Stewardess spilt wine on me...

[kapitan]

On my return flight from Manila SQ 917, the stewardess accidentally spilt wine on me. Was so angry, ok I understand that anyone can make a mistake, but what was worst is the way it was being handled by the leading stewardess, in green and the Chief Steward, in blue. I wrote to SQ on with their feedback form and am waiting for their answer, here is my story...

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Dear Sir/Mdm,

I have just got off SQ 917 from Manila and was seated at xxx.

During preparation for landing at Singapore, while collecting used cup from the passenger seated next to me, the stewardess, apparently new, accidentally dropped the cup and spilt red wine on my shirt.

I fully understand the situation and she has apologised profusely for her mistake and tried to rectify by offering to clean my shirt with a wet towel. This would apparently not help in that it was only about 10 minutes to landing.

She thereafter reported to the leading stewardess in charge of the cabin, and she came by, looked at my shirt and mumbled "wine stain" and walked off.

Just prior to landing, the Chief Steward came by and offered a cash voucher, which I refused.

What is maddening is the way the mistake of the junior stewardess is being handled by the more senior crew. The leading stewardess, without apologising to me on behalf of her stewardess, looked at my shirt and mumbled wine stain, apparently to assess how much is suitable to be given in the voucher. The Chief Steward, without explaining the situation of the offering came straight to the point of saying it is cash voucher.

FYG, I am not looking forward to cash compensation, I am not "cheap". The senior crew onboard is adding insult to the injury by what they had done. They should have explained matters to me clearly instead of doing what they had by insulting my integrity.

Kindly revert with your investigation and I would expect a written sincere apology and not some computer generated standard templates that you use to issue.
==============================

Am I being a pita passenger??

What will you have done??

[flo]

in my opinion, and please do not take this as an insult, this is clear pita behavior to me. if you were the stewardess who spilled the wine, you would know you would have made a mistake and you cannot undo what you did. there is compensation, though and she offered to clean it. there wasn't anything more she could do so she reported back to the ls and she would come around without even seeing the scene etc and she was mubling to herself ... perhaps thinking out loudly. imo no big deal. to feel offended by this is okay and declining cash compensation as well. but feeling offended / bribed by them offering cash compensation (and implying they think you are "cheap") feels like a typical overreaction to me. i would never do that and work something out to make the best of the situation.

anyway, as you wanted to hear opinions ... well, this is mine

[MegatopLover]

Yes, PITA behavior. What did you want explained? She spilled wine. Accidents happen. Especially on aircraft in flight. Red wine stains don't come out, unless treated instantly with a special solvent and even then really don't come out completely. At that point, a cash voucher is all they can offer to make you whole. The FSS apologized and you understood what happened. At that point, they've got 10 minutes to landing and lots of other stuff to do to prepare the aircraft for landing. Surely you didn't expect the FSS or LSS or CS to prostrate themselves over spilt wine.

As long as it was sufficent to get a new shirt, I would have taken the voucher.

Please take no offense, but I'd say this is an example of the PITA behavior that the wingnuts on airnutters criticize this board for having.

[KeithMEL]

Whilst it is difficult to form a fair opinion on these sort of situations without hearing both sides of the story, on the facts you've given I too tend to think that the apology and the cash voucher(presumably to cover the cost you'd incur at the dry cleaner's or getting a new shirt) is decent service recovery at a point when the aircraft was ten minutes to landing. I'd have graciously accepted the crew members' attempts to rectify the situation.

[planemad]

After reading the other replies, I must say I commiserate with kapitan. From what he says, it sounds as if the entire matter was poorly handled by the LSS and the CS. What was required really was a simple apology (on behalf of the junior stewardess) and then the offer of restitution, ie the cash voucher. I think that's what kapitan was looking for. A simple apology from the LSS or CS would have unruffled his feathers. Obviously I don't have all the facts of the case, but if it had happened to me as kapitan has described it, I would have been equally miffed too.

[zxcvbn]

I agree, the LS should have somehow apologized instead of just saying 'wine stain'.

However, at 10 minutes to landing, the crew are busy and the safety of the aircraft cannot be compromised with one passenger, and therefore I felt that the service recovery voucher they offered was enough.

My 2c worth

[milehighj]

Trying to look at this objectively - if the senior crew failed to apologise and simply ignored the situation, this would be unacceptable. But they did come with a voucher, which is symbolic of an apology, so I think your position is somewhat unreasonable.

[slacker]

Wat's a cash voucher? Is it a voucher that enable some1 to get cash from somewhere else?

[zvezda]

Wine is not so bad. On three occasions, I've had a baby onboard vomit on me. None of the parents ever offered to pay for dry cleaning.

[tris]

I have a wild suggestion just to lighten the mood here.

will suggest the fs to accompany you to get a new shirt at the airport, bring your stain clothes and hand wash for you and deliver it personally back to your place.

how does that sound for good service recovery? the best part is to get the green kabaya girl to do washing and the blue girl to do the shopping. I know SIA will never agree but this may placate your anger.

[Singapore_Air]

From what it seems from the content and information available the service recovery seems to leave a lot to be desired and the cabin crew were not thinking properly.

It seems clear that Transforming Customer Service was not in action in this particular case.

As a result, I side with Kapitan. It is indeed an unfortunate incident and it was commendable that you made SIA aware of it.

[Tanandika]

I would have to say that is somewhat being a PITA. Although I agree, the LS should have apologized, cash vouchers was offered to you: which is in a way a way of apologizing. Another thing is, why would accepting cash voucher be considered cheap? If the cash voucher would help you get a new shirt as soon as you arrive Changi to avoid you looking ridiculous with wine stain all over your shirt, I don't see that in any way, a cheap behavior.

Having said that, I don't know if anyone knew or have tried this, but if you spill red wine on fabric (carpet, jacket, etc.) and if there isn't any detergent around to clean the stain, immediately pour white wine on the stain, it helps so much better.

Anyways, that's my opinion and thoughts on wine stains...

[astroboy]

On my return flight from Manila SQ 917, the stewardess accidentally spilt wine on me. Was so angry, ok I understand that anyone can make a mistake, but what was worst is the way it was being handled by the leading stewardess, in green and the Chief Steward, in blue. I wrote to SQ on with their feedback form and am waiting for their answer, here is my story...

================================
Dear Sir/Mdm,

I have just got off SQ 917 from Manila and was seated at xxx.

During preparation for landing at Singapore, while collecting used cup from the passenger seated next to me, the stewardess, apparently new, accidentally dropped the cup and spilt red wine on my shirt.

I fully understand the situation and she has apologised profusely for her mistake and tried to rectify by offering to clean my shirt with a wet towel. This would apparently not help in that it was only about 10 minutes to landing.

She thereafter reported to the leading stewardess in charge of the cabin, and she came by, looked at my shirt and mumbled "wine stain" and walked off.

Just prior to landing, the Chief Steward came by and offered a cash voucher, which I refused.

What is maddening is the way the mistake of the junior stewardess is being handled by the more senior crew. The leading stewardess, without apologising to me on behalf of her stewardess, looked at my shirt and mumbled wine stain, apparently to assess how much is suitable to be given in the voucher. The Chief Steward, without explaining the situation of the offering came straight to the point of saying it is cash voucher.

FYG, I am not looking forward to cash compensation, I am not "cheap". The senior crew onboard is adding insult to the injury by what they had done. They should have explained matters to me clearly instead of doing what they had by insulting my integrity.

Kindly revert with your investigation and I would expect a written sincere apology and not some computer generated standard templates that you use to issue.
==============================

Am I being a pita passenger??

What will you have done??

I think the question you need to ask yourself is: Would I have reacted the same way if this had happened on another airline? And only you would know the real answer. If the answer is yes, then you are fully justified in feeling what you feel.

But I have a feeling that if the airline was anyone other than SQ, your umbrage at what happened might have been tempered somewhat. I say this because I have witnessed countless (and I mean countless) occasions where the most trivial of matters would be blown out of proportion if they happened on SQ, but would not have ruffled the slightest feather if on another airline (say UA or QF). Examples: Unavailability of newspapers/magazines, failure of IFE system, etc. Fellow SQTalkers who do travel frequently on other airlines may agree with me.

Which leads me to what I think the argument will be: SQ is a premium airline, so expectations are naturally higher. But why let the environment determine your behaviour? If you are naturally calm in all situations, then no matter the provocation (short of life or death situations), you will not respond irrationally. However, if you are like a leaf in the wind, then you will go wherever the wind blows. As a trainer and counsellor, I often incorporate this lesson in my classes: "Respond, don't react."

To borrow an analogy from a fellow trainer: You reach your favourite coffee-shop and find the carpark full. No other options left except to park illegally on a double-yellow line. No other car is parked illegally so you don't. However, after circling the carpark for 15 minutes, you spot a car parked on the double-yellow line. Would you now follow, or would you still not park illegally? It's a question I often ask my class, and I often get very interesting answers, and they do say a lot about your character.

[astroboy]

Wat's a cash voucher? Is it a voucher that enable some1 to get cash from somewhere else?

I think what he meant was, a Service Recovery Voucher (SRV). It's not exchangeable for cash, but meant for use to purchase inflight items from KrisShop. Depending on the service lapses, the flight time and the class of travel, it can range from USD50 to USD300, if I'm not wrong.

[vincent0720]

Ya, I would be happy to take that if this happened to me.