Surely, that's part of it. The other part is that I truly believe Singapore knows they have a great reputation for inflight service, and their regular customers rarely have administrative problems with them, and are willing to pay extra, as I did, to take them over other airlines (whether in cash or miles). Their reputation for resolving problems, however, appears to be about the worst in the world, due to their pig-headedness. Lucky for them, they appear to able to get away with it most of the time, but not this time.

I judge companies, including airlines, not how they act when things go as planned and expected, but rather how they act when things GO WRONG. That's how you REALLY can judge them. Singapore gets an "F" grade. Total failure. Yes, the inflight service is great, albeit expensive, but you're gambling big time if something goes wrong. And these days, things go wrong more often than in the past.