JamesA

Lyndie, don't let it go at that!

There are 'published' and I suppose they could be termed official 'Minimum connection times' for transfers between flights, someone recently used a TA in I think California to book with Bangkok Airways from an international to a domestic 'not allowing' for the Minimum connection time at BKK of 2 hours, to make a long story short after being told they would have to pay $200 to change their flight they got full apologies for the 'error' and were able to change without cost.

TheOAG ( Officeial Airline Guide ) though a commercial publication publishes what are you could call 'established' Minimum connection times, at SIN that is quoted as '1 hour'.
You as a passenger are not expected or should not be expected to know such details, a major TA and the airline 'have to know such things'.

I would see if you can find anything on that 'Minimum connection time International to International' on either SQ website or Changi's website.

Don't let it drop!

JamesA

Lyndie:

Go to www.changi.airport.com ( This is the official site of the Civil Aviation Authority / Official Changi Airport site )

Click on 'Sitemap' ( last on right in the black section near the top )

Go to the section " Transit "

Click on " FAQ's for Transit/Transfer passangers"

Go to Question 8 and there you have it that the scheduled arrival time of the incoming flight should be at least 1 hour before the scheduled departure time of your connecting flight.

Remember, although you as a passenger have responsibilities I don't see how on earth SQ can get out of that one. We all knew it was 'tight', I would contact your local SQ office in person.

Good luck.

JamesA

That link should be:

www.changi.airport.com.sg

Interesting that SQ allow that connection yet it goes against what Changi Airport says.

thomjones

Great stories. The mention of paper panties reminded me of my own lost luggage fiasco. It happened about three and half years ago. My wife (girlfriend at the time) and I were spending two months travelling around SE Asia. We had just graduated from university and were near rookies at international travel.

About halfway through our trip, we took a Bangkok Airways from Koh Samui to Singapore. It was a short flight so we didn't put much thought into packing properly. My wife even put a semi-damp bathing suit in her luggage, expecting to air it out a couple of hours later.

When we arrived at Changi, my luggage was fine, but hers was missing. Over the next couple days we rode the MRT back and forth to the airport trying to sort things out. We eventually managed to get $80 SGD in compensation for our troubles, which didn't help much.

My wife resorted to paper panties as well and we spent much of our time in Singapore shopping for cheap clothes.

While we waited for news, we even managed to spend a week in Kuala Lumpur. It was two weeks later when we finally got her luggage back. Apparently, her bag had quite a journey on a flight to Germany.

As I'm sure you guessed, the swimsuit and much of her clothes didn't survive.

Lyndie

Thanks a lot James for the support and the info! I intend pursuing the matter further. I'm am so cheesed off (read another word commencing with p) at both Sing Air & zuji's attitude. Damn them both, I say. And thomjones-thanks for sharing the story. I do realise stuff like this happens but it ain't good enough for Sing Air & zuji to think I'm going to lie down & accept it! All the best!

Guenmai

Yes, pursue! Coming back from my Ghana-Milan-Atlanta-L.A. flight in Jan 2005, Delta lost my luggage for 12 days between Atlanta and L.A. I picked up my luggage in Atlanta to clear customs and then rechecked it and it didn't arrive L.A. I went to the customer service office at the airport in L.A. and was given a claim number and told to call the next day. My mom called for me...I do have to work...only to find out that the claim number I had been given had been assigned to someone else...therefore technically I didn't exist. It took daily calls of at least an hour on hold before anyone would come on the line only to tell me they had no idea where the luggage was. Finally on the 12th day,I saw my luggage again. This was on the same trip that on the way to Ghana, after arriving in Milan around 7AM,I was told that no flight existed, that day, on to Ghana although I was holding a ticket for a flight for around 3PM and my luggage had been tagged in L.A. to go on to Ghana. So Delta had issued me a ticket on a non-existant flight and I had called a few times to reconfirm the flight and was told everything was in order. So there I stood starnded in the airport in Mialn in -2 degree celcius weather wearing khakis and being told that it wasn't Alitalia's responsibility...the airline that I was to go to Ghana on....to put me up in a hotel. Finally hours later...persistance... Delta put me up in a hotel, but instead of just putting me on the next day's flight...from Milan to Ghana... in Business class or First class...had I not been through enough...they had me fly to Amsterdam where I had to sit for hours in the airport there....before boarding a KLM flight to Ghana. It was a REAL frustrating headache. Then to come home and have to deal with the lost luggage situation on top of that. Well, I got my pen out....and started drafting a letter....I'm very good at writing these types of letters....lots of practice....and sent three copies to both Delta customer service and to the luggage department. I never only mail out one letter...in case it gets lost in the mail or gets read and thrown out.So, weeks went by....then one morning I got up and there was a message on my answering machine from some Delta official saying that he had read my 4-page....two-sided letter of complaint and that frequent flyer miles had been deposited into my account. It was enough added to the account...along with the miles I had in there... for a free economy-class ticket to Europe.It was a very substantial amount of miles that I was rewarded. Then weeks later, I got a monetary voucher from the luggage division of Delta to fly anywhere Delta flies. I don't give up very easily. Fight to the end! Happy Travels!

hawaiiantraveler

Guenmai:
WOW....the flights from hell. I could hear your voice as I read your story. Some people just don't know who they are messing with "Fight to the end"... I LOVE IT!!
Aloha!

Guenmai

Yep...Hawaiiantraveller...it was not a pleasant experience.Plus, in Milan, my luggage was lost for some hours. It didn't come down the carousel. Remember, L.A. had checked it through to Ghana so it was probably sitting in a storage area at the Milan airport waiting to be put on the Milan-Ghana flight the next day...the one that I wasn't going to be on. Finally after having to get very dramatic, Milan found my luggage. Because of all this drama, I fought to the end...as far as getting put up in a hotel... and in Milan, the Delta reservationist finally sent a private driver to the airport to drive me to the hotel. I went outside to look for a car with a driver when I noticed an entire bus had been sent for me. I was the only passenger on a bus that drove me through a forest, near the airport, where the hotel was. When I got to the hotel, I spoke with the chef and put in my food order of exactly what I wanted to eat. I told them I'd go take a nap and to call me when my food was ready. I went down to the diningroom and everything was ready. I had a wonderful meal and my own private waiter.There was a business group having a birthday party at the tables next to me and they even brought over a piece of cake for me. I guess they could see how exhausted and stressed out I was. I told the restaurant staff the story of my fiasco and they all laughed and just shook their heads in disgust over the treatment that I had gotten from Alitalia.While at the hotel,the manager of the hotel asked me to help him out with some English in a correspondence that he had to send somewhere. In return I got free laptop computer useage.I also called Ghana to tell them not to send my driver to the airport for me since I wouldn't be there. And I had to get the hotel to hold my room. It was Christmas time and if I'd lost that room, I'd have ended up sleeping outside with the monster lizards. The next morning,at the hotel outside of Milan, I was the only person in the diningroom as it was VERY early. The staff fixed me some breakfast and wrapped me up a take-out lunch and wished me well and GOOD LUCK on the rest of my trip. Then my private driver arrived...this time in a car...and drove me back to the airport where I caught my flight to Amsterdam. It was FREEZING cold. There I stood again in khakis and a pullover cashmere sweater...freezing to death. The trees in the forest, across the street from the hotel, were covered with ice. I don't do cold weather!I'm a Californian with a capital,"C". Oh, I had the whole bill sent over to Delta. Smiles. Happy Travels!

Lyndie

Guenmai-I could feel the cold you were feeling from your description! What an absolutely awful string of events, all because an airline could not be bothered doing what they were contracted to do. i.e. move you and your luggage safely, promptly & efficiently! Thanks for sharing that amazing story!

I sent a very curt (read acidic) email to Singapore Airlines yesterday. I await their reply and they need not think I'll ever stop bagging them until they admit they sold us tickets without a hope in hell of having our luggage on the same flight as we were and offering us suitable compensation.

It's plain dishonest and disgraceful business practice and I'm a very patient, tenacious woman, so I'll just see what they do/say!

All the very best to all here who added their wonderful input and I hope all your travels are happy ones.

I'm just about to book a Cathay flight from Bangkok to Colombo as we loved Sri Lanka so much and intend to tack a flight over there on to our Syd/BKK flight in December. India is fabulous but Sri Lanka is better!

Guenmai

Good for you. Keep up the fight! HAppy Travels!

Lyndie

Singapore Airlines finally responded to my email of 7 days ago. They say they will investigate the issues I raised, most importantly selling a tciket with an unattainable luggage transfer time.

I await the results of their investigations with bated breath!

Guenmai

Keep us posted ! Happy Travels!

Lyndie

Will do, Guenmai. Travel and be happy, yourself!