SQ Tips, Trips and Tales

[N860CR]

Two separate trips, had the "do not disturb" light on and both crew members were worried about me missing my book the cook meal. After waking me 3 times trying to serve me I reminded them of the do not disturb light

This has been an issue for years. I can pretty safely say I run at about a 50% strike rate for being woken up with the DND light on. The crew don’t seem to grasp that passengers are operating on different time zones.

I’ve spoken to SQ staff (socially, not onboard) and they refer to SYD flights as “coughney”. Passengers are extremely demanding apparently and the flights are hard work (plus they’re ordinary trips). Just means you’ll end up with junior crew. JNB seems to suffer the same.

 

[lovestotravel]

I can understand the Australia flights being hard work as they are the stepping stone to people heading off to EU or elsewhere and the flight from Australia is the start of that holiday.

That being said the two meal services mean little/no downtime for the crew and the limited A350 galley space doesn't help, combined with full loads

Perhaps time for SQ to use some of that record profit to add an extra crew member to J.....

 

[umberloidster]

I flew F MEL to SIN on Monday this week en route to LHR and the service on board was very rushed.

They kept refilling drinks super fast and would ask me about how many extra bottles of Krug I wanted them to chill. Not a bad thing of course, but it made me second guess whether I'd been blind ripped drunk on a previous flight and there was a note on my file saying I was a party animal.

It felt like they were trying to get us all placid and tanked so we'd fall asleep... Don't get me wrong their plan absolutely worked but for me, and I expect for many other pax in F, my preference would be to take my time and enjoy the experience.

 

[boomy]

They kept refilling drinks super fast and would ask me about how many extra bottles of Krug I wanted them to chill.

There’s only one good answer to that - The Lot!

I flew F MEL to SIN on Monday this week en route to LHR and the service on board was very rushed.

It felt like they were trying to get us all placid and tanked so we'd fall asleep... Don't get me wrong their plan absolutely worked but for me, and I expect for many other pax in F, my preference would be to take my time and enjoy the experience.

Was it red-eye flight? Service tend to be more rushed on those, particularly on the SIN/AUS route since there is not much time to have two proper meals and sleep. I agree though service in F should be tailored to the pax and not feel like an assembly line (that’s what J is for).

 

[Cruiser Elite]

It’s not complicated to tell Crew Members exactly when and how you want meal served - in R / F I always give explicit instructions 10 mins between each course - as for drinks they don’t actually pour it down your throat - accept a refill when you want or slow them down if you don’t want - and when you do want they still have call buttons.

I find it astounding that there are complaints about the level of service in R / F / J - don’t you guys engage with the Crew?

 

[lovestotravel]

I find it astounding that there are complaints about the level of service in R / F / J - don’t you guys engage with the Crew?

Not possible to engage when the crew don't have their brains engaged

EG - Missing pre departure drinks

Then coming around after take-off, asking what drink you would like after take-off

From that point forward it's a lost cause

 

[lovestotravel]

Should add, no issues on the long-haul flights, the crews are great and switched on and always up for a chat and rarely an issue, but it's the MEL-SIN-MEL flights that really let SQ down sadly

Generally the SIN-MEL flights are the worst (I assume the crew come off another flight prior to this one, and are tired)

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Should add, no issues on the long-haul flights, the crews are great and switched on and always up for a chat and rarely an issue, but it's the MEL-SIN-MEL flights that really let SQ down sadly

Generally the SIN-MEL flights are the worst (I assume the crew come off another flight prior to this one, and are tired)

Are you suggesting the Oz routes are subject to different rostering criteria? You are in la-la-land if you think any Crew come off one flt straight onto another - have you ever asked Crew where they are scheduled to for next flt? I suggest you try it

No pre takeoff drinks in which cabin?

 

[Peasant]

Should add, no issues on the long-haul flights, the crews are great and switched on and always up for a chat and rarely an issue, but it's the MEL-SIN-MEL flights that really let SQ down sadly

Generally the SIN-MEL flights are the worst (I assume the crew come off another flight prior to this one, and are tired)

I generally get very good service on Australia flights, but notice that it's always a notch better on the 777 or A380s, for reasons I've already shared above in the thread.

Australia is considered a long-haul destination and I find service is just as good as what I get on flights to Europe or the US. I really do find SQ service consistently good, though of course some flights can be more lacklustre than others. I do SQ 228/SQ 217 quite frequently and it's usually a very enjoyable experience.

SQ cabin crew have no say in their rosters - this is all controlled centrally by the company. There's no regional rostering, other than for the crew who joined from Silk Air as part of the merger, as they are trained on the 737. Most are now trained on the A350 now too, however.

Crew seniority also doesn't provide any rostering advantages at Singapore Airlines unlike many other legacy carriers. Remember, SQ crew seniority is denoted by colour, so the composition of blue, green, red and purple is pre-set based on the aircraft type being operated. There will always be senior crew aboard, but on aircraft like the A350, the blue crew are just likely to be newer hires than on the smaller and more established 777/380 fleets.

 

[Quickstatus]

Makes no sense to not release those seats to rewards if they will be empty.

Likely they think it will be filled by fare paying pax. Additionally it also makes sense to an airline to make redemptions just a bit harder to get than one would like as that encourages pax to pay with $$$. It's all about the dark arts of yield management.

Airline business is not necessarily about the passenger.

 

[boomy]

Likely they think it will be filled by fare paying pax. Additionally it also makes sense to an airline to make redemptions just a bit harder to get than one would like as that encourages pax to pay with $$$. It's all about the dark arts of yield management.

Airline business is not necessarily about the passenger.

There, now it’s 100% accurate

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Dear Mr Elite

Thank you for your feedback.

We are sorry to learn of your disappointment with our wine selection.

We would like to share that we review our wine list regularly with our panel of wine experts. We have highlighted your feedback to our Inflight Services Department and they will continue to work with the experts to ensure that we provide a good range, variety and quality of wines.

We appreciate your taking the time to provide us your feedback. It is through such feedback that we can improve.

Yours sincerely
Sumaiyah
Customer Relations Officer Australia and New Zealand
Singapore Airlines Limited

 

[dajop]

I get the sense also that Australian routes are not the most disliked. The Indian routes combine very demanding passengers with short red eyes on the return.

 

[wenglock.mok]

Actually, I believe the overnight Australian sectors in both directions are now single meal service in all classes (with snacks available on request). The only ones that still have two meal services are the daytime services.

Unfortunately, the inconsistency of the service onboard in J mirrors my experiences earlier this year. As an example, I had a hit rate of only 2 out of 3 sectors with pre-departure drinks, which I had originally thought was due to regional flights not having them but that was clearly not the case as it was then present on the second regional sector. Not that I personally mind, I just worry about such inconsistencies having an impact on a brand they had painstakingly built up over a long period of time.

 

[drron]

We have used the A350 in J quite a few times in or out of BNE and also between SIN and BKK. Only once was Pre departure drinks not spontaneously offered so I asked for a glass of champagne and got it.

 

[LadyC]

My last AU flights with SQ in J were both overnight. We were happy to be sleeping so no issues with service. We were flying to the States and the cabin crew were great both ways (more than happy to provide drinks and snacks etc). The inbound crew were particularly good as we lost something of MasterC's in the seat. We needed to stay on board after landing and they pulled everything apart as best possible to help us find it.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

What was planned:

Didn’t come to fruition but appears will indeed be available from June 4 on - does not appear they any rdpt inventory loaded as yet

 

[EuroKick]

I’m flying J on Wednesday evening from BNE-SIN. I’ve just opened the booking to see what seats are available, but it’s saying it can’t be done? Is this normal?

 

[boomy]

I’m flying J on Wednesday evening from BNE-SIN. I’ve just opened the booking to see what seats are available, but it’s saying it can’t be done? Is this normal?

Yes it’s normal. They don’t allow online seat selection/changes T-48, no idea why

You can call customer service and do it over the phone.

 

[Peasant]

I get the sense also that Australian routes are not the most disliked. The Indian routes combine very demanding passengers with short red eyes on the return.

Definitely. I used to do a few India flights and I actually thought everyone was well behaved, but it's very unpopular.

In actual fact, so bad was it that SQ used to have a rule that if cabin crew called in sick for an India flight, they were still forced to take the trip once they recovered, so as to stop people calling in sick to get out of doing the flights altogether!

Not sure if they've since relaxed that rule.