Q&A: No United Frequent Flyer Miles for My Singapore Flights?

Dear Tim--

I was unpleasantly surprised when Singapore refused to credit my United Mileage Plus account for my trip from Los Angeles to Tokyo to Denpasar and back to San Francisco because they said my flights were "ineligible" for mileage. I usually buy my tickets online myself but on this rare occasion, I used an agent whom I was careful to ask if the Singapore flights he suggested would accrue miles the same as United. I had no reason to check this since I had earned mileage before on Singapore. His initial itinerary clearly stated mileage would be accrued, and when I told him what had happened he said that the Singapore agent must have "lied" to him.

Had I known of any selective mileage exclusions, I would never have chosen to fly on a Star Alliance airline rather than United. I have written to the agent and spoken and written to Singapore and no one has offered to compensate me. The fare I paid was not excessively discounted (compared to other years), I was given no "Premier Economy" benefits, and from Tokyo to Denpasar I paid almost $300 for my third bag which was full of donated medical supplies for a clinic in Bali. I've made this trip for the past five years and never encountered mileage excluded flights or such excessive baggage charges.  (That $300 would have meant a lot more to the clinic my NGO was setting up in Haiti.)

Is this just my tough luck/buyer beware, or do I have recourse other than to boycott this agent and never fly Singapore again? Previous to this experience I had concurred with the popular opinion that Singapore was one of the best airlines anywhere, and I elected to fly with them because of previous excellent experiences. I hope you can suggest some positive action I can take so I don't forfeit these thousands of miles.

Nancy

Dear Nancy--

As it happens, I worked for Singapore Airlines in the 1980s, when they established their first frequent flyer program relationship, with American's AAdvantage program.  Part of my job at the time was responding to angry letters from AAdvantage members who complained that they hadn't received miles for their flights.

At the time, Singapore's policy was to award miles only for full coach fares, and not for the discounted coach tickets most travelers actually bought.  That was a marketing decision based on two considerations.  First, AAdvantage miles were a cost to Singapore, which would dilute the already slim profit margins on discount coach tickets.  And second, there was simply no reason to give away frequent flyer miles to travelers flying on cheap coach fares—the low prices were incentive enough.

Fast forward to 2010.

Singapore now partners with United instead of American.  And while they have expanded somewhat the range of fares eligible for mileage accumulation, they still restrict mileage accumulation to the higher-priced coach fares.

According to United's website, Mileage Plus members receive miles when flying Singapore on the following coach fares: Y, B, E, H, K, M, S, W, L, and U.  They do not award miles for X, I, O, G, Q, V, N, and T fares.

Alphabet soup, right?  And if that weren't confusing enough, United's website cautions Singapore customers as follows: "Please note that the booking class shown on your ticket may differ from the booking class relevant for mileage accrual."

Even United seems a bit uncomfortable with Singapore's policy, noting that "The miles accrued are determined by the operating airline."

Assuming that you indeed flew on one of the ineligible fares, you have no recourse, legally speaking.  There was clearly a miscommunication between your agent and the airline, and you suffered the consequences.

I would suggest that you pressure the agent to petition Singapore to award the miles as a goodwill gesture.  Because they serve as sales conduits for the airlines, travel agents have more clout than individual consumers, and can often wrest concessions that would normally be denied.

The real problem, however, is Singapore's confusingly ambivalent policy, and the carrier's proven inability to effectively communicate that policy to the traveling public.

As a matter of both marketing efficiency and simple fairness, the airline should either embrace a more inclusive mileage policy, or find a way to communicate unequivocally which tickets are mileage-eligible and which are not.

That's what I told my boss at Singapore almost 30 years ago.  It's no less true today.

Comments

[Barbara Kreykenbohm]

Nancy's Singapore Airlines story is consistent with my conclusion "The Star Alliance is NOT." The "alliance's" action are not consistent with their high power advertising. Some of our experiences: (1)Air New Zealand would not check though our bags, returning to the U.S., although United checked through on the outbound flight. (2) In spite of the "Include Star Alliance Flights" checkbox on their flight page, United only returns United flights -- most recently this was for flights from Dulles to Paris. (3)On a United flight that included a leg on Lufhtansa we could not see the Lufhtansa seat map on the United web site but we could see it on Orbitz.
Barbara K.

[luggages handbag backpack]

surprise

Looking this .

[knitted ugg boots]

Thank you for sharing .

[knitted ugg boots]

Dare and the world always yields. If it beats you sometimes, dare it again and again and it will succumb.

[Leigh]

I almost feel better, knowing I'm not the only one who has been caught in this confusing mess with airline partners. Singapore Air refused to give me miles for a R/T to Hong Kong....despite the fact they asked for my United FF # when I was making the reservation...leading me to believe the flights were eligible.

It does suck!

[Bret]

I ran into the same situation purchasing a Singapore Air ticket via Expedia (JFK-SIN). Nowhere did Expedia mention that Singapore's ticket wouldn't accrue frequent flyer miles, and frankly I'd never heard of the concept of non-accrual until this incident.

I was falsely reassured that Expedia even allows you to enter your frequent traveler info when purchasing the tickets!

I wasted a lot of customer service time with Expedia (who blamed Singapore) and Singapore (who blamed Expedia) to no avail.

Lost the opportunity for almost 20,000 miles, and would have gladly paid the extra $300-ish round trip for the mileage accruing class of ticket had I known.

Now I try to purchase tickets directly from an airline's website whenever possible.

[Jim G]

Let's not blame United for this, it's not their issue and unfortunately this is not just a problem limited to Singapore Airlines. At the moment I live in Asia, and fly primarily Star Alliance carriers. I accrue my mileage on UA because they have by far the best and most liberal policy for coach fliers. As far as I am aware, they are one of the only Star Alliance carriers (and the only one in Asia) that offers mileage accrual on all fares. Singapore Airlines, Thai, ANA, and Air China all restrict mileage accrual on some of their discount fares. Generally I find that Star Alliance carriers are better at discount coach mileage accrual than their One World counterparts, but that really isn't a high bar.

I used to be an AA Platinum Exec, but when they followed BA and Qantas down the One World path of reducing and/or eliminating mileage accrual I decided to look around. At that point in time it was clear that UA actually took better care of their frequent fliers - even those that purchased steeply discounted coach fares. They offer mileage accrual of at least 100% on all fares, and if you reach various elite milestones they can as much as double that mileage - even on the cheapest fares. UA's long haul planes aren't competitive in coach (with the exception of the economy plus seat pitch) but their new business class is fine. They offer better upgrades to their frequent fliers, and they treat everyone equally (albeit not always well - sadly unions and experience don't always guarantee good service) at least when it comes to mileage accrual.

By the way, many Singapore Airlines routes to developing world resort cities are actually flown by SilkAir - their "discount" subsidiary. SilkAir is NOT part of Star Alliance, so there is no mileage accrual on any of those flights. Denpasar is actually an SQ route, but you got caught in the "ineligible fare" category.

If you want to insure that you get mileage accrual, there are really only two ways to confirm. If you book the ticket directly on their websites it will tell you. You'll often have to look because they bury it deeply, but it's there on all of them. Otherwise you'll either have to book an unrestricted full fare ticket or call the airlines yourself.

At the end of the day, if it's all about price in Asia, then connect with a discounter. Tiger, Air Asia, JetStar, etc, all offer very basic service, they charge for luggage and even water on board and there is no mileage accrual, but they're safe, reliable and a fraction of the price of even the most steeply discounted Star Alliance carriers. If you're set on mileage accrual and convenience, plan on either flying UA or paying for a more expensive partner ticket.

[Tim Winship]

Edward - The mileage-eligibility restrictions in question are SQ's, not UA's. They apply to all routes SQ offers Mileage Plus awards.

[Edward]

I have questions.
1) Which routing is affected by marginalising booking class under UA operated flights? Only SIN-USA? Or other Asian routes to USA such as ex BKK,HKG,TYO,SEL,SHA etc?
2) Does the marginalisation of booking class for SIN-USA route restrict to UA only or other star alliance like TG,SQ on the same booking class? Can you summarise all scenarios of rules and why they do this?

This is really not fair. But what is the rationale for UA to do so?

[Max Bialystock]

(Per Tim Winship:) United's website cautions Singapore customers as follows: "Please note that the booking class shown on your ticket may differ from the booking class relevant for mileage accrual."

.....So, what does that really MEAN? It means that if you buy that ticket, you're BUYING THE PROVERBIAL "PIG IN A POKE."

Just reading those words you quoted from the United website makes my blood boil. If the airlines want to offer perks, OK. If they don't that's OK, too. I just don't appreciate--- like Nancy, who wrote the original message---being "played." The airlines treat the public with contempt. A promo isn't a promo if it's YOUR turn to claim it, and you find out you're ineligible. It's the worst kind of run-around. But government refuses to PROTECT THE CONSUMER, and there's nowhere else to turn. It sucks.