Venting on Singapore Airlines

So my deal on an upgrade turned into a nightmare of service and I haven’t even gotten on the plane. What happen was really strange, since I booked my flight using Air Canada instead of Singapore Airlines, Singapore Airlines didn’t want to give the first class seat to Air Canada.

Add to the confusion that while Air Canada has a 24 hour reservation/support line, its based in the US (so much for national pride) and they can’t call the 24 hour reservation service at Singapore Airlines as its located here in Singapore. They “say” their phones aren’t allowed to call international. I was like I spend nearly 5 grand on a ticket and you can’t make a phone call to solve a problem for me, well the answer was a long drawn out no. So had to wait till Singapore Airlines office in the US opened and Air Canada could “discuss” this issue with them further.

So finally this evening Air Canada called me, not in Singapore, but via my US office number and confirmed that they where working with Singapore Airlines to resolve this issue and I will be able to fly as I requested and paid for. Then 15 minutes later another call back from them saying that Singapore Airlines had given them the seat and all was good. Now I haven’t been able to confirm with Singapore Airlines, but at this point I need a good sleep, if I drank I would be in a bar about now, but I don’t so I blog. I wonder what’s worse, hmmm in few years from now I will be on a 12 step program and at a “BA” meeting saying, “Hello my name is Stephen and I am a blogaholic…”.

So what’s the big deal, well I fly a lot with my job and even more as a hobby and for me I can get really ticked off with bad service. I just don’t see the reason to hire staff that isn’t personable in such a people/service based industry. Some of the nicest people work in the sky (no Helen, I have no biased opinion) and can make a 12 hour flight feel like spending 12 hours with friends. But that’s not always the case and this issue brings me back to the days when I used to own and run SingapoorAirlines.com (notice the spelling). Surprisingly it got traffic, and even type in traffic but it eventually pissed Singapore Airlines off enough that they sent their legal thugs after me.

The site was very professional as it gave my feedback from flying with Singapore Airlines as well as feedback from other not so happy travelers. I did give the name to them along with SingapoorAir.com without getting my legal counsel involved (didn’t want to spend anymore then the $17.90 which was what the domains cost) but still felt bad and used. They didn’t even apologize for the poor service that spawned the sites creation or even say thank you for me giving them the domains. Oh well that’s the corporate world for you, life goes on and I still fly with them.

UPDATE: When I checked in for this flight they still didn't want to give the seat to me, had to wait while the check in staff talked with management, what a mess...