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Last Sunday at around 3pm, we tried to book SilkAir tickets online for a flight to Kota Kinabalu.

On our first attempt, the system allowed only three tickets to be booked, at the rate of $425 a person.

As our family of six needed another three tickets, we tried a second booking, expecting the same rate. To our dismay, the rate was $700-plus a person - an increase of 65 per cent in a matter of a few minutes.

This was unacceptable and exploitative. We called the SilkAir office immediately to cancel the three tickets we had already paid for through a credit-card transaction.

We were told that a cancellation fee of $75 a person would be levied, and that this was standard practice.

My point here is that if it was our fault, we would have no issue with paying the fee. However, in this case, the airline's system was at fault for allowing only three tickets at a time to be booked and then, without warning, increasing the rate exorbitantly.

Would the relevant authorities care to comment?

Lim Chwee Huat

This forum letter was first published in The Straits Times.

For more The Straits Times stories, click here.

Sudden air ticket price hike unfair

The Straits Times | Tue, Nov 10 2009

Online system only allows three tickets to be booked at one go; a second booking of another three tickets yields an exorbitant fare.

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southeast asia
singapore
airlines & airports

silkair

online

flights

Last Sunday at around 3pm, we tried to book SilkAir tickets online for a flight to Kota Kinabalu.

On our first attempt, the system allowed only three tickets to be booked, at the rate of $425 a person.

This was unacceptable and exploitative. We called the SilkAir office immediately to cancel the three tickets we had already paid for through a credit-card transaction.

We were told that a cancellation fee of $75 a person would be levied, and that this was standard practice.

Would the relevant authorities care to comment?

Lim Chwee Huat

This forum letter was first published in The Straits Times.

For more The Straits Times stories, click here.

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