A disabled Malaysian man, Danny Gnaniah, criticised Singapore Airlines for allegedly forgetting to put his wheelchair on his flight to Dubai.
Gnaniah spoke to Mothership saying that he had arrived in Dubai on 10 June at about 6.30pm for work, but he only received his wheelchair on 11 June at 7pm.
The delay in sending his wheelchair resulted in him missing work-related appointments, because he needed it to move around.
He was reportedly provided with a temporary wheelchair by the Dubai airport to help him get to his hotel, but it was different from his custom-made lightweight wheelchair, and made it difficult for him to get around as it was much heavier and he had to be pushed around.
Gnaniah said that after reaching Dubai, he called the baggage handling team at the airport for help, but they didn’t get any response from SIA.
He then called the Krisflyer hotline for Dubai but didn’t get a response from the 24/7 hotline, so he then called the SIA’s office at the airport but the number was invalid.
He then called the Krisflyer hotline for Singapore but the person who answered his call had “no clue” what was going on and couldn’t help.
“Are you looking for a job?”
He then messaged SIA’s social media profiles and told them about his missing wheelchair, and SIA then replied to him on Twitter: “Hi there, may we clarify if you are seeking to apply for our cabin crew position?”
The Facebook account also told him that they have responded to his earlier comment and “advised” him to “keep to a single thread for ease of communication”.
He then eventually decided to return to the airport to the SIA office and demanded an explanation, and the staff told him that his wheelchair was on the next flight but weren’t 100% sure.
He then waited at a cafe at the airport for his wheelchair to arrive, and it eventually came at 7pm, which is more than 24 hours since his arrival.
SIA’s response
A spokesperson for Singapore Airlines then spoke to Mothership and apologised for the inconvenience:
“Singapore Airlines (SIA) apologises for the inconvenience caused to Mr Danny Gnaniah when he transited through Singapore to Dubai on 10 June 2022. Our staff at Dubai International Airport had contacted Mr Gnaniah and assisted him with a wheelchair until his wheelchair was delivered to him on 11 June. We would also like to apologise for the tweet that was sent to him in error when he reached out to us on Twitter. It was meant to be in reply to a query by a different customer.
Lastly, we would also like to share that the contact information for our Dubai offices listed on our website is correct. Customers are advised to refer to the contact information listed on our website, instead of those provided by external parties.
We have reached out to Mr Danny Gnaniah directly to address the concerns raised. We thank Mr Gnaniah for his feedback, which we will review and see how to better improve on the services rendered to our customers.”
