News

SIA announces surcharge levels for A380 premium seats ex-LHR

1 Feb 2008 by Mark Caswell

Premium fare passengers booking one of SIA’s A380 flights out of Heathrow to Singapore will pay a surcharge to fly on the superjumbo.

The A380 will start flights from Heathrow to Singapore next month, and features the carrier’s latest first and business class products which aren’t yet offered on SIA’s B747-400s serving the UK (these currently operate all flights into Heathrow and Manchester).

Initially, SIA would not divulge details of first and business class pricing for the A380. And when Business Traveller checked the carrier’s website and contacted its call centre today, it was still unclear what premium fares passengers would have to pay.

But Trailfinders (trailfinders.com) now has the new SIA prices loaded into its system. The travel agent has told Business Traveller that business class passengers choosing SIA’s A380 will have to pay 10 per cent more while those booking one of the first class suites must brace themselves for an increase of over 40 per cent.

For a London-Singapore-London ticket in April, Trailfinders is quoting £3,688 for an A380-operated flight as against £3,254 for a service operated by a B747-400. A first class suite costs £6,779 compared with normal first class (on the B747-400) of £4,677. These prices do not include taxes and fees of around £250.

At the launch of the Singapore-Sydney route (SIA’s first A380 service), the airline’s bosses indicated that SIA would be surcharging its premium seats and especially first class. The carrier even uses an “R” tariff code (the same price code previously used by BA for its Concorde flights) when you book one of its suites.

A London-based SIA spokeswomen says, “The price for the A380 Suite, if compared to the first class product on the B747-400 is approximately 45 per cent higher but we are not comparing like with like.  Our Suites are a totally new class of travel. For Business class, with our already high loads on the B747-400, we anticipate demand for the vastly improved A380 product to be even stronger. In view of this, the price increase will be approximately 15 to 20 per cent, depending on availability, at the time of booking.”

Please note the fares shown above are exclusive to Trailfinders. Fares quoted by other agents or SIA direct may vary. For more information visit singaporeair.com.

Report by Alex McWhirter

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