Originally Posted by
cscs
Diffusing a terrible situation is a supervisory skill. It is a performance issue if staff need security to intervene to prevent them striking a customer.
It goes further: the criminal laws in Singapore may, or may not, apply to this situation. The reader is directed to the text of the Penal Code of Singapore Chapter 224 Paragraph 351. "Whoever makes any gesture or any preparation, intending or knowing it to be likely that such gesture or preparation will cause any person present to apprehend that he who makes that gesture or preparation is about to use criminal force to that person, is said to commit an «assault»." Source:
http://statutes.agc.gov.sg, the website of the Singapore Attorney General's Chambers.
If indeed an assault, as defined by this statute, occurred as alleged (word used specifically in view of the sensibilities and legalities involved) by the original poster, I wonder whether the airport security service has an incident report that is worth obtaining?
I am not familiar with Singaporean law beyond what is quoted above. I do not know, for example, whether the OP put himself into a difficult legal position by what he said to the TK supervisor at Changi.
I'm no judge or jury, and I am familiar neither with the exact situation nor with Singaporean law, but common sense suggests that the airline (via its employees) has a duty to its passengers in any country to refrain from assaulting them!
Thank you very much for your note and for your sympathy.
Per your description of Singapore law the supervisor in Singapore may indeed have committed assault according to it. However, and this is the same reason why I declined the security agent's offer to submit a police report, given that she did not cause any physical harm I did not and I still do not think there was or is any point in pressing charges against someone who I deemed to be mentally unstable, in a foreign country during a stopover, exposing my wife to become even more nervous and upset as a result of it.
Once again, I understand that this probably has been an isolated incident, and that although TK service may be subpar or "hit and miss" (no pun intended) to begin with, we may also have been especially unlucky, especially after reading other positive experiences posted here, but I really think that Turkish Airlines could have done much more not only to ensure that we were provided proper compensation for the downgrade itself, but also to ensure that such an incident involving their Singapore supervisor would not happen again, since up to now I am not aware that they have taken any measures in that respect. That is why my wife and I will not fly them again, and it is for the same reason that I posted our story in the first place, to advise fellow Aeroplan members in particular and travelers in general.