If you’ve ever missed a flight for whatever reason, you may be concerned about the so-called “no-show fee” mentioned in your ticket.ย
No-show fees are part of no-show clauses, which allow the airline to cancel a reservation when a passenger has missed either:
- the first leg of a multi-leg itinerary
- the outbound flight of a round-trip itinerary
This is why you can’t buy a cheaper KUL-SIN-SYD ticket on Singapore Airlines and only fly the SIN-SYD leg, for example.
Some consumer rights organisations argue that no-show clauses are unfair to passengers, and in fact, there’s a move afoot in the EU to get these banned altogether. But in the meantime they’re just a fact of life, and it’s important to understand how exactly they work.ย
One important point before we begin: different airlines adopt different no-show clauses, which can be found in the contract of carriage.ย In this article I’ll be using Singapore Airlines as an example.
What are no-show fees?
No-show fees apply when a passenger fails to check-in for a reserved flight, or completes check-in but fails to board.
Certain airlines consider last-minute changes to be the same as no-shows (e.g. Qatar Airways considers any changes made within three hours to departure as a no-show), but Singapore Airlines still uses scheduled departure time as the cut-off.ย
However, its crucial to understand that airline no-show fees are only charged at the point of rebooking or refunding a ticket. Unlike staying in a hotel, your card is not automatically billed should you fail to show up for a flight.
The applicable no-show fee depends on whether you’ve booked an award ticket or a commercial ticket.
Award tickets
| Cabin | No-show fee |
| Economy Class | US$100 |
| Premium Economy Class | US$200 |
| Business Class | US$300 |
| First Class | US$300 |
No-show fees for KrisFlyer award tickets range from US$100 to US$300, depending on cabin.ย
To illustrate, suppose I book a return Business Saver flight from Singapore to San Francisco (190,000 miles) for travel on 18 June, and fail to show up for the flight.ย
I can still make changes to the ticket or refund it, but I’ll need to pay a no-show fee on top of whatever prevailing fees apply:
- If I want to change my travel date to 25 June, I’ll pay US$300 (no-show fee) + US$25 (Saver award change fee)
- If I want to refund my ticket, I’ll pay US$300 (no-show fee) + US$75 (Saver refund fee)
To be clear, my credit card is not automatically billed for US$300 on 18 June. The no-show fee only comes into play at the point of changing or refunding the ticket. If, for whatever reason, I felt it wasn’t worth paying a US$300 no-show fee to recover my 190,000 miles, I’d be perfectly entitled to walk away and not pay a further cent.
One further point to note: although Singapore Airlines mentions a no-show fee for Spontaneous Escapes awards (aka “promo awards”), the concept doesn’t really apply here. Spontaneous Escapes awards are strictly non-changeable and non-refundable. If you miss your flight, that’s the end of the story; there’s no question of paying a no-show fee to reschedule or refund.ย
My speculation is that they included a no-show fee to cover the (very) rare instances where refunds might be entertained, say in the case of a medical emergency (though you’d think in that case they’d waive all the fees altogether).
Commercial tickets
| Cabin | No-show fee |
| Economy Class | S$100-400 |
| Premium Economy Class | S$270 |
| Business Class | S$400 |
| First Class | S$400 |
Unlike award tickets, the no-show fees for commercial tickets are charged in SGD. They vary by cabin, but also by fare type and destination.
Economy Class shows the most variability. On this route to Bangkok, the no-show fee is a flat S$130 for Value, Standard and Flexi tickets…
…but on this route to Frankfurt, it’s S$400 for Value, and S$130 for Standard and Flexi.
For Premium Economy, Business and First Class, I’ve found that the no-show fees are reliably S$270, S$400 and S$400 respectively, regardless of destination or fare type.ย
To illustrate, suppose I book a return Economy Value ticket from Singapore to Hanoi (S$478.60) for travel on 18 June, and fail to show up on the date of travel.
I can still make changes to my ticket or refund it, but I’ll need to pay a no-show fee on top of whatever prevailing fees apply:
- If I want to change my travel date to 25 June, I’ll pay S$130 (no-show fee) + the prevailing fare difference, if any)
- If I want to refund my ticket, I’ll pay S$130 (no-show fee) + S$200 (refund fee)
Paying S$330 of no-show and refund fees on a S$478.60 ticket may not be the smartest idea, which is why you should try and avoid a no-show as much as possible.ย
As mentioned earlier,ย my credit card is not automatically billed for S$130 on 18 June. The no-show fee only comes into play at the point of changing or refunding the ticket. In this case it’d be better to recover S$148.60 (S$478.60-S$130-S$200) than nothing, but there may be scenarios where the no-show fee + refund fee cost more than what you’ve paid.ย
Should that be the case, you’d be better off trying to reschedule the flight instead of getting a refund.ย
| โ ๏ธ The strictest rules apply |
|
You may combine different fare types in a single trip, but the most restrictive conditions apply.ย For example, I could have booked the following itinerary to Hanoi, with Economy Lite on the outbound leg and Economy Standard on the return leg.ย
However, this entire ticket is treated as an Economy Lite fare for the purposes of no-show and cancellation; hence the “not allowed” displayed in the table under no-show fee and booking cancellation fee. So why even bother combining different fare types? It could simply be the case that a cheaper fare type isn’t available on one of the legs, or perhaps you want to upgrade one of the legs with your miles. Note that the Economy Standard leg from HAN-SIN can still be upgraded with miles, and accrues more miles than the Economy Lite leg from SIN-HAN. |
What about “go-show”?
The opposite of no-show is go-show, when a passenger turns up at the airportย early, in the hope of getting an earlier flight than was reserved.
For example, Singapore Airlines operates six daily flights from Bangkok to Singapore. Maybe you’re booked on SQ713 (departs 8.10 p.m), but you prefer to leave earlier on SQ711 (departs 6.30 p.m).ย
Provided there’s availability in the same cabin, you can go to the check-in desk and enquire. Keep in mind, they’re not obligated to accommodate you, but I’ve seen plenty of positive data pointsย (it makes sense for the airline, since there’s still a chance they can sell the seat you vacated).
I don’tย thinkย any fare differences apply, though I’d be hesitant to speak definitively because I don’t have first-hand experience. Do chime in if you have.
Conclusion
To reiterate: no-show fees are not automatically billed to your card. They only come into play when you wish to rebook or refund a reservation that you failed to show up for.ย
Singapore Airlines’ no-show fees can be steep for premium cabin tickets (a couple travelling on award seats in Business Class would have to pay US$600!), so as far as possible, try to contact customer service as soon as you know you won’t be able to fly.
2 “loopholes” here.
1) Just forfeit the miles (don’t change = no charge as you said)
2) Cancel said card used and then cancel/change the ticket. (They cant charge a cancelled card)
1) miles is the currency thatโs difficult to obtain relatively. Depending upon the number of miles involved, in many cases it might be worth to pay fees to get miles back.
2) Wonโt work. Without a valid charge, you wonโt get a refund.
I have a ticket booked from Melbourne to Mumbai from Singapore airways , but I have to leave earlier and since it booked it from a third party website I can’t reschedule it or get a refund . I was offered another ticket by a friend around a month before my Singapore airlines ticket I am planning to take it . But I’m concerned if I’ll be charged a no show fee for not using the ticket
Am in the same situation as yours did u ever get a refund or reschedule for ur ticket with singapore airlines or you lost the whole money
I’m flying from Brisbane – Singapore – London initially with a 3 hour lay over but I now want to spend a week in Singapore before getting on the flight to London. If I show up and get on the first leg but no-show the 2nd leg to london will I be charged a no show?
It will cost around ยฃ700 to change it all officially vs ~ ยฃ350 if I just book a new one way flight with a different airline.
I have the same question to this, my additional question is what happens to our baggage? You posted 11 months ago so how did it go?
Cheers
You cannot check in your luggage if you are gonna miss the later flight because your luggage will just go through to the final destination if it is a linked flight (ie the same ticket and you are issued all the flight segments at the starting airport. If you had to check out of arrival and check into departure again means they will require you to move your luggage too so then you can pull the trick)
You will not be charged any no show for failing to turn up for the later segment of the flight but you may get flagged by the airlines if you keep doing that. You will only get charged the no show if you 1) miss the EARLIER segments ie if you have flight segment 123, missing any of 1 or 2 means you cannot take the later segments, 2) the fee is triggered only if you CALL for refund/reschedule ie. no call then they CANNOT charge you cause they do not have any authorization to do so
Hi Aaron,
I can’t seem to find info about HOW LATE I can change/cancel a kris flyer award booking versus it becoming a no show. Ie. I have a flight coming in 3 hours before an award booking on a separate trip and I was wondering if it gets delayed and I know I will miss the award booking flight, could I cancel 12 hrs, 3 hrs 1 hr before etc. Or just buck up and pain the no show fees and get refunded. Thanks for any info!
cut-off is when check-in closes
I have this same question
How long would a ticket be eligible to change under no-show conditions? Suppose I have a flight on 1-1-2024 that I missed, can I still request, on 31-12-2024, for that ticket to be rebooked (even further out)?
there’s still the question of ticket validity. tickets are valid for 1 year from date of issuance, so in your example it would no longer be valid anymore.
I’ve been wondering about change fees and how they work in real life. Thanks so much for writing about this.
When it comes to Economy Lite and SE Promo fares, the taxes should still be refunded, right? Maybe the no-show fees is to cover that (in case of SE Promo).
Also interesting is if you have an Economy Lite ticket for one way and an Economy Standard ticket for the return, you still cannot change your Economy Standard ticket without upgrading the Economy Lite sector to Value.
For the BKK โgo-showโ example Iโve done it countless times however note they make you go to the Thai Airways ticketing office to pay a US$50 rebooking fee. MNL same situation donโt charge anything so your mileage may vary.
I’ve requested to be transferred to an earlier flight in biz from TPE in 2024, and from HKG pre-covid, in both cases there were vacancies on the flight. I was not required to pay any fare difference
Does skiplagging count? Cos airlines may just outright ban you if you try skiplagging
For the go show
On award sin bkk
Initially I done it before a few times with no fee
Then after some months later the check in counter staff said a change fee applies
Hello Aaron, I have booked tickets for flying with Singapore airline with my family. One of our family members would not be able to travel. Can I inform this at the time of checking in and would there be no show applicable and do Singapore airline provide any refunds/ voucher. I got it booked through 3rd party. Thank you in advance.