Stuck on grounded SIA jet for hours with no food

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By Mr Rohit Dawal

The Singapore Airlines flight I was on last Friday remained on the tarmac in Shanghai for five hours, and food was served to economy-class passengers only after take-off.

I was on board SQ835, which was departing Shanghai for Singapore.

At the beginning, the passengers waited patiently for announcements, which were made infrequently.

An hour after the scheduled departure time, an announcement was made that the use of mobile phones would be allowed, but no information about the plane's departure was given.

The passengers were not served any food, but everybody seemed to bear it as they thought the aircraft would take off soon.

But, after four hours, I got a rude shock - while those in business class were being served food, economy-class passengers would have to wait till the aircraft took off.

The passengers raised the issue with the senior steward and other members of the crew, but to no avail.

In fact, they seemed to mock the passengers for raising the matter.

It was finally announced that food would be served, but that happened only after the plane took off at 1.15am. By then, some passengers had already gone to sleep on an empty stomach.

There were children and elderly folk among the economy-class passengers.

I shall not pursue the issue of the five hours spent on board the aircraft while it remained grounded, although there was no real reason given for the delay other than that of traffic.

But the crew were not even sympathetic to the fact that the passengers were hungry.

If the airline takes pride in being the best in the world, the last thing it should do is mock the customers who give it the chance to be the best.