[Lackstagram]

Hey guys.
My wife and I had a flight booked for Monday April 5th from London to Perth and called Singapore Airlines to check if it’s still flying as i saw a post on a facebook group that they’re not flying on the Mondays in April..

Singapore Airlines told us they’re flying only on weds to Saturday to Perth at that time…
So we managed to change the flight back six weeks to 14th May but they charged us double what we payed originally as an upgrade in order to change the flight. 🤷‍♂️
Not sure where we stand with this as they let us book a flight originally that’s not flying anymore. Feeling cheated that they’re charging us to book a new flight when they were never going ahead with our flight date.

Anyone else in the situation?

Appreciate any help or tips on this one. Really need that money back during such the pandemic lockdown with no work..
👍Thanks all

1 user thanked author for this post.

Shamsh

[Inquisitive]

The best option will be to stick to original plain and stay 2 days in transit in Singapore and then take the Wednesday flight to Perth, if 2 extra days is not a factor.

There is a Crown plaza hotel adjoining the airport, and cost of that normally be less than $500.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Bullfrog

[SimonS1]

Several things are not clear to me from the OP. In particular:

1. If the flight is for 5th April there is still some time. Airlines are generally rearranging flights a month ahead. Either way if traveller has a confirmed flight the airline will normally make contact to cancel/rebook. Have they done that?

2. In any case if the Monday flight is cancelled, but Weds to Saturday flights are operational, why can’t the airline move the passengers to Weds (2 days later)? I’m unclear why a 6 week delay is needed. In fact SQ themselves are selling tickets on Sunday 4th and Tuesday 6th to Perth routing via Adelaide or NZ which would get OP to their destination.

3. Why an upgrade is needed when there are plenty of cheap flights available.

Anyway this is a flight from the UK so EC261 provisions apply. Where a flight is cancelled the traveller is entitled to a choice of a refund or rerouting to their destination. The airline is also responsible for duty of care during the delay.

If the traveller has a confirmed ticket for 5th April I would make this the airline’s issue and in the event of cancellation leave them to sort it out. However a word of caution: if the traveller has made proactive changes themselves (eg on basis of Facebook) this can be considered by the airline as a voluntary change in which case any consumer protections can be lost.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Bullfrog

[BackOfThePlane]

I’m also somewhat confused by the OP….

Would it be possible for you to provide exact details of the original booking?

You say that you were originally due to fly from London to Perth on Monday 5th April? If you were departing the UK on Monday 5th, you would have been flying from Singapore to Perth on Tuesday 6th April?

According to Amadeus, SQ 223 departs Singapore at 09.55 on the Tuesday?

1 user thanked author for this post.

Bullfrog

[Lackstagram]

Thanks, here’s some more info.

So the booking was leaving Heathrow on monday 5th april and landing in perth on 6th.

We contacted the airline on an insider knowledge (from a travel agent/facebook group) that the airline is only flying on certain days and that our flight wouldn’t be going ahead. Singapore confirmed that our flight wouldn’t be going ahead, so it was going to be cancelled.

They then said that if we were to wait for them to reach out and say it was cancelled (say a week before we were due to fly) we would still have to pay the difference for what it costs to book a ticket now (same class – no upgrade)
So to not risk losing more time waiting for this to happen we asked to be moved to a new date that will be flying.

[SimonS1]

By instigating the change yourself it will almost certainly be classed as a voluntary change, at your cost, particularly if the flight has yet to be officially cancelled (as you imply).

I’m still unclear why the dates had to be changed by 6 weeks?

Under EC261, if a flight is cancelled the airline is obliged to offer you a full refund or rerouting to your destination, either at the earliest opportunity or on a date that suits you. That could be on the same airline or an alternative carrier (there are many airlines that could get you to Perth).

This is one of those situations where really you have to let the airline do the leg work rather than relying on channels like Facebook.

I would suggest to speak to the airline again, mention your rights under EC261 and ask for a copy of the call recording of what was actually said. If they don’t play ball it would be worth speaking to a legal adviser or the CAA….you could start a small claims case but not totally straightforward if you have instigated the change.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Bullfrog, BackOfThePlane

[TimFitzgeraldTC]

Good Afternoon

The flights are not cancelled on 5th April. Merely that the Singapore restrictions mean that routing from the UK as a non Singapore resident is not permitted by the Singapore authorities. The flights are going, you’re just not allowed on them to transit Singapore. This means you’ll only allowed to get flights to Australia where the same plane physically operates from UK to Australia and you cannot get off in SIN – meaning only a few options each week.

I’m assuming the tickets were originally in Economy. If so and then changing the flights it may well be that the first available flight in Economy was not until 6 weeks later with the capacity restrictions into Australia. And a fare difference may have been applicable if original fare was on a lower Economy Booking Class and now only higher fares available.

If you can afford to go Business you could fly on the 3rd or 9th (flights to Perth operate on Fridays and Saturdays from UK from 28th March). Or if you can go Premium you can get out earlier on 24th April. (I don’t know how quick you need to get out).

Or you can look at Premium to Melbourne on the 8th April. But Economy seats are hard to come by to any Australia city (Adelaide is often best bet). Been helping a lot of people get back to Oz over the last few weeks – at least SQ this time have set out schedule for next few weeks.

[TimFitzgeraldTC]

Yes 3 Economy Seats left to Adelaide on the 14th April if you can quarantine there? Should be no or minimal fare difference to change.

[Author]

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