Silk Thread

Hopefully, this is the last word on the Silk Air fiasco.  

After stewing over the S$30 gift voucher I decided I wasn't going to leave it there so I wrote to them again and told then that the voucher was derisory and insulting, and that I intended to pursue the matter further.  To this end I asked to be given the name of the person in Silk Air who was in charge of dealing with complaints (I nearly called it Customer Care!).

Lo and behold, within a few hours I had a phone call from Silk Air in Singapore.  Being somewhat caught on the hop I told them I was in a meeting and asked them to call me back, thereby giving me a moment to consider just exactly what it was I wanted to say.

The next morning they called again.  I spoke to the manager of customer relations who was very, very apologetic.  It's difficult and somewhat pointless raging at an individual of a big international company: it's not individuals or employees that make the rules.  What I really wanted was the person in charge - someone I could really get stuck into and vent my frustration and anger at regarding their shoddy attitude and service.  But this just doesn't happen.  Those people are nearly always remote from the public they're supposed to serve and I think that goes a long way to explain the incredibly bad decisions that some corporations or businesses make.

The final outcome is that I will have the whole cost of the flight reimbursed, and the 'no-show' and cancellation fees will be waived.   In addition, the S$30 voucher, which the girl from Silk Air took great delight in explained to me was actually US$30 (whoopy-whoo, I might be able to stretch to 2 Toblerones) would be doubled to US$60.

I suppose having the flight reimbursed and being given a couple of vouchers was about all I expected to get but having had to fight for them for so long and so hard really takes the edge off it.