Advice needed : waitlisted on SQ38 .

[upright man]

I made a business class ticket redemption on the non-stop SQ38/37 SIN-LAX return for my wife in Jan 08.
The outbound flight is confirmed but the return flight is waitlisted.
I've done a search of the threads here but still need some advice :

1) are my chances of clearing the waitlist very low as the non-stop LAX-SIN is very popular ?

2) My kids and I are also going on the same flight in Exec Economy - shall I book the tickets now or later ? (Being fully flexi tickets, I can always make changes with no penalty).

A likely scenario which I am afraid may happen is that we fly to LA as planned, and during the 12 days there, have an anxious wait worrying about the waitlist, and then 2 days before the return flight, find that the waitlist doesn't clear.

[milehighj]

1) are my chances of clearing the waitlist very low as the non-stop LAX-SIN is very popular ?

Is your wife a QPP? If not, then I suggest that you make the booking for yourself, in order to get a higher priority on the waitlist.

You can always give her your seat onboard.

[upright man]

She doesn't have any status.
Oh no I didn't know that the passenger status matters - I thought as long as I am QPP it would be ok : come to think of it, when I input her name , the wedsite didn't ask for her Krisflyer no. or her status : so maybe it doesn't matter ?

Anyway, is it too late now ?
Also, I prefer to be on the paid Exec Y seat to earn the miles, rather than redeem the Business class seat myself and earn none.

Thanks for the help.

[milehighj]

You may want to consider buying 4 Y class tickets, and using your miles to upgrade yourself.

Instead of a net mileage spend of 102,000 (after 15% discount) for the Business Saver, you would use 76.5k miles for the r/t upgrade, plus earn 22k miles for the Y class ticket (incl. PPS tier bonus). Net mileage spend = 54,500 miles.

So you can weigh the cost of the additional Y ticket, against a mileage savings of 47.5k miles (102k - 54.5k).

[milehighj]

Plus if you buy 4x SIN-LAX r/t tickets online using a PPS Amex card, you'll probably end up with an additional 20,000 KF miles, dropping your net mileage cost even lower...

[upright man]

I find it more worthwhile to redeem a business class ticket for my wife outright - anyway she has no status and won't get the 25% tier bonus miles.

Anyway, I think the availability of an award ticket is the same whether its an upgrade or outright redemption right ? So I'm still stuck on a waitlist situation.

[milehighj]

no what i meant in the upgrade (vs. full redemption) example was:

you waitlist yourself for the upgrade, thereby utilising your higher waitlist status as QPP. then you also earn miles + tier bonus on the paid Y ticket, which was your earlier concern.

who gets the spacebed onboard is entirely up to you...

[upright man]

no what i meant in the upgrade (vs. full redemption) example was:

you waitlist yourself for the upgrade, thereby utilising your higher waitlist status as QPP. then you also earn miles + tier bonus on the paid Y ticket, which was your earlier concern.

who gets the spacebed onboard is entirely up to you...

Thanks for the advice.
I've thought about it, and I've decided to just buy a Y ticket like you suggested, and then waitlist for the upgrade - at least then my whole family would have guaranteed seats.
After all, it's more important to eliminate the uncertainty of being waitlisted, so that I can pre-book a hotel room and car rental.
Thanks again for the good advice.