they want to waive the fee for certain customers or reasons at their discretion. YMMV.

PiperAtGatesofDawn

THR

NetJets Germany

PiperAtGatesofDawn

It's not about the amount of money. It's about SQ's policy which specifically says it's free.

demue

Maybe I missed something, but you are picking out that it is not bookable online. Sure, no fee for that is the argument right? But what about the request to hold the itinerary due to insufficient miles in account? The whole one trumps the other is your view and I can appreciate that, just SQ may not want to follow that train if thought.

If all the miles are in the account, yes it should be free. If not it is a courtesy by SQ to still waive the fee no? It would be worse if they say no hold, full stop. YMMV.

PiperAtGatesofDawn

Well SQ might not agree with that... but my contention here is that if miles are added to the account SQ would be bound to book it for free anyways. So nothing changes for them. Then why not just do it?

I completely understand if they have other reasonable reasons for not honoring their own policies.

If it is for some reasons like clamping down on people who in this manner block 20 seats on different dates causing an award shortage. The best way to address that is by reducing the hold time to 2-3 days instead of the months and months they allow now. Not charging silly fees for services they would otherwise render for free.

lokijuh