BANGKOK, 12 March 2018: Singapore Airlines’ latest fare deal email blast, sent out last Friday, sells a Bangkok-Singapore roundtrip fare starting at THB 4,990 for travel up to 31 May this year.
It’s a tempting offer mainly because Singapore Airlines is reputedly the world’s best airline, so why not treat yourself when there is a promotion?
Might as well forsake the cramped seating of low-cost airline and enjoy SQ service even though the flight time is only two hours 10 minutes.
The fare deal is only valid on flights from Bangkok for a minimum two days, or a maximum five days and there is an advance purchase period of seven days.
The booking period closes 15 April and there is a blackout on travel, 11 to 14 April, peak travel days during Thailand’s national Songkran holiday.
We checked if the fare is out there waiting to be bought for travel dates in May. Usually, booking ahead six to eight weeks up front for mid-week travel dates should get you a low fare. It doesn’t work exactly like that on SQ.
Navigating the website is a refreshingly easy process to check out the dates and pay for the roundtrip fare.
However, securing the THB 4,990 fare may prove to be elusive, until you recognise the lowest fare is linked to late afternoon flights not the day or month.
Also, if you tap in dates that exceed the five-day limit, the system appears to accept it and assumes you will buy the seven-day fare at THB 6,850 instead.
Once you get the day count right, up pops a THB 4,950 roundtrip fare including surcharges and tax, bookable for an evening flight out of Bangkok, mid-May on a Monday and back on a late evening flight from Singapore on a Thursday. (Four days, one short of the maximum allowed).
Searches for flights in May for five days spanning a weekend, and valid on any of the airline’s six daily flights, flags a fare of THB 5,425, just close to THB 500 more than the best offer advertised.
That fare includes airport tax and surcharges and gives you 30 kg of check-in luggage, some frequent flyer points, but no flight changes. If you make a change it will incur a fee of USD50 and if you fail to show up for the flight you lose the ticket. There are no refunds.
To secure the lowest THB 4,990 fare outbound travel will be on the late day flights, SQ979/SQ981/SQ983.
