Is it me or is the new SQ website truly awful? It is almost impossible to use.

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I dont think its impossible to use......

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I have just trying using it and it is IMPOSSIBLE to navigate on this new website. Let;s hope SQ will fix this teething problem ASAP!

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The site appears to be down altogether.

---SIA----

"Dear Valued Customer,

We are currently experiencing some technical difficulties on singaporeair.com, and are working to rectify the problem. The website will be down from 1am to 1:30am Singapore Time (5pm to 5:30pm GMT).

You may wish to contact your local Singapore Airlines office should you require urgent assistance.

Your understanding is much appreciated, and we apologize for any inconvenience caused.

Yours sincerely,
Singapore Airlines"

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Awful is an understatement. It's a litany of technical and basic user experience/user interface issues, and a demonstration that the team responsible for the site doesn't have a suitably rigorous testing and user evaluation regime.

The crowds at Milepoint and Australian Frequent Flyer have already picked it apart, from credit card failures, booking abilities, incomplete features, major SEO and search features... and the list goes on.

SQ need to be shot for this site. It's one of the key planks in getting bums on seats, and they managed to make a complete hash of it.

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I wholeheartedly concur with the comments on the inconvenience of SIngapore Airlines' new website. It is also unattractive: the colour scheme is terrible, the italicised font and the huge calendar that appears on the front page deter me from wanting to use anything on the website.

There is nothing elegant and it is not comparable to the standards I expect of Singapore Airlines. To me, the website looks cheap and is much worse than any budget airline's website (e.g. Jetstar). It is a dog's breakfast in terms of layout and functionality, and Singapore Airlines has to either revert back to its original website design or redesign it altogether.

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Eugene/thewinchester - you are both spot on with your feedback.

To make it worse they recently released a new phone app though the Android Market place and that too is dire. All the reviews on the app were completely negative too.

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I have just vented my spleen on the feedback service on their website in hope that they do something to rectify the situation. Below is an extract of my feedback:

"I am deeply unimpressed and disappointed by the unsatisfactory design of Singapore Airlines' new website.

I was expecting a professional and attractive website but instead, I was shocked by the cheap-looking and unprofessional design of the new website.

Not only is it difficult to use and hard to navigate (e.g. I sometimes cannot access my Krisflyer account or booking), the colour scheme and coordination is awkward, and the italicised font and the calendars on the main page are ugly and deter me from using the website. These are just a few of the problems amongst a myriad of others, which I will not expose. However, I am sure other persons will comment on those other problems in due course, if they have not done so already.

The website is a haemorrhage of colours and links which have been haphazardly meshed together to form a visually unappealing, distasteful, and bordering-on-embarrassing website that fails to reflect the standards I expect of Singapore Airlines. Such a website, in my view, has undermined the quality I perceive in Singapore Airlines.

It's a dog breakfast - literally. No words can sufficiently and accurately describe the awfulness of the new website.

I request that Singapore Airlines immediately revert back to their old website design or redesign it altogether. If something is not done to rectify this disaster, then I am sure that this will damage the Singapore Airlines brand.

The current website is simply unacceptable and will be a huge factor motivating me not to book airfares on the Singapore Airlines website, but on other more user-friendly websites, which look far more professional, such as Qantas, Emirates or Air New Zealand."

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A very good and strong wake-up message but necessary to inform the management in SQ.

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I agree with others, the revamped website is awful, it looks like something designed in a primary school. I did however try out a test booking for LHR-SYD in F. Similar bookings have come in at around £9.5K since the introduction of the A380. I was pleasantly surprised, all sectors on the A380 came in at £6.7K while EK are £6.9K. That is a first since the A380 came on the scene. Do we think SQ are feeling the pinch? If so, not before time.

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Ghastly website from a carrier who best days are behind it.

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The new website's woes continue. It's now been picked up by The Straits Times:

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_672815.html

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The old website was MUCH better. Now a lot of times I get error messages, certain pop up windows do not open up at all. To see the booking class is also way harder now then it used to be. What is the matter the progressive SQ takes a step back into the medieval ages?

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I certainly have to agree with the above comments - definitely a backward step for me and now makes the use of their web site a chore. As they say - "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". If only they improved it . . . . but this is painful at least and time consuming. Not easy on the eyes either . . . . sigh.

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The one sure thing with SQ is that there will be no going back. They've introduced a number of things over the years that have been quite obviously mistakes but have stuck doggedly with them refusing to acknowledge that they were wrong. It's probably a cultural thing about losing face. One of the biggest was alienating PPS club members back in 2007 where they changed the ground rules overnight, they've stuck with that and lost some very high revenue spenders as a result.

I'm therefore confident that this awful website will remain. I think the life of the last one was about seven years so that's a long time until the next change. I still think it looks like something designed in a primary school.

I agree with an earlier comment, their best days are behind them and lots of people seem to think that.

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Greetings from the lounge at Manchester Airport. Checking in on-line yesterday was a further dogs boxxoxxs. The seat selection function wasn't working and there appeared to be no way to check my meal selection. Later I tried to check what the First Class luggage rules are. It took me 5 minutes to find the right page but it is just a load of text not broken down by class so I still have no idea. No wonder I am the only First Class passenger on this flight. I like SQ, it's a real shame they are damaging their business in this way. I don't want to have to fly EK all the time. RC

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I had complained to SQ office in FRA and that is the reply I got from a customer service agent.

"Thank you for your Email and we are so sorry for the inconvenience you had to go through on our website.

You may call us under the number 069 7195150 and we will try to find the best fare for you. Of course we won't charge you any service fee."

At least we can call in and do our booking over the phone....

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sq new website is terrible, i don't like it ast all. the old website easier to use and understand.

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Sorry to be the odd one out here, but I find the new site great and a vast improvement over the old one which I found "fussy" and not very intuitive.

I love the option to check the flight schedules and availability, much easier to use than having to continually search for available days. I made a dummy booking for end September and was through in a few clicks.

What I did not like though was the fare. Wow, € 17,000 in First! Unbelievable. Now looking at Malaysia, SAA via Sydney or Qatar. All much, much cheaper.

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Gentlemen,

After having read all your comments ,I was upset to hear this about my beloved SIA .....I rushed to the new site and tested it .....well....the white space on your left ,hiding the background is UNPLEASANT ....As for functionality ,it is extremely hard to scroll down and up the page ...this is upsetting ....!.....could not find any country specific pages ..is it now just a global page ??..no big deal ...Generally speaking ..this is no good job ,SIA .....have you ,SIA tried its functionality before launching it ???....I doubt very much .....I believe ,Ladies and Gentkemen that if we truly like and appreciate SIA ,we ought to write to the SIA Top Management and give them our honest ,unbiased feedback ..I did already !...

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Top left of the site, it clearly shows "Location" which allows you to choose your location, language and save the preferences if you wish. It allows you to book with kris Flyer points and I had no trouble scrolling up or down. I think the site is a vast improvement and one others could learn from.

Part of the problem is always change. People do not like it as you become familiar with a site, newspaper etc. I'm sure give it a few weeks and you'll come to like it. I'm betting no-one will really change their travel plans over a website design change?

With apologies to the Bard, but "methinks thou doth protest too much".

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Tried the SIA wesite again this morning and it is much better than the first day launch.

I am sure I will get used it it soon as I found it in someway easier to use than the old site.

Give SQ time to fine tune it.

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Being generally biased to SIA ,I will definitely will .....let s see ..

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Having never used the old website, I thought I would have a look at the new website to see what all the fuss is about & I think its OK ?!

Had no problems in searching their timetable, booking a flight and viewing some seat maps.

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Just tried to do a Multi city booking involving 6 cities. (this is an itinerary I actually plan on taking in July) I get one error message after the other. When I had done a "test run" about 2 weeks ago on the old SQ site it worked flawlessly. I still have the airfares and booking codes associated written down. One thing that really stinks is the +/- 3 days on the new site. On the old site that worked very well in ow, return and multi city. Now is is very hard to manage and understand. Also to find out the actual booking class is way harder then it used to be. I wish I had something positive to report on the new site... but the fact is it is still not working half as good as the old site. The airline itself, the SQ service and the hub I like very much.

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Greetings from the haven which is the First Class lounge at Changi. Whilst the website is dreadful, the service on both legs of SQ327 MAN-MUC-SIN has been perfect as is everyone here in the lounge. A world apart from EK and DXB. RC

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Definitely ..there is no comparison between the SQ Changi lounge and the EK one in DXB....In my eyes ,the EK lounge is among the worst,least inspiring in the world.....it is no lounge ..it is a HUGE waiting area of a train station ,managed by careless ,cold people ..all this coupled with cheap material upholstery and poor F& B offering .....On board ,EK is a gamble ..you can fall on a most careless staff or at least delivering the minimum ...Not to mention cramped seating ( usually) ,arrogant attitude and extortionate fares !....SQ is a civilised carrier ,indeed ..they just need to polish that new site ...!

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I missed the old website.

_______________________________________________________
FPSO Topsides

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I don't much care how it looks. It's ghastly, but who cares?

I just want it to work. And it doesn't.

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SQ has gone from having one of the best and easiest websites to use, to one of worst and clumsiest.

It is so Un-user Friendly.

As my old man used to say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

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Must agree it has teething problems. I have an existing booking and when I went to update my bmi FF number it claimed it was not a recognized format. When I called the call center they accepted the FF number. I hope I manage to use the on-line check-in in a few weeks

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Doesn't mean to scrutinize SQ, but have to agree with OP that their "new" website is actually look very ancient... just like it's being made by amateurs who just started to learn HTML...

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I agree the new website is difficult to navigate. I gave up trying to book a flight from Singapore to KL and booked on a competing airline. Go back to the user friendly, tried and tested website.

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What have SQ done here!!! they gone backwards and will lose custom over it I am sure.

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SQ new website is completely awful, it's like going backwards. Why can't they revert back to the old website? there's nothing wrong with the old one but there are SO MANY things wrong with the new one.

SQ, i don't understand why you guys agree to launch such a horrible website like that. didn't anybody test the website first? does anybody in Singapore Airlines a user of the website at all? you should know what am talking about!

i tried to fill up my details on the new website and they refuse to recognize my krisflyer number, and am a solitair member. it's frustrating.

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SQ please go back to your old website. The new one is awful and difficult to navigate. As a travel professional, since the introduction of the new website i have had every one of our clients travelling on SQ ring for assistance with internet check in and many others trying to redeem miles ring for assistance.
This new website has a glitzy picture on it, "WOW" the old website actually looked more modern and was much more user friendly.

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Unfortunately have to agree. It is impossible to e.g. use the form to input personal data or to order any "book the chef" meals. After complaining I got an email of apology from their german office with the explanation that they experience "technical difficulties" on their side but that they would be happy to forward any and all of my requests. Let's see what happens!

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BOOKING FAILED

First time such a thing on SQ site, now SQ is getting the booking done themselves on timelimit, credit card company has debited the amount but no ticket/booking on SQ......major system failure....now i cant choose seats cos booking done directly by SQ.......this is disappointhing

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It is good that Business Traveller is sending updates on the SQ website saga. I hope someone at Singapore airlines is taking note and action results. Their silence is deafening at present!

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Fail! After booking last year fine on the old site, 3 days worth of attempts on the new web site have resulted in all possible credit cards being rejected with a SA message 'Payment is not accepted' (our credit cards are fine)
To add insult to injury, the booking centre can't book us on the same flight that is available on the web site (no seats), and wants to charge more than the internet price. Not to mention that the seat slection did not work on the web site, and can't be requested via the booking centre.
A great airline kicks an own goal.

Anyone have problems with credit card payments on multi destination trips?
-

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There is some vague acknowledgement of problems at the London call centre which takes an age to get through to. In the meantime, I've found that Cathay's website is working perfectly, has anyone else given up and gone elsewhere?

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After 3 days still unable to book a ticket for my wife, my infant daughter and myself. The website blocks me with an error and the call center is not able to "offer me the same price". Unbelievable, they admit they have teething problems but refuse to cancel a booking fee when calling them. Wrote the following complaint letter to them:

"For the past 3 days I have been trying to book tickets for my family and myself from Bangkok to Singapore and back. Until now, I have not succeeded in doing this. I have been forced to enter my particulars several dozen times in the process, and have been greeted by a plethora of error messages. The final error message that prevents me from progressing onwards tells me that the combined titles, names etc, for the passenger and the infant (we're traveling with our 10 month old daughter) cannot be longer than 34 characters. Yet I have to fill in all the names as specified on the passports. Obviously if the names combined are longer than 34 characters, there is nothing I can do about this. Perhaps SQ would expect me to go and officially change my or my daughters name to something that does fit in your database?
The first call to your ticketing office for assistance was brushed off by the lady that she WAS able to do the booking and if I would please try again tomorrow. Following said instructions I met a different error the following day, and the day after the original was back. A second call in the mean time was answered by, dare I say it, an answering machine. This on a supposedly 24 hour call center. When I called again this evening, the gentleman on the other end of the line calmly explained to me that i would have to book the flight for the adults only, then call back and ask to have the infant booking added to the original. When I dryly mentioned that I was already on the phone with Singapore airlines and requested if he could take the booking for all 3 passengers right now, I was told the same rate could not be given as on the website.
While I understand that some problems will arise whenever a new system is implemented, the fact that the call center starts off with a message that the new website is experiencing teething problems, that I am asked to leave messages on an answering machine, and that 3 days later the problem is still not solved all proves that the company was woefully unprepared when the decision was made to use this new site. But apparently it was deemed more important that people can address themselves as Venerable, Duke, Earl, King, His Royal Highness quickly rather than first test the heck out of this system. Considering that it is not possible to book all flights online, a little more flexibility for telephone booking would have been an obvious and customer friendly solution. Yet here I am after calling 3 times and speaking to a call center employee twice, and I STILL do not have my tickets.
I will try to book the tickets for a similar price through a travel agent tomorrow, and if that is not possible I will fly another airline, no matter what the cost. I used to choose SQ because of the overall excellent service, but the way that this is being handled is beyond belief. I sincerely hope that some people are listening to the complaints that are no doubt pouring in, and that lessons are being learned from this. Shameful does not begin to describe this blunder."

And what do I get in my inbox:

"This is an automated acknowledgment to inform that we are experiencing high feedback volumes related to the launch of our new website. We apologise that we are not able to respond to queries or feedback related to our new website at this stage."

They've all gone mad at SQ, I tell you...

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the new sq is terrible they need to quickly get rid of it.. its impossible to use..

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This is base on my own experience...

The new website is slow and not as friendly as the old one. I know that part of change is adjustment. But we are clients and part of change should always consider the efficiency of the website.

When I was trying to do check in on line it hang and keeps on hanging until I decided to stop and wait for midnight to make sure that there were few users online.

Unlike before you can see all your booking in 1 page...now you have to key in the code....and mind you they asked me to logout first the go to the home page again then advised to click "check in"...in the old system you just simply log in and then that's it....

Then other informations about the passenger is missing like the year of birth.

I hope SIA find solution on this. The new website is not customer friendly.

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I do not like like it at all!

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I think the site is woeful. I had the same max 34 character rubbish error when attempting to make an online booking for me and my 2 kids. Plus it also automatically dated my kid's birth months, a month earlier. Exasperating. And then I had problems with my seat selection, i can go on and on and on.....

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As I've said before, SIA management will have their heads in the sand over the new website. The fastest way to give them a message they will understand is to stop using it and book with someone else. Loss of revenue is the only message SIA understand and even then it takes a while to get through.

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You are right PPSKrisflyer.

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Dear Friends
After a failed cr card transaction whr my card was debited but no ticket issued, I spoke to the reservations team here in Mumbai & told them about people going crazy in forums like this, they mentioned there is some rectification going on & when told that their old website was fine & they are losing customers now, they say the new one will have lotsa additional features etc etc. SQ is allowing a blemish on its image due to the website issue, when nowadays e-commerce is everything.

Hope sanctity returns & they do something

Rgds
Rajesh

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SQ's arrogance is legendary. Whilst the new CEO muses over establishing the wholly unnecessary distraction of a long haul budget airline - like Nero he fiddles as his empire burns before him.

The website is an utter mess, undoubtedly done on the cheap, with the foolish economies now reflecting in a disastrous manner on SQ’s managerial ineptitude.

PPSKrisflyer is correct, we wont hear an apology or an explanation from the management – they clearly do not grasp the issue. Having worked hard over recent years to direct passengers to their previous website (which worked perfectly well as far as I was concerned) they now dump us all with an appalling product, shoddy call centre service and an overwhelming desire to take our money elsewhere.

I feel sorry for the in-flight crew who always take the brunt of customer dissatisfaction with slack ground handling or, now in this case, the overwhelming frustration presented by a poorly planned and ludicrously executed desire to reinvent the wheel.

SQ take note, remaining silent doesn't mean the irritation felt by some very loyal customers will pass easily.

I am a solitaire passenger and have been for the best part of ten years. This clearly means nothing to them.

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just gone to book with Cathay, where I dont have to spend my precious time in dealing with chaos by the SQ booking system and 'hot'line and while I can get an even better connection time and bargain than SQ. Bye SQ.

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SQ is not even leaving a follow up message on there website saying that they acknowledge the problem and are trying to fix it.
I am looking at the TG and EK website RIGHT NOW to book my flights. My kids are sad they would have preferred SQ. But it is just impossible to book for 5 passengers and find what you look for without many glitches. That was a step back SQ. I feel sorry for the otherwise great SQ and for myself.

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I would like to inform you about very serious happening on website.

I have booked airticket by website, however the personal profile was
changed to another person!

I called to local office, and the staff checked my booking details.
They said "We have correct booking information for you, website written is
error, don't worry".

However, I can see another personal information(Pasport number, e-mail,
birthday, Tel, etc...).
However, SQ staff has not cleared it yet.
And, they said "this case is not first, we have already had some feedback
same as your case."

This is compromise of personal information.

If you are member of KrisFlyer, your profile might be leaked by
someone....same as me.

And, should I contact to this "another person"(I can see another person's
profile now, therefore I know her e-mail address and tel)???

My local office promise me to feedback about this trouble, but they are waiting reply from head office in Singapore.

I will write here again, if I get some answer from SQ...

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I'm surprised so many here actually book on an airline's website. Don't you have those smarter than thou travel agents who outbid the published fares every time.

However, to show you just how much SQ is out of touch, here is a comparison of fares (from the airline website) for a Business class journey, Brisbane-Zurich-Brisbane in July 2011. Prices in Australian dollars.

SQ $11001; TG $7883; QF $7502; MH $8598. Nothing wrong at all with Thai, Qantas or Malaysian. Yet SQ is 50% more expensive than Qantas.

Either book another airline, or seek out that smart travel agent.

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Greetings OzTraveller - do you have any recommendations please? RC

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Thanks RCinBelper for the hint .... I just checked Expedia.com.au for the same itinerary/same dates etc and voila here are some prices:
TG/LX via Bangkok $5647 wow half the SQ fare on their website
and (drum roll) SQ $8412 some $2600 cheaper than the SQ website.

So my fellow travellers, why are you booking on an airline's website ...!

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Excellent, I'll pass this on to my Aussie colleagues. RC

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Yep, it's absolutely dreadful.
And trying to access the mobile site from my Blackberry just puts me in an endless circle: We're redirecting you to our mobile site --> Please select your mobile device --> Please enter your phone number --> We're redirecting you to our mobile site.

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@KSHaggag... "could not find any country specific pages ..is it now just a global page ??"

You can select your location. It's just that the main navigation buttons are so teeny-tiny compared to the overwhelming advertizing, it's easy to overlook the things you actually need to use!

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I tried one more time to book online -- and got this result.

A system error has occurred. Please try again. (PGyYNy!62622180)

So have booked on Thai Air instead. Very easy website to use, if you want to stick to Star Alliance in Asia. http://www.thaiairways.com.sg/

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Yes. It is still not working till today. I am not able to choose the seats and amend my flight schedule. The payment functions also failed.

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I have been trying to access the website since yesterday.E-mail reply telling me to get telephone number from contact us site is no use and I have also just read in a previous comment that third party booking is not available on the website, this is precisely what I need to book flights for my 84 year old mother.

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First let me say, I still do not like the website. I had complained to the local SQ office asking them to forward my complains to the SQ headquarters. They replied and said they did. Let's see if that helps. They also gave me a phone number in Germany and said I can make my bookings there and they will honor the price on the SQ website. So I called in, told them exactly what I wanted, the fare and booking class and within 20 minutes they called me back and gave me an even better fare in the same booking class, So I booked everything over the phone, paid by credit card and all was very SQ like professional done. That was for 5 pax. Later when I wanted to choose my seats that did not work and I was only able to request isle or window since all seats were already marked as occupied. Well anyway, I got my bookings and my FF information included. The kids are happy since SQ is there and my favorite airline, SIN one of the favorite Airports and I am too. Just wished they would go back to the old SQ website or fix the new one so that it works and not always gives you all these error codes.

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Hi everyone.
I'm going to start a website to lobby for the re-instate of the old Singapore Air's website, by collecting customers opinions.
I live in Singapore and I think Singapore Air is one of the jewels of the country. The website is its face to the world and it's currently been de-faced.
I'm proud to live here and I'm not going to accept a sub-par job.
As in the spirit of our Founding Father, we must always strive for the very best.
Any one would like to help, maybe if you have the right skills to write the front page or suggesting the best open source software to use to collect feedback?
I can be contacted at franco.conte777 attt gmail.com

Thanks.
Frank

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I've just had a try at booking a return in F LHR-SYD, I got an error message so have booked with Emirates, no error messages there!

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It just gets better and better. This is the headline message on the home page at the moment:

We could not find the page you were looking for

The page you were looking for may have been removed, renamed or is temporarily unavailable.

Please contact us if you need assistance or would like to report the error.

I need to go to Australia again next week and I want to fly SQ.

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We've started an online petition to have the old website back:

http://www.change.org/petitions/singapore-airlinesbrplease-give-us-back-the-old-website

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Yesterday, I attempted to change 4 Singapore-Sydney business class tickets online but after repeated attempts of clicking the confirm button, an error message kept on appearing. I was quite frustrated and rang the Singapore Airlines ticketing office. The agent told me to leave my details because he was not suited to deal with the issue, and that another agent will contact me to rectify the issue. I said that it was urgent and he ensured that someone will get back to me as soon as possible.

I decided to call another line and this time, another agent could help change the date of my flight. I was impressed by the service that I received - it was efficient and professional. He recognised that there were problems with the website and offered to waive the service fee, which was welcomed. So after 10 minutes, my booking was changed to my satisfaction.

What I found even more pleasant was that several minutes after changing my booking, another Singapore Airlines agent called me with the aim of changing my booking (because she had not realised at that time that I had in fact already changed it). This call was within 15 minutes of calling the first agent to leave my details.

To me, this demonstrates that the customer service and professionalism of the Singapore Airlines staff have not diminished either in form or substance. Although the Singapore Airlines website is laden with problems, it is not a reflection of the airline's customer service. They must be kept separate and I will continue to fly Singapore Airlines (but until their website is fixed, I will continue to book flights through their telephone ticketing line on the assumption that the service fee will be waived).

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Two days ago in "Manage My Booking" I attempted to book a flight upgrade but a "system error" would not permit me to complete the booking. I phoned SQ and the agent was most obliging, completed the booking with the same number of points deducted as if I had processed it myself online. I appreciated this service.

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I know I am repeating myself here but I just can't understand why you all book flights thru any airline website. All these complaints about attempting to book or change flights on the SQ website have me wondering how savvy you are! Have none of you a travel agent that can offer a far more personalised service; fares that are less than the published fares on SQ site; the ability with 1 phone call to the agent to change anything...? Is Australia the only country that has reputable, knowledgeable travel agents with airfares better than the published fares? I shouldn't think so.

Whilst I agree the SQ website is suffering technical glitches at the moment, why on earth would you use it to actually book revenue air tickets?

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Perhaps because people would rather be in control of their own bookings, and travel agents aren't always the most efficient way to make a booking. I have only once booked through a travel agent and i much prefer to be able to make ammendments to my own booking without the hassle of contacting a travel agent. Particularly when they are only open certain hours if they are located in a shopping mall. However i do much prefer the previous SQ website to the new one, especially when trying to choose a flight combination and it only scrolls half of the page.

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To OzTraveller, I'm also from Australia and I have to agree with you that travel agents are knowledgeable and can make the process easier and hassle-free, but they do not ALWAYS have the best airfares and that is why I resort to doing it online. Also, as Danieljs said, it means that I have more control.

But at the same time, if the travel agent is cheaper or if I'm dealing with a complicated travel plan with several flights or if I want some type of package deal (e.g. hotel, flights and transfers), then I'll go with the travel agent. Also, some travel agents give very personalised services suited to your expectations, budget, spending habits etc. but I find that depends on where in Sydney your travel agent is located.

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@Danieljs and EugeneChan ... in all the years I have been travelling internationally from Australia, I have never once found a fare on an airline's own website that a travel agent could not beat or at least match. I also gave an example in my post 10/6/11 of Expedia.com.au having fares some $2600 cheaper than the exact same flight on the SQ website. If you prefer to be "in control" of your own bookings, and you think that dealing with a travel agent you somehow lose "control", so be it but it's costing you lots of money to think that way.

Do as you please, it's your money of course, but I am simply amazed that the facts as I have shown them above don't sway you away from booking on an airline's own website.

EugeneChan, I don't even visit my travel agent after the initial contact to discuss my flight, hotel, etc preferences. After that, it's on the phone or email.

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I never said anything to do with travel agents being cheaper than the airlines, however i have compared flights between webjet, expedia and the airline website it's self and 99% of the time i have found the website of the airline to be cheaper. Because travel agents dont charge you for just the flight, they charge to make the bookings aswell, they do have to employ people and pay them. Including expedia and webjet, they all employ call centre agents etc.

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I have had a slightly different experience. Last year, I was looking for a one-way ticket from Vancouver to Sydney, flying Air Canada. I contacted my travel agent but the price she gave me was around AUD2000. On the Internet (I booked the same the Air Canada flight on the same day on Air New Zealand's website), the flight was only AUD1400. I brought that price to the travel agent and she couldn't find that same ticket - I think it was because I booked the ticket on Air New Zealand's CANADIAN website, whereas she only had access to the Australian fares?? I wasn't too sure but she couldn't match the price.

But my travel agent has beaten other Internet fares in the past. So, maybe, the Vancouver ticket was an anomaly.

Anyway, in the end, I don't really have a preference. I usually just go with what is cheaper and I always quote both the Internet and travel agent price. But as you - OzTraveller - say, the travel agent prices are always the same as the Internet fare, if not cheaper. Thas has not been my experience. Nevertheless, it just ends up on being personal preference as to whether one sides with a travel agent or Internet.

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@danieljs airlines don't have to employ people...? Don't have to employ call centre agents ...? I simply show you the facts that, for example, expedia.com.au was $2600 cheaper than the same flight/same date/same class on the SQ website ..

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I said nothing about airlines having to employ people, i said that websites like expedia and webjet have to employ call centre agents and they have to be paid therefore they can't charge for outright fares, they have to charge a fee aswell.

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Charge a fee or not .... you save $2600 and you are talking about a fee? .. over and out.

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And after all that... the SIA website is still not functioning correctly. I take the point about SIA staff in their call centres behaving professionally but the website issues have now been going on for over a month.

That is not appropriate or professional and as earlier, the management heads are well and truly in the sand as otherwise the previous website would have been restored three and a half weeks ago with massive apologies. Instead we have the primary school version to play with.

Thank goodness for CX and TG etc, ease of booking is still possible for those of us who do not with to deal with the hassle of call centres or travel agents (one is as bad as the other as far as I am concerned).

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I agree with all the comments about the new "dinasaur" Website. My son's class of 10 year old's could probably have done a better job.
Is this a trend for the future?
I fly SQ regularly and have been seeing a drop off in their level of service in flight.
Maybe it's time to go back to QF - left them becuase even MAS was better!

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The website is VERY slow, they have the unnecessary airports listing which they don't fly to and they also don't sell other airlines' ticket to it

The frequent flyer info is missing from my booking, that is if the booking made last time (yet to travel) could still be located

The Advanced Passenger Info required of all US-bound pax are missing

The multi-city booking is a joke - it is inoperable

There is always a "internal error" message when trying to complete a booking

Really got me fed up, booked Air China, Cathay, MAS, and United and already started to like them

Good bye, SIA

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New page on Facebook to promote the dissatisfaction with SQ's new website

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Singapore-Airlines-New-Website-Lack-Of-Appreciation-Society/134096023337120

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The new website is still appalling. Trying to book a simple multi-city journey from London to Australia with a stop over in SIN in each direction is imposible to book online. One is either timed out or gets the 'internal error' code. The old website booked everything speedily and easily. This new website seems to be one gigantic embarrasment for one of the world's top airlines.

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I absolutely agree that the new website is appalling.
The look and feel tries too hard to look premium, while compromising on readability.
It requires users to enter in the booking reference number while checking in (which wasn't the case with the previous version). I tried so many times to book a flight and it just wasn't working.
And why is it that it requires us to login as a Krisflyer member multiple times at different touchpoints (home page and at the online check in page)?
That's what happens when you try to fix an unbroken vessel.

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It's now six weeks since the primary school designed website was launched. I wonder how much business it is costing them. I've spent about £14 000 with other airlines over the last few weeks that might have gone to SIA.

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Have tried to book 2 x J-Class tickets LHR-SYD-SIN-LHR. Website lets me get as far as making a booking, imputing the passenger names and Pre-assigning seats. Try to click through to the payment page and I just get a plain, blank page with the word 'null' at the top. Called SQ and apparently the booking is saved but need to call a UK number 2moro to make payment. I'm sceptical the fare will still be the same. Will be furious if it's not. Took a couple of screenshots so I expect them to honour it.

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You could try CX ;-) their website works!

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Has anybody actually managed to make a booking or completed a booking over the phone after trying to do so online firstly? Have SQ honoured internet fares?

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I have been using Trailfinders and completely given up on the SQ website.

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Fair play to SQ. Called up and they honoured the special Internet fare. Very efficient and hassle free. 4 sectors on the A380 in J to SYD from LHR await. Can't wait.

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The website might be rubbish but the flights and service are superb.

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I tried to do an online check in today. When I typed in my new LH frequent flyer number it insisted I type in gender and would accept neither male nor female. It did accept return to original details. It accepted my record locator and said I had no active segments. It accepted the frequent flyer for Sing (Kris?) and said I had no active segments. I called Sing and they gave me a different record locator. This was accepted but the print boarding card would not work from my Mac with SAFARI or FIREFOX. I was able to print it later using windows and Internet Explorer.

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today the CEO of SIA sent out apology letters to all customers

But is useless because after almost two months, they still can't fix the issue

last week I flew CX and tomorrow I am flying UA.

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If there is an apology letter around, I haven't seen one and the primary school website is still live so while it still is, apologies are of no use.

Heads should roll at SIA over this. We've all known new websites have teething problems but this is off the map. Whoever specified it and designed it had very strange priorities after all, how many people who book have the title King? That has to be one of the most stupid features.

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(I received this in my email this morning)

Dear Mr [bwvilla], 14 July 2011

On behalf of Singapore Airlines, I would like to offer our sincere apology for the inconvenience caused as a result of issues that arose from the launch of our new website on 22 May 2011.

As with all new initiatives that we undertake, the intention behind the website revamp was to improve on our customers’ experience with us. I am truly sorry that the new website, with its technical problems, has instead caused much aggravation for many of our customers. We make no excuses for our failure to deliver an acceptable level of online service.

We have committed full resources to resolving the website problems and have made significant progress in rectifying many of the defects. We will continue to relentlessly pursue all other outstanding issues. An in-depth investigation as to how the issues that arose went undetected is well underway, and we are treating this with utmost importance.

At Singapore Airlines, we strive to put our customers at the centre of everything we do. I am well aware that there is a wide range of travel options to choose from, and thus, am grateful that many of you have continued to support us. We do not take this for granted.

Thank you for your continued patience during this period. I know that you have high expectations of us, and we failed to meet those expectations. On behalf of the Company, I offer our unreserved apology, and pledge to win back your confidence.

Yours sincerely,

Goh Choon Phong
Chief Executive Officer
Singapore Airlines

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The apology from Singapore Airlines is very much appreciated

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Typical Singaporean business response to a problem... take 2 months to acknowledged publicly there is a problem, and then still doesn't give any indication of a date when the problems will be fixed. (or better still replace with the original website)

What kind of international company that is so brand conscious takes more than 2 months to fix their new website.....

I am so over the problems I've had with the SQ website. My most recent 3 flights out of Singapore have been with CX & Thai.

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My original post about this was 22 May. Surely someone at SQ must monitor the BT website. I hope they are building a long wall for the shootings. RC

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London, UK – September 24, 2009 – Sapient (NASDAQ: SAPE) today announced that its digital marketing services group, Sapient Interactive, has been selected by Singapore Airlines to deliver the global relaunch of singaporeair.com. Sapient Interactive will redesign Singapore Airlines’ online brand identity and deliver a high-performing technology solution, including end-to-end digital commerce services, to enhance the online experience for Singapore Airlines’ global customers....

Looks like they got that wrong

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I heard from friends that the management is aware of it. Thank you for your feedbacks. They are fixing the problems. On behalf of my national carrier, I would like to apologize for the enormous technical gitches. Thank you for your patience. Please call them for assistance on issuance of your ticket and let them know you can't get through website. I think that the staff would report your complaint to the company, address your issue, issue your tickets, maybe by email.

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And trust me, this Mr Goh is not some nobody. He is indeed the CEO of SIA. He is a man of his own words. And the management of my national carrier is doing something to it. Lots of changes aside from the websites are on its way. You will have my assurance. Please have faith and patience with them.

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Very interesting. More bricks please. RC

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It's entirely forgiveable to have a hiccup in the first few days of operation.

To have a systemic and far-reaching failure of their e-commerce portal sustained for such a number of MONTHS is inexcusable.

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SIA's CEO has made an official online apology for the website issues. More information here:

http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/sia-boss-apologises-for-website-a-issuesa

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Apologies - so many posts on this topic that i had failed to notice a poster had already added the apology above yesterday.

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The old website worked perfectly fine so it's really a case of why they felt the need to fix something that wasn't broken. In Singapore airlines case, the website is ruining the customer experience and the company's reputation & brand.

Mr Goh's apology letter only came about after 2 months of complete silence and answering machines! Their flights might be supberb but what's the point if we can't even book a flight! It's taken me over an hour to try and book a simple flight and the website has just frozen and delivered an error message when I tried updating my profile details which were previously stored on the site. I've given up and booked a flight with another airline...

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Thanks for your explanation ValentineTay, are you secretary to Goh?

Goh's statement is just no more than a robotic response by a typical singaporean businessman. can't they simply "roll out" the old version and get the new version fixed with all kinds of bugs before they reintroduce it? simple logic. why keep such a trash website?

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In a world so dependent on ecommerce, it is unbelievable that SIA are persisting with this mad website. Have they lost the plot completely?

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The plot thickens. SQ has made so much money with their highly successful marketing campaigns and their fully booked flights so much so that they can simply not fill their planes any more.
SQ simply does not need you to travel using their services. It's very simple. Fly other carriers until SQ needs you again!!

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Flythere, I am not the secretary to Mr Goh. Mayhaps you looked upon me too highly. Thank you. But I am just a small nobody...a small fly who is aware of the current affairs and the latest updates in the company by straining my ears to listen to whispers. A whole new booking and servicing system called Altea Suite is on the way. Life is full of irony, isn't it? When things are not broken, everyone of us demands further improvements. All of us want upgrading. When things are broken, all of us complain that there should not be changed. Tsk, tsk, how interesting we are? hahahaha

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Aside from SIA website, our national carrier are undergoing huge overhaul. It will take some time before all of us have the last say in it. I would say that it is a learning point that the management are taking on. We shall see. Hmmm...interesting.

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What a bizzare post by ValentineTay, who appears to be a paid or unpaid spokesperson for SIA. Lets get the facts straight, the old website was excellent, it was replaced with an offering that simply did not work, nor are the problems 100% resolved even today. SIA handled the situation poorly, refusing to acknowledge that the issues and even refusing to accept feedback on the subject via the PPS email address. Lets hope that following the CEOs public statement on the matter that finally SIA will get a grasp on the situation, restore service, and fire their entire IT team.

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@Sporetravel I couldn't agree more. On the subject of progress on the website, there just doesn't seem to be any. It's as unreliable now as it was when it was first launched. The problems have been acknowledged but not rectified. Presumably the old website is archived and could have been put back in to use many weeks ago if SIA really were grasping the scale of the problem. Clearly they are not.

At this stage I don't think the current primary school version of the site will ever have credibility with me and the amount of business I put SIAs way will drop even further. For a company who claims to offer a quality service (even though that is diminished more at each 'enhancement') the website is beyond description in terms of awful.

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@LPPSKrisflyer - actually to be fair to SIA, I managed to actually book a flight AND a seat on the flight to Tokyo on the new website.
Of course, all didn't go smoothly.....all of my Preferences, Passport info etc had disappeared (having been there for more than 7 years), so had to type it again. And working my way through the booking system is, still very clumsy.

@ ValentineTay - clearly you don't use the SIA website to book travel yourself!! if you did, you'd understand the frustration of the people commenting on this Forum, who are used to a simple to navigate, easy to use and fully functional website. Which SIA replaced with a very amateur looking, difficult to navigate, and partially functioning website - now MORE than 2 months after the website went online. How anyone can defend this, is beyond me.

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@kiwiinsing - perhaps they are building the "3rd generation" website since two months ago? That's the only reason justifiable! Duh...........

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It is absolutely stunningly unbelievable that till today, more than 2 months since the launch of the website, the most basic functions are still not rectified.

It is a joke that my seat selection of other bookings keep changing every time I logged in to try locate one (another) lost booking in the system - and that even till today the airline is not able to solve.

Also, they keep telling me I do not have frequent flyer information when I actually signed in using my Krisflyer account - what kind of a joke is this ?

Also, I filled up my API for my US flight, and when I was at Changi T3, they told me no info was provided

And for the online check in, the iPhone apps tell me that I do not have a flight to check in when I am leaving on one of the flights within the next 24 hours

The booking engine cannot do multi-city booking. Call the 6223 8888 and took an eternity to get through. They actually asked me to book a round trip and then call them to make changes ! What kind of a booking system is this ?

Valentine Tay, please tell Mr Goh Choon Phong that we are getting very agitated with all this nonsense on the website. Does he really know what scale is this problem ?

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There are several solutions to the website! They are called Cathay, Thai, Malaysia, Etihad, Emirates, Qantas and so on. Loss of revenue is the only thing SIA understands and even then it takes a while to get through. Stop fighting with this ridiculous website and spend your money elsewhere!

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Well something has improved on the new SIA Website. I posted a comment on the Website Comments Box last night, expressing my frustration with the poor usability etc, and received the following reply this morning. Last time I commented, they never every replied!

Warm greetings from Singapore Airlines

Thank you for your email dated 24 July 2011, which has been brought to my attention.

We are sorry to learn about the difficulties encountered when you tried to navigate through our website. Admittedly, our website is experiencing some functional limitations. Your comments are important to us as they contribute to the fine-tuning of the website. We have conveyed your feedback regarding the usability of our website to our project team for their review. Please be assured that the team is working to further improve the design and functionality of our website.

We are sorry for the inconvenience caused and we hope to provide a better online experience for our valued customers. If, in the meantime, you require my assistance with regard to your bookings, please do not hesitate to contact our 24hrs reservations hotline at 62238888.

Thank you for allowing me to correspond with you on this occasion.

Yours sincerely

Angie Chew
For Customer Affairs Team
Singapore Airlines

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I very much hope the major institutional shareholders, together with the Chairman and Board of Directors of SIA, will conduct a thorough investigation into how this situation arose. Who made the decision to change the website? What was the purpose and/or necessity for a change? Who approved the 'new' website? Who supplied it? What idiot designed it? How could any sane executive believe the new site is an improvement on the old?

This is surely one of the most embarrassing corporate moments in the long and distinguished history of the airline. If I was on the Board I'd be furious and wanting some fast answers!

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Clearly there aren't going to be any fast answers given that it is now two months since this dreadful website came about!

As to who designed it, I think there was probably a competition among primary schools in Singapore to do the job, this one came in last.

I do hope that anyone who manages to book a ticket chooses the title King from the drop box, please report back on whether it makes any difference to the service you receive!

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@Sporetravel I m definitely not the spokesman. Maybe you were tired of missed a word in my comment. I m a NOBODY and a SMALL FLY. I am just aware of the situation through friends...Trust me I could have handle your problems if I had better connections with people! I have just helped a customer connect directly to the Los Angeles personnel through email. However, I do not have connections in other stations! Although I m a nobody, I will do my best to help people facing a problem. And I understand your frustration but I m nobody related to the Big Shots in SIA. But I just know that they are fixing the problem and they are listening! They have their shortfalls just like any other airlines. Everyone does have their pros and cons. Go ahead and try other airlines and you will realise they won't try to hunt the food for you high and low when your choice of meals are run out like SQ gals do, LPPS. And LPPS, since you are a LPPS, your status is rare nowadays, don't you realise your meal order was being taken in ahead of other passengers and more attention was given you first, then other PPS and the other passengers? And, guys, shouldn't everyone of us including SIA should learn a thing or two on this matter. SIA and the management should be more attentive and more apologetic. And we all guys should exercise more patience to this situation since we are aware that grumbling, complaining and comparing does not completely work. All other airlines having problems having stewardesses with pretty face but with stuck- up attitudes. Try other airlines and you will be back in SQ in no time. Hence, have to try something else than all these above. Just be patience and have a little faith in my words when I said that they are changing the system along with other upcoming projects to surprise and delight you all.

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I managed to book a flight today on the new website, but only on the second attempt. On the first try I made it all the way to payment confirmation when the system locked and I had to start over. I suppose that's progress.

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There are still issues with the website, and I have had some pretty horrible experiences trying to use it, but SQ's response to complaints has improved considerably.

I filled in the complaint form about being unable to make a redemption booking because seats kept disappearing towards the end of the booking process, and someone from SQ called me the next morning to help me with my booking. The redemption classes were waitlisted at that time, and the SQ agent followed up, got a seat cleared for me, and then called me again to get my ticket issued - AND I got the online discount.

There is no doubt in my mind that the SQ service culture is unparalleled. Shame about the website, and heads should undoubtedly roll for that disaster, but the airline remains a class above all others.

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Wow! Who would have believed it, the SIA Web Site is still not working. Pretty hard to believe that these folk who we trust to keep the engines turning are unable to launch a working website. Not only that, when they get hints that it is not perfect they avoid avoid until cornered and then make a public announcement about how hard they are trying. But to me, just a customer trying to book a flight, it does not work. Tried to book a flight from HKG to SIN today, site crashed out at the point of seat selection. Oh well, back to CX. The service on CX is only so so, but at least I am able to book a ticket. Guess I will try SIA again in September, maybe by then they have been able to find an IT person who knows what they are doing. Meantime its CX, they may not be great, but their web site works.

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Oh Singapore Air! Please just fix your web site!!

I have book 8 flights on your web site in the last 4 months. And now I have just book 4 more flights, thinking your web site must be better by now....... Oh how wrong I was, It has not changed!! The site is still so slow, so slow I got the warning “if I would like to stay on the Singaporeair site” as I was making my booking and filling in parts.

I was thinking hmm maybe its my Internet…um no my download speed is 45Mbs ok that was to a local site. So lets try to Singapore ok it was 10Mbs still not that bad.

Singapore Air, I do love flying with you but you need to fix your web site, make it work like your old one!!

I just hope that the people doing your web site don’t have anything to do with your Maintenance of your aircrafts.

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I watched a colleague try to book LHR-DPS in C yesterday with a stop in SIN on the return. He entered details, chose flights and on each occasion was returned to the home screen. He had four goes and then booked with Qatar for £1K less, the only catch being the DPS-SIN leg is later in the day than he might have wanted but as he was able to book, saved £1K and is flying with an excellent airline he's more than happy.

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I was at Vienna airport trying to do Internet check-in for my Copenhagen - Singapore flight. I tried to change the assigned seats (two) but each time I selected the second seat, I was told it has just been taken up by another customer even though the screen still showed the seat to be empty.

I tried several times and gave up. Now, the computer showed me and my wife being at different seats! I had to wait till I was at Copenhagen airport check-in counter two days later to get back to two seats. Even there the counter staff had difficuties finding two seats together.

I wrote to SIA and they took several days before apolosing. By the way they waited till I was already back in Spore before replying instead of monitoring the e-mail and fixing the problem.

So much for SIA being a great way to fly. Yes, it is a great way to fly off one's handle with such a screw up. I think SIA is going downhill fast if they cannot fix their website problem.

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Nothing has been fixed at all. Totally nonsensical system now. Tried booking SIN-PVG-SIN, credit card got charged but system show nothing no details, "please use KF number to login" ...what rubbish, and what a joke KrisFlyer services email me how to create a password to tell me what is my KF number !!! They totally don't know what what is the problem .

This website problem is really getting from bad to worse

SIA -- WAKE UP !!

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Had email yesterday from SQ (labelled "Dear Valued Customer") with details of Business Class sale for period 1st Nov to 12 Jan with SYD at £3510 (I wonder why?!). Click on link to book and get only economy class fares and no sign of the business class offer anywhere on website; so yet another own goal for SQ.

They must be haemorrhaging previous loyal customers - I was willing to give them another chance despite previous experience of the atrocious regional business product to Oz and their falling in flight service - but if they can't get their website right one wonders what else is going wrong

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The SIA Website continues to be unusable at times. I tried to log on from Beijing today, just to get a seat allocated. Couldn't read a thing.

The webpages were complete gibberish. A mixture of Chinese & English characters, such that I couldn't even log on.

And NOWHERE did it give me the option to select ENGLISH.

Actually, I am not to surprised. Was telling my colleagues today that I was pretty sure the SIA website would not function as it should when I tried to book a seat. Sadly, I was right.

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The website is a total downgrade of what it use to be.

Look at the bright side, there's lots of improvement or upgrade potential moving forwards.

Maybe the next step is to give us back the old web site :P

I used to be able to retrieve all my booking with a login using my KrisFlyer Number. Now you need the booking reference whether you login or not.

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I can't believe they haven't either fixed it or reverted to the old, perfectly functional, website.

This must be costing them millions in lost revenue and customer dissatisfaction.

What's behind this intransigence?

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I couldnt agree more with VintageKrug!

My gripe is around the ability to manage your booking, choosing seats, etc before u check in. I've ended up in the baby row more than once due to this. fml couldnt sleep.

Dont they have a testing environment? Their previous website worked far better than this cr*p! Despite the email from non less than the CEO on 14 July, the website is still bordering on unusable. They have had 5 months to fix it and ostensibly did nothing.

My perception of their brand has been tarnished, latent thoughts of untrained newbie pilots have surfaced from my unconscious.

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SIA management get it right every time and they never go back on decisions they have made. That's why they devalued the PPS club four years ago and lost quite a lot of premium flyers, now they have introduced a new website that they like but it's not fit for purpose.

It does make you wonder how dysfunctional this company is behind the scenes if a website as bad as this can be tolerated for five months.

Difficult to believe that Singapore is a great way to fly - especially as you can't trust the website to make a booking.

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Tried to book a flight today on SIA's rubbish website, got the date wrong so went back to change and the site crashed out with a cryptic systems error message after which I could do nothing to access my booking.

It is totally bizzare that a so called world class airline persists with such a substandard product and attemps to bury all and any negative feedback.

As with others above, I begin to wonder how they deal with their engineering.

In the time I spent on the phone trying to sort the mess I was able to book on CX, and for less money.

Even though I am a Singaporean I have now had enough, I can no longer accept the hasstle of attempting to use this web site. CX for me until I hear that the problem has been finally resolved.

SIA, you may be a great way to fly, that is if you can actually book a flight.

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I have experience great problem with booking and trying to change my booking. Eventually I had to call SIA call center, but being in Indonesia during there New Year celebration was impossible, so I resorted by calling the UK SIA office which was fast and efficent, but a expensive call.

I just hope they sort it out, because from customers point of view nothing has happened.

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All I want to do is print my electronic ticket but alas after several attempts at either entering "Manage my Booking" or enter the booking reference I watch the loading message for ages and then get an error message. After several attempts I have given up today and will try tomorrow.
This is so frustrating.

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This website is a truly spectacular failure, it's cringe-worthy.

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This SIA website is really ........ no word to describe

It is a spectacular crash I believe. The booking first has be manually done. Now cannot even check in and return with message "PNR Cancelled" ..... and try log in again -- it is all blank !

Since May 22, 2011 till now, nothing has worked. I suggest SIA might as well just close it shut down the damned website

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I just logged into my account, went to retrieve my booking and got a totally blank page - well done SQ
I can't understand how SQ can be so totally oblivious. I don't think they will take all this seriously unless some major security breach happens which is only a matter of time. I am a travel agent and was trying to allocate seating for a client and ended up in someone's booking belonging to a different agency in a different country. I could see his flights accommodation, personal numbers. This is actually scary.

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@Eva Test your luck next time to see if next time you have personal details of some millionaires (if they find themselves on SQ plane) or some high profile persons.

IT IS JUST RIDICULOUS!!!
SQ IS JUST RIDICULOUS!!!
SQ IT IS JUST SUCKS!!!

What a great way to fly with your personal details around the world!

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right now the SIA website booking is full of "system" error....after logging in, all functions relating to flight booking returns with message "System error". This is simply ridiculous

also, please note that if you call the call centre, better not to choose option for biz class / krisflyer member, better to choose non member -- you will be attended to faster than a member

obviously, to the management they are simply taking for granted loyalty of members and try to sooth the general public's frustration by taking their phone calls first

I clocked near to 180,000 miles in one year and gold member for so many years, and the phone call takes as long as half hour to be answered. Just hang up and redial and choose non-member, your call is answered within a few minutes

it is most despicable

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Do any Asian readers know if the SIA website problems have made much in the local Singapore newspapers or media?

It seems quite incredible one of the world's greatest airlines, consistently at the top and with a global reputation for excellence, should allow such a negative image to be portrayed in the aviation industry. Surely it is fast becoming a national embarrassment not just for the airline but for Singapore itself?

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Forgive me going off topic but cannot remember how to create new topic.... mea culpa.
I was sitting in JFK trying to make a booking on BA from LHR-LIS last Tuesday using my iphone or my blackberry. It proved completely impossible. The AA mobile site and app would not show BA flights (as the HTML does) I am not a BA EC member so I had difficulty making a booking on the BA site or app. I did manage to find prices and flights on BA website but the site would not accept the book command from my iphone and did not load properly on my blackberry.
Can anyone recommend an app for Iphone that I can use without being a BA EC member to make bookings on BA? AA is no problem as I prefer to call any way however BA website pricing can be more competitive on BA europe flights occasionally.

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Hello drflight

If you do a web search you will see that the Straits Times has covered this issue on several occasions both in the news pages and within its the Discussion Board.

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Is anyone from SIA taking any notice of all these postings, because there are alot of frustrated customers who like the sevice of SIA, but can not book flights using the on line system.

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Hi fu2u2UK,

I am not sure if anyone from SIA is keeping an eye on these postings, however when I sent my complaint, I also add a link for this group. I strongly recommend that we all should keep sending complaints to Singapore Airlines https://www.singaporeair.com/websiteFeedBack.form and post a link of this forum.

If we bombard them just maybe the will not let there pride destroy such a great airline.

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Not sure if they are monitoring the postings or not, my experience is that they are cynically trying to bury the whole issue. The CEO only came out and made a statement when he had too. There has been zero communications to SIA loyal customers and at one stage (not sure if it is still the case) they blocked feedback on the issue.

SIA used to be my prefered airline, this incident has proved that it is just like all the rest. Sure the flight experience is good, but they absolutely refuse to take this issue seriously. Even when I wrote to the CEO/Chairman I did not get any form of reply. Below is the text of my last letter to SIA on this.

I agree with the previous post, the only way SIA will take this seriously is either bad publicity (newspapers etc) or in the face on continuing customer complaints. Me, I have given up, I now only fly SIA when I have to, CX service is not as good, their planes are often late, but at least they listern and their web site works. An most importantly they don't have the deep seated arrogance that SIA has displayed throughout this sorry saga.

Text of complaint letter below

Dear Sir:

I wrote to you on the 20th of June alerting you to the fact that the changes made to your website to improve customer service were having exactly the opposite effect due to the numerous errors and defects strewn across what is a very poorly defined interface and tacky look and feel. My interest in this matter is admittedly personal; I have been a loyal customer for at least 13 years (according to the information printed on my Solitaire PPS card) and have enjoyed many great flights with your airline. Unfortunately before I fly I must book, and at the moment attempting to book a flight with SIA via the website is a frustrating experience.

Today at approximately 14:50 hours I attempted to book a flight from VHHH to WSSS on SIA, leaving on the 31st of August and returning on the 4th of September. While the response was slow, I did get all the way through to the point of selecting seats, and guess what? The site threw away my custom with a message about a technical error. I am in a lose, lose, win situation. I lose the opportunity to enjoy SIA service on the flight. You lose my flight. CX win another ticket that should have gone your way.

I absolutely refuse to be treated with such continued disregard by what was previously my favorite airline. So, as was the case last month, I will book on other airlines and check back in September whether or not your website is useable.

Some one in SIA must get a grip on this problem; it is destroying your reputation.

Yours Sincerely

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Below is the text of an earlier complaint letter, which like others was ignored by the airline. Coincidentally, I sent the letter a week or so before the CEO came out of hiding to talk about the mess that they had created. In my next letter I will suggest that SIA better align their brand with actual customer experience and change SIA to mean (S)pin, (I)gnore, (A)void.

Text of original complaint letter to the SIA Chairman

Dear Sir:

You may have been informed by executive management that problems associated with the re-launch of the SIA website are receding and that customer satisfaction levels are returning to where they were prior to the launch. While there has been a marginal improvement in response times, the site is still slow and more importantly prone to frequent crashes. Any casual scan of the internet will show a vast amount of negative reaction to: the style of the new site; the performance of the site; and the attempts of management to “spin” the problems as being “initial” or “teething” problems. The launch has been, and continues to be a PR disaster and one that is made worse each day as the problems persist and communication is stifled (by the blocking of feedback on this issue for example).

I have been a PPS member for 13 years, and a Solitaire member for the last several. I normally select SIA for both business and personal travel. I am willing to pay a premium to fly SIA because I value the consistency of service. However the attitude of management in attempting to minimize what is a critical situation has now provoked a, hopefully short term, switch to other airlines. I am flying to xxxxxxxxx this weekend, I had initially attempted to book on SIA, however due to website crashes and a poor call centre service I have switched to Jetstar. Incidentally, I was able to complete the Jetstar booking process, start to finish, while I was on hold with the PPS hot line.

As a veteran of technology within Financial Services I can tell you that fundamental incompetence is at the seat of this problem. Management’s attempts to position the problems as normal teething problems is disingenuous at best and does not fit with the discipline required in the aviation industry. By definition the site was insufficiently tested prior to launch, both from a performance and functionality viewpoint. The site is very slow and some things just did not work, and still don’t. In such a dismal situation there is only one course of action: fall back to the previous version; apologize to your customers; fix the problems; engage tame customers to test a pilot; and re-launch with humility.

Rather than humility, management displays hubris. SIA remains the World’s, and my, favorite airline, however day by day the brand is slipping in the eyes of your customers. So please, inject urgency into this situation before management irreparably squanders a reputation that has been built over many years by their predecessors.

Yours Sincerely

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I don't think SIA even bothers with complaints anymore

Like I mentioned before, they treat new customers better than existing loyal customers - that is why when you call, you are answered almost immediately if you choose the option of non-Krisflyer member

These week I am in NYC and I could not even do online check in for the return flight. They system says "system error". Okay fine, after all the sectors of this tickets are used, I have no more outstanding reservation in SIA.

Next trip will be on CX and UA. Inflight experience may not be as good as SIA, but at least will be able to get unto the flight first. No point talking about SIA's flight service unless you can make the booking work.

The new CEO just does not have a grip on how to run an airline. It is their loss, not the customers. There are always so many airlines to choose from, and many of the are actually very good and cheaper than SIA tickets

Forget about SIA. They don't value loyalty. Actually had dinner with some senior management people from SIA. They don't think is a big issue. So let them be.

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I have spoken to customer service twice this week on separate occasions about seating and check in and both people i talked to kept insisting that there was something wrong with my computer. Once again well done SQ - you refuse to concede there is a problem and now your staff are trying to tell us that the problem is on our end and not yours.

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That goes so well with the message I've had today stating that there is no known time scale in which the problems will be resolved and a further suggestion to contact their local offices. I told them I'll travel with other airlines until they do - no response.

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SIA website had been updated twice over the past 24 hours - scheduled maintenance

I just went in to check -- horror of horrors :- my completed flight two days ago is NOW being listed as next flight available for check in !! while yesterday it was not shown anymore

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Also, there is no point writing to the local press - Straits Times - to complain. They just won't publish any negative news or complaint letter - may be they are so dependent on SIA for advertisement revenue.

Just like when I wrote in to complaint about lost mails from the Singapore Post - they don't publish the letter except to call the Singapore Post to contact me

Continue to bury their heads in the sand

Continues...

OMG!! Took a closer look at my "next available" flight to check in which was completed two days ago -- they must be so DESPERATE that the SIA people must have resorted to manual data entry ? the flight is for next year same date same ticket number !!! how they did that with their eticket ?

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After attempting to issue a KF redemption ticket, points were deducted and the ticket cannot be issued! I had to issue a Qantas commercial ticket instead. SQ was aware of the problem, and could not be bothered to refund the points (although they promised to over a number of weeks) . Instead they offered a compensation of 3000 points! What an insult! SQ still feels they are the best airline and management can afford to treat passengers with an attitude.

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The web site is without a doubt a complete fiasco, totally impossible to use productively.

despite good inflight service I cannot be bothered suffering this abomination any longer and have moved my company's business to Cathay Pacific.

No amount of great inflight service will compensate for arrogant and out of touch management, userous surcharges and a frequent flyer program debased to irrelevance.

SQ's best days are clearly behind them, the new seats and A380 clearly went to management's head.

Goodbye SQ hello CX

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It's really disappointing that an airline of SQ's calibre is not listening to its customers.

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Have you all signed the petition?

http://www.change.org/petitions/singapore-airlinesbrplease-give-us-back-the-old-website

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I work for a company with more than 2000 employees in Singapore of which about half travel. It is unbelievable how often the website problems come up when discussing travel plans, or just in general conversation over a coffee or lunch, and how many of my colleagues now choose alternative airlines. The consensus is that this is SQ, so management will just ignore the problems and the customer dissatisfaction.

However one of my colleagues pointed me to this Forum posting a made a couple of weeks ago. http://www.sqtalk.com/forum/showpost.php?p=153114&postcount=655 . Reading this, it appears SQ may not have a choice, but to continue with the new website.

Another colleague posted on this Forum. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/singapore-airlines-krisflyer/1222895-new-singaporeair-com-website-issues-18.html

Despite all the customer criticism, dissatisfaction being published on multiple blogs, calls to the SQ Call Center complaining, every Singaporean I speak with says the Straits Times will never publish anything to do with SQ website problems. Not because of the Ad revenue - because the Govt instructs them not to.

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@kiwiinsing Regarding the explanation made by the SQ reps, I don't believe that's reasonable and just no more than B$. New website too big to fail? What a joke!
At the end of the day, SQ is still the stupid one to blame and that excuse doesnt stand.

(1) SQ should have known that it is a no-turning-back once implementing the new website given the incompatibility between the old and new version.
(2) They should have deal with the incompatibility problem by importing all the previous customer details, bookings etc.
(3) Not trouble-shooting all the glitches before rolling out the new website.
(4) They are too stupid not to take prompt action to revert back to old website after seeing such problem in the first place. If they did the retification quickly, I believe they now dont have the excuse that the new website is "too big to fail", only a few number of booking at the begining would be affected. So what else can we say about them as B$. SQ can only make up such stupid explanation.

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You are right, I should move to CX instead of trying hard to search their senior officer to bring up a complaint. If SQ losing out business the new web site is to blame. I had never seen such an ill web site created by such a big National flight company. Shame on you SIA, you are tarnishing your country people for not doing much about your very very very ill web site. Maybe we should bring this up to the minister mentor, was told he is particular about SIA's services...

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So this has been going on since may and still they haven't fixed.THEY DESERVE TO LOSE BUSINESS.There's plenty of 5 star airlines. I tried several times to use the site and nearly threw the computer out the window until I did some research on the site. You've lost yet another Gold member.

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So this has been going on since may and still they haven't fixed.THEY DESERVE TO LOSE BUSINESS.There's plenty of 5 star airlines. I tried several times to use the site and nearly threw the computer out the window until I did some research on the site. You've lost yet another Gold member.

Continues...

The whole saga is like a joke. Not long ago they offered 3000 KF miles for all the troubles I went through. Told them they can keep it. Just please solve the problem quick.

Just called them to put on open date one remaining ticket I had since the system continues to create havoc for me

meanwhile as I spoke to the SQ person answering my call, I completed my booking via Zuji and ticket issued for my next flight to China.

also, thanks to Business Traveller, the newly revamped frequent flyer program from United looks much more attractive than SQ, and since they often upgrade me even when my miles were credited to KF, I shall henceforth credit my miles to United's mileage plus

This whole episode with SQ leaves a very bad taste; and since SQ management sees no necessity to solve our woes, we know what to do and who to fly with. SQ isn't the only airline that flies from Singapore

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On 22 Sep's edition of the Straits Times, there is a sectional front page detailing the problems faced by some members of a fitness club

Compare that with the magnitude of the SIA website saga, it is evident that there is a gag on reporting SIA's problems. Well, as I said, they will continue to bury their heads in the sand. What a shame

Spoke to the newspaper people - it is up to the top to decide whether to publish it. Enough said

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It seems SIA have a facebook page about the company and a further one about travel which are full of the wonders and virtues of the company. Maybe it's worth a barrage of asking questions about the website on there and seeing what happens. I don't use facebook but would be tempted to sign up. Maybe the posts will be deleted!

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Something is seriously wrong with SIA website again : the following KF number keep appearing on my browser - and I am using a brand new laptop that no one has used before : 8102317163

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LPPSKrisflyer @ 06:32 GMT

that FB started as a fan page by a customer, now taken over by SIA

no use posting there : all my questions about the website problems got deleted

they don't want to know any negative news

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While this incident of censorship and head-burying is not in itself life threatening, one does wonder if this corporate culture pervades other areas of the SIA operation.

It's hugely serious for passengers if it does.

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I have posed the question about the corporate culture directly to SIA and used the example of whether they would be so complacent if aircraft engines functioned the way the website does. Needless to say I was assured that safety is their top priority and they do nothing to compromise it and there was no mention of the website functionality.

The website is clearly causing major problems though, several people I know have bought tickets through discount websites over recent weeks on sites where SIA do not normally make F & C seats available and at prices that are more in line with those of other carriers so just maybe the message is getting through. I found LHR-SYD in F for under £7K which a year ago would not have happend and £10K was more the norm. It was also A380 on all sectors.

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Singapore Airlines might sit up and take proper notice if these serious website issues were reported in some of the high-profile international publications, for example the US or UK newspapers. It could well be an effective "feel good" story for those countries, seeing as they are in economic difficulties whereas Singapore is often portrayed as a country where everything is perfect.

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Have to concurr, website still terrible in Oct even after the June CEO mea culpa, and May launch.. the worst airline website in the world?- use the call centre, or or just use CX or Thai. Website will waste your valuable time and frustrate you - save your sanity & go to phone or alternative!

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Stupid Stupid Stupid! How else can you describe SQ's behaviour on this issue. Oct 10, attempted to book ticket on SQ to Singapore. Instead of a ticket I got

"System Error
A system error has occurred. Please try again.
(Q7QwTT!-1583535873)"

Actually I will not try again, I will try CX.

After battling these idiots for half a year I have finally given up. While a bit better in the air, this website issue is a perfect example of stubbon stupidity. Finally the have worn me down - better to put up with CX's poor on-time performance and so so in flight service than SQs arrogance and disregard. Any one want to buy a well used Solitare Card, willing to swap for CX Diamond :)

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And my not to well worded to the bit bucket know as SAA_Feedback

"Your website is still rubbish. Half a year and you can not even put a usable site on the net. This is pathetic! Lets hope that your aircraft mechanics are better than your software developers!!!!!!!

Dont bother responding with platitudes about customer care and fixing the site. Your actions over the last half a year cleary show that all you are interested in doing is saving face - even if in doing so you damage the reputation of SQ that was built by those who came before your and who really cared about customers."

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Having flown CX & Thai for my my last 2 trips, on Saturday I booked a flight to HK on SQ. Monday night, I wanted to change the return date and I got the "A system error has occurred. Please try again" message. I was unable to change the return flight online and had to call SIA.

Today I got a call from a charming Client Representative apologising profusely for the website problems, telling me SQ is well aware of the problems, they have noticed customers like me are not flying SQ as often and are doing everything they can to fix the problems. I politely informed her that I should be able to log on to the SQ website from my hotel and change the return flight, after all this is 2011, and websites have had this functionality for more than 10 years now. Clearly reading from a script she continued to tell me how much effort SQ was putting in to the website, and how they had made progress with the problems, at which point I kind of stopped being polite, and told her explicitly that not being able to change a flight online 6 months after the new website went live is not much progress.

And that was that. No compensation offer, no seat upgrade, nothing, just a phone call to apologise and explain things will get better. To late for SQ - I just booked Qantas to Mumbai.

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Well, I thought I would give it a go to see if anything has improved in the four months since I last tried as I need to go to SYD and unfortunately CX do not offer F between HKG-SYD.

Got through the process to the payment stage so I thought all was better and then got a 'system error' so SQ have just lost about £7K which I've spent with EK. It may not be Singapore Girl but the suite oin the A380 is as good as you will get other than on SQ and at least I can book it.

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Business must have been bad due to the half-working website

Now I can't cancel and can't change my outstanding bookings

Called 6223 8888 and they don't speak English any more

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This is so unbelievable! How do the computer systems on board of the aircrafts of Singapore Airlines work? Do they work (especially in the airbus A380?)? I am really afraid now. I've been trying to book for hours now with Windows and Mac, with Ipad and PC. The errors occured on different steps of the booking process. No possibility to ask anyone! No possibility to see if the booking worked after I entered all my credit card details! But funny: the website worked best, when I visited the Quantas-website in the other Tab...

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SQ announces a large drop in profits over the period its appalling website has performed so badly. Coincidence? Apparently so.

All to do with weak demand (?) and fuel costs. They also state: "advance passenger bookings showing "signs of weakness".

If this forum is anything to go by demand has always been there - SQ's ability to meet demand with a suitable reservation portal has been lacking and so lies the cause of the advance booking weakness.

It is quite clear; they just do not see a problem with the website and have not the basic humility to accept that they are wrong.

Like many other travellers, despite being a Solitaire member for many years, I have moved to alternative airlines who actively seek and support my business.

Its funny how other airlines (middle eastern especially) cite a growth in demand.

SIA Q2 net profit plunges 49% on fuel costs, weak passenger demand
http://www.todayonline.com/Business/EDC111104-0000074/SIA-Q2-net-profit-plunges-49-on-fuel-costs,-weak-passenger-demand

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You can guarantee that in the mad world of SIA management the fault will never be anything to do with the website but will be any other factor or piece pie in the sky that is hanging around.

Other airlines must be laughing all the way to the bank and of course once custom is lost it's harder to get back, not that SIA would of course ever offer an incentive as their product is so perfect everyone wants to buy it......

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This is Un %#@ believable!!!! 6 months after the new website went live, I try to book online and get this message >> "An application error occurred. Please contact your local Singapore Airlines office." WTF?

Is it any wonder SIA reported "low forward bookings" in their Q3 earnings release. Customers can't book a ticket - even though they want to!

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Stupid Stupid Stupid! SIngapore Airlines you are so stupid. You subject your loyal customers to the insanity of a useless website and have the hubris to believe that we will stick by you. Stupid Stupid Stupid Lets hope your results continue to tank to the point that they are forced to take their customers seriously. Stupid Stupid Stupid

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This is typical of an arrogant regime that cannot admit its made a mistake. I doubt this would be in the local press as thats government controlled as well. Trying bringing this to the Economists attention. They would love it as they are critical of Singapore though I think it's now banned there.

I loved SIA but gave up sometime ago when they became too expensive and as much as I'd like to try a suite on the 380, I refuse to pay €17,000 for the pleasure.

I now prefer to book direct with the airline by phone. Just as quick and all the options can be explored with them.

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Yesterday I got a shared SQ booking information sent to me by my Swiss colleague who wants me to book her a good hotel in Hong Kong end of this month and her SUCCESSFUL booking was done within 10 minutes!!!

While I am sure they are many GENUINE cases of passengers suffering from a faulty SQ website, this lady had no problem with her booking!!!!

Happy days ahead for you sufferers!!! Talk to a human voice in the meantimes and keep your blood pressure normal!!!

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Congratulations, SIA !!

Today is exactly half a year since the launch of you new website, and it still sulks big time.

I have stopped flying your airline because I can't book online, and when I could book, it gave all the craps errors and mistakes and I had to call the hotline that don't speak English, or that my English is so bad I don't understand what they say.

Any was just trying to redeem the hard earned miles and it gave me all the "system errors" and "internal errors" .....

Mr Goh Choon Phong, no point ordering new aircrafts if you can't even fix the website. You and SIA is the laughing stick of the online community who are frequent travelers.

SIA is really a joke

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Your account is now locked.

For the security of your personal information, your account was been locked after 3 failed login attempts. Notification was sent to the email address registered with your account.

It may take up to 24 hours for the account to unlock automatically.

another joke from SIA today

8098940536 - this KF account keep appearing in my PC.....SIA is really very random

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Just sharing this experience so you are aware. I make 2 redemption bookings on the website. When I wanted to cancelled one, the website has no cancellation capability. Si it means calling SQ to cancelled. However, when it came time to ticket, again you have to call SQ to ticket. An the funny s****d thing is, it seem my "cancelled" was not cancelled after all. They almost ticketd me on the cancelled booking!!! So for those making any redemptin and with multiple bookings, do make sure you double confirm everything with the agent.

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SQ management is actually screwing the shareholders as the airline has lost considerable revenue thru stupidity. Stupidity not just on the part of the website designer, but on the part of the management team as well. SQ should bring back Koh Boon Hwee (former SQ chairman) who will never tolerate such happenings. Funny thing is, why is SQ still the award winning airline in BT's survey?

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The disaster continues

Dear Valued Customer,

We are currently experiencing some technical difficulties on
singaporeair.com, and are working to rectify the problem.

You may wish to contact your local Singapore Airlines Office should you
require urgent assistance.

Your understanding is much appreciated, and we apologize for any
inconvenience caused.

Yours sincerely,
Singapore Airlines

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I suggest posting views on their Facebook page which is possible, most of the posts there are from the company congratulating themselves on something or other and they describe themselves as 'The finest airline in the world' deluded or what?

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We booked a flight on Singapore Airlines a few months ago for January and have been having problems selecting our seats ever since. Can anyone confirm if it's possible for us to select our seats by either telephoning the customer services department or by visiting their London office in person?

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jezzialli: Whether you can select seats depends on the class you are travelling in, F & C you can, Y you can if you book on line (if you are able to these days) otherwise you have to wait for check in.

It's about ten years since the office in Regent Street closed and AFAIK there is no other point of contact to visit than the ticket counter at LHR to speak to someone in person.

If you are not a Krisflyer member, the best number to get them on tends to be 020 8961 6993.

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Have been trying to book a flight to Asia from the USA on the Singapore Airlines for the past 2 days. Still no luck. When I call them they are asking for at least $300 per person extra. Does anyone know whether they still have an 'old' website that still works?

Thanks
Kristian

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Kristian

As the previous posts will illustrate, SQ's website is not fit for purpose and those that manage SQ refuse to acknowledge the matter.

If I were you I would take my business elsewhere. Qatar Airways, Emirates, Etihad will all do you good service on similar routings.

SQ chooses to continue its appalling level of service (off flight) to its own loss.

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Kristian, old web site gone and torn up. No luck there I'm afraid.

Have to agree with MichaelB though, stop banging head against wall and book elsewhere. Depending on where you're starting there's also Swiss, Lufthansa, BA to name a few to try as well.

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started using other airlines out of no choice as SIA just plainly refuses to repair the system as they have no clue how to fix the problems

if you speak to the staff at check in, krisflyer services, booking personnel in Singapore, as employees they do acknowledge the problems as such, but what can they do ? Management just have no clue how to fix the system and Sapient the contractor has to take instruction from management who does not know how to instruct them! See the problem ? Was at the SQ check in counter and they do acknowledge the problem

Also, Straits Times also delete all negative comments on SQ regarding the website and for the facebook fan page, SQ simply ignore all negative postings.

What I am doing now is simply to exhaust all the miles in my account and move on to other Start Alliance airlines

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in the last few hours, the SQ website is down again. the "manage booking" function is in total chaos.

the local office where I am located now is closed, they only function from day time normal office hours only

and I don't expect myself to call India to resolve the booking problems I faced

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Can anyone please confirm from experience whether or not it is safe to use the online check-in option on Singapore Airlines' website, or is it better simply to check-in at the airport (albeit there might be fewer seats available to choose from by that time)?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

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can try the check it

no malfunction on this aspect

at worst not successful

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I gave up on the website months ago, until there's a new one I wouldn't waste my time with it.

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I tried SIA website after 3 months in January 2012. It is still not user friendly. I used Air Asia many times recently for short flights. How easy it is to book and check-in. On top of that, they give a service that is outstanding. In SIA, only he cabin crew provide good service. In Air Asia, every ground staff and cabin crew provided quality service with their heart. On top of that, I can pre-order the food I like. Not just choice A or B and then SIA (at times) runs out of food and have no choice left, even after paying more for the tickets. So, I have decided to say good bye to SIA even though I have krisflyer points for flights.

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I fully agree with your comments. The older version of the SIA website is more user-friendly.

I have also said goodbye to SIA because the chance of a free upgade of cabin class is zero although I have travelled with SIA for many years. But once I tried AirChina I was pleasantly surprised that I was upgraded to business class on my first flight with them.

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Having just reported an unheard of fifth consecutive fall in profits, the SIA shareprice is starting to creek. Hopefully the shareholders will now be protesting too, enough is enough.

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I tried SIA website today. Unbelievable!

Dear Valued Customer,

We are currently experiencing some technical difficulties on singaporeair.com, and are working to rectify the problem.

You may wish to contact your local Singapore Airlines Office should you require urgent assistance.

Your understanding is much appreciated, and we apologize for any inconvenience caused.

Yours sincerely,
Singapore Airlines

Continues...

So that's the same story every day since April 2011! Will there be a party to celebrate the first birthday of the new website?

I understand we have just been offered an amazing contract for all travel to SE Asia, Australia and New Zealand by SIA. Before now they have declined to offer anything worth having maintaining their fares represent excellent value. I haven't see exact figures but I believe something in the order of 45% off standard F & C prices is being quoted. Times must be hard at SIA and no wonder.

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Thanks for discussion guys. For more airlines like country wise airlines, regional airlines, famous airlines history, baggage fares, destinations, fleets, check in details visit "AltiusDirectory.com".

http://www.altiusdirectory.com/Travel/

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Check in works fine. Remainder of website is a MESS

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Tried to use the multi destination option again - SYD-SINGAPORE-VIENNA and return with a stopover. Failed with technical error.

Forget using this web site - try your travel agent if you really need to fly with SIA. Otherwise, try a different airline (as we did for our last 5 trips).

The web site designers are clearly incompetent - even the most basic logic such as defaulting a return day/month to be at least equal to the departure date has not been implemented. This is kindergarten stuff that even my kids know how to program.

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After a 3 month hiatus from SQ, I booked SG to HK last Thursday and SG to Shanghai on Sunday. Prices were much cheaper than CX, and both online bookings went through ok. I was impressed....but should of known better.

Thursday 1pm flight, we boarded and then they announced technical problems. We were offloaded and waited in the Gate Lounge for 5 hours whilst they brought another plane out of the hangar, cleaned and serviced it.

Sunday 5pm flight to Shanghai, due to technical problems, we were offloaded, and waited 7hours for the plane to be repaired.

Back to CX for me

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Tried to book Cpt - sin - Kuala Lumpur using my iPad. You're redirected to download an App which I did and my attempted booking failed. Tried the web version and all fine till I tried to use my Amex, then it threw a hissy fit and failed.

Called travel agent and she has come up with some interesting alternatives and cheaper than with SIA.

I now sympathise with you all!

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LP are you sure AMEX didnt reject the transaction either because you hit your limit or hadnt paid your bill? ..lol xxx

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This thread has been going on for such a long time now and there has been no improvement to the site. Does anyone from SIA take any notice of this forum? Do they know people are not booking with them or they just don't care.
Can anyone explain?????

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the facebook fan page of SIA is full of complaints by customers with hardly any response from the airline, except they readily accept any praises from the fans. yes they do read the complain but no, they are clueless how to solve the problem...the longer they drag the more face they lose to go back to the old website

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Becky, no limit on Amex and the bank settles the account automatically.
It seems in S. Africa for reasons unknown SIA won't accept Amex..

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And of course Singapreans can never lose face can they?

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We are approaching the first anniversary of the launch of the primary school designed website.

I wonder how much business SIA have lost as a result of it. They are certainly discounting in premium cabins in a way that they haven't in the last ten years.

AFAIK, there are only two other LPPS members in the UK, we were talking of having a few drinks to celebrate a year of being unable to book SIA flights on line! If it gets organised, others will be welcome.

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i think it LOOKS really good :) never made a booking through it mind you but i find navigating around easy :o) xx

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the advertised fares ex-Singapore for Y class is approaching budget airlines fare level

that makes me suspicious that SQ is slowly transforming itself into a budget airline and that could explain why the website problems not fixed since the last 10 months ?

also it is evident that SQ is "cheaper" with disposal cutlery in Y class, similar to the domestic service of mainland China airlines

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I have tried several times to book MIA-SIN for flights later in the year. The website is basically cack compared to any other. Looks like BA/AA win again for my business.

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KrisFlyer snafu won't happen again, says SIA February 23rd 2012

http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_769646.html

OUR website experienced a temporary issue last Friday evening, which resulted in some KrisFlyer members being shown pages from previous sessions of other members ('KrisFlyer online shock' by Mr Raymond Liow; Tuesday).

No unauthorised transactions took place.

We sincerely apologise for this serious malfunction and acknowledge that it should not have occurred.

The root cause was determined and the issue was resolved within four hours.

We take customer data privacy very seriously and assure our customers that steps have been taken to ensure that such an incident will not happen again.

Tan Chik Quee

Senior Vice-President Marketing

Singapore Airlines

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Considering SQs total inability to do QA/QC on it's Web site then this piece of news should be even more alarming:

http://www.singaporeair.com/jsp/cms/en_UK/press_release_news/120212-pbss.jsp
"Singapore Airlines will be upgrading our Reservations and Ticketing system in June 2012. This is in line with ongoing efforts to leverage on technological developments that enable us to meet evolving air travel demands.

During the upgrading, we will be carrying out a series of trials in February and March 2012 on selected flights to fine-tune passenger handling processes."

I made sure I was not on any of the "trial" flights!

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Last week we booked a flight from Hong Kong to Amsterdam. Our experience with the website was HORRIBLE!

First it took us two hours to buy the ticket after numerous errors and wrong displayed information. We even had to call in twice to get the booking complete.

Then we thought we are done, but no. 48 hours before we nicely received a SMS that we could checkin for the flight to Singapore, since we have a stopover there. After some hassle with the seat selector we managed to do it within an hour ... puff. The next day (at midnight!) we got an SMS for the second flight. Since we were awake we tried to checkin but it is impossible because in no way the flight shows up in the booking with all kinds of wrong information!! Again we waste hours of our time and it was really frustrating. Next day we call in but the really bad english speaking Indian could not explain us anything. Probably they outsourced their call center together with their IT to India!

As an IT professional I would suggest everyone to just avoid this half-baked system because it is clear that the engineers don't know what they are doing. Also I would not leave my details and credit card info here!!

Thanks for wasting our time SIA.

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Rumour has it that in June of this year SIA will drop Kriscom the current booking engine on the website in favour of a migration to Amadeus.

The sources of the rumour are sound. There is a suggestion that migration of bookings may be difficult and there will be a very awkward transition period.

Booking remains a challenge and of course knowing SIA they will not announce anything in advance, you will go to book one day and it will be a new amadeus system and there will be no acknowledgement of the change and it will be the system they have always used. Even if you can succeed in booking on line at the moment, it's probably best not to if you intend to fly after June.

I have no experience of using Cathay's website in the recent past but I believe they have just completed a simlar migration that was not trouble free but now all is much better and sorted out.

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It appears that their email service is also down. I never had any reply to my 5 emails addressed to: mailto:SAA_Feedback@Singaporeair.com.sg">SAA_Feedback@Singaporeair.com.sg
They are very arrogant when customers complain. If there is a compliment they are happy to accept. Not only the poor web service, even the direct Customer service has dropped so badly in SIA. SIA is worse than the budget airlines now. They do NOT care for their customers or even krisflyer members! Yes, some Indian outsourced company answers calls and they have no power to do any change even though they answer courteously.

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!!petersham!! in this present time customer service is a most important sector in the world.i want to some others information about customer service from you.
Singapore Web Design Company

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Hi engellina
Why don't you give your helping hand to SIA?
Design their web site to work so that we do not need to call or email them.
Singapore is excellent in IT and why can't SIA use a local company? Your web site looks great!
SIA web site is shit and their customer service is worse.

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LPPS: Thanks for the heads up on the move to Amadeus, I have heard it from two other sources aswell so definitely avoid bookings for travel from mid-May onwards on the website if it will let you.

I've just tried making a booking for LHR-SGN in about three weeks and been unable to pay. TG have come to the rescue yet again.

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I understand that SIA will now definitely move to Amadeus in June (thank goodness).

All I said before about the migration process and avoiding booking on line before then - if you can, still stands so for once I would suggest you use a travel agent if you want to book at present for travel from July onwards.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-26/singapore-girl-s-charms-fade-as-airline-battle-heats-up.html

Singapore Girl’s Charms Fade as Airline Battle Heats Up

it is made worse by the non-performing website which the airline pretends does not exist. arrogance and pride come before the final fatal fall

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SIA are a formidable, if arrogant airline. They certainly aren't failing and their economic performance purely reflects the changing marketplace with increased competition and high fuel prices. However, while their service standards have indeed deteriorated, the highs were at the very top of the industry and still have a long way to fall to meet European major airlines.

In my view, they cover all market sectors well, ie.:

-Long-haul/Mid-haul full service (SIA Mainline)
-Long-haul/Mid-haul low cost (Scoot)
-Short-haul/Regional full service, hybrid (SilkAir)
-Short-haul/Regional low cost (Tiger)

It is clear that they have a strong base to build from, so the following improvements are necessary:
-Service enhancements, not product, in all classes to generate good PR (Catering/Entertainment/Care usually suffices, a la VS)
-Refocus on developing rather than developed markets (More China, India, Vietnam, Cambodia, Burma, South America, Africa)
-New marketing campaign moving on from the Singapore Girl, perhaps focusing on a clever tag-line with promotion of their excellent biz product, promotion
-New bases- Singapore has an extremely limited population, so a new base is needed for regional flights, closer to China, like SilkAir Taiwan, etc.

SIA could do so much better, they just need to stop being so boastful!

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petersham, most individuals I talk to find Filipinas to be usually incredibly pleasant. manila is now the world's leading call centre homje: a key reason is that Filipinos and Filipinas alike have a great telephone manner and usually friendly disposition. I'm sorry if you had the opposite experience.

regarding SIA's website, it is now shocking. It's hard to search for flights: I don't like the way you select the dates at all.

I'm sure this has led to potential flyers giving up and searching other more user friendly sites such as Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific and (to a slightly lesser extent) Cathay Pacific.

In changing its website, SQ committed a huge mistake.

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I do agree that SIA's website is frustrating, but what I take issue with on this forum at present is the campaign to make them look bad that has extended to reviews and comments. It does strike me as a bit strange that various members are obsessed with comparing them with Lufthansa. In reality SIA outdo LH in all classes, when comparing like-for-like aircraft, even with their inconsistency (like A380 New LH First vs Suites). I have flown SIA on several occasions and have had a pleasant experience on all flights, and plus, if you fly BA, you're used to snooty cabin crew!

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I recently bought tickets online for my family and extended family from SQ website. Did not face any problem at all. In addition, I bought award ticket that also went smootly. The only issue I noted that confirmation ticket does not say "ok". However a quick call to PPS club hotline clarified the matter. (although I recently lost PPS status, but the people at SQ still assisted).

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I recently bought tickets online for my family and extended family from SQ website. Did not face any problem at all. In addition, I bought award ticket that also went smootly. The only issue I noted that confirmation ticket does not say "ok". However a quick call to PPS club hotline clarified the matter. (although I recently lost PPS status, but the people at SQ still assisted).

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I have removed my comments on the ground staff at check in because SIA Customer Affairs Manager has replied, explained and apologised for the incident.

The cabin crew are still providing a good service & hence, I have forgotten this boarding gate incident.

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SIA are definitely losing ground and I think there are several reasons for that.

They now class services to Australia as regional. In terms of distance that is the same as LHR-JFK, is that a regional service? The products on the routes are inconsistent and you don't know what you are getting and there are regular aircraft changes. Given that the kangaroo route was one of SIA's big winners and now they are losing out to the Gulf carriers, they do themselves no favours by offering a downgraded service on part of the route.

The products are also inconsistent on many routes, F on the A380 is very different to the 77W, C must be around in at least four varieties especially on the 772s many of which are showing their age. You can be confident of the product if it is an A380 or A330, if it's a 777 it's pot luck.

Service standards have fallen in F & C by quite a large margin over recent years. The majority of the Skytrax five star rating is the result of Y class reviews. SIA are possibly better in Y than the competition and that bolsters their position quite significantly.

Corporate arrogance needs to be curtailed in favour of a listening culture. The cuts in service over the last six to ten years have been signifcant, coupled with not listening to passengers at all during that time things have gone bad. It's not like they are even remotely interested, you are told in no uncertain terms that they know best and they aren't interested in your views.

They need something new and innovative to catch attention. The products that are their stars are now five plus years old. That's not new anymore but there is no sense of anything coming along which is going to capture imagination.

Until something changes, I see them continuing to lose ground, sad but a reality. Still, it makes booking easy!

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LPPS - if you check the mileage in the OAG you'll find that SIN-SYD/MEL is actually slightly farther than LHR-NYC.

It is strange that SIA downgraded its SIN-Australia services to "regional" a few years back. Maybe the idea was that t could get away with offering product grades (depending on the plane type) ?

Or perhaps it was to do with yield. After all, the cost of a ticket from Europe to SIN is not a lot less than Europe-Australia when the extra distance (from SIN Australia) is taken into consideration.

I also wonder if SIA, having lost DownUnder traffic to the Gulf carriers, is now looking at tapping the fast-growing market between Australia and mainland China.

Check SIA's schedules out of SYD or MEL and you will find good connections over SIN for the likes of Beijing/Shanghai and so on. By comparison, if flying ex-SYD to Europe there is only one flight (the teatime departure) which connects over SIN (for Europe).

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LondonCity: SIA fares to Australia are consistent with those of other carriers and about 10% more. The days of them being a bucket shop carrier to Aus are long gone. Y is full, it's in F & C there are spaces and that's because they no longer offer value for money.

The schedules out of Aus have been as they are for years, only the late afternoon flights can connect quickly to European departures and every carrier has the same problems. I prefer the late night departures which leave from everywhere except SYD because of traffic restrictions. They connect to the 09.00 departure from SIN which gets in to London mid afternoon. There's a slightly longer stopover but I don't mind that.

The connections to Asia have always been excellent but then that should not be a surprise!

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LPPS - your comments on the decline and culture at SIA are spot on. Disappointing to see, how an airline I used to prefer now has become an airline I only use if I have to.

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LPPS 13.32 Agree totally. SIA need to reinvent themselves and start listening to customers. That they are struggling in the current climate in Asia says much is wrong. CX are growing - new products, good services and they listen. They have really stolen the lead on SIA in the last two to three years and I don't see SIA doing anything to get it back.

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It's been almost a year since this thread was first started. Is the SIA website not now "old"?

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New First?

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Touché

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It's a fine example of how SIA don't listen to their customers and know best.

At least there is a solution in sight with the migration of the booking engine to Amadeus which is supposed to happen next month.

New Club World - surely that's club world by now and the original version, well perhaps that should be christened Vintage Club World ;-)

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Today marks the First anniversary of the problems-filled SIA website. In a recent article by the Singapore Straits Times (May 18), the CEO Mr Goh was quoted as saying "This is a great airline. It's always hard to improve on things that are already acknowledged by many as the best," when asked about the increasing complaints on website problems faced by frequent travelers.

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I've just had an email telling me that there will be some down time on the website later to day for 'scheduled maintenance' and hoping I am not inconvenienced! Given that I haven't used it in many months, I won't be but the migration of the booking system must be getting close. Here's hoping!

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It's pretty appalling that these issues still persist.

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@KF:
Thank you for this quote! The arrogancy of Sq could not have been captured and displayed any better. In Northern Germany the saying is that " fish stinks from the head first", I guess this is true for SQ too. Why are we surprised when the staff, systems and lately the product in general is not at par anymore, when Mr. Goh thinks that they are the best?!

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Good accidental faux pas Cbroo - methinks you meant "fish StiNks" though fish sticks works maybe ;-)

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oops.... is corrected, however, the fact remains the same....

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