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Quick question - do any SQ FF (PPS or Solitaire) ever recieve upgrades? In the three years I have been flying as a Solitaire member I have been upgraded once on a 2hr SIN-BKK sector. I have the opinion they would rather off load passengers on an over booked flight rather than upgrade. Interested to hear of other SQ FF experiences related to upgrade - good or bad.
Not a regular with SQ myself and others will be better placed to comment but I do know they are very very protective of their products and upgrades are indeed, as rare as hens teeth.
I have been Solitaire for a number of years and have also only ever been upgraded once - NRT/SIN. Friends who work for SQ tell me each upgrade has to be justified by staff to management in writing and can only be made in very exceptional circumstances. And of course they never, ever upgrade to the A380 Suites as a matter of strict policy.
As per one of the SQ duty manager at LHR. SQ policy is not to do any upgrade, if a flight is overbooked they will try to find an alternative (next available flight) rather than upgrade (this is valid M to J and J to F). Only under certain circumstances they would upgrade, but apparently there is a huge amount of paperwork to fill by the duty manager to explain the reason and they can be discipline if they dont have a really good reason to do so. Hope this answer your question.
Thanks all. Its what I thought but good to have confirmation.
Must admit I'm looking around for a better carrier out of the region.
Their FF program sucks as the milage offered I don't think is all that favourable compared to other carriers (I transfer more miles from AMEX than I do traveling with them and this $250K you have to earn for Solitaire really gets you not a lot at the end of the day), although the lounge in SIN is great their worldwide lounges are nothing to rave about and as for flying in those old cradle seats around the region I think there is better choice out there.
Although its my favorite airline, their policy and attitude specifically in terms of their FFP and upgrades really disgusts me to say the least. Whats so great about their new seats that they seem to block it completely on the reward flights. I have tons of miles in Lufthansa but can never get a business or first class seat on the "new aircraft" which are already 5 years old!
LHRtraveller - couldnt quite work out if you are one of the SQ duty managers at Heathrow or whether you know a duty manager, either way though, any chance of explaining why SQ pilots insist on lounging in First class, in uniform during their rest periods. Dont SQ aircraft have seperate pilot rest areas. If loyal pax are not being upgraded (which is perfectly reasonable by me) I do not understand why the Pilots flying feeling able to use the First class area during a rest period.
MartynSinclair - Unfortunatly I do not work for SQ, but a good friend of mine does and I will ask him the question.
@MartynSinclair: This is not only a SQ phenomenon, this also happens at BA, even if the pilots have a rest area, they are entitled to have an additional rest seat in Club, i.e. 60B on the 747, but if there are seats available in First then they can utilise this too. Before any upgrades take place they can pull rank and use that seat rather than a loyal Customer who deserves an upgrade. In my opinion very wrong and it is not a good look when you sit in First and you get a Pilot sitting next to you havng a rest and sampling the First food, for which others have paid serious money but thats only my opinion, others may have diffrent thoughts on this
Samidxb - I also have a ton of points but would never use them on an SQ Business Class New Seat. Not worth the points. For the same (maybe less) you can travel first (seats available of course) with Thai, Swiss etc. I recently managed to get two First Returns with Star Alliance Carriers from SIN to Europe - out on Swiss and back on Thai both via BKK. Much better value but it does take time to confirm and you have to keep calling the FF centre back each day until something comes up. That being said if I can still use miles for a seat on SQ in First on the 747 its my preferance but trying to find a route the 747 is flying these days is becoming as rare as hens teeth.
LHRtraveller and flier74 many thanks for your responses.
Seat 60B on the 747 is the Captains crew seat on flights where a third flight deck crew member is needed, i.e. flights in xs of ? hours. This seat is not utilised for shorter flights to say NYC. With the pilots permission 60B can be released for another crew member. I am not aware of flight deck using First.
My question to LHRtraveller was specifically about SQ (and not BA). The reason I asked is that on EVERY SQ flight I have taken in First over the past 4 years, the one empty seat in F on departure, is always taken by a mysterious person, by the time of the cruise, wearing black trousers and a black sweater to cover up his gold bars.
On the last occasion, this mysterious person asked me to move from row 1, as he claimed it was reserved yet it was empty on take off.
I would be interested to know whether this was SQ company policy.
60B is BA company policy but my question was not directed to BA!
Thank you for your time in checkingor finding the answer.
MartynSinclair...You are spot on with the 60B issue on BA. This is not a seat available for commercial use on flights with additional crew in the flight deck. It can and does get released to staff and specifically to family of the crew on some occassions. If SQ will not upgrade even after they have overbooked, I think that is pretty poor customer service. Given the compensation that must be paid ex the EU cannot see how this is commercial justifiable.
I agree we all enjoy occasional upgrading BUT I think SQ made a commercial decision by making their premium seatings "hard-to-get" would in the long run be a more valuable product and their premium passengers appreciate this policy by knowing that the front cabin is more exclusive and willing to pay top money to be in that environment.
I totally agree wuth FlyingChinaman. I think upgrading is a previlege and SQ keeps it very strict to ensure that premium paying passengers get a fair treatment. Moreover, catering cost per head on premium class is very high and SQ normally caters according to the bookings per flight. Commercially, I think SQ will have a more sustainable business model.
I believe, that the underlying issue MartynSinclair is touching on, is the general attitude of SQ management towards their (and other Staralliance Gold+) loyal customers. I agree that SQ is highly overrated. Whilst on-board service can be very good, ticket prices are relatively higher, their seating product in c-class is plain bad and uncomfortable, their lounges other than SIN are average and my interactions with their ground staff, supervisors and CS centers (on th ephone or in writing) have always been disappointing. Thus, as we have a choice, I agree with previous posts and prefer to use other carriers (Thai, Swiss, Virgin) with a better attitude.
I have been upgraded SIN-LHR with SQ. Discounted Y class to J class, aisle bulkhead. Upgrade happened at the gate, I had Krisflyer Gold at the time. It was on 747, not A380 or 77W.
Previously discussed why SQ has such a strict policy to upgrade with one of their sales managers in Sydney. It is to keep it exclusive. Also their execs (well maybe not the most senior) don't even get business class when on business trips. I am definately against their policy towards PPS club and Gold passengers. They certainly should upgrade on occasions, it is a sign of appreciation and keeps their biggest spenders loyal.
Take a look at www.SQTalk.com there are a lot of disgruntled members. All wondering why bother with SQ. Where you used to not get good treatment for upgrades, at least award levels were ok and not so hard to come by. Now with the business & first products so readily available on the network - they still flog it as 'new' and charge double the miles for it, complete joke.
As a top tier freq. flyer member, you are much better off with other carriers. I have had success with BA/QF/CX/TG/LX/LH/UA, many of them are known for offering upgrades to their loyal customers when operational issues occur. BA is great for it.
I no longer bank miles with SQ, all my miles go to LH. I'm just planning how I can burn up my remaining SQ miles.
I have mixed experience with SQ. Since I flew for once First from EU to Australia, in A380, I was upgraded next time from SIN to MEL into FIRST and ended up being the only passenger in FIRST. But its really rare and even trying to pay for upgrade at check-in will be rejected due to a 24 or even 48hours advance purchase policy.
Changed recently to Qantas FIRST on the same route and loved it. Hope they get their A380 back into service soon.
SilverKris is useless, since you have to fly double as much for a reward than with LH Group. Miles&More seems still to have the best value for earnind and spending miles.
Upgrades with SQ occur after my experience (star Alliance gold) very arbitrarily. In general I look at the Quality of SQ as overrated. The "dog-boxes" in SQ Biz are uncomfortable for big Traveller (190cm). I did a little better experiences with Lufthansa (SGN-BKK), with THAI occur upgrades relatively often and gold ROP are preferred. Became several times upgrade ZRH-BKK and BKK-ZRH. The FFP of Qatar Airways (QR) is interesting where I got an Upgrade almost with every 3rd or 4-th flight. Therefore, have joined to the Qatar FFP "Privilege" - with less than 3 Biz (200% of miles) Roundtrips a for free Roundtrip ticket in Eco for members of the family. QR miles can also collected and redeemed in Lufthansa. And the real goodfeelservice in BIz of QR is substantial excellent.
cbroo - the underlying issue of my post had nothing directly to do with the lack of upgrading pax on SQ flights but the fact that pilots are lounging around and sleeping in First when they have perfectly adequate rest areas within the flight deck area on the 747. I know pilots work hard, I know pilots need rest, I know that it is stressful. However, with 4 pilots on board a roomy flight deck with sleeping quarters, I dont understand the need for the pilots to use the First class facilities and making it very blatant at the same time that they are crew.
I fly SQ long haul first class 20-30 times a year and I must say it is VERY COMMON for me to be the only passenger in the entire cabin while C and Y are full. I know people like upgrades and I do as well. But it is a nice feeling to know that in some cases (Singapore and Jet Air), I will not be in a crowded cabin or can even have the cabin to myself
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