My trip to Singapore last week was hectic with numerous work meetings. The best part was the opening of a new Starbucks at Science Park Drive close to work; I was fortunate to be pampered with coffee by my host almost every other day.
The flight from Bangalore was a nightmare, and I’ve never experienced such horrible service from any airline in my travel history. For airlines, each seat is a perishable commodity, lost as soon as the flight takes off, and it’s a dream come true for the airline company when they have a full flight. However, it seems that Singapore Airlines (SIA) staff are not adequately trained to handle such pressure. Dinner was served at 1:30 AM while the flight was on time at 23:00 PM. They didn’t offer coffee or tea after dinner, and although I pressed the button for extra water, no one attended to me.
While returning from Singapore, the person at the counter was very strict about extra luggage. I had to adjust an extra 2 kgs, which was something new for me. For the first time, I had to do that, and I blame it on IKEA. Regardless, the famous courteousness of SIA staff was totally missing when I asked for priority check-in. This time, I made sure to select my seat online before flying. The in-flight service was much better this time as the flight was much emptier, perhaps only half or less, and the service was comparable to the old times.
On the whole, it seems like the entire Singapore is going through cost-cutting measures to turn around their economy. They issued me a 2-year VIA on simple A4 paper. I’m not sure if that paper is going to last or not. Clearly, SIA staff don’t know what to do when the flight is full, which is a BIG disappointment.
I made sure to share the same feedback on the SIA website and hope for better service next time.