Questions and Answers

Hi all!
I am booked on SQ with the following itinerary:
BUD-FRA-SIN-AKL-SIN-ZRH-BUD, with the intra European legs operated by LH and LX respectively, but both marketed by SQ.

My issue is that I have to be in Vienna until the day before the departure, which only leaves me with the option to buy a VIE-BUD (OS) one-way. In theory a 3hr connection time should be more than enough, but just to put my mind at ease I would like to attach this extra leg to the existing itinerary.

Any tips as for how I could make this work (if possible)? Is it possible to add an OS operated and marketed leg to an existing SQ itinerary (with LH and LX operated legs)?

Thanks in advance

For star alliance awards I believe SQ has a six segment maximum so your desired leg would put you over unfortunately.

There are other “non-flying” options as well. The distance between the two cities is only 243 KILOMETERS, which takes 2 and a half hours by car on the A4/M1 motorway. You can rent a car o/w fairly cheap. Also, there are several bus/coach companies offering their services between the two cities. Finally, there is an excellent train service.
Of course everything depends on when you can leave Vienna and when your BUD-FRA flight departs.

[USER=79]@Gaurav[/USER] both (SQ itinerary and OS flight) are revenue flights. Would that rule also apply, or is it just limited to awards?

[USER=1592]@Daniel B[/USER] yes, going by car is an alternative as well, but I am afraid of what traffic will be like, since BUD-FRA leaves at 14:45 on a Saturday. It’s not really an option for me to leave on Friday evening unfortunately. Alternatively the train would probably the safer choice (could get to the main station as early as 9:20) and I imagine it’s fairly easy to get to the airport from there, but the convenience of arriving at the airport directly would be appreciated (if I can get the extra assurance that I won’t loose the whole ticket if I have issues with the first flight).

FWIW I have also seen that it is possible to get a later BUD-FRA, but would leave me with a connection time of less than two hours at FRA. Given its infamous reputation for delays and whatnot I believe that’s a worse idea…right?

Thank you for your input and sorry for the lengthy response

I agree that a 2 hour connection in FRA would be nerve-wrecking (for me for sure).
As for the train option, it is fairly easy to get to BUD airport from really anywhere in Budapest. If you have ever driven in Budapest you would notice that the traffic lights are typically synchronized, so you get a “green-wave” as we call it, often through 5-10 traffic lights. It is like that throughout the capital, and has been for at least 50 years now. Plus you have that dedicated road from the city center to the airport called “ferihegyi gyorsforgalmi út”, a one-lane-into-each-direction road which in part is protected from other traffic.
Taxi drivers typically know the City very well, they know all the shortcuts should a problem arise.
Good luck with whatever plan you choose 🙂

Ben, it would depend on the fare rules of the ticket. I’d call SQ to see what they can offer.

[QUOTE=”Ben Holz, post: 67834, member: 1601″][USER=79]@Gaurav[/USER] both (SQ itinerary and OS flight) are revenue flights. Would that rule also apply, or is it just limited to awards?

[[/QUOTE]

It depends on the fare rules of your ticket. If it allows changes, it’ll mean a change fee of some sort, as well as a reprice of the whole ticket. I’d just buy a separate ticket and at check in, mention that you have onward travel on a separate ticket.