Flight Cancellation of One Leg of Journey

Jd1399

Hello, I am looking for some opinions and advice for a flight booking that has been partially cancelled.

I have return flights from Manchester to Auckland via Singapore with Singapore Airlines, so four flights included in the one booking. 

Singapore airlines have cancelled the final flight (SIN-MAN) due to "operational reasons". 

They have offered me a free change to the same flight (SIN-MAN) which departs on the following day or a full refund which will take 2 months to complete. Equivalent flights have already increased by £400 so by the time I receive the refund the cost of these alternate flight will be much more expensive.

Or if I accept the free change to the SIN-MAN flight I will have to pay £200-£300 for a hotel in Singapore due to the long layover (29hrs) and that does start to address the additional food costs and the fact I need to have an extra day off work. 

I have contacted Singapore Airlines and they have taken no responsibility, simply saying it is not in their control so I should be happy they are providing me an alternate flight for free. Also, I have contacted my travel insurance company who have said that as the flight to Singapore is not an internal flight, I am not covered. 

I know I am not able to get compensation as the flight was cancelled more than 14-days before departure. But considering I paid over £1,500 for this flight already, is there anything else I can due to get the additional incurred costs from the hotel or additional flight costs reimbursed?

Also, what is there in place to stop Singapore Airlines doing this again and cancelling my rearranged flights? 

eskbanker

Jd1399 said:

I know I am not able to get compensation as the flight was cancelled more than 14-days before departure.

Surely it's the fact that the cancelled flight doesn't fall within the UK/EU regulations at all that precludes compensation eligibility, so you're in the hands of the airline's own policies rather than being able to rely on external legislation, or do their terms include copycat clauses?

If not, what do the airline Ts & Cs state?  Did you book directly with them or through an agent?

bagand96

Non UK/EU airline operating a flight starting outside UK/EU means you can't apply EC261 or the UK equivalent.  Not sure if the Singapore authorities have any similar rules in place.  You can see if your travel insurance will cover you for any of your incurred costs.

Potential option.... Singapore Airlines codeshare with Lufthansa, they may be able to move you to a flight on your original date routing via FRA with Lufthansa.  Would add an additional stop to your journey though. Have a look on their website to see if options via FRA are available on your original date.  If they are ring Singapore Airlines, insist you need to travel on your original planned date and see if they'll move you.

Bicycleman22

The same thing happened to me a couple of months ago with my free flight changes incurring extra long layovers that I would never accept. I phoned up Singapore and they changed both the inbound and outbound connecting flights. Okay I am flying a different day now but I am happy with this as the connections are actually better. Have you tried asking for your connecting flight to be changed ? For me this was all done in 10 minutes.

Westin

Bicycleman22 said:

The same thing happened to me a couple of months ago with my free flight changes incurring extra long layovers that I would never accept. I phoned up Singapore and they changed both the inbound and outbound connecting flights. Okay I am flying a different day now but I am happy with this as the connections are actually better. Have you tried asking for your connecting flight to be changed ? For me this was all done in 10 minutes.

I had the same experience with SQ last year. 

Research your options and what you would ideally like, then call them and politely ask them.

Don’t forget there 3x daily services to/from LHR.

Jd1399

Thank you for your comments, they have offered to fly me out on other days. Unfortunately, as I am on a guided tour around NZ I need to fly out on those specific dates. I could fly back a day later but would still incur extra hotel charges in NZ which I hadn't originally planned. 

I asked for them to look for flights with alternate providers, and they said they couldn't find anything. They seem reluctant as that would mean additional costs on them. I have found an alternate flight back from Singapore with Emirates which SA won't use and SA won't refund me just for the SIN-MAN flight that was cancelled so I book an alternate flight myself.