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  • "Haughty Airline Humiliates Youth Orchestra"

    Ok some bits are rather badly written and some probably dramatised, but one assumes the underlying story is true...

    Did Singapore Airlines apologise for the inconvenience caused?

    http://slippedisc.com/2014/12/haught...uth-orchestra/

  • #2
    Probably a little over dramatisation. But if those are real Stradivari instruments - I can understand why the kids are upset, these things run into the millions of dollars.

    Comment


    • #3
      http://slippedisc.com/2014/12/meet-t...uth-orchestra/

      Looks more like the HKIA staff that refused to let them board the plane...

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by orionmiz View Post
        http://slippedisc.com/2014/12/meet-t...uth-orchestra/

        Looks more like the HKIA staff that refused to let them board the plane...
        And they let them board LH?

        Comment


        • #5
          SQ apologises to musicians

          What's happening to SQ? Surely common sense should have prevailed.

          If they were allowed the instruments onboard from ZRH, why not the return trip?

          http://travel.asiaone.com/article/ne...th-instruments

          Comment


          • #6
            http://www.thestrad.com/cpt-latests/...t-instruments/

            This report makes it look like an overzealous staff.

            Comment


            • #7
              SIA's PR seems to be taken a few steps backwards - first you have the fiasco over the botched ticket sales and now this. Something is not right over at SQ - even a overzealous hk staff is no excuse as there should be a supercisor or even the airport manager or even the country manager to look into this - after all these are children and are from the children's orchestra. SIA reputation is not looking too good now with this bad publicity in HK and just after the incident in Australia.

              Comment


              • #8
                But I wonder are they really ground staff fully employed by SIA or are they airport employees working for HKIA who are stationed at that gate for that day? It was mentioned that the airport employee also wanted to prevent them from taking the LH flight.

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                • #9
                  yeah, sometimes I wonder whether these were/are SQ-employees too. There were more than a few occasions I found the staff manning SQ desks completely disinterested; once when I was transiting thru, the girl (and she cld be no more than 23-5) continued her conversation with colleagues while issuing me my BP, lounge directions, etc. This is the risk (and very high one) of out-sourcing, when contracted staff completely are not aligned with the company's products, services and values. But in this case (of the youth orchestra) still don't know whether its the contracted staff or SQ-employees. I really wonder whether the SQ HKG Station Manager will handle the situation like this?

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by 9V-SIA View Post
                    What's happening to SQ? Surely common sense should have prevailed.

                    If they were allowed the instruments onboard from ZRH, why not the return trip?

                    http://travel.asiaone.com/article/ne...th-instruments
                    I have been to HKIA more than 50 times.

                    Their airport staff is always stricter than Singapore. Stuff that can be hand-carried from Singapore, have to be checked in in HKIA. The HKIA staff are trained as such.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by jammed View Post
                      yeah, sometimes I wonder whether these were/are SQ-employees too. There were more than a few occasions I found the staff manning SQ desks completely disinterested; once when I was transiting thru, the girl (and she cld be no more than 23-5) continued her conversation with colleagues while issuing me my BP, lounge directions, etc. This is the risk (and very high one) of out-sourcing, when contracted staff completely are not aligned with the company's products, services and values. But in this case (of the youth orchestra) still don't know whether its the contracted staff or SQ-employees. I really wonder whether the SQ HKG Station Manager will handle the situation like this?
                      Agreed. If you listen to profit hungry executives, outsourcing is just the most amazing thing ever. They forget that incidents like these are what stick in customer's minds far longer than the joy of buying a slightly cheaper ticket. It's proof that not all "value" can be calculated on a balance sheet.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by SQ228 View Post
                        Agreed. If you listen to profit hungry executives, outsourcing is just the most amazing thing ever. They forget that incidents like these are what stick in customer's minds far longer than the joy of buying a slightly cheaper ticket. It's proof that not all "value" can be calculated on a balance sheet.
                        The problem is the measurement of what bad PR costs. Finance can easily quantify cost-savings when a cheaper resource is available. And the lead person heading the project, as well as the outsource company, can and will paint a picture that high standards will be maintained at point of implementation. Naysayers often have a hard time objecting. Of course, we all know that eventual reality is seldom close to the original vision.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          My mother in law once had an incident in AMS that got me rolling. She was on a J ticket back to SIN, and she called me saying that she can't check in. Her check-in luggage was 35KG at a time where SQ had not upgraded the luggage yet, and her hand carry was 3KG.

                          The ground crew insisted that she take out 3-5KG into her hand carry. That's still fine, but what got me rolling was the fact that when a fellow Singapore flying Biz offered to check in with her together, thus increasing the total weight limit, the crew refused to process saying its not allowed.

                          I tried speaking with the people on the ground over the phone but they refused to take my call and was very rude. I got my mother in law to ask who is the manager before giving her a shelling on how rude her people is, before calling SQ call-center and told the duty supervisor the issue.

                          The duty supervisor did the usual we're in singapore and we can't do anything first, but got around that and called the ops team who got it sorted out really quickly. Sometimes it takes a bit of persistence to get things done. Seriously, I have no idea why people these days are behaving without common sense? Asking my elderly mother in law shift her luggage to hand carry isn't going to reduce any weight on the aircraft. It just makes a frail old lady carry more stuff.
                          Life's A Bitch,
                          Love It

                          If GOD created me for only 1 reason. That reason would be to the love of my wife. If there was any other reasons involved, that would be for the love of Singapore Airlines

                          Flown with me? - http://my.flightmemory.com/inix

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Aren't there laws in certain countries stating that check in luggage cannot be more than a certain wt (to protect the baggage handlers). I'm assuming here your MIL packed 35kg into 1 luggage, though.

                            Anw, they didn't even allow her to pay for the check in?

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by nuomiz View Post
                              Aren't there laws in certain countries stating that check in luggage cannot be more than a certain wt (to protect the baggage handlers). I'm assuming here your MIL packed 35kg into 1 luggage, though.

                              Anw, they didn't even allow her to pay for the check in?
                              Yes, many countries, including Australia, have a 32 kg limit per item for OHS reasons.

                              Some time ago I checked in for a flight at CDG with what was then a 20kg allowance Y allowance. My suitcase was 36kg. (Which explained why I was struggling to get it up the stairs in the Paris Metro!)

                              They had no issue at all with it, other than the fact I was going to Australia and it was over 32kg and asked me to move 4kg to my carry on. Very inconsistent.

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