ST Forum : SIA comes to her rescue in a desperate moment

[feb01mel]

Straits Times Forum : SIA comes to her rescue in a desperate moment

A COUPLE of weeks ago, I arrived at Frankfurt airport only to be informed by my family that my father was lying in hospital in a critical condition.

I had to rush back to Singapore. On checking at the airport, I found that the earliest flight back was SQ 0025, so I approached Mr Georglos Skarlatos, a customer service agent at the Singapore Airlines check-in counter, for help. I had gone to Frankfurt on a Lufthansa flight but was hoping that SIA would help.

Mr Skarlatos listened to my situation, wrote a note in German and told me to take it to the Lufthansa counter for them to open the system for him to change my return flight.

But soon I realised this was not possible as my ticket was booked on a special rate, so I went back to the SIA counter desperate for a seat.

Mr Skarlatos attended to me once again and assured me he would do his best to get me back to Singapore.

I managed to board SQ 0025 and arrived in Singapore at 6.30am the next day. My father died that very afternoon.

My family, friends and I are truly grateful to Mr Skarlatos, the duty manager and Singapore Airlines for extending a helping hand to me in that most desperate moment.

Gwen Pee (Ms)

http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/...ry_678136.html

[SINFJ]

This is good accolade for good publicity for a while, but I hate to say that few would not try to help on humanitarian grounds.

[inix]

SQ has often been lambasted for being a completely money-grubbing mercenary (I mean, they are one of the more expensive airlines). But it actually have a decently soft and humane side. At around June of 2009, one of the bigger stories of the time was this little girl Charmaine who has Neuroblastoma.

As this is not the average cancer that hospitals in Singapore treats, the only prospective cure was to send the little girl to NYC to give her this experiential medication called 3F8. This was one of the success stories of social media. Her story exploded online. People donated to the cause via online forums, football matches, online merchandise to her cause etc. It was bottom up vs the usual top down approach of charity in this country. They needed US$350K for the deposit for MSKCC, which at that time, was a cool S$500+K.

People (myself included) was obviously touched by her plight, and a good number of my countrymen donated to her cause. And yes, we actually helped them to make the magic number. Even geek & teen dominated forums like hardwarezone donated heavily. I remembered HWZ forumers actually donated close to S$50K in tonality. I did my small part too.

Thinking that travel is always going to be an issue, and the only direct nonstop flight is the A345 which is all business class, I wrote to SQ asking for them to offer her and her mum a free flight ticket on the A345 all business class as I was hoping for a more comfortable trip for the poor girl.

They went 1 up. They offered 3 tickets, and AFAIK, more than once. Why 3? Because little Charmaine can't do without her mum and her brother, so they graciously flew all 3 together. Free.

And this wasn't a one time affair. They flew SIN - NYC several times, and the aircrew and pilots took exceptional care of the family. I was very touched by SQ's gesture. And the best part of all, I didn't have to make my rounds through bureaucracy. I only sent them this 1 and only 1 e-mail, sending them some information, and within 1 week, SQ confirmed this.

Some of you might be asking, why I actually kept quiet until 2 years after this incident has passed. Simply because SQ wanted to keep this low profile. And I had to respect their choice, but I guess 2 years down the road now, this story can go public.

[cocaman]

SIA FTW , seriously.

Unlike some carriers, I have been through as a minor. Been stuck in London Airport due to snowstorm , with no money to book a hotel (underage too) , missed my rescheduled flight and couldn't get home. Worst still, there's no one to take care of me then.

I'm left alone (with no winter clothings) in the cold weather and no other resources to go thru.

I'm in the midst of getting compensation from the airline and after 10 plus emails - I only managed to get a fair tiny bits. Seriously, SQ charge a premium fair - but afterall it's like an 'insurance' to any external cause.

I always fly AC/SQ and no longer XX to London then to Singapore whenever I'm back to SG every 3 months. Phewwww

[Guy Betsy]

SQ has often been lambasted for being a completely money-grubbing mercenary (I mean, they are one of the more expensive airlines). But it actually have a decently soft and humane side. At around June of 2009, one of the bigger stories of the time was this little girl Charmaine who has Neuroblastoma.

As this is not the average cancer that hospitals in Singapore treats, the only prospective cure was to send the little girl to NYC to give her this experiential medication called 3F8. This was one of the success stories of social media. Her story exploded online. People donated to the cause via online forums, football matches, online merchandise to her cause etc. It was bottom up vs the usual top down approach of charity in this country. They needed US$350K for the deposit for MSKCC, which at that time, was a cool S$500+K.......
They went 1 up. They offered 3 tickets, and AFAIK, more than once. Why 3? Because little Charmaine can't do without her mum and her brother, so they graciously flew all 3 together. Free.

And this wasn't a one time affair. They flew SIN - NYC several times, and the aircrew and pilots took exceptional care of the family. I was very touched by SQ's gesture. And the best part of all, I didn't have to make my rounds through bureaucracy. I only sent them this 1 and only 1 e-mail, sending them some information, and within 1 week, SQ confirmed this.

Some of you might be asking, why I actually kept quiet until 2 years after this incident has passed. Simply because SQ wanted to keep this low profile. And I had to respect their choice, but I guess 2 years down the road now, this story can go public.

Precisely why...

The little girl was already in the news.. and SQ would have lost face if it came to light if they said no way.

If there wasn't any publicity in the first place, would SQ honestly have said yes?

I bring to light what happened in the days / weeks after the tragedy of SQ6 when a friend's mum died on that flight. She needed to bring her mum's body back to NY accompanied by her then partner. SQ would only give her an economy class ticket. When asked by my godmother, who was her travel agent then, if SQ would consider putting them in Business class at least, SQ plainly said, NO. If they want to fly in Business class, they can pay for the difference themselves, SQ said. My godmother had to ask her contacts in the travel industry.. and eventually it was BA who came to the rescue and offered to take her and her partner to NY in Biz for free... and her late mum flew on SQ cos BA wouldn't repatriate her body.

These were the untold stories....

Enough said.

[SINFJ]

Precisely why...

The little girl was already in the news.. and SQ would have lost face if it came to light if they said no way.

If there wasn't any publicity in the first place, would SQ honestly have said yes?

I bring to light what happened in the days / weeks after the tragedy of SQ6 when a friend's mum died on that flight. She needed to bring her mum's body back to NY accompanied by her then partner. SQ would only give her an economy class ticket. When asked by my godmother, who was her travel agent then, if SQ would consider putting them in Business class at least, SQ plainly said, NO. If they want to fly in Business class, they can pay for the difference themselves, SQ said. My godmother had to ask her contacts in the travel industry.. and eventually it was BA who came to the rescue and offered to take her and her partner to NY in Biz for free... and her late mum flew on SQ cos BA wouldn't repatriate her body.

These were the untold stories....

Enough said.

Surely flying in Economy or business would be last on your friend's mind. Perhaps it might be a plus given on compassionate reasons, but is there really a need to?

[inix]

Precisely why...

The little girl was already in the news.. and SQ would have lost face if it came to light if they said no way.

If there wasn't any publicity in the first place, would SQ honestly have said yes?

I bring to light what happened in the days / weeks after the tragedy of SQ6 when a friend's mum died on that flight. She needed to bring her mum's body back to NY accompanied by her then partner. SQ would only give her an economy class ticket. When asked by my godmother, who was her travel agent then, if SQ would consider putting them in Business class at least, SQ plainly said, NO. If they want to fly in Business class, they can pay for the difference themselves, SQ said. My godmother had to ask her contacts in the travel industry.. and eventually it was BA who came to the rescue and offered to take her and her partner to NY in Biz for free... and her late mum flew on SQ cos BA wouldn't repatriate her body.

These were the untold stories....

Enough said.

Cynical eh. But I actually asked before the story exploded in the news. But why was J necessary for your godmum? I mean, she wasn't sick or anything, not like the little girl

[RHG]

Its unfortunate that despite such a nice story, it is true that such goodwill is rare and hard to find.

[SQTalked]

Comes to think of it, the reason i fly SQ over other airlines (BA, QF - yuck!) is that 80% of the time the crew are genuinely sincere and warm. And i believe it is a reflection of the airline.