carrotjuice

Rather counter intuitive. One would've thought it's during peak times that they're lacking manpower hence would want to encourage self service.

itadakimasu

They most certainly do - just ask or count the number of cabin crew on your next flight.

They are desperately short of crew - on a recent flight there was only 1 flight stewardess (in blue), all the rest were leading and chief stewards and stewardesses; there were even 2 inflight managers. I'd add that they do not compromise on safety and I'm sure will always have the minimum number of crew to safely operate a flight (as mandated by the CAAS). They did not predict the pent up demand for air travel so the flights have to go ahead, even if they are 1 or 2 cabin crew down, but it just increases the workload for those on board and possibly fatigue leads to lapses in service.

itadakimasu

Sorry to hear that - some of my work colleagues have similarly been offered downgrades on recent flights but chose to rebook instead, since with 4 flights a day from London, you don't usually have to wait too long.

In my opinion, it's probably better to take the upgrade voucher in those circumstances - the upgrade (either Y to J or J to F) is usually worth more in monetary value than the points spent, and I believe that upgrade vouchers issued under those circumstances do not have to fulfil the requirement for there needing to be an award seat (either in Saver or Advantage) available in order for you to get a seat. In my personal experience, if there are seats available in the next class on the flight, you are just upgraded without needing to wait. Granted it does depend on the frequency of your flight schedule.

sl00001

Wow...shocking to hear that, I guess they would bump down redemption tickets first before they slaughter their own customers

bpk6h

As the T2 lounges are still closed, all SQ J pax are still consolidated at the SQ T3 SKL. I fear the crowding will remain until such time T2 is brought online...and I agree with your wife, nicer to stroll the shops these days! As for the The Wing, who knows...perhaps HKG will undergo its own challenges whenever it fully reopens. CX also shut down a few of its lounges so there could be some pax consolidation there too. At the moment, CX doesn't even fly to ZRH so you have to hope that flight is restarted!

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carrotjuice

Sorry to hear of your downgrade. But wouldn't an upgrade voucher be potentially worth a lot more? I gather your original flight is intra-Asia, but an upgrade voucher presumably can be used to upgrade any one segment, say SIN-Europe or SIN-USA?

work2fly

In retrospect, I should have asked about the terms and conditions for the upgrade voucher. At the time, I was focused on avoiding anything that would require future purchases from SQ.

FWIW, my last SQ purchase was right when the pandemic started. SQ cancelled my flight but wouldn't commit to refunding what was a significant outlay for me within a reasonable time. I initiated a charge back, and won, but forever lost 50K KF points in the process due to upgrades on the cancelled flights. The SQ phone rep told me upgrade miles were never refundable, even when SQ cancels flights . I had my cash back and was buried with pandemic stuff anyway, so I just let it go.

I couldn't help but think about getting screwed out of those miles during this last issue with SQ, and that motivated me all the more to just cut my losses and move on.

demue

What a stellar phone rep you had . I'm not sure where they pick up some of that nonsense that they "spew" out.

Given the circumstances, I can fully appreciate why one would put the relationship with SQ on the back burner or just move on. YMMV

williamluk

What kind of nonsense is that?? Surprised you let it go so easily.

itadakimasu

Popped into the T3 F lounge earlier today - it feels a lot smaller and darker than the old one. New shower rooms are definitely an improvement.

The lounge itself was utter chaos when I first got there, nowhere to sit and the staff at the live cooking stations were really overwhelmed and struggling to cope. It emptied out around 10am and was then relatively quiet up to the point I left.

bpk6h

Finally made it to the new F lounge...we all have our personal preferences and mine would have been natural light and a view. The lounge was mostly empty (around 930am), the food choice is ok (but I didn't eat), the bathrooms are ok, champagne was Taittinger 2015. While I was comfortable, I left underwhelmed. As I left for the gate I glanced at the Biz lounge somewhat jealous of the blue sky view. If only SQ looked to the QF F lounge in SYD for inspiration.... location, location, location. And yes, if not too crowded, this TPPS might just stay in the biz lounge.

carrotjuice

The prata looks like something that the corner mamak stall just plonked on a plate! For its flagship F lounge that's supposed to denote classy experience, would it kill them to cut into 4 triangles, or fold neatly on the plate, before serving?

demue

It's authentic, like you said fresh from "mamak stall", what more can you ask for .

WISEMEN

That�s exactly what I often do too. Yet another missed opportunity. The Taittinger �15 is a pretty awful downgrade too.

chad75

The biz lounge is crowded enough without F Class/TPSS freeloaders so please stay in your designated lounge.