Finger Food on SIA for China Tourists?

Is there any truth in the rumour circulating in some Singapore circles that tourists from Mainland China will be expected to eat their in-flight meals with their fingers in the future?

The 'ruckus' has been caused by the latest incident involving Chinese tourist were they attempted to steal the "family silver".  In this case 30 stainless steel cutlery sets from Singapore Airlines.

While the inflight staff may not make a fuss about the odd teaspoon that is not returned, wholesale tour group looting made the stewardesses concerned very angry; and rightly so.  The boorish behaviour was compounded by the fact that having been asked to return the cutlery the group in question refused to do so, and it was only the intervention of the tour group leader that changed their mind.

Mind you having personally witnessed the eating habits of Mainland China tour groups in the Genting Highlands I am not surprised by this attitude.

As the South China Monring Post reported:

"The incident follows a number of reports this year on bad behaviour overseas by Chinese travellers. This includes a widely reported incident where a Chinese boy carved his name on a 3,000-year old precious relic during a trip to Egypt.

This prompted China’s deputy-premier Wang Yang to state publicly that Chinese tourists should improve their behaviour overseas.

He said such bad behaviour included Chinese tourists speaking loudly in public, carving characters on ancient relics, and disobeying pedestrian traffic signs.

Last year, US shopping website LivingSocial sponsored a poll which ranked the Chinese at second place, after Americans, as the “world’s worst tourists”. Some 15 per cent of respondents said Chinese tourists were the most obnoxious in the world."

It is little wonder that the 'Singapore Girl' of Singapore Airlines fame is finding it difficult to maintain her balance and composure in the face of such bad mannered and ill-disciplined passengers.  But the 'Singapore Girl' of SIA poster fame is also being gracefully retired from the airline's advertising.

She is being replaced by a new tag line "The Lengths We Go To".  In the light of incident with recalcitrant Mainland China passengers perhaps the slogan should be appended?

"The Lengths We Go To With China Tourists"  has a certain ring of truth to it.

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SQ Web Woes

The CEO of Singapore Airlines Goh Choon Phong offered me his apology today (which came as somewhat of a surprise as I had neither requested nor expected it).  The text of the epistle was a follows:

"On behalf of Singapore Airlines, I would like to offer our sincere apology for the inconvenience caused as a result of issues that arose from the launch of our new website on 22 May 2011.

As with all new initiatives that we undertake, the intention behind the website revamp was to improve on our customers’ experience with us. I am truly sorry that the new website, with its technical problems, has instead caused much aggravation for many of our customers. We make no excuses for our failure to deliver an acceptable level of online service.

We have committed full resources to resolving the website problems and have made significant progress in rectifying many of the defects. We will continue to relentlessly pursue all other outstanding issues.  An in-depth investigation as to how the issues that arose went undetected is well underway, and we are treating this with utmost importance.

At Singapore Airlines, we strive to put our customers at the centre of everything we do. I am well aware that there is a wide range of travel options to choose from, and thus, am grateful that many of you have continued to support us. We do not take this for granted.

Thank you for your continued patience during this period. I know that you have high expectations of us, and we failed to meet those expectations. On behalf of the Company, I offer our unreserved apology, and pledge to win back your confidence."

Now there are two reasons that I have reproduced the above.  Firstly it is rare for any airline to be so upfront about such issues and secondly it speaks volumes for the Singaporean business ethic, and SQ in particular, that they have chosen to communicate in this manner.

While it is true that I was a Silver Kris flyer with the airline, I have not used their services for over a year.  The newly launched design has been panned by business travelers who have found it  "a haemorrhage of colours and links which have been haphazardly meshed together".

The functionality has also been labelled a debacle and the SIA call centres have been swamped.  Frustrated passengers who could not get through on the call services vented their spleen on the SQ Facebook page.

It's a great pity that the best airline in the world is being subjected to such ridicule and knowing the country as I do, heads will surely roll.

SQ must be losing a lot of custom and money as a result of this amateurish web offering.  For a country that prides itself on being at the cutting edge of digital innovation the new SQ web site sends all the wrong messages. I would love to know which company built the new web site for them?

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Slashed Fares, Red Elbows And Tagged Trains

To quote the late Nat King Cole, "Unforgettable" or perhaps it should be "Unbelievable"!

Having just spent nearly $S1,800 for a one way ticket from Singapore to Auckland I read in the NZ Herald online today that Jet Star is going to launch a direct Auckland / Singapore service and will be offering promotional fares set at $NZ100.

I would be quite happy to forgo the in-flight meal and pay for my own cheese and crackers en-route if I could save $1,000.

The only fly in the ointment is that they have yet to secure regulatory approval but one would hope that this was forthcoming.  It will be interesting to see what Singapore Airlines' response will be.

Also occupying Singaporean's minds this week is the revelation that some mindless twits broke into the MRT train yards and graffiti bombed one of the trains (video below).  It turns out it was a Swiss software consultant and a Briton (who has high tailed it to Hong Kong) who carried out the dastardly deed.





What at first glance may seem to be a stupid piece of vandalism has more sinister overtones as it has exposed lax security at the depot.  The threat of bombing is very real and the fact that two individuals could so effortlessly break into the depot yard has not pleased the authorities in the least.

Such acts normally carry a caning sentence in Singapore.  An American by the name of Michael Fay was sentenced in 1994 for a similar spate of vandalism and received four strokes of the rattan cane for his troubles.

There is a bizarre footnote to this story.  It took two days for someone to report the incident.  Reportedly, the MRT staff mistook the vandalism for commercial advertising, no doubt with the recent Singtel post box graffiti still etched into their conscience.

And finally for shear hard luck comes the story of the woman who was walking past the Istana and had a tree fall on her. She is said to be suffering from "redness of the elbow".

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