Refund Processing Time!
 

Does anyone know how long it’s taking Singapore Airlines to make refunds for cancelled flights?
I put in my claim last week for my June flights.

I was told 4 weeks. That was more than 4 weeks ago and nothing yet. I will gather my strength to call them again later this week....

I cancelled my May flight back in early April and was told it would take up to 3 months for refunds. Got mine in slightly less than a month. YMMV. In case you are wondering, SQ is not BA, it just got $5B capital infusion plus a new $3B credit line. They have plenty of cash so any delay is unlikely to be a cashflow problem . . . .

The SQ website suggests that refunds may take up to 16 weeks and not to contact them until 4 months have passed since the request.

I’ve just done an online Facebook/Messenger chat with a rep and they confirmed that they received my online submission a week ago, but they won’t be working on it yet, as my flights aren’t until June, and to expect the process to be complete in about 16 weeks :(

Just for data, my flight (redemption ticket) in mid March. Wasn't able to get them before the flight, and only got to them 1 week after and paid cancellation fee for the redemption. As of now (4 May), I've yet to receive the miles or taxes back (LHR ticket, so taxes were rather significant).

Followed up by phone today and essentially got a brush off - confirmed that I would get a refund but not prepared to give any indication when. Given that I first applied for a refund 7 weeks ago when they cancelled the flights, followed up by phone 4 weeks ago and have not even had the request confirmed in writing I have submitted a dispute with Amex.

Thanks for that update.
Would be good to hear how you get on with Amex.

My flights were PER-SIN-SFO Return Y with April 16 Departure returning April 30. Refund requested just under four weeks ago. Got instant confirmation they had received request but nothing since. I guess I have another three months to wait. :)

Just as an indication where I stand with my cancelled flights SIN - CMB - SIN for travel dates 30/04 - 04/05:

06/04 Flights were cancelled and I called the same day and asked for refund. They confirmed over hotline but I never received an e-mail confirmation.

07/04 Completed the online form and asked for refund again. Just to have it in writing as well.

09/04 SQ sent an email and offered full refund or flight credits again and I completed the online assistance request form again.

11/04 SQ confirmed that they received my request for full refund.

04/05 Got the final refund notice from SQ with information that I'll receive refund within 4 to 6 weeks, to allow time for the banks to carry out the necessary processes for payment.

Will let you know when the money finally reaches my account.

I didn't keep track that tightly, but my SIN-NRT and NRT-SIN (separate tickets, so 1 was processed by SG the other processed by JP office) miles were redeposited & money back in credit card within 2 weeks of refund request.

Maybe depends on who you get as the CSO. Mine seems to be ad-hoc CSO. I called for redemption booking cancellation, CSO seems only to know about redemption bookings and not on commercial bookings, so seems to me like an ad-hoc trained CSO, just for this specific line.

On a side note, my card got charged for the redeposit fee, but I did not receive the notice for the fee charged (ie official receipt for the US$75), so could be that the process was not completed on SQ side by the supposedly ad-hoc CSO.

16 weeks
 

I called up a few times to chase. They CSOs were giving standard reply of up to 16 weeks from date of cancellation, 23 April 2020 for my redemption tickets travelling late May. Expect miles and refund notice in by August 2020. They say they are refunding the miles & taxes by months, March, April then May. I suspect it's because of cashflow problem because our tickets are all prepaid and they do not want to credit back the miles so fast to your account in case you make another redemption in the coming months and need to cancel again if you cannot travel.

Received automated confirmation of my refund request for the first time which adds to my feeling that the request I made in March was ignored and nothing happened after my call in early April despite promises made. Amex are now indicating an 8 week target for resolving disputes (I have two - one for this issue and another for flights with South African Airways).
I realise that all airlines are struggling but I didn't anticipate adding SQ to the list of companies I do not regard as honest enough to give my business to if and when I start flying again in the future.

Not siding SQ but it might seem like that they have procedure for refunding. Might need some higher authority for approval ? Or else someone might be able to cheat and be able to refund more amount n to other account.

As per scoot facebook post today, scoot have processed 75000 refund from April till now. Guess it is time consuming as well.

When I enquired with SQ on refund time for my J revenue ticket that was purchased through AMEX travel agent on 15 March, I was told 14 days at first. A couple weeks later, I was told 6 to 8 weeks. Just recently I was told earliest is June. I'm waiting to be told 2021 soon. Quite apparent that this new idea of processing refunds only a month at a time (i.e. if your flight is in June, your refund will only be processed in July, that's what I am most recently told) is because of cash flow issues. Or rather, to try and make the balance sheets look better since they don't exactly have cash flow issues given the Temasek rights issue.

If you purchased a ticket through AMEX travel I would contact them directly and request refund. I had a J revenue ticket for June booked. I called AMEX travel approximately three weeks ago and cancelled with Amex, and received a refund from them in 4 business days. I also noticed that if you had a same class redemption booking you could cancel online on the SQ website without penalty and receive an immediate refund/redeposit if you are able to cancel online. If you have anything else mixed class, star alliance award and you can't cancel online then we're all stuck. I'm still waiting for tickets cancelled in early March when I was told it would be processed in a week to get a refund for those coming up on 60 days for mixed award and star alliance award bookings. God only knows when my June star alliance award booking will be refunded. A bit crappy to have 650k+ miles all stuck in neverever land.

I have been in constant contact with both AMEX and SQ. AMEX (Singapore) insists that SQ has disabled automatic refund and that they are at the mercy of SQ. I presume your AMEX office is elsewhere?

Yes, this was AMEX in US.

Update: Tried the facebook chat, and asked about the refund. Refund (miles) came back the same day.
My flight was supposed to be in March.

Got the refund this morning (07/05), so can't complain in this case... I am more worried about my outstanding LH/LX flights!

Amex have processed my refund and closed the dispute within 72 hours of me filing it - impressive.

I submitted a refund on 16 March and was told 6-8 weeks. Upon follow up now they say 6 months minimum. I tried submitting a dispute for a hotel who promised a refund in writing, but has since disappeared. Visa has confirmed they won't process any disputes for airlines or hotels. Funsies.

Quick Data Point & Question Please...

I cancelled 2 award flights that were scheduled for end of July. Both point balances are now expired but they said they will be redeposited and extended. I cancelled these on 4/10 and paid the $75 (actually $75.76, maybe conversion fee?) and it was instantly debited from my card. So as of 5/27 its been about ~1 month and still haven't had the points redeposited or taxes refunded.

I did this over the phone, for those that cancelled over the phone did you receive a e-mail when you cancelled and when the points were redeposited?

I'm in no hurry and grateful that they extended my expired miles just a little concerned nothing is in writing.

I guess refund is processed in the order of flight. Why in such a hurry to pay to cancel flight end of July?

Did you get this in writing?

I put in a refund request in late April. I got the auto response. I have seen the new schedule for June from the US showing that there are no JFK-FRA flights. I have tried a dummy booking and it won't book. But, when I check flight status, it shows my June 2 JFK-FRA and my June 16 return as still operating. They haven't cancelled the flight, although they acknowledge that the flight is not on the June operating schedule.

Will they eventually formally cancel the flight and notify? I didn't want to wait, so I put my refund request in as soon as they allowed refunds for June travel. I don't expect a refund any time soon, but I appreciate everyone's data points on here.

That's a bit concerning!
I did a Google search and found this from Visa from the 27th March
The FAQs are interesting!

https://usa.visa.com/dam/VCOM/global...h-covid-19.pdf

My points (144K worth) had already expired in February when I cancelled in April. They gave me 2 options. Option 1 was the open tickets until March 2021 and option 2 was to refund the points even though they were expired and extend them into 2021 but pay redeposit fee. I thought option 2 was the better play and with policies changing so quickly I didn't want to lose this option if things changed again.

I could've probably waited until the flight was cancelled and got the same options but just wanted to play it safe with that many miles outstanding.

I cancelled my Qantas FFP redemption booking on 14 April 2020, got the points in on 01 May 2020 and the taxes in my credit today, 12 May 2020. Satisfied with the process.

Will receive email from Qantas Customer Services 3 days before the taxes are in about refund:
Hello vsepr,
This is to confirm that the requested refund for booking reference XXXXXX has been processed back to the same form of payment that you used to make your original purchase. The nominated bank or financial institution may take some time to process the funds back to this bank account.
If you requested a refund for a booking made using Qantas Points (e.g. a Classic Flight Reward or Points Plus Pay- Flight booking), please allow up to 10 business days for the Qantas Points to be credited to the nominated Frequent Flyer account in accordance with the Terms and Conditions of the fare. The monetary component has been processed back to the same form of payment that you used to make your original purchase. The nominated bank or financial institution may take some time to process the funds back to this bank account.
Thanks,
Qantas Refunds Team

Let's compare the refund experience from Qantas and the airline that prides itself as the "World's Best".:rolleyes:

How is that at all relevant to Singapore Airlines, or this thread? I suggest you go start a blog if you want to hijack every thread to brag about your own unrelated experiences.

Final update. The refund from SQ arrived in my Amex account today - a week after my second phone call. Given that the amount has also been credited by Amex under their dispute procedure i will call them and get them to to take the excess back!

I cancelled a redemption booking on March 13...travel was the next day (the flight still operated). I did the cancellation online, but it seems like this is only really a request to cancel...the booking remained confirmed and ticketed up until and after the point of departure. I did get a confirmation email for the cancellation request.

I've really no idea what is happening with it. I've never been asked to pay the redeposit fee for the miles. Then I got the impression from some of their more recent comms that I wouldn't need to pay for the redeposit of miles?

Lastly, just last week I entered my ticket number into manage my booking...that pulled up some flights, with a different PNR, same destinations but travel dates in about a years time. Will they ever get around to turning this into a miles / taxes refund...no idea!??

Thought I'd share the data point I have.

My flight departing 13 Apr was cancelled on 07 Apr.

Called in on 07 Apr, went through the tedious process of listening to the agent convince me to take an open ticket. (To be fair to him, he said all calls are recorded and they must offer this option first)

Got a refund confirmation on 04 May (advising that it may take 4-6weeks), and then money back on 08 May. (Which is the normal processing time for SQ from official refund confirmation, in all my years of dealing with cancellations.)

So far in this Covid crisis:
The best performer was BA with a refund time of 8 days. Despite them removing the option to refund via manage my booking. (I called to request)
The poorest performer is LH who is owing for 60+ days now, and the agents have a real attitude, totally gives the vibes of we'll refund you when we feel like it. So naturally I filed a chargeback.

I think 1 month is fair play in times like this. LH group is just disgusting. So post-COVID, definitely not flying on LH, OS, LX, SN.

My refund took 6 weeks. All e-mail based. I received the "up to 16 weeks" e-mail, and was happy with 6 weeks. Payment and refund to Amex, with a UK based card.

Which month were you due to depart?

Mind to share how did you ask for refund at first, through the form, place a call or email?
Thanks a lot!

The whole thing was done via e-mail. to the UK service e-mail. I just put in my Travel ref and name. I didn't even use my SQ number. Flight was mid-March, LHR to Vietnam. Vietnam stopped issuing visas to UK folk, so SQ could not have carried us.
I was extremely polite and apologetic! (Not my fault, not their fault and etc. )

My miles were refunded today, but I don't see the credit for the taxes on my cc yet.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news...o-get-12748508

"Then there are airlines that make refunds look easy but hang on to the money. Before the crisis, I had booked a Singapore Airlines return ticket to Australia.

When the flight was cancelled, I went on to the Singapore website, swiftly located the refund button and provided my details.

Three weeks later I phoned the airline’s call centre to ask how my refund was getting on. I had no trouble getting through to a polite customer service person who confirmed that my request was being processed.

When would I get my money? He couldn’t say. Weeks, months, years? Sorry, can’t tell you."