Is Singapore Airlines really a great way to fly? Today, I faced the possibility of not being able to go on my trip to Japan and was trying to find ways to solve my problem while minimising anymore unwarranted costs. Note that I’ve recently paid an additional $500 to change the flight date – which I willingly paid. So yes, my flight class does not entitle me to a refund, but I’d like to believe that as a paying customer I’ll be entitled to some decent customer service.
So today, while on the phone with a SIA customer service officer, I explained that I might have to change my flight dates (again) due to my travel facility restrictions which has caused a lot of last minute unnecessary stress despite doing everything in advance. I know fair well that it’s not SIA’s problem – but I was told that I’d have to not only give them a date on the spot to change my flights and pay for it, I’d also have to pay for another date change if I’m unable to fly on that random date that I’d have to pluck out from thin air. This is taking into account that the air ticket is valid until 21 May 2019 and no e-ticket was issued until I have more of an answer on when I’ll actually be valid for travel.
Throughout my phone call with this CSO, I could detect an edge in her voice when I asked her to explain the above need for paying again and again for something that’s pretty much an open ticket.
I’m extremely disappointed with this level of service from SIA, which I have always supported, being a Singaporean. This will now change. I used to be a Krisflyer Gold member and have since relegated to a normal tier membership and I’d assume that the service I’m getting now is pretty much because I’m no longer a “preferred customer”. That to me just sounds like a brand that’s not at all committed to customer experience and are only “selective” of who gets good service.
Sounds hypocritical to me. Think this is something that needs to be changed Singapore Airlines.