My official complaint letter to SILK AIR

Dear Sir

The purpose of this letter is to make a fomal complaint against SILK Air and your staff.
This flight has been one of the worst experiences ever.

I was meant to take the MI337 6.15pm flight from KL- Singapore on October 4, 2009 with my colleague. Not only was the flight delayed for 4 hours and 15 minutes, the passengers were not given ANY UPDATES at all throught the entire period. Listed below is the chronology of events that would make any normal passenger's blood boil.

1) At 6.15, we were told that the flight was to be delayed to 6.30. At 6.30 we were told to wait till 7.30pm. After that there were totally no more announcements on the status of the flight until boarding time at 10.30pm.

2) At 8pm, we were told to go and have a meal and come back sharp at 9 pm as the airport staff have absolutely no clue of what's happening and airline staff were no where to be found. They promised that by 9pm, we would get an update of the flight status.

3) We were told at 8pm that the engineering staff could not be located and thus, checks to airplane have not begun. Airline staff have been contacted and would be up to answer our queries shortly. A refreshment voucher worth RM10 was given to each customer for either a meal at Delifrance or Burger King. We all very well know that you can barely get anything decent in KLIA for less than RM10.

4) At 9pm, we were told by airport staff that they are still unsure if we are able to take the 9.45pm flight to Singapore. An airline personnel by the name of Dexter finally showed up but he did not have any updates either and told us to refer to the Senior Manager, a lady whom I did not get her name. She vanished 10 minutes later and never came back. Airport staff promised by 9.15 pm we would get our updates on whether we would be flying off that night or the airline would arrange for accomodation for us for the night.

5) Many frustrated passengers at this time were already getting impatient and wanted answers from Mr Dexter. However, I am not sure if he was hard of hearing or just plain rude, he chose to ignore more of our questions and I have heard many passengers asking for his name to lodge an official complaint about his unbecoming behaviour and this level of customer service.

6)9.20pm and still no answers. I informed Dexter that we were not going to wait anymore and would prefer to take the first flight out on October 5th instead of waiting in vain as there were no updates from the airline still at this point (many other passengers have directly called SILK AIR just to be told ' please wait for further advice'). He told us that he would get back to us within a minute to arrange for alternatives for us BUT HE JUST DISAPPEARED AND NEVER CAME BACK UNTIL WE BOARDED AT 10.30pm. We later saw him sitting down right below the plane on the runway doing nothing (we have taken a photo of him as proof, if you would like ,we will gladly attach this picture). How much more ridiculous can you get?

7) Airport staff also informed us that they have tried to contact engineering staff, who were now working in the aircraft but to no avail as NOBODY WAS PICKING UP THE PHONE AND NOBODY FROM THE AIRLINE COULD BE CONTACTED. This is seriously irresponsible and ridiculous for an airline of your standards.

8) We were told that we were unable to get on the other flights to Singapore as priority would be given to business class and PPS club members. However, at 9.20pm , there were 5 seats available and a Japanese man travelling with 3 other companions shouted to the lady over the counter (airport staff) that he wanted the other 4 seats and he was immediately booked on that flight. Another lady with 2 other companions then questioned this desicion to put the Japanese man and not the others as it was already stressed that passengers with PPS cards and business class would be given TOP PRIORITY.

We are indeed very disappointed and angered by this event and I hope that you will have a proper explanation and apology for the passengers who were on board MI 337 on October 4th 2009 - the RM10 dollars refreshment CANNOT BE REGARDED AS A COMPENSATION FOR THE 4 hours and 15 minutes delay. The lack of communication between the airline and airport staff has not only caused inconvenience to passengers but also wasted a lot of our time. I left my house at 4.15 pm for the 6.15pm flight and only stepped out of Singapore Changi Airport at 12.00am. The time it has taken me, I could have just driven down at the comfort of my own car rather than be stuck in the airport with a bunch of totally imcompetent and unprofessional airline staff.

I look forward to your explanation on this matter or you can rest assure that neither myself, nor family or friends would be encouraged to take SILK AIR in future.

** OK must let Mr Jimmy Lai/ Mr Yellow Chimp do some england and grammar correcting before I send this off!**

Let's wait for their reply! tsk tsk. Oh and BTW, when we boarded the plane, just before it took off, we were informed by the pilot that the flight was delayed as lightning had struck the plane when it was on the way to KLIA from Singapore and checks had to be done according to airline standards.