Singapore Airlines
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Charging booking fees for seats on long-haul a step too far.
We have travelled to Australia a few times on this airline mainly because it is via Singapore after several very bad experiences at Dubai. This airline offer reasonably good service and in June I booked two seats for January 2019 for a 3 month stay to visit our son and grandsons. I had previously booked through an agent or travel site online BUT you cannot choose what seats you want and you can only get seat numbers 48 hours before travelling. This time I decided to book over the telephone. The first thing I heard was a recorded message saying that booking by phone could result in a charge for doing so? The first question to the booking clerk was "is there a charge". I was told this does not apply in the U.K. So far so good. I had already looked up flight numbers I wanted and also chosen seat numbers as well. We went through the whole procedure and booked the flights. I then asked for the seat numbers I had chosen- then came the surprise! Apparently you cannot pre-book seats unless you pay for them! This charge always related to short haul flights but now long haul have jumped on the band-wagon and decided to make more money as well. For every leg of the journey there is a seat charge out and, of course, back which in my case totalled £72! Not much you might say but the fare we paid was higher than two years ago and now plus a seat charge on top. Obviously I had to book them because on a 19 hour flight you want to sit with your husband, Well I do anyway. No doubt other airlines have done the same and to Australia there is a limited choice. I have read more recent reviews on Singapore Airline and see that they have not been anywhere near as good as before. Will write a review when we get back.