SQ might just be relenting... [ex-LHR sale through TA]

[kelvgoh]

Email in my inbox from my regular travel agent.

Business Class (including A380 flights)

LHR-SIN rtn £1580 inclusive of all taxes and surcharges

LHR-Australia rtn £1980 inclusive of all taxes and surcharges

LHR-New Zealand rtn £2180 inclusive of all taxes and surcharges


Valid for departures 4 April to 30 June.

No information on mileage accruability or ticket validity. But still, the prices (and the rubbish £-SGD exchange rate), make the offers look good.

[kt74]

Good fares. Which travel agent? Not on singaporeair.com yet, and consolidators rarely undercut ex-UK

[Kyo]

That's great if you've got a trip to Sydney and Brisbane on the 388, 77W or 333, albeit still painful if you're pushing all the way to NZ and back. You can use the upgrade vouchers you'll earn to redeem to... erm...

[kelvgoh]

Lees. one of the best in my opinion (but not great if you want to change dates)

[norcal773]

Woow, that's darn good. I was planning on flying to AKL in a few months and this might be just what I need. I can do SFO-LHR on UA or LAX-LHR on NZ and be able to swing this. Keep us updated on how to get these fares :-)

[SQ238]

MEL-LHR return in business will cost me 3900 english pound or $8000au for the same time of travel. Great fares, grab them while you can.

SQ238.

[LHR]

LHR-SIN 1580 pounds! I'm calling Simon now.

[kt74]

Have done a little investigating...

Couldn't get through to Lees this pm, and resent the fact it's an 0871 number, but the fare is also available through Trailfinders, Travelmood, Austravel, Netflights (ex-Airline Network) and a couple of other agents, although none as cheap as Lees. Netflights comes closest at c.GBP1599, and bookable online. Not available through all agents though (e.g. Opodo), and not available on singaporeair.com (BTW, totally OT, but has SQ been delisted from Expedia?)

Books into D class, so, while it's valid on the A380, I don't remember ever seeing D class on SQ322, but YMMV. Day-of-the-week restriction is Mon-Thu for the LHR-SIN and vv sectors. Add on fares for elsewhere in SE Asia (e.g. KUL, HKG) are, unfortunately not available. It's a 5 day sale (with fares almost identical to BA/QF's 5 day sale last weekend - coincidence?! ...oh, but no F fares, of course, never in the sale for SQ), so only bookable until this Weds 1st April

Now the dilemma is that I had planned to take the TK 777 for my planned trip in June (fully flat herringbone beds and Do & Co dining). This SQ fare is GBP100 more, but only earns 1.5x multiplier for BD diamond club holders. Will leave me 7k shy of Gold, so I guess I'd need to squeeze in a Mileage Run if I take SQ. What would you do?! Either TK, or SQ for GBP100 more but short of gold?

[jjpb3]

Thanks for the news, kelvgoh and kt74. This is a very interesting competitive response from SQ, if it's a reaction to the BA/QF sale.

kt74, how close is your trip to the end of your BD membership year? You'd have to add the cost (time and money) of the mileage run to the SQ fare to weigh the SQ and TK options. I assume the convenience is roughly equal if you've already booked the TK flights.

[bent]

its 1629.2 pounds on singaporeair.com

[kt74]

its 1629.2 pounds on singaporeair.com

It has indeed turned up on singaporeair.com overnight, although several other agents undercut that price (just)

kt74, how close is your trip to the end of your BD membership year? You'd have to add the cost (time and money) of the mileage run to the SQ fare to weigh the SQ and TK options. I assume the convenience is roughly equal if you've already booked the TK flights.

Oh, my membership year has ages to run (Feb 10), but I had been thinking of getting to Gold and then just burning before bmi gets enhanced into Miles & Less... I guess all I'd need is one of the famous LX runs to top up my miles

Decisions, decisions!

[FlyingDobber]

Dear All,

Could I buy a ticket at these low prices for LON-SIN in May but not use the rtn until August?

Could I then get a cheaper fare from SIN-LON? for my return if I chose to come back a week later?

I am looking at the cheapest way in J from the UK to AKL....I am paying!

Cheers

Clowesy

[Kiwi]

Fares still sky high in the opposite direction. I notice the standard fares are no longer listed on NZ home page as they used to be.

[kt74]

It's back! Well, sort of... It's not as good as last time, but here are the fares:

SIN - GBP2125 incl tax
Australia/New Zealand - GBP3200-3260 incl tax
Sorry, no SE Asia add ons

Books into D class
LHR-SIN & vv Mon-Thu only

Valid until end Dec 09 (there is currently bags of availability around Christmas!), and plenty of time to book (according to Trailfinders, book by 30 Jun, although of course it could be withdrawn at any time)

So, it's basically the same fare as the previous SQ308/319-only non-A380 promotion, but now extended to the other A380 flights (incl SQ221/222), with the exception of SQ322, as always. OK, so the fares themselves are nothing special compared with indirect routings, but they do undercut the standard non-changeable BA/QF fares, which is an interesting strategy...

Also available from the usual travel agents - it's about GBP100 cheaper from Lees, about GBP30 less from netflights, and a little more from Trailfinders

[kt74]

Someone at www.businesstraveller.com clearly reads sqtalk... See here and here

"Exclusive", my a**e!

Hey, Alex, how about some inside information for you?! I hear on the grapevine that some people at BA are furious that SQ and CX (check out CX's current "unpublicised" business class fares to SE Asia and Australia... What about an exclusive story on that, then, Alex?!) have started a 50% business class price war...

BA is forgetting of course that the current price war was a direct response to the "unpublicised" BA price discounting two weekends previously (advertised LHR-SIN fare = GBP2200, click, click, click, actual fare = GBP1600)

So, in conclusion, the top tip if you are planning on booking business class travel in 2009? Wait...