Here’s a prime example of how misinformation spreads in the age of social media…
Singapore Airlines’ on-demand foot cleansing service?
OMAAT reader Paul sent me a link to the below post on X (which has been seen close to 400K times in less than a day), and asked me if this is true.
As you can see, the caption reads as follows:
On ultra long haul flights, SQ offers on-demand foot cleansing (wipes/towels) for First & Suites to freshen up swollen feet after 18+ hours. Done professionally with gloves. Some call it incredible luxury. Others find it too much. I am curious whether flight attendants extend the same level of service to their partners or spouses.
It appears that the person who posted this runs an otherwise pretty reliable aviation geek account, so I don’t think this person is trolling, and I’m not sure how they came up with the claim. One thing is 100% sure, though — this is absolutely not a service that Singapore Airlines offers. Never mind that the picture shown is of business class, while the caption claims it’s only for first class (which isn’t even offered on the carrier’s longest flights).
Presumably the flight attendant in the picture here is dealing with some sort of a medical situation, or something, and is assisting a passenger for that reason.
But of course I now also see countless other accounts posting about this, passing it off as fact, and not crediting the original person. For example, take a look at this post in Arabic:
It is said that Singapore Airlines flight attendants on very long-haul flights offer foot massage and moisturizing services to first-class and business-class passengers to alleviate swelling caused by prolonged sitting.
So yeah, none of this is accurate in any way…
Inflight massage services ended in 2008
While some airlines will offer premium passengers massages in airport lounges, that’s not a practice that has been offered inflight for nearly 20 years, since 2008.
Specifically, between 1990 and 2008, Virgin Atlantic had an inflight masseuse on most flights, who would offer Upper Class (business class) passengers spa treatments, ranging from a neck & shoulder massage, to a back massage, to a manicure. Virgin Atlantic even marketed this service with an ad campaign that proclaimed “British Airways doesn’t give a shiatsu.”
As you’d expect, that was a costly service to offer, to essentially have an extra crew member fly around the world just to massage people. But hey, it was a time where Virgin Atlantic was trying to differentiate its product in order to compete with British Airways (Virgin Atlantic is still great, but they’ve cut many of the “frills” from back in the day, realizing it doesn’t generate much of a revenue premium).
Bottom line
As nice as it sounds (well, sort of), unfortunately Singapore Airlines doesn’t offer foot cleansing or massage services on ultra long haul flights. Clearly a picture was snapped of a flight attendant dealing with some sort of a medical situation involving a foot, and that has now turned into a narrative about how this is a standard service (which it isn’t).
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