New SIA in-flight service protocol necessary but stressful
Singapore Airlines' new in-flight service protocol, which kicked in after its flight from London had to be diverted because of severe turbulence, has been met with mixed reactions.
Before the May 21 incident, only hot drinks and soup were not allowed to be served when the seat-belt sign was on. But meal service must now be completely paused under the new protocol.
When asked if passengers will be compensated if the meal service is severely disrupted, an SIA spokesperson told The Straits Times: “SIA and Scoot will continue to review and adjust our in-flight procedures, as necessary.”
Mr Zac Tng, 30, who returned from the US with SIA on May 23, had his in-flight meal postponed thrice due to turbulence.
“On previous flights, if the turbulence was not too bad, they would still serve meals. But for this flight, every time the plane shook a little, the pilots would make an announcement to pause meal service and ask passengers to put on their seat belts," he said.
“The cabin crew had to keep stowing the carts after pulling them out because of the seat-belt sign. But once they could serve meals, they tried to expedite it.”
Despite more than an hour of additional waiting time for his first meal, Mr Tng felt the changes were necessary to keep both passengers and crew safe.
An SIA flight attendant said that pausing meal service when the seat-belt sign comes on may mean working under time pressure, particularly on shorter regional flights.
“Some passengers don’t understand why the service policy change is important, and rate service as average to poor via the customer feedback channel after flights where service was affected by turbulence,” she said.
“We’re stressed and fatigued, but at the moment, there’s nothing we can do except continue to navigate our work under the given circumstances.”
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