SQ reinstating FRA-JFK, HKG-SFO in Nov

[sbs2716g]

so apparently all flights to HK are legitimately full.

what I don’t understand then is that they’re effectively operating all 7 of their daily pre-covid flights, yet only SQ882 (ex-SQ860) and SQ894 (ex-SQ866) are operated as passenger flights.

why wouldn’t they open up the other flights for passengers too? and is there really that much cargo moving between SG and HK to justify all those non-pax flights?

Any one knows?

not sure it is really full or not.
For example. 11/nov. No Y seats for sale for SQ894 to HKG. But you can buy KUL-SIN-HKG for SQ894 (11/11).

kinda weird. It is the same for several other days as well. Although some days Scoot flight are available for KUL-SIN-HKG (eg 7/11, 8/11, 9/11), SQ is not selling SIN-HKG for the codeshare.

of course the cargo movement is high. Or else SQ won’t operate these cargoes flights in addition to the 747.

[ell3]

so apparently all flights to HK are legitimately full.

what I don’t understand then is that they’re effectively operating all 7 of their daily pre-covid flights, yet only SQ882 (ex-SQ860) and SQ894 (ex-SQ866) are operated as passenger flights.

why wouldn’t they open up the other flights for passengers too? and is there really that much cargo moving between SG and HK to justify all those non-pax flights?

Any one knows?

[ell3]

something strange going on with their HKG flights too....
Just a few days ago, there was an abundance of economy class seats available daily to HKG (at least 4 seats based on my search).
But today when i searched, there are absolutely NO seats available on any given day - aside from 27 Oct (on the scoot flight) and 15 Nov.

I am flying up to HK next week, was looking to bring family to accompany (we have family up in HK too)... but it suddenly looks impossible on SQ.

Oh yes, not forgetting to mention - I am KFEG .... i didn't select a seat cos my traveling companions aren't gold.
Almost all the seats were available for selection just yesterday... but today, they pre-assigned us all our seats.... separated from each other.
If they have to pre-assign, then... given that almost all the seats were vacant yesterday, couldn't they have put us seated together?

What is going on?? Very poor from SQ.

[SQfanatic]

Hard to believe there are no updates on HKG's regulatory approval. SQ did claim they were to put 3 daily HKG flights starting October 30th, but no signs of it so far. However, they're at least putting an A380 on one of them in December. Not worried about traveling to HKG, just hoping one of the 3 HKG flights is SQ8/7 or SQ2/1 or whatever flight number that continues to/from SFO as neither me nor my mom want to endure the 17.5-18 hr nonstop flight from SFO. It's always good to transit for an hour in HKG to/from.

If there's no indication of it coming back, we will stick with whatever we have. I don't think I will hold my breath that it'll come back at all or even till next year.

[sbs2716g]

yes, SQ has said they are increasing daily flights to two/three from November onwards. But despite all the talk and press releases, those flights have not yet shown up anywhere for booking.

last week they ran a sudden and very limited redemption promo offering one-way economy seats at 11,000miles. I grabbed one of those. Within a few hours they were all gone. Otherwise round-trip prices now are at least $750 (don’t get fooled by their $600+ offerings cos it usually comes with one or both of the sectors being on Scoot)

SQ price to HKG is ridiculous. $750 round trip for Y seat. Compare to $250+ previously. When there is no competition, they can simply set higher price.

[ell3]

I read a couple of articles and there is a mention that SQ will be adding 2 more daily HKG flights over the Winter schedule. No date has been announced just yet as it’s likely the details are still being worked out. Meaning, 3 daily flights to HKG.

No indication or mention if HKG-SFO will come back just yet.

Yet at the same time UA is going double daily 789 from SIN-SFO like pre-pandemic days in addition to the current 2 nonstop SIN-SFO flights currently operated by SQ.

Is it possible that they won’t even bring back the HKG-SFO route at all? HK is easing up restrictions every couple of weeks. SQ is able to manage with a daily flight to HKG. It’s been a lucrative route pre-pandemic & flights have always been packed to the brim. Hope they’ll bring it back soon.

yes, SQ has said they are increasing daily flights to two/three from November onwards. But despite all the talk and press releases, those flights have not yet shown up anywhere for booking.

last week they ran a sudden and very limited redemption promo offering one-way economy seats at 11,000miles. I grabbed one of those. Within a few hours they were all gone. Otherwise round-trip prices now are at least $750 (don’t get fooled by their $600+ offerings cos it usually comes with one or both of the sectors being on Scoot)

[SQfanatic]

Me too. Wondering if SQ will increase passenger flights to HKG now that they’re reopened. 1x daily SQ894 seems insufficient…. Hoping with increased seat supply, they’ll offer cheaper fares.

I read a couple of articles and there is a mention that SQ will be adding 2 more daily HKG flights over the Winter schedule. No date has been announced just yet as it’s likely the details are still being worked out. Meaning, 3 daily flights to HKG.

No indication or mention if HKG-SFO will come back just yet.

Yet at the same time UA is going double daily 789 from SIN-SFO like pre-pandemic days in addition to the current 2 nonstop SIN-SFO flights currently operated by SQ.

Is it possible that they won’t even bring back the HKG-SFO route at all? HK is easing up restrictions every couple of weeks. SQ is able to manage with a daily flight to HKG. It’s been a lucrative route pre-pandemic & flights have always been packed to the brim. Hope they’ll bring it back soon.

[ell3]

Me too. Wondering if SQ will increase passenger flights to HKG now that they’re reopened. 1x daily SQ894 seems insufficient…. Hoping with increased seat supply, they’ll offer cheaper fares.

[SQfanatic]

With the latest news out of HKG with further easing restrictions/quarantine on the news, do you guys think by Nov or Dec SQ could reinstate this flight SQ8/7 3 times a week to daily?

If it comes back before December, I would like to see if it’s possible to switch from nonstop to the one via HKG, as neither myself nor my mom wants to endure going nonstop for 16 hrs+. If it’s ofc not possible we’ll stick with whatever we got (for now).

There’s also a chance sometime next month they will further ease it based on the number of cases. At this time they’re only operating one flight to HKG daily as 894/895 in the afternoon, maybe they could extend that one to SFO or revert back to what was done last winter.

[SQfanatic]

The critical problem of the operation of SQ1/2 is that 2 sets of crew needed to layover in Hong Kong, i.e. enter Hong Kong and do PCR test, it is kinda high risk as once the crews test positive, they have to isolation in Hong Kong for at lease 7 days, it will affect the rotation of the operation.

Therefore Emirates and KLM choose to add the stopover in Bangkok so that their crews can layover at BKK rather than enter Hong Kong

For now, thankfully I was able to change my flights for free. They moved my flight to SQ33 while going, and I was able to move my MAA-SIN flight to SQ529, SIN-SFO flight to SQ32. They messed up my date(s) initially but I was able to move it to the correct, expected date without any issues.

I understand why it's difficult from a rotation point of view. However, HK **may** (we don't know for sure) allow quarantine free travel in November (Don't think I will hold my breath). I wonder if SQ should even try another 5th freedom route like SFO-TPE or even SFO-ICN, do you think with the demand that's possible? If there are any announcements of that route being reinstated, I guess I can try to move the SFO-SIN flights again (hopefully it'll come back with the 77W).

[sutrakhk]

The critical problem of the operation of SQ1/2 is that 2 sets of crew needed to layover in Hong Kong, i.e. enter Hong Kong and do PCR test, it is kinda high risk as once the crews test positive, they have to isolation in Hong Kong for at lease 7 days, it will affect the rotation of the operation.

Therefore Emirates and KLM choose to add the stopover in Bangkok so that their crews can layover at BKK rather than enter Hong Kong

[SQfanatic]

My mom and I got an email 2 days ago that (un)expectedly our December/January flights on SQ1/2 via Hong Kong on the Boeing 777-300ER are canceled and they're moving us to SQ33/34. The problem is coming back it's changed from January 2 to January 3rd and my mom, being a teacher cannot afford to take January 3rd off.

Since Hong Kong is reopening more and starting to gradually get rid of the barriers, I would expect the Hong Kong route to come back (hopefully). Otherwise, we'll stick with the nonstop flight, we'll see.

If at all we do contact them to change the date back to 1/2, I wonder if there are going to be any change fees associated with this. We have time but it's good to know this ahead of time.

[SQfanatic]

Hong Kong has reopened & resumed allowing transit flights.

Anyone know if Singapore Airlines will resume their fifth freedom HKG-SFO flight again?

In April, I have booked a trip to India in the month of December & my flights are SQ1/SQ528 and SQ527/SQ2 (SQ1/2 are the former flights via HKG, likely going to be replaced with SQ7/8 as we had gone through last year before its suspension).

Anyone know if I'm correct in saying that SQ1/2 will revert back to SQ7/8 if at all that resumes? I like it from a timings perspective that it's very convenient to reach SFO by morning.

[hjerapa]

I hope they put back the 77W onto the SFO-SIN route...

[SQfanatic]

Well SQ26/25 has their A380 service scheduled back and iCargo at the time I checked is going to be operated by 9V-SKW, one of the newer A380's.

Meanwhile, HKG said from April 1st, it's going to ease some flight restrictions and has reduced quarantine to 7 days. Do you think SQ will resume HKG-SFO by April, or latest June? Something tells me it will still be a couple of months away but will keep checking for news.

On another note, I may fly SQ in December to India and right now given that December is still quite far away, I'm seeing that SQ1/2 are still on the dummy booking. Am I correct in stating that let's say if I book tomorrow, at some point closer to the Winter scheduled (ofc subject to HKG restrictions), that SQ1/2 will turn back to SQ7/8 (from a timings perspective, much more convenient)?