[Edited by mod to remove names]
Dear Customer Service,

In the recent months, Singapore Airlines has had some its major setbacks - from the rollback of its decision of “Credit Card Fees” to Auto Enrolment for Travel Insurance during the online booking process, many consumers like myself has lost faith in our once proud Singaporean Brand. Such tactics were typically only employed by Budget Carriers and this has now seep into the culture of our National Carrier. One might now wonder if the tagline A great way to fly was applicable any more.


This brings me to my recent experience with SQ which proved the same disappointment. On the 14th Feb 11.30 pm, our family was all ready at Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 3 for our flight to Osaka at 130AM, 15 Feb. Due to my parents work schedule, CNY was the only time that we could have a trip as a family. Imagined our shock when we were told that our booking was not found. This brought us to the ticketing office at Row 6 where the staff dug further and noted that our first leg of SIN-KIX was cancelled mysteriously after a phone call with the Reservation Department which my sister made to enquire about changing the return date in Dec 2017. There was no mention of any cancellation and this can be easily proven by pulling out the phone records of the call center. Who in the right mind, would cancel 1 leg of the flight when we booked for a round trip via SQ.

The first person who was tasked to meet us was the Changi Airport Handing Manager who wasn’t an employee of SQ. He was the man who handles all check in procedures. However, at this stage, no solutions were proposed and the only thing mention was that it is impossible for us to board the SIN-KIX flight at 130am. After much discussion, the SQ Passenger Service Manager/Duty manager in-charge were called down to meet us. They again confirmed that the flight was already full and there was no seats available in all classes. The best option which he provided us at this point was a flight to Incheon Airport at 245am, this would then mean that we would have to book a transit flight on ourselves to get us to Osaka from ICN due to the lack of SQ codeshare partners in ICN. He said that the ICN to KIX would be covered by SQ should we put in a Email to the Customer Affairs Department on this issue.

We thought that this was the most effective solution and thus spent a good hour convincing our parents that we could fly this route and possibly reach KIX at 6pm, 15 Feb. However, just when we were about to book our transit flight from ICN to KIX through Skyscanner, again to our shock, neither of SQ managers could guaranteed that the transit flight to Osaka will be compensated because they were in no position to provide guarantees on Compensation as they were the ground operations team and not the Compensation team. We asked for a written confirmation that this arrangement was the alternative proposed by them. Again they said that they cannot give any written confirmation. This was laughable as this solution was supposed to the best alternative he presented.


In effect, this alternative provided was not viable, due to the fact that the transit fare from ICN cannot be guaranteed. wasting 2 hours of our time and we have now officially missed the flight SIN-KIX at 1.45am.


We clarified again if it was SQ fault that our booking was canceled without any basis. I must say from a legal perspective, one of the managers had much training. Never once did he admitted that SQ was at fault for canceling the ticket. It became a game of words. Even when cornered to give a YES NO answer, never once did he budged.

Throughout this incident, never once did any staff apologise for the inconvenience caused. Furthermore, this trip was booked in April 2017. As a family, we have very much looked forward to this trip. And to make this worst this has to happen during a festive period, CNY.


Service used to be the distinguishing factor of Singapore Airline. I remember the time when I used to travel as a child and I will be guided to Business Class so as to facilitate the ease of exiting the plane. However, with this event, I tried to push for some form of travel convenience for my parents. Eg. Business Class, Business Class without Business Food or even Premium Economy. However, once again training/ policy came into play. “Strict Class Integrity” was the keyword that was repeated again and again by several individuals. I quote one of the managers, that “never once was our passengers ever upgraded to business. Even if the passenger is a PPS member who bought economy ticket, he will not be upgraded to Business Class.”


Finally, at 2am, the final solution proposed was for us to take the morning flight to Haneda, SQ 632 and ground transportation (Shinkansen) to Osaka. While waiting for the flight to depart at 805am, we would then be left to wait in the SilverKris Lounge. The time of arrival will be about 6pm, when the supposed arrival had we taken the Osaka flight would have been 8am. This is a 10 hours difference, which is significant considering that we are only spending 5 days in Japan. Furthermore, we have booked to have Omakase at a Sushi Iwa and this has to be cancelled.


As I’m writing this on the flight, I am stupified by the flip-flop standards of the policy SQ have. Two passengers who sat behind me, 43K, 43J, countless times went to the Business Class to sit beside another passenger. Essentially the same thing which we have requested repeated for, to be shifted to Business Class, without any perks, just the empty seats for my parents to have a good rest to HND. This can be verified by the flight Leading Stewardess. Should I have not raised this issue, it is anyone guess if SQ would have turned a blind eye to this. So much for “Strict Class Integrity”!




As a family, we are terribly upset by the way this matter was handled and the double standards that SQ have.

Having said this, we understand that the staff is not at fault for this matter. However, this matter could have been handled more effectively had staffs been empowered to perform to make the decision and not be bogged down by corporate policy that is not even adhered to.


On a good note, we will like to thank one of the managers for making the effort to come aboard the flight before departure to reassure us that ground transportation arrangement has been made. It is such small gestures that used to define what an SQ experience is. Instead using corporate policy as a shield seems to be the new norm in SQ.


Hopefully on my flight back, SQ will be able to live up to its tagline, A Great Way to Fly.