The useless new website, launched in May 2011

[scooby5]

i'll be interested to find out the results of the investigation into the undetected issues. someone's head gonna roll somehow.

Unfortunately the trend seems to be that heads don't roll. They move on, generally just using the 'mistake' as something to learn by...... no matter how many mistakes are made.

[sqdazz]

I still HATE the fonts

[SMK77]

A Message to Our Customers

On behalf of Singapore Airlines, I would like to offer our sincere apology for the inconvenience caused as a result of issues that arose from the launch of our new website on 22 May 2011.

As with all new initiatives that we undertake, the intention behind the website revamp was to improve on our customers’ experience with us. I am truly sorry that the new website, with its technical problems, has instead caused much aggravation for many of our customers. We make no excuses for our failure to deliver an acceptable level of online service.

We have committed full resources to resolving the website problems and have made significant progress in rectifying many of the defects. We will continue to relentlessly pursue all other outstanding issues. An in-depth investigation as to how the issues that arose went undetected is well underway, and we are treating this with utmost importance.

At Singapore Airlines, we strive to put our customers at the centre of everything we do. I am well aware that there is a wide range of travel options to choose from, and thus, am grateful that many of you have continued to support us. We do not take this for granted.

Thank you for your continued patience during this period. I know that you have high expectations of us, and we failed to meet those expectations. On behalf of the Company, I offer our unreserved apology, and pledge to win back your confidence.


Yours sincerely,

Goh Choon Phong
Chief Executive Officer
Singapore Airlines

14 July 2011

[SMK77]

It's late but it's good. Let's see when Mr Goh gets a chance to look into the other screw-ups his predecessor has left for him...

PPS Club needs to be revamped - there is no clear advantage of being PPS and as a result no one feels the need to have it anymore. More and more people coming to Singapore don't bother to qualify or drop off without regret. Loyalty programs are key to sustainable income.

Biggest item: PPS Solitaire Qualification: existing TPPs get low annual values to requalify and even reserve value to keep the status while the prohibitive high initial qualification makes it ways to difficult and long before one can get to TPP.

Suites Redemptions needs to get reviewed as well as the nonsense of Standard Awards for J Awards on A380/A345/77W.

Finally: First Class. Throw out Suites and the 77W F seat and come up with something that is as revolutionary as the SkySuite when it was introduced.

[hjerapa]

How about enhancement of the Solitaire program. It makes no difference between those that can barely qualify and those that clock up alot of $ with solitaire status already, since the reserve value will be useless.

[Jumbojet Lover]

The gold-blue banner accompanying the email from the CEO does not look as elegantly designed as typical SQ graphics. In the same vein as the new website, it looks cheap.

On the plus side, the new SQ website has an upgraded media centre, a small section dedicated to the Singapore Girl, and (finally) an interactive route map...content seems to have improved but the interface and appearance leave much to be desired. Hope everything gets sorted out soon

[milehighj]

SIA says sorry for website glitches

Per the part in bold below, I'd point out that loyalty-destructive "mistakes" from earlier on have NOT been rectified...

SIA says sorry for website glitches
By Gerrard Lai, my paper | Fri, Jul 15 2011
The airline's CEO apologised for the aggravation caused to many of its customers due to technical glitches on its revamped website.


The chief executive of Singapore Airlines (SIA), Mr Goh Choon Phong, has issued a personal apology to the carrier’s customers for technical glitches on its revamped website.

In his apology, posted on SIA’s website yesterday, Mr Goh said he is “truly sorry that the new website (has) caused much aggravation for many of our customers”. He also pledged to win back the customers’ confidence.

SIA launched the new website on May 22 to provide a better customer experience.

However, those who used it had problems with commercial and redemption bookings, payments, online check-in and membership login, among other things, said an SIA spokesman.

Two customers my paper spoke to said they encountered problems when they tried to change the dates for flights they had booked earlier.

Undergraduate Kua Zhen Yang, 21, tried to make payment for the change six times without success. In the end, he had to call the airline’s hotline.

“The (hotline staff member) didn’t sound at all surprised to hear about my problem and he said I was not the only one with this problem,” he said.

Another undergraduate, Mr Joshua Koh, 21, who faced the same problem with an Australia-Singapore flight he booked last month, said: “The level of service is unacceptable for a reputable company like SIA.”

However, industry experts said that all is not lost. The apology from the carrier’s CEO is a step in the right direction.

“It came straight from the CEO, which reflects at least some empathy for customers’ frustrations as well as (the company’s) remorse,” said Associate Professor Ang Swee Hoon, 49, of the marketing department of National University of Singapore Business School.

“Research has shown that for companies which make mistakes but rectify them, customers become even more loyal.”

To that end, SIA must go beyond an apology and show sincerity in correcting its mistakes, Prof Ang advised.

In his apology, also posted on SIA’s Facebook page, Mr Goh said the airline has “committed full resources to resolving the website’s problems”.

He added that significant progress has been made “in rectifying many of the defects” and SIA “will continue to relentlessly pursue all other outstanding issues”.

Prof Ang suggested that the airline could offer gestures of goodwill to affected customers, such as giving them extra frequent-flier points, to make up for the inconvenience caused.

“It should also detail a concrete timeline to fix the problems...(or) update customers frequently to show that it is really serious about resolving this issue,” she added.

Reactions to the apology have been mixed, with some saying on the Facebook page that the glitch could have been better handled. Still, others are more forgiving, such as a fan of the page who wrote that he was encouraged by the CEO’s apology, adding that humans are not perfect.

gerrardl@sph.com.sg

[SliverKris]

I do not aware that SQ has a Facebook page. I thought it is something that was set up by parties other than SQ.

[Jumbojet Lover]

I do not aware that SQ has a Facebook page. I thought it is something that was set up by parties other than SQ.

I believe SQ does not have a facebook page. The Star Alliance page has links to its member's website and facebook pages and SQ is only linked to their website. The error must be quite an embarrassment to both My Paper and SQ.

[flyguy]

see http://www.facebook.com/pages/Singap...578678?sk=wall

[crazycrab955]

This is indeed SIA's official page on Facebook, for any who may be in doubt.

[mr_botak]

I'm loving that RMS Titanic is listed as a similar page....

[Dickson]

For what its worth, the issues I mentioned a few days ago remain unrectified. "My Bookings" is showing blank, even though I have at least 5 bookings with them. And when I key in a PNR, I still get an error screen and the system hangs.

In other words, "My Bookings" is essentially useless.

If the CEO claims that "many" errors have been fixed, then I wonder what were the more fundamental errors they got fixed that basic errors like this still remain in the "to do" list.

Or, is it more likely that senior management does not know what's really going on and lower level folks are telling them things are getting better? Shissh !!!

[KC*]

What puzzles me greatly is why some of us are able to do certain things without any fuss while others are just not able to.

Not only that, what I can do one day differs from what I can do another.

Seems like their website behaviour is quite inconsistent and temperamental. Does not look like something easy to rectify at all. How the heck such a disaster was allowed to happen in the fist place is totally incomprehensible.

Really bizzare.

[Guy Betsy]

...Two customers my paper spoke to said they encountered problems when they tried to change the dates for flights they had booked earlier.

Undergraduate Kua Zhen Yang, 21, tried to make payment for the change six times without success. In the end, he had to call the airline’s hotline.

If the quote above have been changed to something like "...Two dozen customers my paper spoke to said they encountered problems when they tried to book the dates for business class flights.

blah, blah & blah tried to make payment for the tickets six times without success. In the end, they gave up and flew on another carrier!