Yesterday (24/5) I flew SIN-MEL on SQ217 (dep 1045), in paid Business. As expected, it was pretty good overall...EXCEPT FOR...
I got to the airport (T3) at about 0830 an checked in as normal, and received a BP showing the departure gate as A14; the checkin agent pointed this out to me verbally and reminded me that no boarding announcements are made in the lounges (old news of course). I adjourned to the SKL and had a leisurely breakfast, and attended to some e-mails and miscellaneous business. While I was in the lounge, I noticed a few announcements concerning other flights and passengers, but nothing that seemed relevant to me.
I observed that there seemed to be not much in the way of departure information in the lounge; in particular, the screen for T3 was never showing any flights earlier than 1130. As SQ are usually pretty punctual, this did not bother me much at the time.
A little after 1000, I left the lounge and headed for gate A14 (a considerable distance needless to say), expecting boarding to start around 1015. I arrived there to find nothing and nobody at all, except for a screen telling me that SQ217 was departing from gate B9 - a long, long way away!!!
Well, after about 10 mins of very brisk walking and travelating, I did get to gate B9 where boarding appeared to be pretty well complete, boarded and collapsed in my seat getting my breath back (and demolishing a considerable quantity of Taittinger in quick time...). I gave the CSM a piece of my mind; she was most apologetic, and I must say I got really great service for the rest of the flight. (As it happened, they gave a "customer survey" form to fill out, which I did with great delight!)
IMHO this is pretty poor; if gate changes are required this close to flight time, after people have checked in, the airline should at least make an effort to alert people, specially at terminals the size of SIN. In my case, it was a fairly safe bet that I would be in the SKL, so I don't think it is too much to ask that they page me there (specially given the dearth of departure info in the lounge).
I got to the airport (T3) at about 0830 an checked in as normal, and received a BP showing the departure gate as A14; the checkin agent pointed this out to me verbally and reminded me that no boarding announcements are made in the lounges (old news of course). I adjourned to the SKL and had a leisurely breakfast, and attended to some e-mails and miscellaneous business. While I was in the lounge, I noticed a few announcements concerning other flights and passengers, but nothing that seemed relevant to me.
I observed that there seemed to be not much in the way of departure information in the lounge; in particular, the screen for T3 was never showing any flights earlier than 1130. As SQ are usually pretty punctual, this did not bother me much at the time.
A little after 1000, I left the lounge and headed for gate A14 (a considerable distance needless to say), expecting boarding to start around 1015. I arrived there to find nothing and nobody at all, except for a screen telling me that SQ217 was departing from gate B9 - a long, long way away!!!
Well, after about 10 mins of very brisk walking and travelating, I did get to gate B9 where boarding appeared to be pretty well complete, boarded and collapsed in my seat getting my breath back (and demolishing a considerable quantity of Taittinger in quick time...). I gave the CSM a piece of my mind; she was most apologetic, and I must say I got really great service for the rest of the flight. (As it happened, they gave a "customer survey" form to fill out, which I did with great delight!)
IMHO this is pretty poor; if gate changes are required this close to flight time, after people have checked in, the airline should at least make an effort to alert people, specially at terminals the size of SIN. In my case, it was a fairly safe bet that I would be in the SKL, so I don't think it is too much to ask that they page me there (specially given the dearth of departure info in the lounge).