SIA PASSENGER REVEALS SHODDY TREATMENT OF ECONOMY CLASS PASSENGERS DURING FLIGHT DELAY

Dear Editor,

I refer to your thread yesterday labeled: "S'pore-Bound SIA Flight From San
Francisco Target Of Bomb Threat" and would like to share my own experience
being stranded here in New York now after the botched flight of SQ25 which
was supposed to depart JFK last night at 20:15 but did not due to "engine and
severe technical faults".

Just before take off, the captain suddenly halted and announced that a first
engine was malfunctioning and that "the problem would be fixed in an hour or
two". However, that plan did not materialize and we found ourselves waiting
to disembark in a disorderly fashion, with the economy class people waiting
for about an hour for the scarce business and first class passengers to leave
in style.

We were then refused any inquiries from SIA staffs on site, quickly ushered,
packed into bus loads and dumped at Crown Plaza JFK Airport NYC without our
luggage of clean clothes and toiletries (the hotel only provided toothbrush
and toothpaste). When we tried to inquire more from the customer service at
Crown Plaza, we were told that they have no knowledge of our situation except
to check us in upon receipt of a third party reservation.

Calls to SIA 'hotline' were put on hold for more than half an hour before
being finally cut off. The hotel manager later told us that our flight might
be after lunch instead of the original 5pm announced just before
disembarkation, thus adding onto our anxiety and creating further confusion.
So we basically have to endure 36 excruciating hours of not having access to
sanitation. I hope the SIA CEO demonstrates his 'solidarity' with us by
wearing the same dirty clothes and undies to work for 3 days even as his
staffs claims to 'truly' comprehend our inconvenience.

I (being a S'porean flying SIA first time) along with many others, felt
embarrassed that our much acclaimed "first world" airline would conduct
business in such an irresponsible manner. Doesn't the economy class
passengers of all nationalities mean anything to SIA since our sheer numbers
more than make up the business class people who were put up at better
facilities. Do we not have a life to lead and carry on as well when we
disembark in Singapore? Then why are they treated better when we suffer the
same inconvenience? I dare say that anything short of a refund will be
considered insincere!

This development is not good for our socialist democratic nation! Ever since
general elections concluded, we have been experiencing skeletons falling out
of the closet one by one, from healthcare to transportation slowly falling
apart, only waiting for a major incident to occur to wake up the 70% daft.
You guys need to seriously reflect and repent on what you have done to this
beautiful nation that was painfully built from scratch but destroyed by this
technocrat generation of leaders!

Dan Dan
A.S.S. Contributor