GRUflyer

So, here is the deal....

Flew SQ321 LHR-SIN on all C class upper deck A380 on the 14th of March.

Flight had a 100% load in Business. I was originally assigned 17K, which is just adjascent to the main galley and after a toilet.

I spoke to the Business Class Leading Steward about that. The flight was full, so I just informed him that if someone did not show up, I would like to be re-seated.

Fast forward to doors being closed. Gent in 91A gets a call from his wife telling him his son was hospitalized (as I was informed by the Crew). He rushes out of the airplane.

As his bags are being removed and we are running late (more on that later) the Inflight Supervisor tells me about the incident and asks a lovely SQ girl to escort me to my new seat.

As I get there, a gentleman is sitting there sipping champagne. We look puzzled at each other.

A senior steward (green tie) comes and tells us that the passanger wants to seat there and will not leave. A little discomfort is created.

When the debate came around as to what should be done, the new taker of 91A overhears the conversation, gets a full glass of champagne and pours it down in 92C (his original seat) and says "That seat is not clean, I am not going back"

Cabin crew asks me to take my original seat.

Inflight supervisor apologizes and that is all.

Am I the only person who thinks he had a weak spirit during the whole thing? Letting his crew act as they wished, let a pessanger spill drinks on his seat on purpose and then come up with a lame excuse?

He said he was sorry and that in return he would give me the best service of my life - it was so good that by supper time I was drinking Champagne with ice because they couldn't even keep the Champagne chilled

The icing on the cake was arriving into SIN and see a chap with my name. He tells me "You can make your connection without your bags or you can stay one night in Singapore"

I threw a MAD FIT at this point, and my bags and myself made the flight.

So, what is the secret? Behaving like a brat does in fact make your life easier with SIA?

royng

Sorry to hear about your ordeal, GRUflyer. I am sure I will be pissed off as well when the 92C guy "sabotaged" that seat and then to hear about the bag mis-connecting.

Unfortunately travelling by air means meeting people from all walks of life, and sometimes, unruly ones. While I think SQ crew can be more decisive when a passenger is damaging airlines' property, I would either be nice and persistent in urging crew to carry out action, or just accept that life gives me lemons and grab tequila and salt instead. Perhaps, as an alternative, asking the crew to be quieter when they are working in the galley?

Have you written to SQ? Anyway, in my opinion while I will not ask SQ to compensate (since the bag did make the flight), and not knowing how far SQ allows their crew to "handle" unruly passenger, I will at least ask SQ in the future empower their crew should the crew feel they need to act more decisively.

Perhaps when you meet the same SQ crew, they will treat you extra nice again.

Weak Inflight Supervisor or just bad luck? I say bad luck. I am not a frequent J class / SQ pax though.

Just my two cents.

GRUflyer

I did write to SQ, and in case you missed that point on my post, I was being sarcastic as the service was horrible - not in the sense it was careless, but it was a below average SQ flight for me, the only thing being that all cabin crew called me by name all the time.

Let's see what SIA's premium CS does. I have been in touch with them before, and I know they will answer me. I am just not sure what they will say...

royng

To be frank I did miss your point! Let us see what SQ's reply is.

On a separate note, once upon a time Qatar ground crew had been very unfriendly with me on all legs in a trip (different issues at different stations such as questioning my nationality, occupational status and ID documents which are all perfectly legal). The result? That's my last trip with Qatar.

teevee

i would have smiled at the jerk and waited until later in the flight to casually walk past him with a full glass of red wine and trip...sorry mate!

medichill

I would have expected them to ask him to leave the plane. That kind of behavior is not just boorish but causing damage.

alphaod

Should have help him along, and IDK, spill a glass in the new seat.

JIMBOLIGUY

They should have sent him to your seat - or if it was just the cushion, pulled it off yours and replace it so he could take his seat!

Often1

Crew are trained to descalate minor situations which do not directly impact safety and security. If the boor had been off-loaded his bags would have been off-loaded as well. That would have meant an extra 15 minutes or so delay.

I would expect that if there had been other delays in progress, the crew would have off-loaded the guy as it would not have otherwise inconvenienced the fully-loaded airctaft.

jphripjah

I don't understand what's so wonderful about seat 91A? Isn't it also next to the bathroom?

On seatguru it's colored red. 17K is yellow

http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Sin...bus_A380_B.php

Also, empty seats on planes are first come, first served.

WanderlustB

My fear is that somewhere else on FlyerTalk, there is someone writing a post a guy who almost further delayed a flight because he wouldn't sit in his, admittedly, "originally assigned," seat.

Pretty amazing story, and I wish SQ had done more here. That said, they had to balance more delays versus more changes.

zerolife

I really don't know what your loss is in this. Sure, the guy that hijacked 91A acted inappropriately but there was really no loss to you. It wasn't your seat to begin with. The only party that incurred damage is SQ and they ultimately decide whether they want to take any action against the guy. I actually think they took the correct action. The cleaning cost is nothing compared to the cost of delaying the flight further in order to deplane the passenger. At the end it was a win-win situation for everyone.

As for the possibility of your bags not making the connection, delays happens. In this case, it seems the delay was outside SQ's control so I wouldn't blame them. At the end, your bags did make it. I actually think they handled it very well with the advanced notification. If it were United you probably wouldn't know your bags may not have made it until nothing shows up at the baggage claim

jphripjah

Puring the drink in the seat was wildly inappropriate, but I don't think the guy did anything wrong by moving to an unoccupied nearby seat.

It raises an interesting question -- if you see an empty seat that you want to move to, and boarding is almost complete, should you move over just before the door closes, wait until it closes an then move over, or call a flight attendant and try to claim the empty seat by telling her you intend to move there when the door closes?

ccyao

Should have pour coffee at that lousy passenger.

GRUflyer

Did you miss the part I said the Inflight Supervisor asked me to move there?

Sure, next time I will just choose a seat and refuse to leave. Does that sound right to you?