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Hi All
Just wondered if anyone has experienced something similar.
I made a call to the Call Center in SIN to check on a fare from SIN - DPS on Business Class. The lady who spoke to me said that she was only allowed to quote the highest published fares. When asked what that meant, she said Z fare. I asked if C or J were available. The answer was yes but she was not allowed to quote those. When asked why, she said management sent a memo as of Oct 1 that Customer Service Reps were to 'encourage' pax ex-SIN to book online.
Which would have been fine if the booking engine was flawless. However, when I was checking online, the system seemed to have defaulted to the lowest fare with a lot of restrictions. They did not seem to offer options on different fare codes.
So call center price: SGD 1890, online price SGD 1400 ish. Bearing in mind QR and KLM were averaging SGD 640 return.
I went to the PPS Center at ION. The lady told me the same thing, this time sugar coated that she was only allowed to quote 'premium fares' to pax ex-SIN. I asked her what is the use of the call center and the PPS center now? She became sheepish and said they could not question management.
Has anyone else experienced this? It seems that not only did SQ increase their fares tremendously ex-SIN, they are also herding pax to their preferred method of selling seats (aka either the highest price through the call center, or the lowest with most restrictions online).
I know loads have been increasing. But I would submit that at some point, pax would connect price and value and potentially see that other airlines offer more bang for the buck.
Just a thought.
Just wondered if anyone has experienced something similar.
I made a call to the Call Center in SIN to check on a fare from SIN - DPS on Business Class. The lady who spoke to me said that she was only allowed to quote the highest published fares. When asked what that meant, she said Z fare. I asked if C or J were available. The answer was yes but she was not allowed to quote those. When asked why, she said management sent a memo as of Oct 1 that Customer Service Reps were to 'encourage' pax ex-SIN to book online.
Which would have been fine if the booking engine was flawless. However, when I was checking online, the system seemed to have defaulted to the lowest fare with a lot of restrictions. They did not seem to offer options on different fare codes.
So call center price: SGD 1890, online price SGD 1400 ish. Bearing in mind QR and KLM were averaging SGD 640 return.
I went to the PPS Center at ION. The lady told me the same thing, this time sugar coated that she was only allowed to quote 'premium fares' to pax ex-SIN. I asked her what is the use of the call center and the PPS center now? She became sheepish and said they could not question management.
Has anyone else experienced this? It seems that not only did SQ increase their fares tremendously ex-SIN, they are also herding pax to their preferred method of selling seats (aka either the highest price through the call center, or the lowest with most restrictions online).
I know loads have been increasing. But I would submit that at some point, pax would connect price and value and potentially see that other airlines offer more bang for the buck.
Just a thought.