SIA apologises for 17-hour flight delay that sparked man's viral Facebook rant

One man's online tantrum about a flight delay is taking off — for all the wrong reasons.

Facebook user Deep Roy took to Singapore Airlines' (SIA) Facebook page to post a lengthy rant on Dec 1 after his flight to New Delhi was delayed for 17 hours. 

But what he didn't expect was to get flamed by Singapore netizens instead.

The flight, which had been scheduled to depart Singapore on Nov 29 at 4.25pm was initially delayed due to bad weather, SIA told AsiaOne.

That, however, was just the start of a long string of various delays.

Shortly after push back from the gate at 6.05pm, the flight crew were alerted to a technical issue with the aircraft's braking system and the plane had to return to the gate due to safety reasons. 

Passengers were invited to re-board the aircraft after engineers inspected the aircraft, replaced two components, and ran tests which did not result in any fault indications.

However, just after the aircraft left the gate for the second time, the fault indication display came up once again and the flight crew had to return to the gate.

After SQ406 left the gate for the third time on Nov 30, in a different aircraft, some passengers told the crew that they were unwell and wanted to disembark.

The aircraft then returned to the gate to allow the passengers and their families to leave.

SQ406 eventually took off at 9.23am.

Over the course of the various delays, SIA said passengers were provided with meal vouchers and refreshments. They were also given eyeshades, amenity kits, blankets and sleeping bags, as well as complimentary neck pillows.

In the post, which has since been removed, Roy recounted his "horrible experience" and declared that he would never fly with SIA again.

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156820557797285&set=a.10156820563967285&type=3&theatre[/embed]

He wrote that passengers had to wait for more than one hour without air conditioning in the "terribly hot" aircraft before being asked to disembark.

Roy also complained that affected passengers had to sleep at the airport overnight as they were not provided with accommodation.

Staff from the airline had reportedly said that all hotels were full, which Roy claimed was "a blatant lie".

SIA, however, did not comment on this matter.

Roy also took issue with the fact that passengers were given a "measly" $15 meal credit to spend during the delay and he was upset that the airline staff had refused to serve him the in-flight meals that had been loaded onto the plane.

As a result of the 17-hour delay, he missed his child's award ceremony, Roy added.

Likening the airline's treatment of him to "inhuman torture", Roy ended his tirade by demanding a full refund and an unconditional apology.

SIA later apologised for the delay in a comment, which did little to quell Roy's rage.

Roy then doubled down on his demands for a refund and even accused the airline of unleashing an "army of social media trolls".

But the internet was not on Roy's side.

A majority of commenters criticised him for being entitled and defended the airline for its efforts to ensure passengers' safety.

Others even likened his attitude to Erramalli Ramesh, who made headlines in October for verbally abusing a condominium security officer over a $10 parking fee.

SIA said that it "sincerely apologises" to the passengers affected by the delay and promised that it would review the events that took place over the course of this delay and apply the lessons learnt to improve the service to customers.

It was recently named the second best airline in 2020 by airline safety and product rating review website AirlineRatings, slipping from its place in the top spot and losing the crown to Air New Zealand.

The airline also gained international attention when K-pop superstars BTS sang their praises last month.

kimberlylim@asiaone.com