I HAVE always associated Singapore Airlines (SIA) with exceptional customer service, but was disappointed before even boarding my flight.
I am a student going overseas on a six-month study attachment and am facing great difficulty in squeezing all my necessary baggage into SIA’s 20kg Economy Class Checked Baggage Allowance. Hence, I wanted to see if there was any solution other than paying high overweight baggage charges. This was the start of my frustration.
First, I called the Baggage Office number on their website. The baggage officer informed me that I could request for a Baggage Allowance Waiver with valid reasons by calling SIA’s Reservation Hotline. Several attempts to call the hotline were met with a dead tone. When I finally managed to get an officer on the line, I was informed that they had no authority to grant such waivers. He then said that I should call their ‘baggage department’ and directed me to SIA Cargo.
The officer at SIA Cargo directed me back to the Reservation Hotline. The second reservations officer then told me that if I required additional baggage allowance I should have booked my ticket via a travel agent, as there was some extra baggage benefit. Having booked my ticket several months back, this was not a viable alternative. Upon further enquiry, I was told that I should e-mail SQ Reservations with my request. The short reply to my e-mail was that they could not grant my request due to ‘high operational costs’.
My issue is not with being denied the waiver but with the constant redirection of my request to yet another inappropriate department and the shoddy way in which it was handled. With its reputation as a world-class airline, I expected better of SIA. I can only hope that such substandard service is the exception rather than the rule.
Angela Ang Jie Ling (Miss)