I recently visited a forum where quite a number of its members are SIA PPS (priority passenger service) passengers. These are passengers who had flown a certain number of miles and sectors and are accorded the title PPS by SIA (Singapore Airlines)They enjoy privileges ranging from more check in baggage,spending limitless hours in SIA lounges to being given free tickets etc. They are considered as regular customers and highly valued by the airline.
I have blogged about these passengers earlier on (Oct 2006),about their behaviour towards the airline and the cabin crew. I had also mentioned that these "ugly" PPS were in the minority,thankfully.
My reason for visiting the said forum was because I found through my "active meter" which I installed on my blog that there was a sudden surge of visitors coming from that forum.
A member of that forum found my blog and brought it to the attention of fellow members.The topic they were talking then was "PITA (pain in the arse)PPS passengers from the staff view point".
Many of them were appalled by the behaviuor of fellow PPS and critised them,calling them PITA PPS.
Well, when I came to the forum and introduced myself as the blogger of the "Cocky PPS" article, they welcomed me to the forum and we exchanged views.
Many of the forum participants were nice and gentlemantly toward me except one or two of them.
These few PPS who critisiced and ridiculed me still behaved as though I am still a steward serving them in the airplane.
To cut a long story short,the moderator of the forum felt that I had issued a "rather thinly veiled personal attack" and decided to lock/close the topic.
I reproduced below a copy of the discussion we had in that forum:
A member said "i'm sorry if this post is going to kill the "good vibe" of this thread, but I do believe in an "honesty is the best policy" mantra. Boh tong, I find your blog to be contradictory, salacious, and marginalized tabloid fodder. You make broad generalizations about PPS members in your blog, and write with the spirit of a harlequin romance novelist. Some of the things you write about have not been fact-checked at all: the ghost on the SQ06 flight blog is filled with multiple errors. You also discuss things that are crude and crass and leave much to be desired for an aspiring author. Maybe others here are going to line up and buy your book, but I must admit, that I certainly won't be one of them. Thank you for the sharp change of course you have displayed on the ..... forum- I do wish you would have taken the time to more adequately acknowledge the good PPS customers that make Singapore Air such a special airline, as opposed to just lumping all of them in with a selected minority that believe their card entitles them to behave in a crude and crass way. Unfortunately, the contents of your blog put you on the same level of the people you are criticizing."
My reply:
The SQ 006 post was Not mine.It was picked up from the internet and I post it on my blog so people who are knowledgeable about the SQ006 incident would come out and refute the story. That's my purpose and sure enough there are crew who has pointed out the discrepancies of the story.
I am not going to waste my time arguing with you because you know better than me whether my are stories are true or not.
Read for yourself what is the general opinion of the crew regarding paxs. I am just being frank but I have alway said here and in my blog there are nice paxs and bad ones too. Just like in this forum there are more who are honest and sincere enough to agree with me that one who is like you who said all the unkind things about me.
I do not aspire to be an author otherwise I would get an editor to edit my blog for me. It was just that a publisher had approached me.
My sincere apology to all here but just in case some still think that I am a steward they are Very wrong. SIA may stand for "Sir I Apologise" but Boh Tong( my name) stands for " But Over Here Terrorising's Over N Gone"
But cheers to all those well meaning and courteous ladies and gentlemen of...
Another Passenger member refering to my earlier blog regarding my mention and praises for MM Lee and Mrs.Lee,Billionaire Robert Kuok,Professor Tommy Koh,the late Tun Mustapha,the late ex Chief Minister of S'pore David Marshall and many more whom I personally served when I was with SIA took great offence,has this to say:
"boh tong, i'm just curious as to why, having served these pax with distinction and discretion, you now feel it is appropriate to post, blog and discuss them on the public internet"
"boh tong, what I am suggesting in all seriousness and due respect, is that there was an expectation of privacy and discretion during your time with SQ. Now that you are duly retired, is there a reason why these individuals are no longer accorded their privacy?
To add, some of these individuals you have identified are not celebrities who court publicity. They are merely people who, by virtue of their jobs, actions or financial wealth, you deem as "blog"-worthy.
I personally find that a little troubling.."
My reply:
My apology if you find my revelation of these people's exemplary behaviour "troubling". I meant it as a compliment to these great people and I always believe I rather give them a bouquet now than when they are long gone.
If they are troubled by what I have blogged about them,I am willing to delete that part of my post and apologise to those noble people for having said nice things about them over the net.
The PPS's reply:
"Quite frankly, I don't think the VVIP minister who didn't complain because he didn't get the right newspaper, or the millionaire FCL pax who ate the EYCL meal constitute the "great and exemplary".
I think their names are being used in vain."
My reply:
So my point here is PITA PPS complain at the slightest thing eg. did not get a choice of meals,newspapers,the desired seats or not being addressed by their names and so forth but the VVIPs passengers do NOT.
Here I like to make another point and that is most of the PPS are well behaved passenger and it's only a handful who are the PITA or the "bad apples" who tarnish the good names of the other PPS passengers.
Aren't the topic here is about PITA (Pain In The A***) PPS?
Complimenting a person for a good deed or exemplary behaviour does not constitute to using his name in "vain".Those who do otherwise does.
Looks like my presence here has upset a few people so I am qualified to be a "PITA" too huh?.. except that it stands for Purposely, Intentionally Traumatised Another real PITA....hahaha
With the above reply from me to that PPS, the moderator of the forum had this to say:
"And after that rather thinly veiled personal attack, which is against the ..........., I'm going to close this thread. We thank boh tong for his viewpoints, and all other members for their input and opinions.
The moderators now feel that the discussion has run its course. We encourage those who are interested in commenting further to visit boh tong's website, which has several references in this thread."
PS. ...About my book the passenger mentioned,it was true a publisher had approached me about wanting to put my stories into book form.
My precious readers,what are your thoughts on the above?
8 comments:
These assholes are damn demanding on board and also want to impose on others even when on ground.Who the fucks they think they are? Being valued by SQ does not meaning they can also dish out shit to fellow beings,be they crew or not.
Certainly a mention of those VIP passengers who behaved as gallant passengers was not wrong either.
In this world there are all types of characters ! You can't please them all. Don't get stressed and affected by what they say . We have our own lives to live. They have theirs ! To each it's own.
Lately, there are more obnoxious SPPS (Superior Piority Piece of Shits) and sad to sad to say most are the UGLY S'porean! Demanding pax are challenging for us but rude, unreasonable and verbal abusive pax are a real arseholes from checking in, to the SKlounge,they were seen stuffing into their bags with beer, sandwiches, cup noodles etc except Haegan das icecream!If they did not get what they want they become verbally abusive even using a four letter words to us female staff.All I wish to say is that "Never, never be obnoxious with people handling your food!" We ground staff feels so sorry for the cabin crew as they have to kowtow to these arseholes for the duration of the flight.
So if you are a real PPS please do be gracious like some people with old money and have class.And do believe in Karma.
Damn not only cabin crew kena from these assholes "SPPS" you ground staff also.How can fellow human treat another like that? I agree singaporean are the worst!! Next comes taiwanese,hongkies,ang moh bastards!!!!
Hahaha ... I think all nationalities have their own fair share of these ass holes. Don't forget our Mama friends too. They are no angels. heee :)
Unfortunately because we are a local airline and we meet many of our fellow country men , their ugliness tend to show pretty often. Too bad we are seen as Ugly to many people in and outside of Singapore.
Our Ang Mo friends are no better too. I think life is too good for them in Asia and they tend to treat us like like floor mats. Ask them if they want to go back to where they came from ??? I bet not many will. Most of them are so comfortable. Here in Asia , we pamper and spoil them. Thank god many of them are now treated like locals. Too bad. Have you seen some of their wives on board ?? My gosh !!!! Look at them back at their own homes ???? No different from a maid with kids taggling behind them in supermarkets , shopping malls and in the streets.
Anyway who's to blame ???
These ass holes are everywhere. So just do your job well and move on. No matter how hard you try some of these ass holes will just not be contented. Period !!
Well, the truth sucks..
And after all, SQ is selling dreams..
Dreams of being served gastronomic delights by the sweetests of girls..
Essentially, SQ is just a transport company much like SBS transit, taking people from one point to another.
These SPPS whatever are the ones refusing to wake up.
Maybe this is as close as they get to being "king"..maybe they're henpecked at home?
The ladies amongst them could be rejects in their youth or had their bf "stolen" by crew and are coming back with a vengeance..
So?
Thank goodness for blogspot like these where the real hard facts are being exposed.
After all , in this year and age, there is no longer any privacy.
Privacy is for those with no Facebook.
For the ang mohs, time to get tough on these thieving bast**ds..unfortunately, it's our fault too for falling prey to them easily..
Pinkerton Syndrome.
If a drunk Caucasian finds himself in the ladies toilet, most of the Asian ladies will find him so cute that he's too drunk to know what he's doing..
Try that being a Chinaman, Mamak or Mat.. Someone will speed-dialled 999..
In this world there are good passengers and bad ones, thankfully the bad ones are not many but somehow they tend to leave an indeligible mark on our lives when we were in SQ. Like the time we had this drunkard passenger from New York who was so cheesed off when he was not boarded into the aircraft ahead of the other passengers, mind you that this was the Airbus 345 where all the pax are business-class, one class. He was screaming his head off when the ground staff cvame and told him off, right in front of the crew. She was not rude but merely stated the fact that boarding was by order of priority, that the first being the LPPS, the the SPPS, then the normal PPS and then followed by the Priority pax of our partner airlines and the joker was from our American partner, so he get to board fourth and he was upset, well this is SIA and not some american airlines. he also shouted that he was a 'vice-president' of his company, a chocolate manufacturer you know who..and then we found out that the company he was in had vice president by the dozens, they were merely the managers in their respctive departments...so the big deal. Another passenger, an americanised singaporean had the same problem but after hearing what the ground staff had to say to the other pax, he suddenly had 'no problem at all'....strange eh...the moral of the story is that we must have more ground who are definitely not rude but firm and courageous in their handling of these kind of pax.
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