Singapore Cancel Flight and auto rebook me on an undesirable flight
Dec 27, 2021, 10:08 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2021
Posts: 4
Singapore Cancel Flight and auto rebook me on an undesirable flight
Hi Everyone,
I have an award business class flight from SIN to MLE next year with confirm redemption. Singapore recently cancel the flight and auto rebook me on a much later flight leaving 8 hours later or so. Instead, there is another SIN-MLE flight schedule just one hour earlier than my original cancel flight. I called into customer service and they won't rebook me on the one hour earlier flight insisting there are no award availability. Instead, they put me on wait list for that flight. So now instead of confirm flight, customer service have me waitlisted for the one hour earlier flight.... customer service inform me they have reach out to flight controller to open up spaces, but results are not guarantee and response could take until 2 weeks before flight departure date which is unacceptable... So I'm little lost on my next step? Not sure why they can't put me on earlier flight when it is SQ's cancellation that cause auto rebooking to 8 hour later undesirable flight.. Any help would be appreciated.
For reference:
This flight SIN-MLE is a transit flight. The itineraries is LAX - SIN - MLE. LAX - SIN is untouch and still confirm.
Thanks,
I have an award business class flight from SIN to MLE next year with confirm redemption. Singapore recently cancel the flight and auto rebook me on a much later flight leaving 8 hours later or so. Instead, there is another SIN-MLE flight schedule just one hour earlier than my original cancel flight. I called into customer service and they won't rebook me on the one hour earlier flight insisting there are no award availability. Instead, they put me on wait list for that flight. So now instead of confirm flight, customer service have me waitlisted for the one hour earlier flight.... customer service inform me they have reach out to flight controller to open up spaces, but results are not guarantee and response could take until 2 weeks before flight departure date which is unacceptable... So I'm little lost on my next step? Not sure why they can't put me on earlier flight when it is SQ's cancellation that cause auto rebooking to 8 hour later undesirable flight.. Any help would be appreciated.
For reference:
This flight SIN-MLE is a transit flight. The itineraries is LAX - SIN - MLE. LAX - SIN is untouch and still confirm.
Thanks,
Dec 27, 2021, 11:04 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2021
Posts: 4
Thanks,
Dec 28, 2021, 12:53 am
#4
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: DC
Programs: AA PPRO, HH Diamond, National EE
Posts: 603
Ran into the same issue with them for months. Never able to get it resolved so one of my legs is in Economy because they wouldn’t open award space on their own flights. Can’t wait to burn thru these miles so I never have to deal with Singapore again.
Dec 28, 2021, 1:27 am
#5
Join Date: May 2004
Location: SIN (LEJ once a year)
Programs: SQ, LH, BA, IHG Diamond AMB, HH Gold, SLH Indulged, Accor Gold, Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 7,739
Follow up after a bit of time, ask CS to raise / ping again for your case. They should protect you on the 8hrs later flight for the time being though until you have resolution on your request for the earlier flight. YMMV.
Last edited by demue; Dec 28, 2021 at 1:57 am
Dec 28, 2021, 4:04 am
#7
Join Date: May 2004
Location: SIN (LEJ once a year)
Programs: SQ, LH, BA, IHG Diamond AMB, HH Gold, SLH Indulged, Accor Gold, Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 7,739
Same thought here, not ideal for sure and one can try to get onto the earlier flight, but at least OP was rebooked on Biz even if 8hrs later.
My only thought to push a bit is that with MLE it can mean missing a flight or transfer to the hotel depending on arrival time and having to spend a night in Male for next day transfer or so. That can be a pain, especially if one has expensive bookings or points nights (hard to impossible to rebook) etc.
My only thought to push a bit is that with MLE it can mean missing a flight or transfer to the hotel depending on arrival time and having to spend a night in Male for next day transfer or so. That can be a pain, especially if one has expensive bookings or points nights (hard to impossible to rebook) etc.
Dec 28, 2021, 11:59 am
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2021
Posts: 4
This needs to be approved by the Revenue Mgmt team and that is what the Customer Service person has triggered from your description. Even you ask for a supervisor or so, they cannot make I0 into I1 or I2 (I being the business class award bucket / fare class) for your flight, regardless how much it sucks.
Follow up after a bit of time, ask CS to raise / ping again for your case. They should protect you on the 8hrs later flight for the time being though until you have resolution on your request for the earlier flight. YMMV.
Follow up after a bit of time, ask CS to raise / ping again for your case. They should protect you on the 8hrs later flight for the time being though until you have resolution on your request for the earlier flight. YMMV.
Same thought here, not ideal for sure and one can try to get onto the earlier flight, but at least OP was rebooked on Biz even if 8hrs later.
My only thought to push a bit is that with MLE it can mean missing a flight or transfer to the hotel depending on arrival time and having to spend a night in Male for next day transfer or so. That can be a pain, especially if one has expensive bookings or points nights (hard to impossible to rebook) etc.
My only thought to push a bit is that with MLE it can mean missing a flight or transfer to the hotel depending on arrival time and having to spend a night in Male for next day transfer or so. That can be a pain, especially if one has expensive bookings or points nights (hard to impossible to rebook) etc.
If revenue team doesn't open up the award space, then my only choice either suck it up with economy ticket. They inform me they have space in economy for SIN - MLE... Not sure if I want to be in economy for 5 hours flight with no silverkris lounge access during transit. If this is the only solution, I might cancel and rebook LAX to MLE using Emirates. I will just have tons of miles sitting in Singapore Air waiting to be devalue/expired...
Dec 28, 2021, 1:53 pm
#9
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: DC
Programs: AA PPRO, HH Diamond, National EE
Posts: 603
If revenue team doesn't open up the award space, then my only choice either suck it up with economy ticket. They inform me they have space in economy for SIN - MLE... Not sure if I want to be in economy for 5 hours flight with no silverkris lounge access during transit. If this is the only solution, I might cancel and rebook LAX to MLE using Emirates. I will just have tons of miles sitting in Singapore Air waiting to be devalue/expired...
Dec 28, 2021, 5:02 pm
#10
Join Date: Oct 2016
Programs: Krisflyer
Posts: 588
I had an F saver award SYD-SIN booked for next year, but SQ have changed the aircraft type for the flight I was booked on and now it's got no F seats. They haven't given me an alternative yet (either to change my booking to J or to put me on a flight with F). I spent over two hours on hold to the helpline with no success yet. And I haven't had a response to an email enquiry I sent (for an unrelated problem) over 1 month ago so I don't see any point in writing just yet.
Dec 28, 2021, 10:46 pm
#11
Join Date: May 2004
Location: SIN (LEJ once a year)
Programs: SQ, LH, BA, IHG Diamond AMB, HH Gold, SLH Indulged, Accor Gold, Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 7,739
For the OP, I think you shared your "plight" with John from LL as well and you can certainly play the involuntarily reroute card. We all know what could be done, but to get the people you can talk to actually to do it is the tough part.
Definitely escalate if no resolution within a few days and position it as two options to SQ. First they agree to compensate you for the 1 night hotel and seaplane flight changes or they rebook you in Biz onto the earlier flight. Whether they got award space or not is not for you to sort out.
This really does not have to be this difficult, but seems the internal processes are not set up well at SQ to handle such issues as this is a commonly reported problem. To be fair, it is not like they did nothing, but in some cases the alternative selected by SQ will not work for the passenger and there should be better flexibility to address such cases, that part is lacking. YMMV.
Definitely escalate if no resolution within a few days and position it as two options to SQ. First they agree to compensate you for the 1 night hotel and seaplane flight changes or they rebook you in Biz onto the earlier flight. Whether they got award space or not is not for you to sort out.
This really does not have to be this difficult, but seems the internal processes are not set up well at SQ to handle such issues as this is a commonly reported problem. To be fair, it is not like they did nothing, but in some cases the alternative selected by SQ will not work for the passenger and there should be better flexibility to address such cases, that part is lacking. YMMV.
Last edited by demue; Dec 29, 2021 at 6:46 am
Dec 28, 2021, 11:06 pm
#12
Join Date: Sep 2018
Programs: Alaska
Posts: 2,188
For the OP, I think you shared your "plight" with John from LL as well and you can certainly play the involuntarily reroute card. We all know what could be done, but to get the people you can talk to actually to do it is the tough part.
Definitely escalate if no resolution within a few days and position it as two options to SQ. First they agree to compensate you for the 1 night hotel and seaplane flight changes or they rebook you in Biz onto the earlier flight. Whether they got award space or not is not for you to sort out.
All the above failing, as you are US based, I'd inform them that you'll raise a case with US Department of Transportation (don't just say DOT, most CSR will not know what it means) highlighting the case.
This really does not have to be this difficult, but seems the internal processes are not set up well at SQ to handle such issues as this is a commonly reported problem. To be fair, it is not like they did nothing, but in some cases the alternative selected by SQ will not work for the passenger and there should be better flexibility to address such cases, that part is lacking. YMMV.
Definitely escalate if no resolution within a few days and position it as two options to SQ. First they agree to compensate you for the 1 night hotel and seaplane flight changes or they rebook you in Biz onto the earlier flight. Whether they got award space or not is not for you to sort out.
All the above failing, as you are US based, I'd inform them that you'll raise a case with US Department of Transportation (don't just say DOT, most CSR will not know what it means) highlighting the case.
This really does not have to be this difficult, but seems the internal processes are not set up well at SQ to handle such issues as this is a commonly reported problem. To be fair, it is not like they did nothing, but in some cases the alternative selected by SQ will not work for the passenger and there should be better flexibility to address such cases, that part is lacking. YMMV.
Don’t throw a tantrum or try public shaming as it does not work well in Singapore and it can work in the opposite way.
Dec 29, 2021, 12:28 am
#13
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 856
I've had a few experiences, with redemption bookings:
1) Plane changed from A380 or 77W to A350, they happily downgraded me to J advantage.
2) Plane changed from A380 to 77W. I had 5 seats in F, they just wanted to leave the booking as it is, with 5 pax in F on a 77W. I asked for a free refund, which they gladly gave. Asked to changed to a later date with A380, was not given.
3) Flight cancelled (with more than 6 months to flight), automatically given 1 of 3 remaining flights. I did not accept the changes they made. Called and gotten my preferred flight (of the 3 remaining flights). 6 pax in J, they simply gave me the flight I asked for. I don't recall the flight having availability, but I cannot be 100% sure right now. After holding for 1.5 hrs to get that flight changed to my preferred flight, this preferred flight timing is then cancelled a few hours later.
1) Plane changed from A380 or 77W to A350, they happily downgraded me to J advantage.
2) Plane changed from A380 to 77W. I had 5 seats in F, they just wanted to leave the booking as it is, with 5 pax in F on a 77W. I asked for a free refund, which they gladly gave. Asked to changed to a later date with A380, was not given.
3) Flight cancelled (with more than 6 months to flight), automatically given 1 of 3 remaining flights. I did not accept the changes they made. Called and gotten my preferred flight (of the 3 remaining flights). 6 pax in J, they simply gave me the flight I asked for. I don't recall the flight having availability, but I cannot be 100% sure right now. After holding for 1.5 hrs to get that flight changed to my preferred flight, this preferred flight timing is then cancelled a few hours later.
Dec 29, 2021, 5:00 am
#14
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 876
Already ticketed? They have the responsibility to rebook you on another flight with F.
If just on a waitlist, they have the right to do nothing.
If just on a waitlist, they have the right to do nothing.
I had an F saver award SYD-SIN booked for next year, but SQ have changed the aircraft type for the flight I was booked on and now it's got no F seats. They haven't given me an alternative yet (either to change my booking to J or to put me on a flight with F). I spent over two hours on hold to the helpline with no success yet. And I haven't had a response to an email enquiry I sent (for an unrelated problem) over 1 month ago so I don't see any point in writing just yet.
Dec 29, 2021, 6:53 am
#15
Join Date: May 2004
Location: SIN (LEJ once a year)
Programs: SQ, LH, BA, IHG Diamond AMB, HH Gold, SLH Indulged, Accor Gold, Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 7,739
I agree not to throw a tantrum, but no harm in asking SQ to raise a request to move to the earlier flight. MLE with the resort transfers is very problematic and it is a very reasonable ask to be moved to a flight 1hr prior vs. 15hrs later. YMMV.