Once Was A Great Way To Fly

5 Jun 2012 Update: SQ’s Customer Service emailed to apologize and say that they have “alerted our engineers of the defective tray table and also reminded our engineering colleagues to step up their pre-flight checks to ensure that our cabin facilities and equipment are in working order prior to flight departure”, and that the Cabin Crew Manager will be monitoring the particular crew member’s performance closely. They are also giving us S$150 worth of inflight gift vouchers as a token.


When we were on the SQ flight to Shanghai last Friday, I read an article in that day’s BT about the airline’s unprecedented consecutive quarter losses. In it, CEO Mr Goh Choon Phong said there was no basis to write off the airline.

That may be true, because to write off the airline as a failure, a bankrupt enterprise would be wrong. SQ would still function as an airline, just not the best, just not the most innovative, just not the one with the inflight service that other airlines talk about.

Last night, on our flight home, my economy class meal was about as good as an economy rice dinner, only smaller. And the much vaunted New Economy Class seats and Krisworld Inflight Entertainment System exhibited a fair bit of wear and tear.

One of our tray tables was broken, and because it was a full flight, we weren’t able to get to another seat with a working one. But what made Naomi’s and my jaw drop was the air-stewardess who noted the tray table defect, and still tried to serve dinner, assuming that Naomi would place her tray on her lap.

This was one situation where a cable tie would have come in handy.

Someone had difficulty returning the control to the cradle
The broken tray table
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14 responses to “Once Was A Great Way To Fly”

  1. Guohui Nobita Avatar

    What other airlines would have done with a defective table is to move the passenger up to biz or first class AND eat the biz and first class food. Not SQ.

    1. Mr Miyagi Avatar

      Really? I didn’t know that. To be fair, one of the more senior flight stewards came and apologized profusely and was trying his best to be helpful. 

      1. perpetualfunk Avatar
        perpetualfunk

        yes, definitely should apologise but the point is that there’s insufficient training in the first place else the stewardess would have reacted differently.

        Also agree with Guohui. BUT I also know of instances where passengers HAVE been moved up so it’s an unfortunate case of inattentive service that you experienced.

  2. Javier Avatar

    I had been contemplating to write an article about how different the Singapore Girl looks on advertisements and in reality.  The hairdos are often looking rather stupid and the make-up standards are way too outdated.  It actually makes the pretty girls they recruit uglier and sometimes rather revolting.

    1. Mr Miyagi Avatar

      You’re right! Naomi and I were talking about how they should train their staff to put on make up.

      1. Travelpac Avatar
        Travelpac

         I think they do have training on that? And there are a prescribed colours that they must follow too?

    2. Coco263 Avatar
      Coco263

      Yes u r right. Their make up hv to change. One time i came out of the lift at the airport, the SIA Girl came face to face with me as she was going into the lift, scared me with her ghostly make up n i nearly got heart attacked. No joke.

  3. Abc Avatar
    Abc

    I just took Qantas A380 back to SG from London. Boy was the seat comfortable, food great, inflight entertainment sufficient and service excellent. SQ has a lot of competition and it doesn’t seem to be uping its game.

  4. Lucylee73 Avatar
    Lucylee73

    I have to say, I’m one of those diehard SQ fans, coming from a family of former flight attendants. (When they were still chio). I still fly SQ but I have noticed the wear and tear. The last flight I took to NZ, the ENTIRE overhead compartment door came loose. Thankfully, it could still be closed but no one tried to open it the entire flight. And on the flight back, the entertainment system kept hanging. I still don’t understand why they need to collect headphones before landing when Emirates allows you to watch movies from the moment you sit till you have to get off. And I must say, I really applaud the recent change to up the age of the attendants. The best service always come from the senior ones-professional and polite. And best, they know how to put on make-up.

    1. Coco263 Avatar
      Coco263

      Emirates service is 1 of de best

  5. Friz Avatar
    Friz

    Lucylee73 – SQ also give headphones on ground, just that they want you to pay attention to the video and not get entangled with the wires should you need to run out I guess? They’re super safety conscious. Asian airline mah. 

    EK also collected their headphones before landing, otherwise the cleaners will have a lot of work to clear the aircraft. You should see an aircraft after passengers left. It’s total mess. I don’t understand why people are so lazy as to throw away the rubbish on the floor. :S

  6. PT Avatar
    PT

    Its not just the flight and service onboard. I tried buying my tickets online and the system hung a few times. Finally gave up and called their booking line. Routed to an Indian (real deep accent) call center guy who cant understand much what I was trying to say. In the end, just accepted what he gave me…

    I find that everyone in SQ customer facing roles are just doing the barest minimum rather than taking some pride in delighting the customer. Sad.

    1. Mr Miyagi Avatar

      They’ve since fixed their website haven’t they?

  7. Coco263 Avatar
    Coco263

     i took SIA from SG to LA n was totally nightmare cos the seats size r small n de food sucks. Now i know why their shares drop so much. $13 to $10? i Prefer CX 

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