Waitlist when there are many seats free

[AsiaCommuter]

I regularly come across the situation (normally on the SIN > LHR and vice versa sectors) where my friends in SQ enforce a waitlist well in advance on a flight where there are often 10 or 12 free seats in business, yet the waitlist itself has only 2 other passengers. I know this for a fact from a very helpful lady in our corporate travel company. I have this situation now for a flight in just over two weeks.

However, when SQ are approached they almost always clear the waitlist if you issue the ticket (normally the nigher ticketing prices as "no availability" due to the waitlist). For sure I understand they may try to keep availability as lots of booking could be made although tickets never issued, but without some extra information you may just assume oversold and go elsewhere.

Why not use the waitlist when there is truely no availability, and reduce the time a booking can be kept on hold to free up availability.
For sure this is all about revenue, but I get fed up with this situation. My comments won't change the situation but wanted to share my frustration...

On a seperate topic I also was told, but have no way to confirm that SQ will only oversell business by a a maximum of one, hence almost impossible to get free upgrades

[SINFJ]

I regularly come across the situation (normally on the SIN > LHR and vice versa sectors) where my friends in SQ enforce a waitlist well in advance on a flight where there are often 10 or 12 free seats in business, yet the waitlist itself has only 2 other passengers. I know this for a fact from a very helpful lady in our corporate travel company. I have this situation now for a flight in just over two weeks.

However, when SQ are approached they almost always clear the waitlist if you issue the ticket (normally the nigher ticketing prices as "no availability" due to the waitlist). For sure I understand they may try to keep availability as lots of booking could be made although tickets never issued, but without some extra information you may just assume oversold and go elsewhere.

Why not use the waitlist when there is truely no availability, and reduce the time a booking can be kept on hold to free up availability.
For sure this is all about revenue, but I get fed up with this situation. My comments won't change the situation but wanted to share my frustration...

On a seperate topic I also was told, but have no way to confirm that SQ will only oversell business by a a maximum of one, hence almost impossible to get free upgrades

WRT your first question, it doesn't matter which cabin but enforcing this waitlist thingy would ensure equal distribution across all classess in the same cabin. This is not so upfront to you with SQ but with MH in my experience, you would be told upfront if you are waitlisted on a particular fare that there is availablity in a higher fare bucket.

Talking about the 2nd question, only the birds in SQ can tell.

[SQfanatic]

this was the exact same thing i faced when i tried to book from SFO but couldn't give a return before Aug 23rd same with LAX but found it cheaper than SFO but it showed the same thing, too. It's now sad because we called so many travel agents and nothing for SQ via SFO or LAX enroute to TRV worked. :'(

[Guy Betsy]

It all comes down to Point of Sale.. ie where you initially bought your ticket, the booking class, and other details like fare basis.

SQ restricts total availability to some regions. For example the flight from SIN to LHR itself is wide open in D class but yet a person who bought a ticket from BKK to SIN to LHR will see zero availability for D class. This is because SQ restricts more availability to BKK passengers due to lower yield than say someone from SYD who is able to book right thru to LHR.

Once upon a time ago, it is possible to ask someone in SYD to do the booking for you and get SQ to release the seat. With e-ticketing these days, that practice is now impossible to achieve.

[barbene]

I have the same situation for a flight from SIN to Milan. The agent can see that Business is less than half full but I have been waitlisted (despite being TPP) for a few weeks now. We have also tried booking in different class categories but no joy. As the flight is for the day after the Singapore F1, maybe they are waiting for higher spending Ferrari crew !