I am shocked that a man being denied water onboard a flight is making national headlines. Of course he was denied a glass of water…it is part of the business model.
Gene Goh was flying Scoot, the low cost subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, and thirsty. He asked FAs for a glass of water and they offered to sell him a bottle water. He declined and one FA offered him a cup of ice, telling him to wait for it melt into water.
Now in most circumstances, that strikes me as very generous. The very concept of Scoot is like Spirit Airlines…low base fares, but you’ll pay for virtually everything else on a la carte basis. And while I do not personally like that concept, I do not see an inherent problem with it. Nor do I see a need for regulation mandating free food and water, except during a delay. There was a delay here.
Budget carriers are not a new concept. I believe consumers should be responsible for finding out what service is offered onboard and preparing accordingly, which leads us to our next issue.
I’m all for airlines selling drinks and snacks onboard…if that is their business model…provided that consumers are free to bring their own food onboard. On Scoot, consumers are flatly prohibited from bringing their own food onboard:
Alcohol is one thing, but all food and drink is quite another. That’s an absurd restriction that I wholly oppose. Unfortunately for Scoot passengers, the fact that security checks take place at the gate at Singapore Changi (SIN) make buying water and sneaking it onboard rather difficult…
CONCLUSION
The story here is not that Goh was denied water or even the generosity of the FA that gave him a cup of ice. Instead, the story is Scoot’s unreasonably policy of prohibiting passengers from bringing any food and drink onboard.
image: Scoot 9Y-OJC / Wikimedia Commons
I’m not sure if u realized but he did write that his flight was delayed
Matthew, you say that you don’t see the “need for regulation mandating free food and water, except during a delay.” But that’s the thing: the flight *was* delayed.
I’ve made that clearer.
Despite the fact that the flight was indeed delayed, I feel as though water is a basic necessity that should be regulated on all airlines. Its purely a safety concern for the passengers on board.
No the problem is in todays society that something like this would blow up online and become a story. If he wanted some water that badly just buy it from them.
Guy has snowflake written all over him. ME ME ME
Never fly Scoot. Simple as that. I would never fly an airline that has such stupid restriction. That is why there are options out there.
Never fly any other discount airlines either?
“Unfortunately for Scoot passengers, the fact that security checks take place at the gate at Singapore Changi (SIN) make buying water and sneaking it on board rather difficult…”
Not sure if you’ve flown through Changi, but they actually make it very easy for passengers to get water post-gate security. Each gate area has its own water fountain, allowing passengers to refill their empty water bottle prior to boarding, post-security. This passenger should have filled up his water bottle prior to his flight. I have never had Scoot deny me my own water bottle on board.
I concur on your experience.
I’ve been on numerous bus rides all over the world that don’t provide free water (among myriad other things) to passengers. Sure, busses might stop every few hours, but I don’t see how that is materially different than a flight on Scoot. At least onboard Scoot the cabin is climate controlled and you have a guarantee that you won’t be seated next to an animal.
Care to guess what’s the typical cabin humidity whilst airborne?
The core issue is one that neoliberal economies across the world deal with – opacity versus clarity across people of all spectrums of abilities and temperaments.
I have no problem flying Scoot (or perusing blogs powered by affiliate business models), but I’m the type of person who likes to go in knowing what to expect.
On the other hand, each one of us can name a friend or family member who you would probably not want to handle those kinds of details on your behalf.
ADP, you can go in knowing what to expect, as Matthew elucidated by their T&Cs, no outside F&B… that’s very clear. Low cost=pay for everything.
The ticket was probably 20USD… to fly on a plane. Break out the extra 2USD, drink your water, and move along.
We can’t have both incredibly cheap fares and every creature comfort (and yes, on a short flight, water is a creature comfort).
He’s got a nice enough phone and a data plane to post photos. I’m sure he could afford $2 for a bottle of water.
I used to fly Scoot a fair bit between SIN and SYD. Security at the gate in SIN are never going to prevent you from bringing food on board, and you can refill a water bottle once inside the gate. I never had a problem with eating my food onboard, although I was probably discreet about it. That being said, there’s zero percent chance that I’d let the crew take my food away if they tried. I don’t think they’d do anything if you simply say you’ll put it back in your bag…
From an article I read a few months ago I understand that so-called tap water, ie water from the plane’s storage tanks, is used for the preparation of hot beverages such as coffee and tea but is unsafe to drink without prior boiling because of high microbial contamination. The ice cubes loded onto planes, on the other hand, are made from potable water and the water from this melted ice is safe to drink.
Here is a link to an article about unsafe tap water on planes:
http://time.com/4978498/airline-drinking-water-bacteria/
The flight attendant did this passenger a favour by serving him free ice instead.
There are legit medical conditions that require drinking more water than a healthy person (either because of a diuretic medication being taken or other reason). Therefore, by forcing people to buy water you are effectively creating a medically discriminatory environment where certain people with medical conditions will be charged more. This is precisely why anti-discrimination legislation precludes businesses from charging more for disabled patrons to use a wheelchair ramp or have an accessible hotel room. Water is a basic necessity of life and to charge for it in an environment where passengers are captive over long periods (Scoot flies long-haul) is outrageous. Scoot should provide free water when asked, but then to also force them to buy water onboard instead of at the airport is doubly outrageous. I could see this being a case that could be won in a U.S. court, but doubtful in a Singaporean court as I don’t thing SG has ADA style legislation.
I do struggle to understand when I read stories like this why people fly a low-cost airline, then complain about poor service or having to pay for any extras. We have these stories all the time in the UK with Ryanair “I wanted to check-in a bag and I was charged £ 40!!!!” and so on.
The “no outside f&b” rule does seem unnecessarily cruel, but sorry, you fly a low-cost airline, then you have to expect rubbish customer care. You can’t expect a cheap ticket and full service.
I had a similar experience recently during a 7.5 hour Scoot flight. Tried to buy water with Aus dollars, but they wouldn’t accept coins; tried with US dollars, but they wouldn’t accept $100 bills; tried with my card, but they wouldn’t accept debit cards. The flight attendant just smiled and said ‘sorry’, so I had no water for the trip from Singapore to Australia.