Unfair Practice Towards Customers who uses Travel Agent

[jwong]

After the new system upgrade, I had noticed that SIA had blocked my travel agents from choosing seats. Nowadays, the nearest seats my travel agent can see is 2nd Cabin onwards in Economy Class which is totally unfair and they have no choice as their booking system only allows them to select either of the 2 rows allocated to them. In the past, my travel agents had no issue getting front seats for me.

In fact I had complained numerous times to SIA and they claimed that their Seat Planner only blocks Row 31 and 32 which I understand they reserved for Infants / Babies which is not true. They even ask me to book early for my flights which I did. Is 4 to 6 months long enough to book my flights and if so how come I am still given 2nd Cabin.

It is becoming extremely frustrating that every time I book my flight, I have to write in to SIA to complain and then they will take action to change my seats.

Being a corporate and business traveler with Elite Gold status, we are given Priority Tag on our luggage. However, if we are sitting at the back of the plane, what is the purpose of this Priority Tag. By the time we clear Immigration, the non-priority passengers would have cleared Immigration and Customs and left the airport already.

I'm sure a lot of people here using travel agents are facing the same issue as me.

[CarbonMan]

Hi Jwong, I do know that SQ does block-off certain groups of seats, though I'm not sure how and in what manner do they do it. For instance, if I'm to go book a flight in July next year to Rome online (I use that as an example only because I'm considering that for my vacation next year), I would find the system showing me only some blocks of seats available - however sufficient choice to find one that'll fit my requirements.

My company policy do require that I use a designated travel agent, and yes at times, I do get placed in the back cabin in Y, but this is not often. Once I'm ticketed, I've found that I'm able to select seats closer to the front online easily, unless I'm very close to flight date. I've noticed that rows 33-35 are mostly consistently available to me to select.

[SINFJ]

Hi Jwong, I do know that SQ does block-off certain groups of seats, though I'm not sure how and in what manner do they do it. For instance, if I'm to go book a flight in July next year to Rome online (I use that as an example only because I'm considering that for my vacation next year), I would find the system showing me only some blocks of seats available - however sufficient choice to find one that'll fit my requirements.

My company policy do require that I use a designated travel agent, and yes at times, I do get placed in the back cabin in Y, but this is not often. Once I'm ticketed, I've found that I'm able to select seats closer to the front online easily, unless I'm very close to flight date. I've noticed that rows 33-35 are mostly consistently available to me to select.

This is correct and if TS has a particular seat request, he could always have his TA uplft a request to SQ (though it may not not be worked out some times).

Second option is to wait till OLCI opens as by that time. the seat plan should already have been mostly mustered barring last minute purchases.

IF all else fails, then there is arriving at the airport early and make a seat request when dropping off the bags. Asking to seat in the front cabin is a far easier request to achieve than to ask specifcally for EMEX seats, especially if you are a business traveller which you would most likely be traveling alone.

[jwong]

Hi Carbonman / SINFJ.
Thank you very much for your comments. However, both of you are either PPS Solitaire or PPS Member which is totally different. When you book online, it is totally different as anyone can choose the seats at the time of booking. However, whenever you have to use your appointed travel agent, PPS members are able to access the entire seating plan starting from Row 33 onwards. On the other hand, we poor Gold Members (who do not have the luxury of flying business class to become PPS Members except Gold Members as we only fly Economy Class) are not given the privilege even though all of us are paying the same price as PPS (when you fly on Economy Class). If you do not agree with me, please ask your travel agent and they will tell you the true facts.

[stargold]

Hi Carbonman / SINFJ.
Thank you very much for your comments. However, both of you are either PPS Solitaire or PPS Member which is totally different.

You do realise their status that you're talking about is SQTalk TPP/QPP, right? (I do note that CarbonMan lists SQ QPP in his status, but clearly the OP is referring to the status beneath the username)

[CarbonMan]

You do realise their status that you're talking about is SQTalk TPP/QPP, right? (I do note that CarbonMan lists SQ QPP in his status, but clearly the OP is referring to the status beneath the username)

LOL! Yes, my "Solitaire PPS" here has about the same value as a QF eticket when presented to SQ.

Jwong, I will definitely try to bring my TA out to lunch very soon, to query how they are going to improve their service for us ... and I will throw in that question to them ... but we have some resident TA's here who can do it before then.

[jwong]

Hi StarGold, I have no ideal what you are referring to but guess that the status below refers to Carbonman being an Op here ....

Carbonman, it's good that you could really look into this matter as it's really becoming frustrating ... FYI quite a number of Elite Gold members are also very frustrated at the moment including 5 of my friends whom are also considering switching to Thai which really has much better perks than SQ being a Thai Royal Orchid Class Gold Member.

Writing to Krisflyer and SIA too much makes me become a NATO soon ... (NO ACTION, TALK ONLY) .. Hahahaha

[CarbonMan]

Out of curiosity, I have just done a simple experiment on SQ website. Firstly, I did not log in with my KF and attempted to booked a flight to Rome in Apr. Secondly, I did the same thing again but this time, after logging in.

I note that the seat plans given to me in both instances are different. In the second instance, I could see that I could book row 33 and 34 while in the first attempt, the front most row that I could reserve is row 36. Perhaps being a QPP does have some small joys!

[jwong]

That is for sure being a QPP you do have small joys .. But my travel agents always get scolding from all their customers complaining about being seated behind .. Really pity them until I asked how come and found out their hands are being tied by SQ ... At the moment, when they want to book a flight, they are only given 2 Rows to choose for the clients only.

I give you a very good example, I booked a flight from Frankfurt to Singapore on 11th June 2013, and I was given Row 46G ...7 MONTHS IN ADVANCE

[SINFJ]

Out of curiosity, I have just done a simple experiment on SQ website. Firstly, I did not log in with my KF and attempted to booked a flight to Rome in Apr. Secondly, I did the same thing again but this time, after logging in.

I note that the seat plans given to me in both instances are different. In the second instance, I could see that I could book row 33 and 34 while in the first attempt, the front most row that I could reserve is row 36. Perhaps being a QPP does have some small joys!

This is one showing of how the mother goose loves those who feed then more

Honestly I wouldn't be really worried about where I am seated in the aircraft. And if I really wanted, I know of other ways to ask for it. There are better things losing hair over.

[jwong]

Welll SINFJ you are lucky and you don't mind sitting behind the plane ... For me I feel more comfortable seated around the wings area especially when there is turbulence, seated behind tend to be more bumpy and you can really feel it. Most of the time I want to clear Immigration and Customs fast as I have to proceed to see customers .. which most of the time have to travel another 1 to 2 hrs by car.

Frankly, I had never complaint for the past 7 years as I have no issues getting Rows 33 to 40 in the past until this year. Not sure how much you fly but for me it's around 70k to 90k miles (actual) on SQ including other airlines ... Some years I even clock around 110 k to 120 k miles> In fact, in the past 7 years only 10% of all my flights, I immediately get the front seats until this year ....

[kt74]

After the new system upgrade, I had noticed that SIA had blocked my travel agents from choosing seats. Nowadays, the nearest seats my travel agent can see is 2nd Cabin onwards in Economy Class which is totally unfair and they have no choice as their booking system only allows them to select either of the 2 rows allocated to them. In the past, my travel agents had no issue getting front seats for me.

In fact I had complained numerous times to SIA and they claimed that their Seat Planner only blocks Row 31 and 32 which I understand they reserved for Infants / Babies which is not true. They even ask me to book early for my flights which I did. Is 4 to 6 months long enough to book my flights and if so how come I am still given 2nd Cabin.

It is becoming extremely frustrating that every time I book my flight, I have to write in to SIA to complain and then they will take action to change my seats.

Being a corporate and business traveler with Elite Gold status, we are given Priority Tag on our luggage. However, if we are sitting at the back of the plane, what is the purpose of this Priority Tag. By the time we clear Immigration, the non-priority passengers would have cleared Immigration and Customs and left the airport already.

I'm sure a lot of people here using travel agents are facing the same issue as me.

If you're so concerned about it, then why not book direct?

SQ has to pay travel agents commission (which they then pay to you as a corporate customer through kickbacks and rebates). If you really want seat near the front, they why not recycle some of your rebate into paying for a pre-booked seat?

SQ makes less money out of you, so why should they give you a seat near the front?

[Savage25]

If you're so concerned about it, then why not book direct?

SQ has to pay travel agents commission (which they then pay to you as a corporate customer through kickbacks and rebates). If you really want seat near the front, they why not recycle some of your rebate into paying for a pre-booked seat?

SQ makes less money out of you, so why should they give you a seat near the front?

Some of us have to book via our corporate travel agents if we want to expense our trips.

[jwong]

Thanks kt74 for your comments. However, based on my information, SQ stop paying agent's commission years back already, that is why nowadays corporate travel agent charges us extra for their services which we are willing to pay for convenience. Do you know that it takes less than 5 mins to get our seats changed via travel agent, whereas sometimes you even hold up to 15 mins just to get to an customer service in SQ. It really not so early for us to book online and if we cancel a flight, it will take 3 to 6 months before SQ refunds our money. If immediate I have no issues.

Hi Savage25, most companies have appointed corporate travel agents and we need to use it ...

[AceJewel]

Hi, I do face the same problem with Jwong. Every time when I made booking through our travel agents, my seats will always be in the second cabin no matter how early I made the booking. I questioned my travel agent and I was told that they have limited seats to select due to SIA has blocked the whole first cabin. My travel agent even showed me the seatmap and indeed it was all blocked. Every time without fail, I have to write in to Krisflyer to ask why why why. They confirmed to me that the first cabin is blocked for selection by the travel agent.

I am well aware that if I want to secure my preferred seat, I should book online. The problem is if I purchased online and my business trip has to be cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances, it will take SQ 3-6 months to refund our money. On top of that, if we are overseas and need to change our booking, we have to call the hotline and we have to hold for sometime before a customer service attends to us. It's easier for us who travels mostly for business to engage a travel agent who will help to make changes to our booking via email or sms.