Singapore Airlines A380 First Flight Auction begins. Win a piece of history

adrian2000

27/08/2007

The Singapore Airlines A380 First Flight Charity Auction began today, and everyone can participate in this unprecedented event.

The Singapore Airlines A380 flies its First Flight from Singapore to Sydney on Thursday 25 October and the return leg on Friday 26 October.

A majority of seats across all classes on both legs of the First Flight will be auctioned on eBay, the global online marketplace, progressively over two weeks from this evening Monday, 27 August 2007 (Singapore time).

To mark the launch of the new A380, the starting prices are:

Economy Class

US$ 3.80

Business Class

US$ 38.00

Singapore Airlines Suites

US$ 380.00

A selection of limited Buy-It-Now packages across all classes will also be put on sale. Purchasing Buy-It-Now packages is the only way to guarantee an immediate confirmation of being on board the first-ever A380 commercial flight.

The Ultimate Singapore Airlines A380 First Flight Suites Package is amongst the Buy-It-Now packages that are being offered. The buyer of this package will be the first-ever commercial customer of the A380. This customer will enjoy a host of VIP perks that cannot be found anywhere else, including a personal invitation to Toulouse, France, to be part of the inaugural Singapore Airlines A380 delivery celebrations. He or she will also receive First Class return tickets to Singapore to be part of the First Flight, and complimentary accommodation in Singapore and Sydney.

More details of this extraordinary package are available on www.ebay.com.sg/sq380.

To bid, you will need:

• An eBay user ID ... it's free and easy to get on ebay.com. (Once you sign up for an eBay user ID, you can easily learn how to bid and how the eBay bid system works);
• The names and passport numbers of those travelling;
• For bids on packages in the premium classes (Business & Suites), or bids over USD1,000 in Economy Class, pre-qualification is required. This ensures bids are not artificially inflated, and gives bidders confidence they are bidding only against genuine and pre-qualified bidders

Prequalification is initiated online. Singapore Airlines’ global auction management agency, Auctionwire, has developed numerous ways for bidders to pre-qualify and lodge security deposits for bids requiring pre-qualification.

All information on packages available, bidder prequalification, how to get an eBay user ID and how to bid in the auction is available on the Singapore Airlines A380 website, singaporeair.com/a380.

100% of the proceeds of the auction will be donated to charities. They are:

• One-third to Singapore's Community Chest
• One-third split between the Sydney Children's Hospital, Randwick, and The Children's Hospital at Westmead, both in Sydney
• One-third to Médecins Sans Frontières, also known as Doctors Without Borders.

Lütz_Pangaloo

I suppose being on board one of these behemoths as a wing snaps off and it corkscrews out of the sky into the ocean would be a 'claim to fame' of sorts, but I think I'll give it a miss thank you.

Reaper

So (unless you get the Ultimate ticket) you pay large sums of money to bid for a ticket, then more large sums of money to fly to Singapore or Sydney to catch the flight, with a massive slow motion bun fight at your destination to look forward to because the luggage carousal can't cope with the vast number of passengers and neither can the baggage handlers. Then you have to pay for another flight back home. And the bargain is...?

tightus_wad

It's a return ticket.
May have been better to say $10 a ticket lottery, 10,000 tickets, profits go to charity...Think they have missed a trick or two here!!
Just looked at the current prices - people are spending 1000's of dollars for a seat! This isn't aimed at your normal man/woman on the street is it?
The airline could be in trouble here if people started posting 'dodgy' bids !

ManAtHome

So you pay heaps of dosh to be a Beta-tester - even Gatesy missed that one...

bonehead50

There feedback isn't very clever 0

tailo

bonehead50 wrote: »

There feedback isn't very clever 0

They are one of the best airlines in the world and their reputation is at stake.

rebeccaj

ManAtHome wrote: »

So you pay heaps of dosh to be a Beta-tester - even Gatesy missed that one...

oh I don't think he did

user051105

Its only £124,000 to get there ultimate tickets, 2 premier class suites. They have not released any details about the suites.

Horlock

I think I'm missing something here. Namely the bargain.

Plus it sounds awfully complicated to bid. You have to pay a over £500 deposit just to place a bid. Which you wont win. Now if one of the buy it now options appeared as I was looking then that would be a whole different story.

Still it does look like it would be something to write home about.

wherediditallgo

Horlock wrote: »

Still it does look like it would be something to write home about.

Yes, & the message home would be "Make sure I'm buried not cremated, & I want no-one in black at the do". There are many things I'm prepared to test on behalf of companies, but a flight at considerable personal expense isn't one of them.