My observations standing at the SKL door

[LionCity]

thanks for the answer ... now, i get it. i'm sorry i kinda confused headache with disaster as it seemed to me this would be the same thing (yeah the terminology is a bit confusing if you've studied this stuff in another language ...) but yeah everything crystal clear now. i apologize for misinterpreting and thank for the answer

Florianwagner, That is very honest and modest of you to give such a reply.

[HUGE AL]

That's very sad to hear.
Not entirely unexpected, but those abusive QPPs should direct their energies into something more constructive. Like angry letters to the press for instance.

I'm curious to know if this is how it plays out in all other parts of the world as well. I mean, when the American airline industry started taking away ALL the perks one by one, they noticed that the front line and fellow passengers heard all the complaints -- but NEVER upper management or corporate itself.

An example was one year when NW dialed back the movies from new releases to older flicks to none at all. I heard from the Elite desk many times that the airline was seeing how the public would react as they would be able to save on costs. The number of complaints NW received that year regarding the removal of all movies was FOUR (and one letter was written by yours truly [which they gave me 25k miles for {another reason to write the CEO}]).

Because the US public never appears to get upset directly with the DM's, we get nickeled and dimed now and have almost no perks -- which drives me to spend my money with SQ and other foreign carriers.

So back to my point, is this/will this be the case elsewhere? I'm curious to see what happens and how SQ handles this (I was going to put "mess" at the end of the sentence here, but I'm not sure it has festered to that level...yet...).

[zvezda]

In July, I presented a C boarding pass with a PPS sticker on it and was directed to the C side. I raised my eyebrows and asked "Is it September already?" She then blushed and directed me to the F side.

[SQOZflyer]

There has always been one huge fundamental flaw in the change. They have been promoting it as making PPS more exclusive and giving a better service to the members who still qualify. And I believe that most people would accept this if they could see the improvements. However along side this management spin they have drastically cut the benefits members receive.

Your average PPS member I'm sure is highly educated and really will not be fooled by such a simply ploy. They can easily see it is a straight forward cost cutting measure.

They're cost cutting everywhere and can barely disguise it... take their alleged "enhancements" of the F class product. While the seat became wider and the screen bigger, food portions (esp. caviar) are smaller now + no special touches (such as the F logo on serviettes etc.), Dom has disappeared at SKL F (and I bet will not return) and there was no separate wine list anymore on a recent LAX-TPE flight. Looked a bit cheap to have the wine list at the back of the food menu. Wouldn't surprise me if Krug and Caviar will disappear as well in the near future... maybe when they introduce their new "First suite"

What makes me really angry is that they try to sell us all these changes as "making the product more exclusive for our premium pax"... other airlines are at least honest about their policies

[UMD]

Piper has now been replaced by "Charles Heidsieck" in J which I believe still belongs to the same company as Piper. Anyone knows which is better tough?

[jjpb3]

thanks for the answer ... now, i get it. i'm sorry i kinda confused headache with disaster as it seemed to me this would be the same thing (yeah the terminology is a bit confusing if you've studied this stuff in another language ...) but yeah everything crystal clear now. i apologize for misinterpreting and thank for the answer

There's absolutely no need to apologize. I was only trying to elaborate on my point of view as well, and that point of view is as personal and subjective as any other's.

[SuperJonJon]

Just heard another PPS club member rant at the customer service personnel in SKL J and that he will no longer be flying on SQ. Is this what SQ really wants?

[bloob]

SQ wants passengers who pay full fare, obedient and couldn't care less which SKL they choose to throw them into....

[token01]

IMHO, that might be what SQ wants but they certainly aint going to get it. In regards to full fare paying, i believe it shouldnt matter if a person travelling is paying out of his own pocket or a company's account. People continue to flog this dead horse and i dont seeem to find a valid reason for it. The reason why company's get such a discount (im writing this based on what i know since i pay myself so correct me by all means) is due to the vast amount of loyal coporate dollars that SQ continues to recieve making up a very healthy chunk of their bottom line, making them a very important and equal customer. Therefore SQ will give them a discount that wont effect its numbers in black a great deal and for the most part everyone is happy. I might understand SQ being a little inflexible to people redeeming on SQ using miles whilst never flying on SQ otherwise, but this also can be used as an outlet to promote the airline and its facilites even more to presuade the award customer to move his potential full time business to SQ.
Being LOYAL to anything has its perks in any fashion or manner i.e from a peaceful mind to several monetary advantages. From SQ's perspective or an airlines generally, rewards are given for being loyal to it (i.e pumping in the dollars). When these rewards are taken for any reason (SQ's belief atm consisting of planes running at a great capacity rate) a customer has a full right to feel is trust to have been mismanaged and have been taken for granted and thus to be disloyal.

[tfung]

well, in another few years, I can already see SQ announcing this:

"In order to enchance our customer experience, Singapore Airlines has annouced the closure of the SKL so that passengers may enjoy the spacious Changi Airport terminal with its world class shopping. Each Business Class passenger will have exclusive access to seats located near gate F60*. First class passengers will also receive a coupon for $5 for use at any F&B outlet in the airport in addition to the same benefits of Business Class passengers.

*Seats in this area are limited and will be first come first serve basis"

[HUGE AL]

tfung, shhhh...why are you writing their copy for them? hahahaha

OH, I did like your review of the Pen Tokyo on TOF.

[KeithMEL]

well, in another few years, I can already see SQ announcing this:

"In order to enchance our customer experience, Singapore Airlines has annouced the closure of the SKL so that passengers may enjoy the spacious Changi Airport terminal with its world class shopping. Each Business Class passenger will have exclusive access to seats located near gate F60*. First class passengers will also receive a coupon for $5 for use at any F&B outlet in the airport in addition to the same benefits of Business Class passengers.

*Seats in this area are limited and will be first come first serve basis"

[fimo]

well, in another few years, I can already see SQ announcing this:

"In order to enchance our customer experience, Singapore Airlines has annouced the closure of the SKL so that passengers may enjoy the spacious Changi Airport terminal with its world class shopping. Each Business Class passenger will have exclusive access to seats located near gate F60*. First class passengers will also receive a coupon for $5 for use at any F&B outlet in the airport in addition to the same benefits of Business Class passengers.

*Seats in this area are limited and will be first come first serve basis"

Stop.Giving.Them.Ideas. -_-

Or at least get paid for it lah...

[SQflyergirl]

Stop.Giving.Them.Ideas. -_-

Or at least get paid for it lah...

Tfung will never get paid for it. They'll lift the whole idea verbatim from here, change the "F beverage coupon value" from $5 to $2.50 and claim the whole new concept as their own.

Hope you got a good lawyer