Unfair Practice Towards Customers who uses Travel Agent

[RHG]

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.

Your profile lists you living in singapore. You should be very aware that the business practise of paying for convenience. SIA simply has a practise that does not accomodate your needs.

[qantas_flyer]

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.

This is a non-issue. Like a few others have said, book directly, show the travel agent the door. This is another one of those threads I refer to as 'tantrum' threads because someone has not got their own way. And by the way, who cares if non-priority passengers leave the airport before you do ... again, a non-issue!

[qantas_flyer]

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.

Aum, this is the first time I have ever heard of anyone waiting this amount of time for a refund from SIA. I have always received refunds from SIA within 5-7 days.

I laughed raucously when I read "we have to call the hotline and we have to hold for sometime before a customer service attends to us". Is this not the case when calling any major company? Seriously, what do you realistically expect in any case? I have only had exemplary service from Singapore Airlines - truly, a great way to fly!

[jwong]

Unfortunately, it is easier said than done by showing our travel agent the door. Most companies have policies and they choose to have an appointed travel agent to handle all the travel needs of their employees. Even some of our government organizations also have appointed travel agent, therefore they are unable to book online like you. I'm sure most big MNC in Singapore have appointed travel agents too.

I'm just think SQ should be fair to those clients who are forced to use travel agents and let them choose the seats we want since our organization are willing to pay extra for their service. Frankly speaking, this was never an issue in the past which only started this year.

[jwong]

Well quantas_flyer .. I'm have not question about the service of SQ at all. FYI most of the time I tend to change my flights back to Singapore when I'm overseas since I finish early. Therefore a travel agent works better for me since I can just SMS them and it will be done. But to call IDD back and pay all the roaming charges can cost a bomb. Eg. India roaming charges is around S$4 to 4.5 per min. Maybe your company can afford to pay all the expensive roaming charges, but not my company.

I guess everyone has their own needs and some people may not mind seated behind and some do like me. When I land I just want to get out of the airport ASAP and then proceed to visit my customer which can range from 2 to 4 hrs drive away and sometimes even more.

[qantas_flyer]

Well quantas_flyer .. I'm have not question about the service of SQ at all. FYI most of the time I tend to change my flights back to Singapore when I'm overseas since I finish early. Therefore a travel agent works better for me since I can just SMS them and it will be done. But to call IDD back and pay all the roaming charges can cost a bomb. Eg. India roaming charges is around S$4 to 4.5 per min. Maybe your company can afford to pay all the expensive roaming charges, but not my company.

I guess everyone has their own needs and some people may not mind seated behind and some do like me. When I land I just want to get out of the airport ASAP and then proceed to visit my customer which can range from 2 to 4 hrs drive away and sometimes even more.

It seems that your gripe is with your travel agent and your employer. No matter what you think Singapore Airlines should be doing to make your travel agent experience a more satisfying one, it is your employer who is choosing the travel agent and controlling the money that pays for your travel. Therefore, you are hamstrung to your employer and their policies. Hell, if you are seated in the cargo hold, no amount of jumping up and down is going to change your situation. It sounds like you just have to contend with what you're dealt with. Gees, ain't that a stinker!

[cscs1956]

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?

If you are travelling with company business. It is likely that you have to go thru travel agent.

[kt74]

If you are travelling with company business. It is likely that you have to go thru travel agent.

I am well aware of this. As I said before, companies book through corporate agents to save money, and receive volume rebates. Perhaps you can ask your company to either (a) give up the rebate and allow you to book direct on SQ online (which is naturally the most profitable channel for SQ, and therefore where it reserves the best seats) or (b) allow you to expense $50 to pre-book a preferred seat with extra legroom at the front of the cabin

It sounds like people's problems are with their inconsiderate and cost-conscious employers, and not with SQ!

[SINFJ]

The problem lies with someone inflexible who thinks the world with the miles he clocks with SQ every year.

The above is uncalled for but as I mentioned, there are ways to get around this which doesn't take a rocket scientist to execute. But if TS is game to take it SQ's way manage to pull it off, it will definitely everyone. Good luck.

[feizhu]

My company uses a travel agent as well but I never had any issues with selecting seats. My TA issues me the booking reference and I go online and select from whatever seat is available. But to be fair, I usually travel on short notice and I'm not too particular whereabouts I seat.

[cscs1956]

I am well aware of this. As I said before, companies book through corporate agents to save money, and receive volume rebates. Perhaps you can ask your company to either (a) give up the rebate and allow you to book direct on SQ online (which is naturally the most profitable channel for SQ, and therefore where it reserves the best seats) or (b) allow you to expense $50 to pre-book a preferred seat with extra legroom at the front of the cabin

It sounds like people's problems are with their inconsiderate and cost-conscious employers, and not with SQ!

Well, my company travel agent mostly use UA and SQ for flight to USA. I never get this problem with UA, but just SQ (once a while). So is quite inconsistance here.

Well with travel agent, there is some great advantage when you need to travel to serveral places in 1 business trip over airlines web site. Especially the one with SQ.

[jwong]

I see a lot of interesting comments regarding companies using Corporate Travel Agents to get volume rebates. I think you are referring to companies who join SQ Corporate - 50k and 100k and it's only valid for those companies who are members and they book tickets, they get rebates. But not sure whether you are aware that those Corporate Members can also login to SQ Corporate Website and book their tickets and still enjoy the same rebates. But not all companies qualify for SQ Corporate.

In addition, I tend to disagree that booking online is cheaper than using Corporate Travel Agents. People can get cheaper tickets booking online (Sweet Deals, Hot Deals, 2 to Go and 4 to Go). For us being a business traveller or FIT Clients (think that is what we are called), our tickets are normally E Class onwards which includes Y, S, M, B (I think so as I'm not a travel agent), therefore our tickets cannot be cheaper than when booking online.

Sorry, unfortunately I do not understand some of the terms used here like TS, TA, etc ...

[CarbonMan]

Rebates from SQ Corporate customer relationship need to be balanced with TA fees.

The "advantages" of using a TA are basically a) convenience especially when it comes to a complex itinerary, b) non-payment upfront until ticketing, c) one-stop for hotels as well. Hence the fee. I've used the inverted commas for advantages because some travel philiacs don't see them as such, and more a hindrance because they know how to maneuver the booking systems themselves and/or have time to do it.

On top of these, some companies also make use of TAs to keep track of where their employees are in the event of a disaster, accident or major event, the company knows where their travelling employees are. This is particularly important for largish companies. For instance in my company, we knew who were in the country and roughly where our staff were within 45mins of the Japanese earthquake in 2011 - and in coordination with TAs and our in-house security department, managed to help those who wanted to fly out do so fairly promptly.

[ozdude]

Aum, this is the first time I have ever heard of anyone waiting this amount of time for a refund from SIA. I have always received refunds from SIA within 5-7 days.

I laughed raucously when I read "we have to call the hotline and we have to hold for sometime before a customer service attends to us". Is this not the case when calling any major company? Seriously, what do you realistically expect in any case? I have only had exemplary service from Singapore Airlines - truly, a great way to fly!

Not sure if you live in SG or fly SQ that often, but since they upgraded their website there have been many issues on people that have not received refunds in a timely manner due to various reasons. you can check out the SQ facebook page, or read from page 1 the discussion about their new website which you'll find in this forum.

SQ is a good airline, and their service can be exemplary, but it is not to everyone, all the time. Your experience is not their service record.

[qantas_flyer]

What's to be gained out of saying this? The OP is just asking for help. You just re-iterate what he has admitted. Geez I still remember back on dial up days asking someone what "LMAO" meant.

What does LMAO mean?