(Update 4th January 13:22: Singapore Airlines have had a change of heart over the credit card surcharge proposal, and have now announced that it will not go ahead as originally planned on 20th January. See here for details.)
In a seemingly rather desperate attempt to raise revenue, a 1.3% credit card surcharge will now be applied to some Singapore Airlines and SilkAir bookings originating in Singapore. The news broke rather subtly, as some website users noticed a note at the top of their screens, starting on 3rd January.
The change becomes effective on 20th January, coinciding with a raft of other changes to fares detailed in full in our recent article. Needless to say – much of that wasn’t good news either. After all – companies rarely manage to squeeze more money out of you and make you happier at the same time.
Hang on a second… let’s just calm down and take a breath
It’s been very poorly explained by Singapore Airlines and actually affects a relatively small group of customers (probably less than 10% of bookings, and only the very cheapest) so the confusion is understanding.
Note: The notice has since been updated on the Singapore Airlines website. Instead of “certain fares”, to clarify it only affects “Economy Lite fares”.
The devil is in the detail on this one. As per the terms and conditions of the website: