Flight delays happen all the time, and are hardly worth reporting on. And the same is probably true in this case, though at least the circumstances are interesting. A Scoot flight (they’re a low cost carrier based in Singapore) from Singapore to Perth was delayed by over 22 hours, and apparently the communication and handling of the situation was terrible. There were a variety of reasons for the delay, and the passengers even boarded and deplaned multiple times.
Via The Straits Times:
Dozens of Scoot passengers were up in arms after a flight from Singapore to Perth was delayed for more than 22 hours over the weekend.
“Scoot flight TZ 8 to Perth was originally scheduled to depart from Singapore at 1210 pm (Singapore time) on 20th June. It was delayed at Changi Airport due to a technical issue and we regret the delay has inconvenienced our guests,” a Scoot spokesman said.
The flight was re-scheduled to 9.50am on Sunday morning, according to Scoot’s Facebook page. It eventually took off at 10.42am on Sunday.
In an email sent to Scoot seen by The Straits Times, one passenger claimed that the flight was “delayed six times with different reasons”. One of the reasons given, he added, was that the plane’s tyre was ‘worn out’.
There seemed to be a near riot in the gate area, as frustrated passengers were unhappy with the way Scoot handled the situation. The following videos of the gate area were posted on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sK65PgFOI2E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3E9JyNY5m8
Scoot’s handling of the situation does indeed seems to be abysmal:
- Delays happen, so I wouldn’t blame Scoot for that in and of itself, as safety is the always the top priority; unfortunately the way they handled the delay is the problem
- Singapore is the airline’s hub, so to only have a single agent who claims to be a contract worker at the gate is completely unacceptable and a slap in the face to frustrated passengers, given the scope of the delay (though I’m guessing Scoot did that intentionally)
- It seems like the delay was clearly within Scoot’s control, in which case they should also be obligated to provide hotels for passengers
Shame on Scoot for the way they handled this. At the same time, the videos posted on YouTube are sort of cringeworthy, especially of the guy/self proclaimed social media expert leading the charge. 😉
I’m not sure how I would have handled the situation, personally. On one hand yelling at the contract worker won’t get you anywhere, though at the same time it’s frustrating that the passengers couldn’t get an actual Scoot supervisor to the gate, who would have been empowered to take care of passengers.
A messy situation all around, clearly…
What do you make of this Scoot delay and the videos of the passengers?
Scoot Airways (TZ) is an budget airline but what people/s misinterpret the concept as it was own by Singapore Airline (SQ).
Although the price come cheap or even they give you a free ticket (must pay airport taxes), all budget airline/s aka Low Cost Carrier (LCC) does not compensate single things when comes to delay/s. That's why travel agency or airline/s urge their customers to purchase travel insurance.
Hashtag Stress!!
The poor agent / messenger, but that's the nature of it. Even if it's not his decisions, people need something / someone to lash out their anger.
That hashtag guy is classic - gesticulating like a conductor with the hashtag symbol. I had to laugh when the agent said Scoot will unfortunately not provide accommodation, and someone promptly shouted, "Call the police!"
"let's kill the beast!!"
@Jay - I'm not excusing Scoot's handling in any way, but you *may* live in Singapore, but you're an idiot if you compare Singaporeans with citizens of China and North Korea. Anyone will a decent understanding of the country will tell you it's nothing like that at all. You took one incident and make it a broad categorization about the rest of the country. You're the one that needs your head examined!!
@eric: Could you explain what you mean by "low end people". It sounds pretty classist, but maybe I misunderstand your meaning?
@Tom: excellent post, IMO.... we are all people, after all, and, as a user of LCCs (due to financial constraints), I would hope that I others treat me as I do therm, I.e. not as an asshole until you demonstrate that you actually ARE one.
Oh man when the baby got frightened and started crying that was too much for me. It's all about communication. People can put up with a lot more as long as they're informed. Poor baby. : (
Agree! Biggest problem is that most people do not understand how LCC operates and expect the same level of service from full service airline minus the food and luggage.
LCC basically take you safely from A to B, that's it. No guarantee that you will get there on time as it's not in the contract. Whether they get you from A to B today, or 6 months later, as long as they get you...
Agree! Biggest problem is that most people do not understand how LCC operates and expect the same level of service from full service airline minus the food and luggage.
LCC basically take you safely from A to B, that's it. No guarantee that you will get there on time as it's not in the contract. Whether they get you from A to B today, or 6 months later, as long as they get you there, they have fulfilled their responsibility.
Scoot is not SQ! People who bought Scoot expecting SQ's level of service is obviously wrong. You get what you paid for. In fact, I heard rumors saying that SQ purposely makes flying scoot so painful so that passengers will consider paying a bit more to fly SQ next time.
OK. Some people need to get off their moral high horse. As with everything in life, you get what you pay for... Anyone heard of Greece?
Lower cost fares = Less built in fat = higher risk of poor contingencies.
#factoflife
Yes many of us read this blog for knowledge in making the most of miles in premium class of service but it amazes me how so many comments state that this is what you get for flying a LLC. That's hogwash. Not everyone has hundreds of thousands of miles or large sums of money to travel in premium class. Of course you don't expect big seats, free baggage, free meals or a choice of multiple...
Yes many of us read this blog for knowledge in making the most of miles in premium class of service but it amazes me how so many comments state that this is what you get for flying a LLC. That's hogwash. Not everyone has hundreds of thousands of miles or large sums of money to travel in premium class. Of course you don't expect big seats, free baggage, free meals or a choice of multiple flights should a excessive delay occur while flying a LLC but you should be informed properly of delays. Treating customers properly is not just for large airlines and their premium customers. If you buy a chevy and not a BMW don't you still feel you deserve proper service. You don't expect the bells and whistles that a BMW 700 series delivers but you expect decent basic service. So for all you folks that say that's what you get for flying a LLC quit being so elitist. Yes these airlines have to control costs to offer a low fare and no one argues that, but we should not let them have a free pass at not providing basic customer service. In this case basic proper communication directly from the airline (manager or supervisor} and not a contract worker and meal vouchers at the least is what should have been provided.
@Eric @Ivan
I guess you're both traveling exclusively via Etihad's the Residence.
That's exactly the reason I will never board a plane operated by a LCC.
ehhh thats why I avoid any cheap airlines the customers are typically cheap and low end people too
Not all LCC are as bad as this. AirAsia is still a very good LCC. People should just stay about from Scoot. After all, there is a suspicion that when a full-service carrier operates a LCC, it will try an make travelling on LCC a horrible experience so that people will go back to the FSC.
@Adrain singapore is a funny place they ask for/call for the police as though the police are their nannies to wipe their asses. Once a Singaporean man in Johor made a police report coz his fried rice was too spicy, I kid you not. I live in Singapore.. lots of ppl here r F***** in the head. It is what you would expect of people from a communist country like china or north korea or...
@Adrain singapore is a funny place they ask for/call for the police as though the police are their nannies to wipe their asses. Once a Singaporean man in Johor made a police report coz his fried rice was too spicy, I kid you not. I live in Singapore.. lots of ppl here r F***** in the head. It is what you would expect of people from a communist country like china or north korea or some other dictatorship, the sense of entitlement is insane...like coddled 'special' kids.
I recently had the chance to fly with Emirates from Singapore to an Australian city, after managing to obtain a last minute deal that priced it the same as a LCC I was considering. Yes, I had taken Scoot's Perth flight without incident, but this just shows how bad things can get if you happen to be caught in it.
Sadly Scoot is a low cost airline and even its CEO tells passengers that don't expect accommodation during delays. It is your responsibility to buy travel insurance and that is the motto of Scoot. In some ways, I sort of believe that there is a reason why Scoot is called a budget airline. It has no spare plane and runs a tighter schedule. Plus Scoot is now moving from a 777 operator to 787 operator,...
Sadly Scoot is a low cost airline and even its CEO tells passengers that don't expect accommodation during delays. It is your responsibility to buy travel insurance and that is the motto of Scoot. In some ways, I sort of believe that there is a reason why Scoot is called a budget airline. It has no spare plane and runs a tighter schedule. Plus Scoot is now moving from a 777 operator to 787 operator, so this is a tricky time. However, I think once a delay passes a certain point, there just needs to be compensation. This Perth flight was delayed 22 hours and I don't care what type of airlines you are running, you have to compensate the passengers. Plus you need to have a Scoot staff standing there. People are angry but the Scoot team has to tell them Scoot is a budget airline and we don't compensate passengers, even the delays are our own faults. Singapore is Scoot's hub and don't tell me that everyone is SATS (Scoot's handling agent). Plus Singapore is a small city and wake up one of the managers and send him or her to the airport to explain the motto of the airline and to tell them we are a budget airline and our goal is just to take you from Point A to Point B within a reasonable frame of time.
But after started flying more intra-Asian LCCs now, I subscribe to an annual travel insurance plan and if the LCCs offer additional travel insurance that covers me (most intra-Asian LCC insurance plans only offer their own nationals, not foreigners), I will buy it. But Scoot needs to communicate through texts or emails about the most updated time of departure - not rolling delays.
I have been to Singapore and Singaporeans in general are not particularly vocal but when they start to scream and ask for police, they are angry.
With more 787s coming soon, Scoot will go through another phrase of delays like its earlier operation. I hope this time Scoot is smart enough to keep a few spare 777s around till the transition to 787 has completed.
This is the gamble you take when you choose to fly with a LCC: low price means low care-factor when it comes to delays and diversions. Surely the customers realise that when making their purchase decision. Caveat emptor.
This is the time when Citiprestige becomes useful. Just go to all 11 lounges in Changi with the unlimited access with priority pass. 22 hrs will pass by very quickly
People suck. Dealing with the public sucks. You get what you pay for on an LCC.
I used to fly SQ weekly Jakarta Singapore Jakarta. We had a few delays also that were like this. SQ never handled it well. The agents seem powerless to make any decision. I used to write SQ CS and ask for 50,000 Kris miles. I think the most they ever gave me was 7500. I have not heard anything good about Scoot. Avoid at all cost!
@joey no way u gonna be flown on SQ at scoot prices. do not even mention SQ and Scoot in the same sentence they are run separately and SQ will let scoot burn before they do anything about it.
@robbie if this happened on SQ sure.. scoot is run as a totally separate entity by some useless idiot, he created and manages this whole show.. and this is how he runs the airline.. no budget airline provides you with hotels... fat chance...you get what you pay for.
I'm not too familiar with SCOOT but isn't it a low-cost airline? I recall a similar video taken in LAX when Norwegian Air (another low-cost airline) had to postpone a flight for the next day or two.
I agree that the way Scoot handled it was poor but at the same time, I don't know what to expect when flying low-cost airlines.
Given SQ owns Scoot, I would have thought Scoot would reticket these passengers on SQ's flight to PER?
" in which case they should also be obligated to provide hotels for passengers" - LOL. This is Singapore. Rumour has it they are bringing in an oxygen levy soon. There is NO concept of customer service, much less freebies, in this country.
Separately, Scoot is an appalling airline. It speaks volumes when the likes of AirAsia and Jetstar are putting you to shame.
Welcome to budget air travel. :(
These videos are cringe-worthy for being shot in portrait (vertical) orientation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt9zSfinwFA
Clueless.
"a slap in the fact"?
Ain't the first time either:
http://travel.asiaone.com/article/news/scoot-flight-grounded-in-hong-kong-for-more-than-24hrs-due-to-technical-fault
http://www.tnp.sg/news/5-scoot-flights-delayed-passengers-create-commotion-changi-airport
Scoot is wholly owned by Singapore Airlines & the CEO was an SQ lifer. It speaks volumes to SQ group's abysmal contingency planning. There's also an utter lack of leadership & sense of responsibility.
Hashtag LOL