Singaporeans are certainly known for having very high service expectations. The perfect example of that is how critical many locals are of their national airline, Singapore Airlines, which is unarguably one of the highest quality carriers in the world.
Along those lines, a Singaporean TikToker’s rant is going viral, where she shared what she claimed was one of her “worst flight experiences” ever, where she was “lectured” by the crew. So, what exactly happened?
Singaporean who doesn’t eat beef “lectured”
A Singaporean shared one of her “worst flight experiences ever,” as she traveled with Taiwan’s China Airlines from Taipei (TPE) to Singapore (SIN). To summarize:
- She was seated in the last row of the plane, and was the last to be offered a meal, and they “naturally did not have any choice left” with what to eat
- The only remaining meal choice was beef, but this woman doesn’t eat beef for religious reasons, so she said “no,” and the flight attendant “had such a sh*tty face or pissed off face”
- The manager for the flight “came barreling down and got in our faces, and said that ‘in future if you don’t take beef, remember to go and pre-order in the website’”
- 15-20 minutes later, another flight attendant showed up with another meal choice, saying “this is not usually available,” as she was handed a crew meal; the passenger described this as unnecessary, and intended to make her feel gaslit
- This woman was then “pissed off lah, like who are you to kind of lecture us about what we should and should not be doing”
I am confused and amused by this drama
I’ve gotta say, on the one hand, this woman came across as rather personable and reasonable. She even acknowledged that “naturally” there’s no choice left when you’re seated in the last row, which is a very rational perspective.
On the other hand, I can’t even begin to make sense of her perspective. To recap:
- The flight attendant “had such a sh*tty face” when she said she doesn’t eat beef, and they realized they had no meals for her; maybe they were just empathizing with her, and felt bad that they had no food for her?
- The flight manager “came barreling down,” “got in our faces,” and reminded them that in the future, it could make sense to order a special meal on the website; to me, it seems like good customer service to explain to passengers how they can avoid a similar issue in the future
- A crew member graciously gave up their meal so that the passenger could have a non-beef dish, and informing her that this isn’t usually available made her feel gaslit?!
- Then this all finished with her commenting “who are you to kind of lecture us about what we should and should not be doing,” which… I’m just speechless at this point?
Quite honestly, if she has this much to complain about on a fairly short flight with a full service airline within Asia, I’d pay good money to hear her take on the domestic flying experience in the United States!
Bottom line
A Singaporean woman traveled on China Airlines from Taipei to Singapore in the last row, and the airline only had beef available for the inflight meal. She doesn’t eat beef, which is fair enough. However, she felt insulted when the crew suggested she pre-order her meal next time. Then when she was offered a crew meal because the crew felt bad for her, she felt “gaslit,” because the crew shouldn’t have even told her it was a crew meal.
What do you make of this China Airlines complaint?
