Howard Ong

Jan 20, 2022

Very poor customer service. Book with other airlines.

The Singapore Government provides COVID quarantine-free entry into Singapore called VTL (Vaccinated Travel Lane). My family is planning a quarantine-free trip to Singapore. I booked a VTL flight into Singapore with Singapore Airlines. Days later, the airline redesignated the flight as non-VTL without telling me. That means travellers on this flight no longer enjoy quarantine-free entry. I called the helpline. After waiting for more than an hour, my call was answered by someone called Mendoza. All I was asking for is to change my flight to another flight on the same day operated by its sister airline Scoot, which is a VTL flight. He told me that the flight I booked was never a VTL flight and rejected my request. I told him I have a booking confirmation from Singapore Airlines indicating that it was a VTL flight when I booked. He said he has proof otherwise, effectively accusing me of lying. I asked for a transcript of the call confirming what he told me. No, it is against company policy. How about just a simple email. Can't do that. Can I speak to a supervisor. No, there is no supervisor around. I then went to Singapore Airline web site /request.form to request a refund. Rejected again: "We regret that we are unable to process your request as your booking is not covered under our travel waiver policy." So I made a new booking with Scoot Airline directly while trying to sort out a refund with Singapore Airlines another way. Then, a day later, Singapore Airlines changed the flight back to a VTL flight! I now have 2 VTL bookings for the same trip. I called Scoot helpline. The staff was very helpful and friendly (what a contrast). Tried to help but it is out of her hand. So I called Singapore Airline again and spoke to someone called Ryan. He reject my request for a full refund. He said it is because of a change in my Government's policy that Singapore Airlines changed the flight from VTL to non-VTL and back to VTL. As far as Singapore Airlines is concerned, it is VTL now so you can fly. If you book another flight during the non-VTL period, that's your problem. Just to be clear, there was never been a change in Government policy that triggered the change. Once again, Singapore Airlines is being unhelpful. Once again, it is relying on invented facts to justify its high-handed approach to customer services. Book with another airline - one that treats you like a customer. P.S. All the above happened *before* the Western Australian Government's border closure announcement on 20 Jan 2022.