Unable to choose seats on SQ website when booking

[JonLee]

When i am trying to book a flight and select seats, it appears that many areas have been "blocked" and only a few rows for booking. can anyone clarify this?

[SilverChris]

SQ usually blocks about half of the Y cabin for seat selection, as it's supposedly easier for airport check in agents to keep groups of passengers together. Try doing online check in 48 hours before departure.

[Kyo]

They've been extremely, extremely annoying as of late - virtually all my flights recently on the SIN-BKK route have had the front Y cabin blocked out. It's better on the return, but still bloody annoying. Just yesterday the same thing happened for a flight four weeks out in May. I've been going to the airport 48 hours in advance when check-in opens to obtain my BP and have a whinge at the poor seat controllers there.

SQ, what you're doing is annoying. It's even more annoying when you gray out the entire plane like SQ978 three weeks ago! Stop it, please!

[mr_botak]

Agree wholeheartedly - it has got worse recently. SQ please stop doing this.

[CarbonMan]

If my memory serves me right, on some, if not most, flights, rows 33-35 in Y are usually blocked for PPS customers. I've signed on to book the same flight thru my wife's and my own accounts and spotted these differences some time ago.

I had to call KF to manually get them to re-assign those front seats, just because my booking ref is different from my family's.

[Kyo]

We're not talking the first few rows here (which is understandable, although also annoying). We're talking entire cabins in some cases... and in other cases, entire flights! Just insane, these guys...

[JonLee]

We're not talking the first few rows here (which is understandable, although also annoying). We're talking entire cabins in some cases... and in other cases, entire flights! Just insane, these guys...

I Agree! on some seat selections, only like 6 rows in Y are open and are often in undersired locations eg: middle of cabin and sometimes seats are scattered around and it is difficult to make a booking for a larger group.

[CarbonMan]

We're not talking the first few rows here (which is understandable, although also annoying). We're talking entire cabins in some cases... and in other cases, entire flights! Just insane, these guys...

Incredible. Are these flights to holiday destinations? Blocked book by travel agents? Are loads that good?!?

[SQ228]

We're not talking the first few rows here (which is understandable, although also annoying). We're talking entire cabins in some cases... and in other cases, entire flights! Just insane, these guys...

Agreed as well. The whole rear A-C sector of most flights keeps getting blocked out!

I thought I was doing everyone a favour by always opting for 50A (or 49, 51 etc) in B777s. It's a window seat, mid-cabin in the rear section of the plane- supposedly unpopular with those who want aisles, emergency exits and being as close to J as possible.

When booking an AMS-SIN flight in a 772ER refit, I couldn't get anything further back than row 38!! Has my preference for 50A become some kind of overnight sensation that I, myself, can't have it anymore??? How did I command such power?

[SQ228]

Incredible. Are these flights to holiday destinations? Blocked book by travel agents? Are loads that good?!?

Actually the loads back end of Feb, early March were surprisingly good. I thought I'd often have my own set of 3 seats for most sectors in Y, but in 3 out of 4 sectors I had neighbours right next to me. In the remaining sector I shared the 3 seats with one other. I'd estimate most flights had 80-90% loads in Y and as I walked through J on boarding I didn't see much empty real estate either, and some of these flights were mid-week, too.

QF has certainly been flying a lot of empty planes about (according to friends- one example, an A330 with 23 passengers in total), but SQ has been working hard in the marketing department, in Australia at least, to fill their flights.

[Kyo]

Well, seat loads on SQ227 (isn't this the popular one?) on the 21st of March were around 60%, possibly 65% full. That's a Thursday. Supposedly the Friday Biz Saver upgrades were impossible to obtain so we went a day earlier (glad their initial pessimism gave me an extra day of holidays)...

[SQ228]

Well, seat loads on SQ227 (isn't this the popular one?) on the 21st of March were around 60%, possibly 65% full. That's a Thursday. Supposedly the Friday Biz Saver upgrades were impossible to obtain so we went a day earlier (glad their initial pessimism gave me an extra day of holidays)...

I'll admit I generally always fly the SQ228/SQ217 combination as a rule. I've only flown SQ227 once and that was immediately after the volcano crisis and it had been downgraded to a 744 to free up more 388s for Europe (off which such a flight I had just thankfully stepped), so that would hardly count as reliable data. They seem to regard SQ227 as being their most important flight either to/from MEL though, but I don't know why- possibly picks up a lot of LHR and regional Asian connections.

They do some weird pricing and redemption tricks SIN-MEL though, especially around weekends. A number of times I have picked up SQ refusing redemptions, upgrades or low cost tickets on a weekend flight from SIN-MEL by itself but if the same flight on the same day is included in a return trip from MEL to Europe you can still have a really cheap fare, no different from mid-week.

Either ticket pricing is so elaborately complicated and mysterious that it rates as an example of pure genius intended to gild airlines' bank accounts, or it's an insanely anarchic system of uncoordinated dumb accidents that airlines won't admit to...

[JonLee]

Agreed as well. The whole rear A-C sector of most flights keeps getting blocked out!

I thought I was doing everyone a favour by always opting for 50A (or 49, 51 etc) in B777s. It's a window seat, mid-cabin in the rear section of the plane- supposedly unpopular with those who want aisles, emergency exits and being as close to J as possible.

When booking an AMS-SIN flight in a 772ER refit, I couldn't get anything further back than row 38!! Has my preference for 50A become some kind of overnight sensation that I, myself, can't have it anymore??? How did I command such power?

Even though We all Know that the seats are blocked, SQ just contradicted themselves in a email i received.

SQ_Reservations@singaporeair.com.sg

Dear Mr ***

Thank you for your email on 2April2013 to Singapore Airlines about online
flight booking.

We would like to inform you that as Singapore Airlines makes use of a real
time reservations system used by our offices and Travel Agents around the
world, flight availability changes dynamically.

As for the seat selection, you will be able to select your seat as long as
it is available.

Please do not hesitate to contact our Call Centre at 65-62238888 should you
require further assistance.

Mr ***, once again thank you for writing to us and we look forward to be of
service to you again.



Yours sincerely
June
Priority Passenger Contact Centre

[ozdude]

Yeah my flight to Hong Kong recently I was not able to select seats online. Really annoying.

[Audio]

I just booked my HKG->SIN for this Friday just this afternoon.....I was presented with just one selectable seat....in the rear "J" column. Even for the bulkhead "Preference seats", only the "B" and "J" are available.

It is so frustrating.

(Audio)