Goodbye 2020: Singapore Airlines and Scoot extend COVID-19 travel waiver policy till 31 December

It looks like there won’t be any year-end getaways for those of us in Singapore (short of a flight to nowhere), as Singapore Airlines and Scoot once again extend their COVID-19 travel waiver policies, this time till the end of 2020. 

Customers who booked tickets on or before 15 March 2020 with travel up till 31 December 2020 will be entitled to receive a full cash refund (or bonus travel credits). You can view the respective policies here: 

• Singapore Airlines
• Scoot

Singapore Airlines COVID-19 waiver policy

Here’s a summary of how the Singapore Airlines refund policy works:

If your flight was cancelled by Singapore Airlines

If the cancellation was initiated by Singapore Airlines, the equation is very simple. Regardless of when you bought your ticket, you’re entitled to:

• A 100% cash refund or
• A 100% refund in flight credits, plus a bonus depending on your cabin
  • Economy: S$75
  • Premium Economy: S$100
  • Business: S$200
  • First: S$500

Refunds will take about 4-6 weeks to process. 

Flight credits are valid for travel up till 31 December 2021. If your fare has been booked in a currency other than Singapore Dollars, the flight credits will be awarded based on the exchange rates in this table. 

Remember to use this form for all refund and flight credit requests. If you bought your ticket through a travel agent, you must get in touch with the agent directly to handle this; Singapore Airlines will not be able to assist you. 

If your flight was not cancelled by Singapore Airlines

Travel up to 31 December 2020 with ticket issued on/before 15 March 2020

If your travel date is up till 31 December 2020 and your ticket was issued on/before 15 March 2020, you’re entitled to the following:

• A 100% cash refund or
• A 100% refund in flight credits, plus a bonus depending on your cabin
  • Economy: S$75
  • Premium Economy: S$100
  • Business: S$200
  • First: S$500

Refunds will take about 4-6 weeks to process. 

Flight credits are valid for travel up till 31 December 2021. If your fare has been booked in a currency other than Singapore Dollars, the flight credits will be awarded based on the exchange rates in this table. 

Remember to use this form for all refund and flight credit requests. If you bought your ticket through a travel agent, you must get in touch with the agent directly to handle this; Singapore Airlines will not be able to assist you. 

Travel up to 31 December 2020 with ticket issued from 16 March 2020

If your travel date is up till 31 December 2020 and your ticket was issued from 16 March 2020, you’re entitled to the following:

• Unlimited free date changes until 31 October 2020
• A one-time free date change from 1 November 2020

Any date changes must be made within a year of the ticket’s date of issue, and any cancellations will be subject to the ticket’s fare conditions.

Changes can be made online via the Manage Booking function.

Travel from 1 January 2021 with ticket issued on/before 4 March 2020

If your travel date is from 1 January 2021 onwards and the ticket was issued on/before 4 March 2020,  no special concessions apply. All changes will be as per the ticket’s original conditions.

Travel from 1 January 2021 with ticket issued from 5 March to 31 October 2020

If your travel date is from 1 January 2021 onwards and the ticket was issued from 5 March to 31 October 2020, you’re entitled to the following:

• Unlimited free date changes until 31 October 2020
• A one-time free date change from 1 November 2020

Any date changes must be made within a year of the ticket’s date of issue, and any cancellations will be subject to the ticket’s fare conditions.

Changes can be made online via the Manage Booking function.

If you redeemed a ticket with KrisFlyer miles

If you’re holding on to a KrisFlyer redemption ticket, you are eligible for a full refund with the applicable fees waived. This applies to any award booking with travel up till 31 December 2020. 

If your booking contains miles which have expired or are due to expire up till May 2021, these will be extended till 30 June 2021.

If you refunded a ticket before the travel waiver policy came into effect (9 April) and forfeited expired miles in the process, those miles will not be retroactively returned to you. Likewise, if you paid a service fee to cancel a redemption booking before 9 April, you won’t get a  refund of that fee.

Do note that Singapore Airlines has extended (for a second time) the validity of KrisFlyer miles. Miles expiring between September and December 2020 have been extended by six months, while miles that expired from April to June 2020 have received a further 12 months validity.  

Scoot COVID-19 waiver policy

If your flight was cancelled by Scoot

If the cancellation was initiated by Scoot, the equation is very simple. Regardless of when you bought your ticket, you’re entitled to:

• A 100% cash refund or
• A 120% refund in Scoot vouchers

Cash refunds may take up to 14 weeks to process. 

Scoot vouchers are valid for travel up to 12 months from the date of issuance, and multiple vouchers can be used to offset future transactions. 

Remember that it’s possible to request refunds online– there’s no need to call up Scoot. If you bought your ticket through a travel agent, you must get in touch with the agent directly to handle this; Scoot will not be able to assist you. 

If your flight was not cancelled by Scoot

Travel up to 31 December 2020 with ticket issued on/before 15 March 2020

If your travel date is up till 31 December 2020 and your ticket was issued on/before 15 March 2020, you’re entitled to the following:

• A 100% cash refund or
• A 120% refund in Scoot vouchers

Cash refunds may take up to 14 weeks to process. 

Scoot vouchers are valid for travel up to 12 months from the date of issuance, and multiple vouchers can be used to offset future transactions. 

Remember that it’s possible to request refunds online– there’s no need to call up Scoot. If you bought your ticket through a travel agent, you must get in touch with the agent directly to handle this; Scoot will not be able to assist you. 

All other tickets

Scoot is offering a one-time free date change for all bookings made from 10 March to 31 December 2020. 

This can be done via the Manage My Booking function on the Scoot website. 

Conclusion

It looks like 2020 will be the “lost year” for travel (unless you managed to go somewhere from January to March), with no respite from COVID-19 in sight. I’ve cancelled a whole lot of flights already, and it looks like December plans now have to go too. 

If you’re set to fly from January 2021 onwards, rest assured that the waiver will be extended should the government advisory against travel still be in place. What I anticipate will happen is that SIA gradually parses down the scope of these waivers, as other countries bring their COVID-19 cases under control and travel corridors open up. 

Do weigh your situation carefully when deciding between a cash refund or bonus flight credits/vouchers. A bonus may sound enticing, but there’s no guarantee it’ll be sufficient to cover the fare difference in the future. It may be better to just get your money back, since there’s no knowing for sure when leisure travel will be possible again.