Singapore Airlines hikes ticket cancellation fees by up to 100%

May 19, 2026

Singapore Airlines has quietly raised its cancellation fees for long-haul flights to Australia, Europe, New Zealand, South Africa and the USA, in an update that apparently took place towards the end of last month. The revised fees apply across all cabins, and to all ticket types.

So how bad are the changes? Cancellation fees have increased between 28% and 100% (or S$110 to S$130 in absolute terms) and ironically, it’s the most expensive Flexi fares which are seeing the biggest hikes!

For what it’s worth, this only affects commercial tickets. There are no changes to the cancellation fees for award tickets, which remain at US$75 (Saver) and US$50 (Advantage and Access).

Singapore Airlines hikes cancellation fees

Singapore Airlines has increased cancellation fees for long-haul flights

For context, Singapore Airlines classifies flights into two bands: short-haul and long-haul.

Short-haul	Long-haul
Southeast Asia North Asia South Asia Middle East	Australia Europe (including Turkey) South Africa New Zealand USA
Note: Barcelona to Milan on SQ378/377 is considered a short-haul route

While this makes sense most of the time, the classification can also give rise to some strange quirks. For example, a Singapore to Dubai itinerary is considered short-haul, but a Singapore to Perth itinerary is considered long-haul, even though Perth is a shorter flight than Dubai!

❓What if I’m not originating in Singapore?

If you’re not originating in Singapore, the relevant band is based on the furthest destination your itinerary touches. For example:

SYD-SIN-BKK is long-haul
BKK-SIN-NRT is short-haul
AKL-SIN-DXB is long-haul
KUL-SIN-RUH is short-haul

Singapore Airlines has increased cancellation fees for long-haul destinations, for tickets issued on or after 28 April 2026. For the avoidance of doubt, tickets issued before this date will keep their existing cancellation fees, regardless of travel date.

✈️ SIA Long-haul Destinations
🇦🇺 Adelaide 🇳🇱 Amsterdam 🇳🇿 Auckland 🇪🇸 Barcelona 🇦🇺 Brisbane 🇧🇪 Brussels 🇦🇺 Cairns 🇿🇦 Cape Town 🇳🇿 Christchurch 🇩🇰 Copenhagen 🇦🇺 Darwin 🇩🇪 Frankfurt 🇹🇷 Istanbul 🇿🇦 Johannesburg 🇬🇧 London Gatwick	🇬🇧 London Heathrow 🇺🇸 Los Angeles 🇬🇧 Manchester 🇦🇺 Melbourne 🇮🇹 Milan 🇩🇪 Munich 🇺🇸 New York JFK 🇺🇸 Newark 🇫🇷 Paris 🇦🇺 Perth 🇮🇹 Rome 🇺🇸 San Francisco 🇺🇸 Seattle 🇦🇺 Sydney 🇨🇭 Zurich

A few things to note before we look at the changes:

Cancellation fees apply on a passenger basis, so if you have two passengers on the same itinerary, you pay two cancellation fees
The fee for cancelling a one-way ticket is the same as a round-trip ticket
Cancellation fees are quoted in SGD for tickets issued in Singapore, which is what I’ll refer to below. For flights originating from other countries, cancellation fees will be quoted in the local currency, or in USD

Economy Class

❌ Cancellation Fees (Long-haul)
	Previous	New
Economy Lite (V, K)	N/A
Economy Value (Q, N)	S$400	S$510 +28%
Economy Standard (M, H, W)	S$270	S$380 +41%
Economy Flexi (Y, B, E)	S$130	S$260 +100%

Premium Economy Class

❌ Cancellation Fees (Long-haul)
	Previous	New
Premium Economy Lite (R)	N/A
Premium Economy Standard (P, L)	S$270	S$380 +41%
Premium Economy Flexi (S, T)	S$130	S$260 +100%

Business Class

❌ Cancellation Fees (Long-haul)
	Previous	New
Business Lite (D)	N/A
Business Standard (U)	S$340	S$450 +32%
Business Flexi (Z, C, J)	S$270	S$380 +41%

First Class

❌ Cancellation Fees (Long-haul)
	Previous	New
First/Suites (F, A)	S$130	S$260 +100%

Why has Singapore Airlines decided to hike cancellation fees now? It’s purely speculation on my part, but I imagine that with the ongoing crisis in the Middle East, many ME3 passengers are looking to book backup options in case the situation doesn’t improve in time for their flight.

By raising cancellation fees, SIA aims to deter “placeholder bookings” which are cancelled at the last minute, leaving empty seats on the plane.

No-show fees may also apply

If you don’t change or cancel your ticket before your flight departs, a no-show fee applies

In addition to cancellation fees, no-show fees may also apply if you do not cancel your flight before the scheduled departure time.

These have not been changed, and range from S$130 to S$400.

Cabin	No-show fee
Economy Class	Short-haul: S$130 Long-haul: S$130 to S$400
Premium Economy Class	S$270
Business Class	S$400
First Class	S$400

Let me emphasise that unlike hotels, where your credit card is automatically charged if you don’t show up, airline no-show fees are not automatically billed. Instead, they are only charged at the point of rebooking or refunding a ticket.

For example, suppose I book a return Business Standard ticket from Singapore to San Francisco, and fail to turn up for my flight. My ticket isn’t wasted, because I can still reschedule the flight to a future date within the ticket’s validity period. However, at the time of changing the booking, I will be charged:

A S$200 change fee
A S$400 no-show fee
Any applicable fare differences

If, for whatever reason, you never reschedule or refund your flight, the no-show fee will never be charged.

What’s annoying is that Singapore Airlines has stopped displaying no-show fees on their booking page. This is what it used to look like…

Previous booking interface- note the disclosure of no-show fees

…versus now.

Revised booking interface- no-show fees missing

If you want to check the no-show fee, you now need to click on the “Full fare rules and conditions” button after selecting a fare.