Can passengers 'Fly Ahead' with SQ/MI?

[Metropolitan Airlines]

During off-peak season there are potentially lots of spare seats available on planes, and for many short haul routes operated by SQ/MI, frequencies can be as frequent as every 1 - 2 hours on the same route.

So say for example if I booked the 9.30am service to Hong Kong by SQ and I arrived the airport at 7.30am. If the 8.30am SQ860 have seats, is it possible for me to request 'Fly Ahead' at the airport, thus saving some time for me to wait at the gates?

Does ticket restrictions, such as change fees etc. still apply?

Thanks!

[SQflyergirl]

During off-peak season there are potentially lots of spare seats available on planes, and for many short haul routes operated by SQ/MI, frequencies can be as frequent as every 1 - 2 hours on the same route.

So say for example if I booked the 9.30am service to Hong Kong by SQ and I arrived the airport at 7.30am. If the 8.30am SQ860 have seats, is it possible for me to request 'Fly Ahead' at the airport, thus saving some time for me to wait at the gates?

Does ticket restrictions, such as change fees etc. still apply?

Thanks!

the correct term you are looking for is "Go show" or "uplift" .

Whether or not an airline can go show you, really does depend on the conditions on your ticket, unless one of two things are in place

1) there is an airline wide policy that allows certain Elites to do this regardless of class. As an example, AA has this for all oneworld emeralds.

2) There are IRROPS (irregular operations) going on - delays and cascades. For example if they know that the later flight which you are on is heavily oversold, your request to go earlier does them a favor - then perhaps.

I don't have so much experience with trying to go show on SQ/MI except on KUL/SIN, and generally they're quite good with it, but i suspect there is a legacy grandfathering process from the days of the "shuttle" flights and may not necessarily apply to other routes.

[indo79]

I tried this twice before with the following results:

On a UA award ticket tried to get on earlier PVG-SIN flight, flat out denied.

On a Flexi Saver ticket from CGK-SIN-SYD 2 months ago, got to CGK earlier than expected and asked if we can get on the earlier CGK-SIN flight and was told no problem but seats at the back, which turned out well since it we had 3 seats for the 2 of us and quite a few empty seats so YMMV.

No fees nothing.

[SMK77]

Most tickets on SQ are usually flexible with no penalty. Are there any fares in Business and First that come with penalties?

SQ once uplifted me on an award flight from MXP to SIN because of a Lufthansa delay for MXP to FRA which did not allow me to catch my FRA to SIN flight on SQ.

Note that the LH ticket was a separate ticket and SQ had no obligations to uplift me. I had to rough it in First instead of Suites but I was very happy that they gave me the seat no questions asked.

[yflyer]

I had to rough it in First instead of Suites

[yflyer]

When travelling on SQ Y on flexible discount economy fares (e.g. E,Y,B tickets, which are discount Y fares which have no penalty for flight changes) I have never been turned down if I show up at an airport early and asked for a seat on an earlier flight, if a seat was available.

I've done this at KUL, JKT and BKK and even once on SFO-SIN many years back. Sometimes, the agent had to check with a supervisor, but I've not been turned down unless the flight was full/overbooked in Y.

[jammed]

my own experiences are limited to SYD-CBR and MEL-CBR and vice versa, on VA and QFm many many times. But in these instances, both carriers have many flights between the 2 cities, almost hourly, and my bookings are typically flexi.

[9V-JKL]

Adding on: Depends if you have checked baggage. My experience on UA have been if with only carry-on, its possible, space dependent.

[eamond]

Same experience as 9V-JKL but on QF, if no checked-baggage, no problem; if you do have, then unfortunately no.

Not so sure about SQ though.

P.s. Having a question since the thread is about uplifting, if you have an award ticket in J/F, would SQ allow uplifting? (Space provided, of course).

Cheers
Michael

[KC*]

P.s. Having a question since the thread is about uplifting, if you have an award ticket in J/F, would SQ allow uplifting? (Space provided, of course).

Cheers
Michael

Yup. Got that twice.

Once from SIN to SYD and another from FRA to SIN.

The flight to Sydney had empty seats and I got confirmed at the airport (can't remember how long before flight - perhaps 1 - 2 hrs?)

The second was a packed flight in FRA but I asked the station manager to do us a favour as we needed to fly home urgently. I had told him that even if a J ticket was not available, I'd move to Y just to get on the flight but he managed to secure my wife and I in J near gate closure time.

On both flights, we had checked-in luggages and on J-saver awards. No additional fees.

As for paid commercial flights, I had no issues when needed to do so on a few occasions - but then, they were full flexi-tickets.

[KC*]

Come to think of it.... I remember on one instance, arriving early at the airport and was asked at check-in if I'd like to move to an earlier flight. This was really long, long time ago before internet etc...and I was actually young.

[KC*]

Come to think of it.... I remember on one instance, arriving early at the airport and was asked at check-in if I'd like to move to an earlier flight. This was really long, long time ago before internet etc...and I was actually young.

Policies may have changed a lot since then.

[viraj735]

Have been put on earlier flights on SQ/MI on multiple flights in J/Y from CGK, BKK & KUL.

Most recent experience was at KUL, I was booked on MI 341 (9:45PM) on a Friday night, I reached the airport at 8:10PM as the traffic out of the city was light and I was put on SQ 119, it was running 15 mins late.

One of the check-in staff took me down to the front of the immigration queue (they were only 2/3 people deep at each desk) and I was on my way.