If you’ve ever missed a flight, you may have heard that you’ll be charged a “no-show fee”.
Naturally, this gets a lot of people worried, which I believe is kind of the point. No-show fees are meant to deter passengers from simply not turning up for their flight without first changing or cancelling their bookings, thereby leaving the airline with an empty seat.
But there are a lot of misconceptions about how these fees actually work. In this post, I’ll explain what no-show fees really mean, and how they apply to Singapore Airlines.
What are no-show fees?
When you book a flight, you’re essentially reserving a seat that the airline expects you to fill, or else release in time for someone else.
If you don’t show up, that represents a real cost to the airline, which has already planned crew, fuel and catering based on your booking, and potentially denied that seat to someone else (though in practice there’s usually some overbooking). No-show fees are therefore intended to nudge passengers to change or cancel their bookings in advance, if they don’t plan to travel.
However, it’s crucial to understand that unlike hotels, where your card is billed automatically if you don’t arrive, airline no-show fees are only charged at the point of rebooking or refunding a ticket.
Missing your flight doesn’t automatically mean your ticket is forfeited (unless you bought a fare type that doesn’t allow changes). You may still be able to change the travel date, or even request for a refund, at which point the no-show fee will be payable.
In a hypothetical scenario where you missed your flight and never got around to changing or refunding it, you won’t be charged a no-show fee at all — though obviously you’d forfeit the value of the unused ticket.
How do Singapore Airlines no-show fees work?
Singapore Airlines considers you a no-show if you do not change or cancel your booking before the scheduled departure time. That’s actually a more generous policy compared to some other airlines, such as Qatar Airways, which considers any changes made within three hours to departure to be a no-show.
In an ideal scenario, you would have changed or cancelled your flight way before that, but there could be situations where last-minute issues crop up. For example, you may be travelling on separate tickets and your inbound flight is delayed, making it impossible to connect to your Singapore Airlines flight.
If you can’t make a call from where you are, or if you’re waiting on a long hold while the minutes tick down, the very least you should do is visit this webpage and fill out the change or cancellation form.
You will not be charged a no-show fee if you have submitted the form before your original flight departure.
-Singapore Airlines
As long as the form is submitted before the scheduled departure time, you won’t be liable for the no-show fee (though obviously you’ll still need to pay the relevant change or cancellation fees).
But assuming you weren’t able to do that, then the 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 |
For award tickets on Singapore Airlines or one of its partners, the no-show fee ranges from US$100 to US$300 per passenger, depending on cabin.
To illustrate, suppose I book a return Business Saver flight from Singapore to San Francisco (225,000 miles), and fail to show up for the flight.
In order to make changes to my ticket or refund it, I’ll need to pay a no-show fee on top of whatever prevailing fees apply:
- If I want to change my travel date, 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 once I miss my flight. 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 225,000 miles, I could walk away and not pay a further cent.
| ❓ Spontaneous Escapes No-shows |
|
Although Singapore Airlines mentions a no-show fee for Spontaneous Escapes awards (aka “promo awards”), the concept doesn’t apply here, because Spontaneous Escapes awards are strictly non-changeable and non-refundable. If you miss your flight, that’s the end of the story. It’s not possible to pay a no-show fee to reschedule or refund your ticket. |
Commercial tickets
| 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 |
For commercial tickets on Singapore Airlines, the no-show fee for Premium Economy, Business and First Class is set at S$270, S$400 and S$400 respectively, regardless of destination (note how this is charged in SGD instead of USD).
For Economy Class, it’s a bit more complicated. Singapore Airlines classifies flights into two bands: short-haul and long-haul.
| ✈️ Short-haul | ✈️ Long-haul |
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| Note: Barcelona to Milan on SQ378/377 is considered a short-haul route |
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| ❓Short-haul vs Long-haul |
| This classification is somewhat unintuitive because 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. But that’s just how it is. |
Within the short-haul band, the Economy Class no-show fee is a flat S$130, regardless of fare type.
For long-haul destinations, the Economy Class no-show fee ranges from S$130 to S$400, depending on fare type.
- Economy Lite: Not applicable, as Lite fares cannot be changed or refunded
- Economy Value: S$400
- Economy Standard & Flexi: S$130
To illustrate, suppose I book a return Economy Value ticket from Singapore to Frankfurt (S$1,638.30), and fail to show up for the flight.
In order to make changes to my ticket or refund it, I’ll need to pay a no-show fee on top of whatever prevailing fees apply:
- If I want to change my travel date, I’ll pay S$400 (no-show fee) + S$200 (change fee) + the fare difference (if any)
- If I want to refund my ticket, I’ll pay S$400 (no-show fee) + S$510 (refund fee)
As mentioned earlier, my credit card is not automatically billed for S$400 once I miss my flight. The no-show fee only comes into play at the point of changing or refunding the ticket.
There may be scenarios where the combined no-show and refund fees cost more than the ticket itself, and in that case, you’d be better off trying to reschedule the flight instead of getting a refund.
As an aside, Singapore Airlines no longer displays no-show fees during the fare selection process. If you want to check the no-show fee, you need to click on the “Full fare rules and conditions” button after selecting a fare.
Strictest rules apply to the entire ticket
While you can combine different fare types in a single ticket, when it comes to no-show (or cancellation) fees, the most restrictive conditions apply.
For example, I could book the following itinerary to Frankfurt, with Economy Value on the outbound leg and Economy Lite on the return leg.
This entire ticket is treated as an Economy Lite fare for the purposes of no-shows and cancellations; hence the “not allowed” displayed in the table under the booking cancellation fee, even for the outbound SIN-FRA leg.
With regards to no-show fees, this distinction only really matters for long-haul Economy Class flights, because the no-show fees are standard for First Class, Business Class, Premium Economy Class and short-haul Economy Class.
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.
What about “go-show”?
The opposite of no-show is go-show, when a passenger turns up at the airport early, in the hope of getting on an earlier flight.
For example, Singapore Airlines operates seven daily flights from Bangkok to Singapore. Maybe you’re booked on SQ713 (departs 8.15 p.m), but you prefer to leave earlier on SQ711 (departs 6.30 p.m).
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 points (it makes sense for the airline, since there’s still a chance they can sell the seat you vacated).
I don’t believe any fare differences apply in this case, though I’d be hesitant to speak definitively because I don’t have first-hand experience. Do chime in if you have.
Conclusion
No-show fees are a source of much confusion, but to reiterate: they are not automatically billed to your card when you miss a flight. No-show fees only come into play when you wish to rebook or refund a reservation that you failed to show up for.
Singapore Airlines’ no-show fees can be steep, but its policy is generous in the sense that it gives you up until departure time to change or cancel your booking. If you know you won’t be able to make your flight, you should contact the airline as quickly as possible, or else fill out the online refund/cancellation form.
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 that’s 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) Won’t work. Without a valid charge, you won’t 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 £700 to change it all officially vs ~ £350 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 “go-show” example I’ve 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 don’t 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.
On go-show, my data points are with TK. One time they offered me to get on the earlier flight at no charge. The second time I asked, they flat out denied. It depends, but you can ask.