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  • #31
    Originally posted by Spaniard View Post
    I'd like to see this devaluation with a bit more context to understand the overall value of KF as a loyalty program. Granted being able to redeem miles for award flights is one of the key value elements and this needs to factor in both amount of miles required plus availability. In the absence of availability figures to compare with other airlines it is difficult to say whether SQ has better or worse availability than others. What definitely I find hugely annoying is the waitlisting policy and having to chase them for this. It is not very customer centric to say the least.

    ...

    Not pretending to troll SQ or anything like that, it is still a company I admire in many aspects, but rather share my feeling regarding this latest twist - I expected to be really upset by it but I just found myself pretty indifferent, and that I guess is a bit sad when it comes to customer loyalty.
    It would be good to do a bit of homework to put things in perspective first.

    1) There is no other FFP that is so generous in handing out awards in Business and First as SQ. In 8 years of flying SQ I have never not gotten a flight reward.

    2) Waitlisting is a fair process whereby SQ is still handing out award seats but can also prioritise the order in which they are given out to loyal members first.

    3) SQ is still reserving awards in Business and First Class to its own members only, so the 'competition' for award seats is limited to Krisflyer members and not the whole of StarAlliance.

    I wish SQ would do more to look after their PPS members and I think the program itself is absolutely mediocre. Notwithstanding that, there is no other airline that allows so much premium travel on miles - I am very grateful for the number of times I sat in Suites and First and just paid with my miles.

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    • #32
      Originally posted by SMK77 View Post
      It would be good to do a bit of homework to put things in perspective first.

      1) There is no other FFP that is so generous in handing out awards in Business and First as SQ. In 8 years of flying SQ I have never not gotten a flight reward.

      2) Waitlisting is a fair process whereby SQ is still handing out award seats but can also prioritise the order in which they are given out to loyal members first.

      3) SQ is still reserving awards in Business and First Class to its own members only, so the 'competition' for award seats is limited to Krisflyer members and not the whole of StarAlliance.

      I wish SQ would do more to look after their PPS members and I think the program itself is absolutely mediocre. Notwithstanding that, there is no other airline that allows so much premium travel on miles - I am very grateful for the number of times I sat in Suites and First and just paid with my miles.

      I totally agree.

      Even the most recent devaluation is fair. And I am not even rushing to redeem. It's give and take.

      Comment


      • #33
        Whilst MEL missed the last round of increases a few years ago, it copped it this time in my opinion.

        I redeem most of my miles to either SIN or BKK, so now I save a few hundred $AUD but get stiffed an extra 11,250 miles for my one way Business flight, a 24% increase.

        On the other hand most of my flights have been available when I've wanted them, and I've expected an increase for some time, this one is certainly a bit stiffer than I expected though.

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        • #34
          Originally posted by SMK77 View Post

          I wish SQ would do more to look after their PPS members and I think the program itself is absolutely mediocre. Notwithstanding that, there is no other airline that allows so much premium travel on miles - I am very grateful for the number of times I sat in Suites and First and just paid with my miles.
          Fully agree. If only SQ could have kept the online discount for its PPS members or at least make the benefits distinction more obvious between PPS and non.

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          • #35
            Originally posted by jonleong View Post
            Fully agree. If only SQ could have kept the online discount for its PPS members or at least make the benefits distinction more obvious between PPS and non.
            SQ could do a lot to show PPS some love:

            - Bring back priority seating and block certain seats for PPS
            - Waive charges for premium seats in Economy
            - Allow waitlisting for any flight for upgrades and awards
            - Accept more upgrades for miles

            SQ could increase business by:

            - setting more milestone incentives
            - making initial Solitaire qualification easier
            - brining back PPS Coordinators with a real person with phone/e-mail

            Comment


            • #36
              Originally posted by SMK77 View Post
              SQ could do a lot to show PPS some love:

              - Bring back priority seating and block certain seats for PPS
              - Waive charges for premium seats in Economy
              - Allow waitlisting for any flight for upgrades and awards
              - Accept more upgrades for miles

              SQ could increase business by:

              - setting more milestone incentives
              - making initial Solitaire qualification easier
              - brining back PPS Coordinators with a real person with phone/e-mail
              +1!! Totally support your suggestions and Jonleong's very good proposal about retaining 15% redemption for Genuine revenue fare paying PPS members.

              And maybe more PPS Club Reserve events like the Krug experience or the upcoming Culinary Experience with Matt Moran. These events truely distinguish the Priviledge of being a PPS Club member

              Comment


              • #37
                Originally posted by SMK77 View Post
                It would be good to do a bit of homework to put things in perspective first.

                1) There is no other FFP that is so generous in handing out awards in Business and First as SQ. In 8 years of flying SQ I have never not gotten a flight reward.

                2) Waitlisting is a fair process whereby SQ is still handing out award seats but can also prioritise the order in which they are given out to loyal members first.

                3) SQ is still reserving awards in Business and First Class to its own members only, so the 'competition' for award seats is limited to Krisflyer members and not the whole of StarAlliance.

                I wish SQ would do more to look after their PPS members and I think the program itself is absolutely mediocre. Notwithstanding that, there is no other airline that allows so much premium travel on miles - I am very grateful for the number of times I sat in Suites and First and just paid with my miles.
                I don't have availability numbers so perhaps you are right on point 1 and maybe I haven't been as lucky as you with getting my award flights, it's happened quite a few times that the J or F saver won't clear despite seats being available, even on the day of departure which is where my frustration with the process comes from. I understand the need of the airline to manage their inventory and prioritize how they allocate it, of course.

                On the general value of the program I completely agree with your view, I wish some more was done to reward our hard earned loyalty. I've been 7 years QPPS in a row and I haven't seen much value out of it.

                On your last point I'm also very grateful for the times I've managed to grab a suites saver

                Comment


                • #38
                  Originally posted by SMK77 View Post
                  It would be good to do a bit of homework to put things in perspective first.

                  1) There is no other FFP that is so generous in handing out awards in Business and First as SQ. In 8 years of flying SQ I have never not gotten a flight reward.

                  2) Waitlisting is a fair process whereby SQ is still handing out award seats but can also prioritise the order in which they are given out to loyal members first.

                  3) SQ is still reserving awards in Business and First Class to its own members only, so the 'competition' for award seats is limited to Krisflyer members and not the whole of StarAlliance.
                  Agree with these points, SMK77.

                  I've been able to redeem awards and upgrades in J, F and Suites on quite a number of occasions.

                  I think some sort of points devaluation was inevitable, but I am quite happy about the removal of YQ, as the surcharges were often quite high. I would rather use more points for a redemption than pay cash for YQ.

                  Comment


                  • #39
                    Originally posted by Spaniard View Post
                    ... that the J or F saver won't clear despite seats being available, even on the day of departure which is where my frustration with the process comes from...
                    Call. If you make your case to the call center agent, they can add language to the request to inventory management. "Can you flag out to them that I am a PPS and was on the waitlist for a couple of weeks and I note there are still 7 Suites on sale" has usually gotten me clearance within the same day (if the case is factually correct, of course). While that won't work for non-PPS, SQ is trying to keep PPS happy where they make reasonable requests.

                    Comment


                    • #40
                      Originally posted by SMK77 View Post
                      Call. If you make your case to the call center agent, they can add language to the request to inventory management. "Can you flag out to them that I am a PPS and was on the waitlist for a couple of weeks and I note there are still 7 Suites on sale" has usually gotten me clearance within the same day (if the case is factually correct, of course). While that won't work for non-PPS, SQ is trying to keep PPS happy where they make reasonable requests.
                      I always call regularly, and agreed - they are generally very helpful and in some cases they have really gone out of their way chasing for clearance in situations that were difficult to understand, like exactly the one you describe. 24 hours to a SIN-FRA in F saver with 9 suites available which obviously are not going to be sold.

                      I have been generally lucky in short-medium haul routes, long haul has always been a mixed bag, guess some routes are just more difficult than others for non-revenue bookings.

                      Comment


                      • #41
                        Originally posted by Spaniard View Post
                        I always call regularly, and agreed - they are generally very helpful and in some cases they have really gone out of their way chasing for clearance in situations that were difficult to understand, like exactly the one you describe. 24 hours to a SIN-FRA in F saver with 9 suites available which obviously are not going to be sold.

                        I have been generally lucky in short-medium haul routes, long haul has always been a mixed bag, guess some routes are just more difficult than others for non-revenue bookings.

                        I have to agree on the point that they do indeed try their best (or so they make me believe they do) to help push your waitlist through. Many times I receive the waitlist clearing text not too long after I hang up the phone on a close to full flight in J and they keep reassuring me they'll put in a 'strong message' to request for it to be cleared

                        Also, when traveling in Y, you'd realise there are a lot of mysteriously blocked first row bulkhead seats that are blocked to everyone else but somehow available to you. On a full flight, seeing the rest of the cabin chock-full but you having the seat next to you empty is quite a luxury!

                        Comment


                        • #42
                          Originally posted by yflyer View Post
                          I think some sort of points devaluation was inevitable, but I am quite happy about the removal of YQ, as the surcharges were often quite high. I would rather use more points for a redemption than pay cash for YQ.
                          Yes, I think those of us in Y are getting quite a good deal from this change. I don't mind draining more miles out of my account if it means a redemption flight is actually a redemption flight, not a discounted flight.

                          I could have flown JQ to SIN for our 10th Anniversary meet-up cheaper than my SQ redemption. And when SQ is offering me a 16 year-old broken seat, that's starting to get attractive! (Said with gritted teeth as an SQ fan...)

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                          • #43
                            Originally posted by SQueeze View Post
                            Compared to some other programme's brutal devaluation I had experienced (Etihad and Jet Airways), this is really mild and I think it's a fair way of devaluing.

                            I only hope that saver availability does not get worse from this point onwards.
                            Agreed. Some of the frequent devaluations you see in USA programs have been BRUTAL.

                            Originally posted by SMK77 View Post
                            Dropping YQ is a great move and I tip my hat off to SQ for going through with this. There is no explanation why this is charged separately.

                            In terms of value, it's easier to calculate total cost for comparison. I value my miles at 2 SGD-Cents:

                            There are NO changes to Zones 1 to 6 and Zone 8.

                            SIN-BKK in Biz: Was 17.000 miles one-way plus 100 SGD fuel surcharge [440 SGD total]. Now is 20.000 miles and no surcharge [400 SGD total]. I am better off.

                            SIN-CPT in Biz: Was 38.250 miles one-way plus 240 SGD fuel surcharge [1005 SGD total]. Now is 45.000 miles and no surcharge [900 SGD total]. I am better off and no complaint.

                            Prices increase slightly for other zones.

                            SIN-SYD in Suites: Was 63.750 miles one-way plus 190 SGD fuel surcharge [1465 SGD total]. Now is 80.000 miles and no surcharge [1.600 SGD total]. That’s increasing my total cost by 9%.

                            SIN-FRA in Suites: Was 91.375 miles one-way plus 250 SGD fuel surcharge [2.080 SGD total]. Now is 115.000 miles and no surcharge [2.300 SGD total]. That’s increasing my total cost by 11%.

                            SIN-JFK in Suites: Was 93.500 miles one-way plus 330 SGD fuel surcharge [2.200 SGD total]. Now is 120.000 miles and no surcharge [2.400 SGD total]. That’s increasing my total cost by 9%.
                            Excellent breakdown.

                            Originally posted by SMK77 View Post
                            1) There is no other FFP that is so generous in handing out awards in Business and First as SQ. In 8 years of flying SQ I have never not gotten a flight reward.
                            KE has them beat.
                            HUGE AL

                            Comment


                            • #44
                              Originally posted by SMK77 View Post
                              1) There is no other FFP that is so generous in handing out awards in Business and First as SQ. In 8 years of flying SQ I have never not gotten a flight reward.
                              I notice the use of the words 'flight reward' and not 'Saver'. Personal choice but I won't book anything other than Savers so even though I would concede I have done well over the years, I am not sure it's the most generous FFP. It certainly isn't anywhere near the most historically but sadly the greatest FFP of all time is no more.

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                              • #45
                                We are still better off than we were 7+ years ago when SQ did not allow saver awards on the "New" Business & First class cabins.

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