PITA PPS Passengers: Views from the Staff

[LionCity]

Hi Boh Tong

Thanks for the insightful information on PPS-CC relationship from the other side.

So far in all my flights I have yet to meet with a really nasty Pax in F or J. No doubt there are a number of PITAs among travellers.

My best flight experience is actually in Y with the family to PER. The FA was super...even though we were in Y and I was a pain the butt PPS

The worst was on a flight to Zurich...I was in F and family was in Upper deck J. My wife noted the food in F is more suited to my young daughter and asked if an FA in upper deck to help swap. She grumbled "You mean I have to go all the way downstairs to bring the food up!". My wife let it passed and had I know about it, I probably will just have a quiet word with the IFS who was mostly in F and let it close at that juncture without reporting to the feedback channel. But I can't really say it was a nasty experience...I don't really have a bad experience on SQ with the CC on any particular flight I been on..perhaps she was having just an off day.

[kaysquare]

Welcome to SQT Uncle Boh Tong. Just touched down in SIN so catching up on SQT. Thanks for your insights from cabin crew perspective, your blog was very interesting! Don't worry, I'm not PPS. Though on my flight I did come across this pretty arrogant PPS who thought he owned row 31 and was pretty much irritated by him.

No offence to all you PPSes on SQT. Just that sometimes, the bad ones leave a bigger impression don't you think?

[QSG]

Thank U,thank U QSG...nowadays,I missed serving the paxs....hehehe
BTW BRU must be a very good companion.

Bru is a great companion but he can be PITA at times, he actually has a cold right now and is on antibiotics .

[SQflyergirl]

'THIS CARD HAD NO PROBLEM IN GETTING 10 COPIES OF THE PAPERS FOR ME''

Wow 10 copies! He must suck at crossword puzzles.... of course nobody told him that he could've used a pencil in the first place

[token01]

had to be some special coupon in each he couldnt resist lol

[CGK]

Bru is a great companion but he can be PITA at times, he actually has a cold right now and is on antibiotics .

Sorry to hear that Bru has a cold! More and hugs works well. Duh, I miss my baby now...

[YK@HKG]

Wow...that old man is really a PITA

So what if u are a Solitaire member...

[YK@HKG]

There was a PPS who threatened to get me killed for S$50 in Singapore...

But there again another PPS bought me dinner at an expensive restaurant and yet another one brought my crew to Las vegas for a fling---expenses paid for and gave $$ to gamble..

Hmm...never seem to hear these bizzare stories for MPC Diamond members

[taipeiflyer]

i'm sorry if this post is going to kill the "good vibe" of this thread, but I do believe in an "honesty is the best policy" mantra. Boh tong, I find your blog to be contradictory, salacious, and marginalized tabloid fodder. You make broad generalizations about PPS members in your blog, and write with the spirit of a harlequin romance novelist. Some of the things you write about have not been fact-checked at all: the ghost on the SQ06 flight blog is filled with multiple errors. You also discuss things that are crude and crass and leave much to be desired for an aspiring author. Maybe others here are going to line up and buy your book, but I must admit, that I certainly won't be one of them. Thank you for the sharp change of course you have displayed on the SQTalk forum- I do wish you would have taken the time to more adequately acknowledge the good PPS customers that make Singapore Air such a special airline, as opposed to just lumping all of them in with a selected minority that believe their card entitles them to behave in a crude and crass way. Unfortunately, the contents of your blog put you on the same level of the people you are criticizing.

[SQOZflyer]

Thanks for sharing some of your good and not so good experiences with us boh tong...

- On one of my recent flights, one crewmember seemed to have initially a rather "confrontional" (slightly arrogant)approach to me. In the style: "I guess you are an arrogant a***** so I will treat you the same way as you are going to treat me"... Now, I do not look arrogant nor do I behave (knowingly) in such a way

As I was polite and tried to be the exact opposite of what she (assumably) expected me to be, the ice started to thaw and the FA turned out to be a very nice and charming person...

After reading all the posts about SQ crew's "prejudices" against PPS members you could assume that the PPS sticker on my boarding pass "marked" me as a potential PITA as soon as I boarded the plane... and caused the initial animosity... or maybe I'm just starting to be paranoid

In any case it seems that the "nice" PP(S) have a much lesser impact on the crews overall assumption of PPS members than the few real PITAs
As PPS you're marked as a with some crew until you prove otherwise...

[SQflyergirl]

Gentlemen, may I remind you both to be civil please.

Criticism is allowed, however personal attacks aren't. Treat this as a gentle reminder.

[jhm]

boh tong, first of all, thank you very much for writing your blog. I don't doubt that you used to be crew (even higher than an IFS!) and I found your stories which I read interesting in showing the human side of SQ crew with their very human foibles, problems and desires (as opposed to the perfect image which the advertising tries to portray).

Nevertheless, I do agree with the general gist of taipeiflyer's post (even if I would not have worded it that way ). This is not intended to be an attack. All I mean is that I read taipeiflyer's post as saying (with which I agree) that your stories highlight the more salacious and racy sides of SQ crew's lives since that is, after all, what will attract people to read your blog. Other stories about - say - the many instances in which SQ crew go far beyond the call of duty to give excellent service would be a lot of interest to everyone here on SQTalk but probably not to the general public.

I also agree with taipeiflyer's message that whilst some PPS members (and pax in general) are despicable as described in your blog, I'm sure there are far more who don't act like that and some who're very respectful towards the crew. I know you think this as well but a member of the public who happened to come across your blog may not realise this and may think that ALL PPS members are pond scum who behave in the way you've described in some of your stories.

In summary, whilst I would love to see that your book will be balanced (i.e. showing both the good and bad sides of the SQ crew and pax), I know there will be commercial pressure on you to keep your book concise, fast paced and exciting and this may affect the book's balance.

As a PPS myself, I am sad to hear that what seems to be the majority of the SQ crew have - understandably - a bad impression about PPS members in general. I only got my PPS because I enjoy the whole experience of flying, SQ's service is of course amongst the best out there (althuogh not, I understand, as good as in the past) and I was lucky enough to have been able to afford from my own pocket to spend a fortnight's holiday last August flying a lot on SQ. To me, PPS is merely a confirmation from SQ that I happened to fly a number of times with them in the past 12 months and that SQ have granted me some privileges (NOT rights) in recognition of that for which I am grateful. In my flights since becoming PPS, I wouldn't dream of mentioning that I'm a PPS (let alone taking out my card) nor would I ever demand anything. All of the SQ crew I've come across (whether in first, Raffles or economy and both before and after being PPS) have always treated me very well and for that, I've been very thankful.

ANYWAY ... I hope the above makes sense and comes across the way I intend, i.e. just observations.

[jhm]

Thanks, bohtong. I'd forgotten that you have blogged about some (very) nice PPS passengers - e.g. the Japanese gentleman who took crew on an all expenses paid trip to Vegas. I agree with what you say, i.e. stories of normal people being nice don't sell blogs (or books) but stories about people behaving in an extreme manner (very generous, appallingly etc) or famous people being very humble do and such is life!

BTW isn't this forum's title is "PITA PPS Passengers: Views from the Staff"?
or am I in the wrong forum?

Yes, though we do tend to sometimes go off topic! If you haven't come across it, here's a (tongue in cheek) thread I started about the same topic:

http://www.sqtalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62

[mec]

Allow me to steer off topic a little, My dear moderators

Here's my little blog that may be also interesting to some :

Just got off a wonderful flight on SQXXX and having read this thread just yesterday. I decided to ask the IFS Mr T. on my flt (quite a senior chap) if he knew or have read the infamous blogsite.

He replied as a matter of factly in his nice Singlish slang..oh that one ah? These are stories that we talk about at night stops, some are true and some aren't. Some exaggerated. Take it with a pinch of salt

When I asked him about the blogger's background...He said that the management and many senior crew know (or highly suspect) who this EX-Cabin Crew Executive is.

I had to ask what the CCE (as they call it) did in the Cabin Crew division. He explained that these were crew who were 'promoted and grounded mostly' after the IFS rank to be trainers and to appraise the flying crew. They also managed the wards/teams.

Then a few years back, most of them were given pension or some farewell package (couldn't remember the term he used) and were asked to leave by the company. I was puzzled why and probe further. Well, many of these 'old folks' were sitting around like office managers who lost touch with flying and earning big money, he said.

Some were good, but some were just bringing misery to operating crew when they flew with them. He said to cut the story short, many of the bad apples were rid off when majority of the CCE's were asked to leave. Some good ones were retained and are still in the company today.

Many of the Ex-CCEs were of course very furious with the sudden move of the company. Some even threatened lawsuit. Others vowed to bad mouth...
Some just happily retired

Since crew do complain about PITAs pax...I asked IFS Mr T what did most of the crew thought of them (Ex-CCE)..and their absence. He said...GOOD RIDDANCE to those gone.


Then again fellow SQTalkers...this is just my story (blog) that I am relating from what I have heard.

Pls take it as entertainment (like all blogs)

[WSSS]

Thanks for sharing boh tong and a long belated welcome to SQTalk. I haven't finished reading your blog simply because I don't have time, unfortunately. Nice to see you share your experiences with some of the CIPs and VVIPs.