luv2fly1st

I had a ticketed Suites Saver award SIN-SFO for 130,000 miles for FEB 21, 2023.
Just received the dreaded email today that SQ 2 will not resume service HKG-SFO and they booked me in SQ 34 in J.
No mention of refunding miles. And the NEW award chart is in effect now, of course.
How best can I insist they have to protect me and my award or am I SOL?
I'd be happy to fly SQ 12 to LAX same day.
What is the best way to approach them and ask them to re-book me on SQ12 at the old saver award level?
All help and suggestions appreciated...

terbangalways

You could write in for SQ12 and ask to honor old pricing due to involuntary cancellation.
Try calling in. But if you got PH/IN CS then you need to be VERY patient. They are not savvy and not much authority given.

demue

To get SQ to offer an alternative F itinerary will be an uphill battle. You need to be ready for lots of conversations and persistence and a good dose of luck.

Now they rebooked you into J, fair enough, but in this case, I feel you are definitely owed the mileage difference between F and J award (Saver I assume). Even this may not be done proactively and smoothly so it'll require you pushing as well and they may say there was no J award space etc. Who knows.

If the route and date you want to travel is available as a Biz Saver redemption at the moment, the best option may be to look to grab that one and cancel the F ticket for no fee and get miles back - IF those miles have not yet expired. Careful here. Good luck.
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carrotjuice

The conspiracy theorist in me thinks it's intentional that SQ announces this recent spate of downgrades due to aircraft changes after July 5...

carrotjuice

Indeed. When I called today for another similar downgrade issue, the CSO was ever ready to offer a full refund... almost with a chirp in their voice... as if it was the default modus operandi, and in a not too subtle way swaying you towards that.

You need to insist that a refund is the last thing you're looking for, and stand your ground for an involuntary reroute but in the originally booked class.

amberlower

I had a ticketed Suites Saver award SIN-SFO for 130,000 miles for FEB 21, 2023.
Just received the dreaded email today that SQ 2 will not resume service HKG-SFO and they booked me in SQ 34 in J.
No mention of refunding miles. And the NEW award chart is in effect now, of course.
How best can I insist they have to protect me and my award or am I SOL?
I'd be happy to fly SQ 12 to LAX same day.
What is the best way to approach them and ask them to re-book me on SQ12 at the old saver award level?
All help and suggestions appreciated...


I have had the same experience and they will not refund the difference. Emailing them is useless as well. They have cancelled some of their email addresses and no longer reply to you. Something is suddenly rotten at SQ. It is no longer the world's best airline and heading to the bottom of the pile with their lack of service and don't care about you or your booking/rights. . Their call centres are inept and will not pass you onto someone who can possibly be effective. They simply refuse. VERY disappointing.

luv2fly1st

Thank you all for your depressing comments (sigh!). I will give the call center and say my prayers first for the mental fortitude that I will need.
Demue said " To get SQ to offer an alternative F itinerary will be an uphill battle. You need to be ready for lots of conversations and persistence and a good dose of luck."
This seems to be the SQ modus operandi.
One more question for you all...I used miles expiring in July 2022 to buy this ticket.
So if I go the refund route, will these miles be extend 6 mos. to Jan 2023 and then again to July 2023?
Demue, you said: "IF those miles have not yet expired. Careful here. Good luck." - Did you mean my expired miles will be expired if I refund my ticket?
Thank you all for commenting. That reward was too good to be true it seems.

hardworking21

FWIW, I often email [email protected] and they get back to me within ~2 business days; I am a SQ *G member and lead with this in the subject line, in hopes they prioritize my requests over non-status folks.

JeredF

(Edit: resolved!)

Same situation here; due to an equipment change on SQ 631 (HND-SIN) I was downgraded from F to J.

I spent a few hours trying to get through on chat, then gave up and called the US contact number (which I believe routed to a SE Asia call center). I explained the problem and asked if I could be moved to SQ 11 (NRT-SIN) which showed F availability. At first the agent said it couldn't be done due to lack of reward space, but I politely pushed back on this since it was a non-scheduled equipment change and I am used to this being re-accommodated. He went back to a supervisor and was able to get the change approved!

So, my advice is to give it a try. SFO/LAX-SIN may be a more contentious (i.e. paid) route, but if you see seat availability it can't hurt to ask.

demue

This is the thing with the Covid mileage extensions, they only covered miles that were in an account and not the ones in a booking. Now if your miles expire 31 Jul 2022 then at least you don't forfeit them immediately if you decide to refund the flight this month. They will get extended to Jan 23.

However, do make sure no 'expired' miles are part of the booking in such a refund scenario, e.g. from May or Jun 22. Those will not come back to your account.

luv2fly1st

UPDATE: I called KrisFlyer at 1 833 727 0118 at 3:15PM PDT today (7/7/23).
Call was picked up right away.
Agent said she was not familiar with award bookings (!) and would escalate to the redemption line.
SQ said they will call back in 48-72 hours. I just have to hope it will be during my daylight hours.
Lastly, Thanks again Demue...the bulk of the miles will expire July 2022, so I may lose about 20,000 miles if I go that route. Appreciate your tip.

invisible

I got this 'we will call you in 72h' at least half a dozen times. They either never did or called 4-6 weeks later when the problem was already gone (one way or another).
If you want the issue to be resolved 100% you need to fly to Singapore and go to ION Orchard. Or, more realistically, continue calling.

SESTAR

I also had SQ 2 booked for Feb 2023 using AS miles in business. They rebooked me into SQ 34. Phew! got the bulkhead seat reserved too.

flayum

Opposite just happened to me Bulkhead -> Non-bulkhead.

Seems like they just bumped SQ34 up from ~3pm to back to ~6pm to match the old SQ2 departure time too... nail in the coffin for SQ2 for the foreseeable future?

luv2fly1st

WEEKEND UPDATE (or lack thereof).
No calls received from Krisflyer redemption desk (as forewarned by Flyertalk member "invisible".
SQ revenue agents told me on SAT, SUN, and MON (Philippine based) that I could expect the call within the 72 hour limit
I now know that that was pure BS!
It was VERY MEAN of SQ to wait until the July 5 passed for them to inform me that the were cancelling the SQ 2 HKG - SFO sector.
Is there Flyertalk member in Singapore who can make a local Krisflyer call on my behalf? Please PM me.
It will be my pleasure to take you out for dinner at your favorite restaurant in Singapore of FEB 20, 2023 (the night before my cancelled departure!).
My re-booked ticket on SQ 34 J is in limbo...I can't change it; I can't cancel it;I can't refund it.
My points expire in July, so this is now a real concern.