24 September 2014 TB085/14 Singapore Airlines (SQ) and Air New Zealand (NZ) Alliance Re accommodation Servicing and Handling Guidelines for Travel Agents Introduction... 2 Guidelines to Contacting Customers... 3 1. SMS and Email... 3 2. Follow up with Customers... 3 Servicing Quick Reference Guide... 3 1. Flight schedule... 4 2. Frequent Flyer earn eligibility... 4 3. Seating... 4 4. Meal Requests... 5 5. Other SSRs... 6 6. Baggage Allowance... 7 7. Follow up on ticket... 7 8. Guidelines to Managing Changes to Itineraries... 7 Page 1 of 7
Introduction Air New Zealand (NZ) and Singapore Airlines (SQ) have entered into a strategic alliance, which is confirmed for launch on 6 January 2015. Under this alliance, Air New Zealand will commence operations on the Singapore Auckland route and together with Singapore Airlines, will offer one return service each per day. Singapore Airlines will continue to operate daily services between Singapore and Christchurch. Customers will enjoy increased capacity and additional frequencies between Singapore and New Zealand as well as codeshare connectivity to almost 40 destinations in the Air New Zealand network. In turn, Air New Zealand will codeshare to a further 50 destinations on the Singapore Airlines and SilkAir network. Customers will be offered a range of premium inflight products and services on board Singapore Airlines' Airbus A380, Boeing 777 200ER (retrofitted) and Boeing 777 300ER aircraft as well as Air New Zealand's newly refurbished Boeing 777 200ER. This document contains servicing and handling guidelines for the re accommodation of customers booked on SQ281 and SQ282, and for travel from 6 January 2015 as follows: Air New Zealand will operate NZ281 from 6 January 2015, and therefore, customers will be re booked on SQ4281. Air New Zealand will operate NZ282 1 from 7 January 2015, and therefore, customers will be re booked on SQ4282. If you can please ensure you have actioned all your affected passengers bookings and provided them with their new documentation by 24 October 2014. 1 NZ will operate its inaugural service from Auckland, flight NZ088, on 6 January 2015. NZ088 will not be included in the re accommodation exercise. Page 2 of 7
Guidelines to Contacting Customers 1. SMS and Email 1.1. Affected PPS Club/KF members would have received an edm on 23 September 2014, and similarly, affected customers would receive emails and/or SMS on 24 September about the change in operating carrier. 1.2. In the above communication, customers have been asked to contact their nearest Singapore Airlines office / travel agent if they have queries. Thus, do expect customers to contact you. 1.3. However, customers booked on G fare class will NOT receive the SMS / email as they are being reaccommodated to NZ281/2 instead of SQ marketed flight, SQ4281/2. 2. Follow up with Customers 2.1. Affected PNRs will fall into your schedule change queue from Thursday 25 September. Thus, please service that queue accordingly. 2.2. All ticketed bookings made through travel agents must be revalidated or reissued to ensure the booking is not cancelled. Servicing Quick Reference Guide Travel agents should follow the quick reference guide below to ensure they cover/inform customers of pertinent aspects of the re accommodation exercise by 24 October 2014. Item Details 1 Flight Change Inform customer of change in flight. 2 Flight Schedule Inform customer of the new SQ4282 flight schedule. SQ4281 remain unchanged. 3 PPS Value / KF Tier bonus 4 Seating 5 Meals If customer tickets by 8 October 2014, for travel on/before 31 March 2015, PPS Value and KF tier bonus will be awarded as per SQ s eligibility. Otherwise, it will follow current codeshare practice. Inform customer of new seating assignment. Alternatively, provide customer with the NZ PNR for them to self service via NZ s website. NZ offers 14 standard IATA meals. Remove the current special meal and offer alternatives. 6 Other SSR Rebook onto SQ if required SSR not offered by NZ. 7 Baggage changes 8 Finalisation 9 NZ s seat/ products NZ s baggage allowance will be applied but may not be shown on the e ticket. Ensure customer are informed of new allowance. Change TK sectors to HK and end transaction. Ensure ticket elements are in order and then revalidate or reissue the ticket before emailing to the customer. Please refer NZ s website for details. Page 3 of 7
1. Flight schedule The below flight schedule will be effective from 6 January 2015 (Note: in local time). If customers are re accommodated onto SQ4282/NZ282, customers need to be informed that the flight will depart 10 minutes later than the current SQ282. There is no change in timing for customers who are re accommodated onto SQ4281/NZ281. NZ Flight Departure from New Zealand Flight Depart Arrive AKL SIN* NZ282 / 0115h 0645h SQ4282 (retimed from SQ282 s current 0105h) (retimed from SQ282 s current 0635h) NZ Flight Departure from Singapore Flight Depart Arrive SIN AKL NZ281 / SQ4281 0850h 2345h *NZ s inaugural flight from AKL will be renumbered to NZ088, departing AKL at 0045h and arriving SIN at 0615h. Note that NZ088 is not included in the re accommodation exercise. 2. Frequent Flyer earn eligibility 2.1. For tickets issued by 08 October 2014, for travel on or before 31 March 2015 that are reaccommodated to NZ281/NZ282, we will continue to award members with PPS Value, Elite miles and KrisFlyer miles based on what they would have been eligible for on a Singapore Airlines flight. 2.2. Otherwise, mileage accrual eligibility and earn levels will be determined by the class of travel and booking class of the operating carrier (in this case, NZ) per current codeshare arrangements. 3. Seating 3.1. Customers with seat requests will have new seats arranged by NZ (with KK status in PNR). Those which are listed as Pending Need (PN) are still being processed by NZ and may take up to a week to complete. 3.2. For customers who have been re accommodated to SQ4281/SQ4282 who would like to purchase paid seats (Skycouch, Preferred), a new ticket has to be purchased directly with NZ at the fare that is currently available. Customers who choose this option will be able to get a full refund of their SQ ticket (with no penalties imposed). 3.3. Note: a. SQ s RQST will be automatically KK if the same seat number is available. b. All JCL rows (11 16), and EYCL rows 31 34, 57CH, 58CH, 59CH do not exist on NZ281/2 and will be manually assigned by NZ. c. For JCL, NZ will be seating couples behind each other as per their current practice. d. BSCT seats will be manually assigned by NZ to the BSCT seats at rows 35 and 48. Customers who were originally placed at those seats will be manually reassigned. Customers TCP with the BSCT will also be manually reassigned their seats. e. Row 47 on NZ281/2 is an exit row, thus customers with seats assigned on SQ281/2, row 47 will also be reassigned. Page 4 of 7
4. Meal Requests 4.1. If the requested meal is offered by NZ, it should be displayed as KK in the SSR. 4.2. Note that NZ offers 14 IATA standard meal types listed below, and is unable to provide an allergenfree environment. All Book The Cook and Yummy Meals! requests will not be fulfilled on NZ281/2. 4.3. If customer s request is not part of the list below, it will initially appear as HN and eventually changed to UC or UN in the SSR. However, it may take some time for the UC or UN status to be reflected. If status of a meal is HN, Travel agents are advised to delete the SSR and offer alternative meal choices based on NZ s available SPMLs. MEAL IATA CODE NZ SQ Asian Vegetarian Meal AVML Baby Meal BBML Bland Meal BLML x Children Meal CHML Diabetic Meal DBML Fat Free Meal FFMLM x Fruit Platter Meal FPML Gluten Intolerant Meal GFML Hindu Non Vegetarian Meal HNML Japanese Meal JPMLM x Junior Meal JNML x X Kosher Meal KSML * * Low Calorie Meal LCML x Low Fiber/Residue Meal LFBRS x Low Fat Meal LFML Non Beef Meal NBMLM x Non Carbohydrate Meal NCBHD x Non strict Nut Free Meal NFMLA x * Low Lactose Meal NLML x Post Weaning Meal PWMLN x Low Salt Meal LSML x Muslim Meal MOML Seafood Meal SFML x Semi Fluid Meal SMFUM x Soft Fluid Meal SFUML x Vegetarian Jain Meal VJML Vegetarian Lacto ovo Meal VLML Vegetarian Oriental Meal VOML Vegetarian Raw Meal RVML x Vegetarian Vegan Meal VGML Ulcer Diet Meal UCDEM x *Note that this meal requires 48 hours or more advance notice. Page 5 of 7
5. Other SSRs 5.1. Please note the SSRs offered/not offered by NZ in the below table. 5.2. UMNR: SQ stations will be contacting Travel agents directly if there are affected Unaccompanied Minor (UM) requests for the re accommodation to NZ281/2 (SQ4281/2). SPECIAL ASSISTANCE IATA CODE NZ SQ Blind Customer BLND Bicycle BIKE Bassinet Seat BSCT Bulky Baggage BULK Cabin Baggage (in seat) CBBG x* Deaf Customer DEAF Extra Seat For Customer Comfort EXST Infants (including Infant with Seat, IFS) INFT Medical Transportation i.e. Oxygen, Stretcher MEDA/OXY x* x* /STCR Meet And Assist MAAS Sports Equipment SPEQ Wheelchair: Dry Cell WCBD x* Wheelchair: Wet Cell WCBW Wheelchair: Cabin Seat WCHC x* x* Wheelchair: Ramp WCHR x* Wheelchair: Steps WCHS Wheelchair: Manual Powered WCMP Wheelchair: Onboard WCOB x Excess Baggage XBAG UNACCOMPANIED MINOR UMNR x* x* Live Animals In the Hold AVIH DEPORTEE Escorted DEPA x* x* DEPORTEE UNescorted DEPU x* x* Live Animals in Cabin PETC x* x* * Note that requests can only be provided if booked on operating carrier (operating carrier rules will apply). As the customers will be re accommodated to SQ marketing code in general, NZ will not be able to accept these requests. Page 6 of 7
6. Baggage Allowance 6.1. For customers who are being re accommodated, the baggage allowance will be determined by what is on the passenger s new e ticket (if reissued new alliance baggage rules apply as noted in 6.2 below). Please advise your client to print their e ticket so that the check in agents can view their allowance accordingly. 6.2. For any new bookings, NZ will follow the IATA Res 302 of Most Significant Carrier for any interlining customers, similar to SQ. 7. Follow up on ticket 7.1. ALL tickets booked through an agent will need to be revalidated or reissued with the reaccommodation to SQ4281/2 on NZ281/2. 7.2. When all the seat/meal/ssr items are amended (if required at all), Travel agents will need to change the TK sectors to HK and end the transaction. Please check to ensure that the bookings/tickets are properly re accommodated. Normal re accommodation procedures will apply e.g. email the new itinerary to the customers. 8. Guidelines to Managing Changes to Itineraries Possible Scenario Change to SQ285/6 Change destination Change date Cancel booking Guiding Principles Travel agents are advised to maintain the bookings on NZ281/2 as far as possible. Other alternatives/changes should only be considered in exceptional circumstances. If absolutely necessary and there is a need to rebook passenger on SQ285/6 or change the travel to other destinations/date, booking will be subject to availability. Contact the local SQ station for assistance when required. General guidelines for changes to itineraries: Applicable fare differences will still be charged / refunded. Associated fees will be waived with no penalties imposed. Non refundable fares will also be refunded as an one time exception. Page 7 of 7