My Experience with Singapore Airlines

For as long as I can remember, I’d always wanted to fly with Singapore Airlines. I’d heard good things about the airline and it certainly helps that they make it to various lists when it comes to safety and customer service. Bonus points also for their kebaya uniforms which have remained unchanged since the start of their flying days. Despite all of this, I have mixed feelings about Singapore Airlines.

It starts off with their ground service. I don’t know how things are now (with COVID), but pre-COVID and even at the early stages of COVID era, they were doing something rather peculiar. At the boarding gate’s waiting area, a little before boarding time, someone will approach passengers to check your boarding pass and passport. Notice that I said “someone”. In other words, you have no idea whether this person is actually a representative of Singapore Airlines or just some randomly well dressed person approaching people just to be nosy. I did not like this in any way because I found it invasive and to make matters worse, this “someone” didn’t bother to introduce that he was affiliated with Singapore Airlines in any way. I do think I would have felt a lot more comfortable with this unnecessary procedure of theirs had the person been in a SQ kebaya but I doubt that ground service workers are allowed to don on the kebaya, regardless of their gender.

Honestly, had I known beforehand that they’d be doing such nonsense, I would have never bothered to book a flight with them in the first place. I am quite serious here because no other airline that I know of does this. It just seems so unnecessary and invasive. Like, everything is already checked by a ground service worker before we go through security, so what exactly is the point of all this?

My guess is to make boarding more efficient but it’s a fail and only a good idea in theory. Your boarding ticket gets stamped by this “someone” and gate agents are supposed to just look at the childish stamp of approval before giving you the OK to get your ticket scanned and torn.

This was a hot mess because depending on which gate agent you got, she/he may be oblivious to the stupid stamp only to ask you to see your passport again. Who’s smart idea was this again, Singapore Airlines? I hope whoever came up with the idea did not get a salary raise…

Note: I was going to give this “someone” an interview before showing anything, but fortunately, another passenger did that job for me. She did so before budging and I’m glad she did because the whole thing was indeed beyond ridiculous. Also, before he got to me, I managed to google about their so called procedure which was difficult to google for but I managed to learn from a passenger’s post online that this was something Singapore Airlines does but it seems to not be a thing at every location or at least it’s not as ridiculous at non-USA locations. I can confirm that it wasn’t as crazy flying out from a non-US location.

Meal Service
In flight, I wasn’t feeling a meal and I was basically trying to ask the flight attendant if I could just have it saved for later instead of having it served right then and there. (I didn’t mind if the answer was a no since I figured I could opt for in flight snacks should I somehow get hungry later.)

The flight attendant had the audacity to tell me in Singlish that it’s quite wasteful and something along the lines of how it’s better to just have it. I ended up taking the tray only to question it all later. Like, did this flight attendant just scold me, not listen to what I said and basically force feed me when all I said was not now? Like, did that just really happen? I was so irritated after being made to feel bad enough to eat some food only to feel gross shortly after.

Thankfully, I didn’t end up throwing up, but if I did, the onus would really be on this flight attendant. But I bet this type of person would just gaslight me and play some type of blame game. Crazy.

Note: I get that with my meal being a special meal, they might not have enough space to store it or keep warm while making regular meals for other passengers but wtf? She really could have handled it better. I know that no one wants to do additional work but considering the fact that she would need to go back to the galley anyway, would it hurt her that much to figure out a place to temporarily store my food for later? I think not.

In-Flight Shopping Experience
I’m not a shopper but after coming to the false conclusion that I would never be visiting Japan again, I decided I should spend as much yen as I could. That and the fact that there was something I kind of wanted despite it being overly priced. So, I said why not? And that’s when the problem began. Sort of.

Being in economy class, I think the flight attendant responsible for duty free shopping was a bit taken aback that this passenger aka yours truly was actually interested in buying something. He was ready to zoom on to the “better” cabins but I told him I was interested in something.

I asked about my item of desire and he actually acted as if no such thing existed within the duty free shopping cart. Somewhat excusable when you consider that it might be too much for a flight attendant to always be in the know of every single duty free item that’s available for sale. However, when you consider the fact that this item was actually a Singapore Airlines exclusive item, I can’t help but to question it a bit. Maybe he didn’t want to waste time looking for it? Or worse, perhaps he had jumped to the conclusion that I just wanted to see the item instead of actually buying it and his time would be better spent making actual sales in Business Class and First Class cabins. I don’t know but I think that sounds about right.

I can’t recall the exact conversation but I believe he may have asked something along the lines of if I was sure this item was sold on this flight. His question made sense since some items are sold on specific routes. I said I was sure and that I could look it up on the seat’s screen or something. I might have found it or shown it on my phone. I don’t remember but I think that encouraged him to actually take a look in his duty free shopping cart.

Although he looked for it, he ended up telling me it wasn’t there. It wasn’t a big deal if I didn’t get my hands on this item, but I found it weird that this item wasn’t in there. So, I asked if it was already sold. He said no. Of course not, if it was already sold, he would have known it was sold and would have known this item was sold on this flight! No also means that the item should be in there somewhere.

Fortunately, another flight attendant showed up and he asked her if she could help him find it to which she did. Bizarre, isn’t it?

Regardless, I was glad the thing I wanted was still available.

Ready to make my purchase, I asked the male flight attendant if I could pay in Japanese money (yen) and he said yes. Looking back, I should have just paid in US dollars since the item’s value increased once the USD got converted into YEN. Meh.

So, my mind may have not been in the brightest place with wanting this item but the biggest turn off came when I finally gave my payment in yen. You’d think cash is king after being in Japan for long enough, but this fool of a flight attendant had the audacity to ask the flight attendant (Japanese) that found my desired item if this was real money.

Um, you do realize that you are standing next to me and that I can hear your conversation loud and clearly, right?

It was offensive and distasteful. As much as I understand that he may simply not know what Japanese yen looks like, he could have asked the other flight attendant with tact.

How this fool got a job in customer service is beyond me. In fact, I wonder how he came to work for Singapore Airlines as a flight attendant. Did some cabin crew friend of his put in a good word for him so that he could pass his interview with flying colors? If yes, BS like this only serves to create toxicity in a company which affects not only the employees but the customers as well!

Thank goodness for the Japanese flight attendant that of course knew her money and was actually ecstatic about getting her hands on my money…

Explanation: One of the bills I gave was a 2000 yen bill which is super rare on “mainland” Japan. She wanted this and eagerly went to get her own wallet in order to exchange her own money for that 2000 yen bill from none other than the dumbfounded flight attendant.

I made her day and I think I’m glad I made her day. She was the one to have found my desired item, after all.

Looking back on this today, this guy was clearly stereotyping passengers based on cabin class and more. Considering the fact that he was a brown flight attendant (South Asian looking), I find it ironic. I say this because brown Asians tend to get the rut of things when it comes to stereotypes and other isms. I hope my exchange with him somehow taught him an important lesson on looking past the surface and to realize that anyone, despite looks, age and cabin class can be a prospective customer when it comes to duty free shopping. If not, I hope he gets a taste of his own isms one day because he really needs to learn to treat people better even if his customer service skills continue to suck.

Although I decided to fly with Singapore Airlines again after such “interesting” experiences, I feel that I might not want to fly with Singapore Airlines again in the future. Of course, there’s a chance I’d fly with them again if they’re holding a promotion that’s too good to pass up on. But I doubt this will happen anytime soon as promotional offers from airlines seem to be rather subpar these days.

The Good with SQ

As is common amongst reviewers, we like to focus on the not so pleasant aspects of our experiences as that is what sticks to us most.

Thus, I’d like to take a moment to mention the good with Singapore Airlines.

The timeless kebaya
As mentioned earlier, the kebaya uniform is timeless and a very aesthetic component of Singapore Airlines. When you see the kebaya, you know it’s Singapore Airlines. Of course, there are other airlines that also use the kebaya as a uniform for their female flight attendants, such as Malaysia Airlines and Garuda Indonesia.

Generous snacks in Economy
Think chips and sandwiches for passengers waking up at 3 AM, hungry. It’s a first come first serve type of set up although I assume an attendant refills it as the snacks run out. This is intelligent on their part as it’s a way to minimize passengers from pressing the call button for snacks.

Pro-active and Thoughtful Ground service
I may have not been fond of their post-security/pre-boarding procedure that was mentioned earlier, but their ground service prior to going through security has always been good. In fact, I even recall one employee being proactive to helping me out at a self check in kiosk despite me being technologically savvy for the most part. For passengers that don’t like nosy people, you’re not going to like proactive staff, but a proactive staff member like this shows that they’re willing to help especially when they don’t have their hands full yet.

I also recall a staff member abroad going out of the way to request her colleague to wrap my bag in a plastic bag so that it wouldn’t get dirty or damaged upon arrival. I didn’t understand what was going on at the time, but appreciated it after landing, getting my bag and figuring out the reasoning behind the plastic bag. FYI, the plastic bag was pretty much unscathed but my bag could have gotten dirty en route to my destination.

Timeliness
Due to their punctuality, I’ve been able to get from point A to point B on time.

Acknowledgment

One flight attendant actually took the time to address me by my last name right when he was about to give me my special meal. It was interesting because he was basically the only flight attendant to have done that throughout my travels with Singapore Airlines.

I’m going to go on a whim and assume that it’s actually their customer service standard to do such a thing but it seems that most of their flight attendants skip out on this small gesture.

I get it. Most people just want to get the work done especially if there happens to be a lot of special meals to be handed out.

As much as I don’t care to be acknowledged by name for a special meal, I appreciate this one flight attendant for putting in the effort to do so.

Based on his suit uniform, I couldn’t tell if he was a flight purser but I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he was a purser. As a FYI, he was a brown Asian and no, he wasn’t the same guy that was working the in flight duty free shopping cart!

In flight Entertainment
In flight entertainment can be a hit or miss but I actually had a good time browsing their selection of movies and drama series. I successfully watched two good Japanese movies and an Indonesian movie, even! I honestly would have watched and completed more movies/drama series had I not been in dire need of sleep. Lol

So, there you have it with my experience with Singapore Airlines. Have you flown with SQ before? If yes, do share your experiences with me.