Life as a Young and New Flight Steward continues...

The job of a flight steward (sometimes known as flight attendant) had its advantages and disadvantages. It was the same for the girls except they did not stay on long. They had one 5 year contract and it was non renewable. Later on, in the late 1970s the stewardess's contract was renewable for another 5 years. By the 1980s,a flight stewardess with SIA could work up to 15 years. The flight steward retirement age was 45 and with good work and medical records, could work up to age 50 and later to 55.
So you can see from the above,the flight stewardesses did not stay on long. They would leave after the first or second contract to start a new career or family.
A new steward like me when I first started off, had been bullied by the senior crew. It was a norm then. We had to stomach all the cursing and swearing. One of my contemporaries had a coupe plate thrown at him.Another,was kicked in his butt by a chief steward for not chilling the fresh fruits in the first class section (today,he is the owner of some movie link company and drives around in a Jag)A junior stewardess was slapped on her face by another senior girl for being slow in her work. Yet another one had her ear pulled.
When we complained to the office, we were told to quit if we can't tolerate such things. Today,SIA would not condone these rough tactics and would take actions against such senior crew. It's the soft approach that SIA cabin crew advocate, like reporting and counselling the junior crew.
Well,in spite of all the rough treatments,I persevered. Some gave up and threw in the towel by resigning.
One good thing about these senior crew was that most of them would treat you better and as buddies,once you were able to accept their ways. From then on, you would be able to enjoy your work.
Personally,I think those tough treatments were good. They made "steel" out of us and we could weather rougher storms ahead in life.
Today,the crew are more pampered and protected. Some even had the audacity to fix up the senior crew. They are less disciplined in almost every aspect. For example, in those days,you would hardly find male SIA cabin crew without their uniform jackets on. Today, it's not uncommon to see them walking around the airport areas without their jackets. Some even "sling" their jackets over their shoulders like cowboys.....to be continued.

Important Annoucement.

SIA is recruiting Local Flight Stewards and Stewardesses.
Click here for details.

SIA's last commercial by Batey ?

SIA Commercial by Batey Ads.

Back by popular demand.

Who says there are no good cabin crew in SIA?

SIA Cabin Crew Charity Gala. At the 4th SIA Cabin Crew Charity Gala, enthusiastic SIA staff and. corporate partners raised a total of $746000 for Asian..Click here for more.

As part of its 50th anniversary celebrations, the Airline contributed S$4 million to the Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS), to help fund the construction of a new headquarters and sheltered workshop which provides employment for up to 400 intellectually disabled members. The facility was completed in 2000, and officially opened by the President of Singapore, Mr S R Nathan.
The Cabin Crew Club for Community Care or 5Cs, founded in May 2001, annually organizes various activities and outings for residents of the Asian Women's Welfare Association (AWWA) Community Home and students of Chao Yang Special School on a regular basis. Made up of volunteers from our cabin crew and ground staff, the club initiated a six-month programme to feed as well as to improve the learning and teaching conditions in two schools in Bohol in the Philippines in June 2005.
Today, the Airline continues to contribute to charities, community development programmes, philanthropic and promotional events aimed at supporting those causes, both locally as well as abroad.

Who says there are no good cabin crew in SIA?

Thursday, December 29, 2005
SIA cabin crew: uplifting lives in Bohol

In God’s Little Paradise known as the island of Bohol, 26 members of over a thousand-member volunteer group took everyone’s spirit 30,000 feet above sea level in a three-day mission of the Cabin Crew Club for Community Care (5Cs) through its Reach Out Programme by Employees of Singapore Airlines (Ropes), the first outside of Singapore.

With the aim of improving student performance and providing a more conducive learning environment, the 5Cs conducted a deworming mission and committed to a one-year feeding program benefiting 282 Grades 1 and 2 students of Booy Main (BM) and Eastern Cogon Public Elementary Schools.

They also refurbished the physical set-up of both schools where they transformed old school rooms into library, dining and activity rooms with a landscaped garden. The 5Cs brought in materials from Singapore and sourced out some from Bohol in refurbishing the rooms. Click here for more

Airline Abbreviations ( Funny and to be meant as a joke)

Airline Abbreviations
AA (American Airlines): 1. Always Awful
2. Abort! Abort!
AI (Air India): Allah Informed

Alitalia: 1. Always Late In Takeoff/ Transit; Always Late In Arrival
2. Air Line In Tokyo And Luggage In Amsterdam
3. Airplane Landed In Tokyo And Luggage In Atlanta
4. A Little Italian Tit And Lotsa Italian Ass 5. A Little Italian Tradition And Lotsa Italian Attitude

American: 1. A Miracle Each Rider Is Currently Alive Now
2. Airline Meals Eaten Regularly Induces Cramps And Nausea

AUA: Almost Unknown Airline
AWA: Always Wasting Assets

BA: 1. Bloody Awful
2. British Apoplectic

BEA: Better Eat Afterwards
BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corp.): 1. Better- Off On A Camel
2. Bloody, Old And Careless
3. Better On A Camel
4. Blast Off And Crash

Boeing: Broken Off Engines In Numerous Gardens

BWIA:
1. Baggage Wandering In Africa
2. Better Walk If you're Able
3. Born to Wait In Airports
4. But Will I Arrive?

CA (China Airlines): Choose Another
CAAC (Chinese Aviation Airline Company):
1. Chinese Airlines Always Cancel
2. China Airlines Always Crashes

CAI (Canadian Airlines International):
1. Crash And Ignite
2. Call Ambulance Immediately
3. Circle Airport Indefinitely
4. Cruise Above Iceland
5. Cancel Alaskan Itinerary
6. Call Attendants " Idiots"
7. Check All Items
8. Co-pilots Are Imbeciles
9. Casual Atmosphere Inside

CPA (Canadian Airlines International): Can't Promise Anything

Dan Air: Dangerous And Nearly Always Incredibly Rough

DELTA: 1. Doesn't Even/ Ever Leave The Airport
2. Don't Even Let Them Aboard
3. Departing Even Later Than Anticipated
4. Damaged Engines Limit Take-off Ability
5. Departures Extra- Late, Tardy Arrivals
6. Directed Everybody's Luggage To Atlanta
7. Doesn't Ever Let Terrorists Aboard
8. Doesn't Experiences Like This Andrenalize?
9. Drunken Engineers Land Too Abruptly

EAA: Even Apes Aviate
EAL (Eastern): Eastern's Always Late

El Al: 1. Egyptian Louting Arab Loathing
2. Every Landing Always Late/ Lousy
3. Everyones Luggage Always Lost

Finnair: Flies Ideally? Nah, Not Airborne In Reality

JAL: Journey Always Late

JAT (Yugoslav Airlines): Joke About Time

LOT (Polish Airlines): 1. Last One There
2. Luggage On Tarmac (wave bye bye!)
3. Lots Of Trouble

Liat: 1. Luggage Is Always Tardy
2. Lost Inbetween Antigua and Trinidad
3. Leave Island Any Time

LUFTHANSA: 1. Let Us Fuck The Horses, Are No Stewardesses Available?
2. Let Us Fiddle The Hostess And Not Say Anything
3. Let Us Fuck The Hostess And Never See Again

Northwest: Nobody Out Ranks This Horrid, Worthless,Excruciatingly Sluggish Transport

Olympic: Onassis Likes Your Money Paid In Cash

PA (Philippine Airways): Please Avoid PAL (Philippine Airlines):
Philippines/ Plane Always Late

PAN AM: 1. Plan On Arriving Nervewracked And Mad
2. Passengers Always Need A Mortician
3. Pilots Are Not A Must
4. Poor Airline Needs Any Money

PIA (Pakistan International Airlines):
1. Please Inform Allah
2. Panic In Air
3. Perhaps I Arrive
4. Passenger's Illegal Abductor

PSA: Paul's Saturday Airline

PWA: 1. Pete's Wobbly Airline 2. Piddly Widdly Airline 3. Please Wait Awhile

Qantas:
1. Queer And Nasty Types As Stewards
2. Queasy And Nauseous, Tired And Sick
3. Queers And Nymphomaniacs Trained As Stewards
4. Quick And Nasty Transportation, Australian Style
5. Quite A Neat Trick, Arriving Safely
6. Quite A Nice Trip, Any Survivors?
7. Quits Air-travel, Next Time Approaches Ship

Sabena (Belgium): Such A Bad/ Bloody Experience, Never Again

SAHSA (Servicio Aero Honduras SA): Stay At Home, Stay Alive

SAS (Scandinavian Airline System):
1. Sweet And Sexy
2. Sex And Service
3. Service After Sex
4. Sex And Satisfaction
5. Such A S***

SIA (Singapore International Airlines):
1. So Incredible, Aah
2. Sex In the Air
3. Singapore Imitates America

TACA: 1. Take- A- Chance Airline
2. Take Another Carrier Always
3. Take A Coffin Along
4. Tome Alcohol Cuanda Aborda

TAP (Portuguese Airlines):
1. Take Another Plane
2. Take A Parachute

Thy: They Hate You

TWA (Transworld Airlines):
1. Travel Without Arrival
2. Try Walking, Asshole
3. Try Walking Again/ Across
4. The Worst Airline
5. Took Wrong Airline
6. Try Walking Across (transatlantic perspective)
7. Travel With Arabs
8. Terrorist Welcome Aboard
9. Terrorists With Arms
10. Teenie Weenie Airlines
11. Traveling Without Air
12. Tiny Wings Aflappin'!!!
13. That Was Accidental
14. That Was Awful
15. Try With Another
16. Today's Worst Airline
17. Tomorrow We'll Arrive
18. Tomorrow's Widebody Accident
19. Totally Wasted Airlines

United:)
1. U Need Insurance That Exempts Death
2. Usually Not Enclined To Eliminate Disasters

USAir (formerly Allegheny Airlines):
1. Unfortunately, Still Alleghany In Reality
2. Underwater Seats Available In Rear

Uta:
1. Unlikely To Arrive
2. Unable To Ascend

Varig: Virgin's Are Rare In Glasgow

Virgin: Very Interesting Ride; Going Into Nymphos

Life as a Young and New Flight Steward.

It was a long time ago when I became a flight steward. I was in my early twenties then and to be a cabin crew with such a well known airline like MSA ( Malaysia Singapore Airlines), the predeccesor of SIA , was a big deal.
With an equivilent of an O level education ( Senior Cambridge Exam),one could be a police inspector, a school teacher, an army officer,a civil servant, a nurse or even a pilot. But I chose to be a flight steward.
To be an air steward or stewardess was better,at least in my opinion, than the others. The take home salary was double that of a teacher or a police inspector.
Of course being a pilot was even better but one has to be a science student.
When I first arrived at the cabin crew training department ( it was a little office at Paya Lebar Airport), I was astonished to see more than a dozen sporty cars parked along the road, next to the three storey MSA catering building.
The cabin crew office with a few staff was housed in that building.
Those flashy cars like BMW,Mercedes Benz,Jaguars, Alfa Romeo etc. etc., I found out later on,belonged to the cabin crew. The Japanese cars were not as popular or classy and they were much cheaper than the European made brands.
The cabin crew with a salary range of between $500 and $800 could live quite
comfortably. If I am not mistaken,the salary of a Singapore minister was about $7,000 to $10,000 and so was the monthly salary of a MSA captain.
The cost of living was pretty low.The 2 bedroomed corner terrace house in which I lived in cost around $15,000. It had a land area of 2,000 sq ft.
A bowl of dry "mee pok" cost 50 cts. and the average cost of a bus ride from Paya Lebar Airport to the city was about 30 cents.
Besides, not many people get to see the world for free but being an air crew,you could.
The passengers were mainly people of some means who could afford to travel. Most passengers were well dressed and we did not have people who travelled in shorts,slippers and dirty clothes like we have today.
There were no cheap tours,no budget travellers nor backpackers on the flights.
Most passengers were civil and courteous and they respected the air crew. These days, one would pay for a cheap ticket of a few dollars and abused the poor crew.
Today,being a cabin crew is not easy.You have all kinds and types of aircrafts to work in. You have a thousand of "do's and don'ts" rules to follow. The night stops are shorter and you have to know how to operate all those electronic gadgets on board.

Stewards shared hotel rooms with stewardesses.

Many may not believe me, when I say stewardesses sometimes made us share hotel rooms with them during our stay overseas.
But wait, before you have any dirty ideas, check it out first.
I was in my early twenties when I joined the airlines as a steward.There were, like now, more senior crew than me. Some were nice and other were just not so nice to me. The senior stewardesses weren't that kind in those days especially to new crew like me or my batch boys. Of course,there were good ones too but not many.
New cabin crew,whether stewards or stewardesses,were a liability to the senior crew. Being new,we were a hindrance and would often made the others worked harder on the flight.So you see, not many crew love us, the newbies.
Being new, we had to "work" harder in other ways to please the senior ones.
In order to please, we had to share rooms with our "jie jie" ( big sisters) during night stops.
These "jie jie" were afraid to sleep alone. They were scared of ghosts. I don't blame them because some of the hotel rooms were haunted....especially in Hong Kong and Toyko.
We did not mind sharing rooms with these "jie jie" but we made to sleep early like them ( they needed 'beauty sleep' we were told),usually by 10 pm.
The next morning,on waking up, we were made to "tar pow"(take away) breakfast for them.
In the later part of the day, we were made to accompany them on shopping trips,especially in HK. The purpose of having us around was to made us carry all the heavy stuff.
I hated all those sharing rooms and shopping things because I would be left with little time of my own to do the things I like.
Now, some of you men out there,may think that you could take "advantage" of these "jie jie" but..... you are very wrong.
These "jie jie" are scary and bitchy to begin with. They could give you a difficult time on board the flight. They, more often than not, would influenced the chief stewards into either giving you bad or good appraisals.
I, like most of the junior stewards, had not much choice but to look after the "jie jie"s' interest and welfare.

My ex colleagues with another cabin crew training company.

Yes, like I said in my earlier posting,the whole lot of them, except one, had left to join another cabin crew consultancy company in Singapore. It was featured in Friday's (16 Mar 2007)Straits Times.
It was reported in the press,they had differences with the running of that previous company's CEO, Mr. Loh. They parted company recently and were quickly recruited by another company called HiTac.
Though all of these ex CCEs are now in their 50's and 60's, they can contribute a lot to the much desired " service excellence",with their immense experience.
Granted, they are set in their "old ways" but one should always go back to the basics,when customer or passenger service is concerned.
Going back to Basic is what most airlines need as far as inflight service is concerned. The same warm caring attitude will always be appreciated by passengers of yester years as well as today.
More so for passengers of the modern age, when work and life pressure demand more out of them in their offices that they want to be pampered when they fly with an airline.
Agreed,the younger trainers could do a good job but not necessarily better. These are "specialists" in their own rights and Singapore, not only the airlines, need experienced trainers like them to help propel customer service to the forefront.
It is not expensive to employ these "specialist" as they are mostly retirees and train for the "fun" of it. Most of them are well-off finacially and do not depend on this job for survival.
As for me,I would prefer to sit in front of my PC and blog day in and day out for the love of it.
I have never spend so much time in my whole life,whether it was SIA or any other companies that I had previously worked for than now,my new "job", albeit,the pay is real "peanuts".

Victor the cabin crew loan shark...continues.....

Victor was not at all an asset to SIA. He was a lazy loudmouthed supervisor but clever enough to give his subordinates good check reports so that they would not complain against him.
During flight, he would like to play around with the young stewardesses by hugging and touching their breasts. He knew which girls he could fool around with( the ones who were his potential loan clients).
Finally, time caught up with this shark. He ran into bad luck when he flew with Leena, a newbie. Victor thought he could fool around with Leena but he got the wrong girl.
Leena was from a family who head was a top gun in the local community. He wouldn't let the matter rest when his daughter complained about being molested by a male crew. He gave the company a choice,either take severe action against Victor or face a police investigation.
Victor's employer had little choice but to demote him three ranks down to be a junior steward.
It was hard for Victor to swallow the bitter bill and so he tendered his resignation.
While this was going on, the stock market worldwide had a severe correction and Victor's wife who speculated lost heavily.
Gone were his job,money,house and the expensive cars.
We have not heard of Victor ever since.

People upset with my latest posting...why?

Before I continue or not, with my story about the Loan Sharking business in cabin crew, let's look at what the readers have commented. Would appreciate much if someone could tell me whether I should continue with the story? Below were the comments made:

"7 comments:
Anonymous said...
BT, Where did Victor get his money from in the first place??? inheritance ??
9:03 AM
Anonymous said...
From smuggling,illegal bookmaking etc...he was borned poor,so no inheritance....smart man huh? But the story hasn't end yet.BT
9:59 AM
Anonymous said...
ur stories are full of crap n nt worth readg.so stale n lame.onli idiots wld enjoy them
7:20 PM
Anonymous said...
Why ar u so upset? Ar u vincent ling ooops..i mean victor ling or his family members? More shit will be dug up here by boh tong.Thanks uncle boh tong for exposing these crooks who made money out of ppl's miseries.Don worry,I will visit yr blog more often....keep exposing these ********Victim.
8:30 PM
Anonymous said...
Hey BT! Good for you. Victims do come forward to vouch for you. Keep up your interesting stories and the good work of exposing the bad, ugly and evil.BL
8:50 PM
BT (ex-SIA CREW ) said...
Thanks "Victim" and "BL"...at least I know some ppl appreciate what I blogged. Hey Victim,yes u are so right to say I got more dirt to dig up. And BL once again thanks for yr support.
9:16 PM
Anonymous said...
BT if ur so keen on exposing ppl wth their names hw abt u exposing ur identity too be a gentleman dont hide in the dark while u expose others onli fair right??.. tsskk tssskk!!anyway watver u hv written is all history man!!
7:56 AM
Lolita said..
Hi uncle nt so nice to write ppls names they can sue u u knw coz u got no evidence so beware!!

7:58 AM


BT (ex-SIA CREW ) said...
No such Victor Ling in SIA who was or is a loan shark.The name is fictious but the loan sharking business was real. Me no witness? Got hundreds of them who were his victims and some would be willing to be witnesses against him ok my dear Lolita??
Btw why do you feel so much for this particular shark? He enriched himself at the expense of other ppl.

8:49 AM

Victor the cabin crew loan shark.

There was always a number of cabin as well as cockpit crew who was perpetually in debt, due to gambling losses in casinos, share markets, horses,mahjongs,Russian Poker etc. etc.These crew would have borrowed
from banks,credit card companies,financial institutions. Some even falsified renovation contractor bills, car loan receipts and other means to borrow from SIA,under the employee loan scheme.
However, when all the official means of borrowings were exhausted,the crew, in desperation,would turned to an inflight supervisor by the name of Victor Kok for help.
Victor was a big loan shark in cabin crew and at any one time ,could have loan out around a million bucks in hard cold cash. He charged an interest rate of 5% per week whereas the loan sharks were charging 10% .Victor had the monopoly of the illegal money lending businesses in SIA cockpit and cabin crew divisions.
A stewardess or steward could get a loan from $3,000 to $5,000 and a more senior cabin crew around $10,000. For a captain,it was about $30,000. All these loans could be obtained from Victor without collateral.
At one time,when Greg the chief steward was arrested at Sydney Airport for drug smuggling, Victor was implicated by the authority in Singapore for some money transactions with Greg.
It was discovered that Victor had given loans to Greg in the past and after intensive interrogation,the authorities cleared Victor as being Greg's accomplice in the Sydney drug deal.
There was another group of crew who borrowed from Victor. They were the trainees from overseas like the Malaysian girls. These trainees needed financial help to start off working lives in Singapore. SIA could only offer small loans to help these trainees during the four months of training. The girls could hardly make ends meet because they were receiving only their basic salaries minus CPF contributions and other expenses.
In the end,through recommendations from the senior crew, the Malaysian trainees were able to borrow from Victor.
Some of these trainees defaulted on their loan payments and had to sleep with Victor during their night stops.
All these years, Victor made a lot of money from the interest payments. He boasted of a five figure monthly income from this money lending source The monthly income from SIA as an inflight supervisor was small changed albeit, around $6,000.
He drove around in a Jaguar mark 10 and lived in a 5 bed roomed bungalow house somewhere in Ponggol area. He boasted of a parking space huge enough for at least 10 cars around his house.
Victor was not altogether a very generous man. He did not spend much on clothes and food. He did not smoke nor gambled. He loved beer and they were usually with compliments from his employer....to be continued.....

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Take a break from airlines stories.

George Bush has a way with foreign names. To watch video click here

In Loving memory of Leading Steward Andrew Yap .

Here is a story from one of my colleagues ,which I think is worth posting in my blog. We knew Andrew but my colleague who wanted to be known as" Xcrew"has written this story. It was a touching story of how Andrew,who was down with a blood disorder ..........ok lets read what "Xcrew" has written.

Andrew Yap was a Leading Steward on the B707 in 1972. He was in his twenties, handsome and charming with a pleasant personality. Sometime in that year, he discovered that his body bruised easily with slight knocks from work in the aircraft. And the bruises did not go away. He went to consult the Company doctor who referred him to the General Hospital for blood test. He was diagnosed with acute leukaemia and warded in the hospital for treatment.
About a month after his hospitalisation I visited him and he was as usual pleasant and cheerful. A couple of months passed and I was told that Andrew had become blind. After that I visited him again. His blindness did not depress him for he was still his cheerful and pleasant self. He was hopeful in getting better. He passed away about a month later.
While Andrew was warded, a young lady doctor in charge of the ward attended to him. Their almost daily interaction of doctor and patient developed to that of close friendship. Their fondness for each other grew and they fell in love with each other. Despite his condition, the doctor lover had hopes of Andrew’s recovery. Just before Andrew’s condition worsened to blindness, they decided to get engaged. Even after Andrew became blind, his fiancée doctor stood by him, encouraging him to fight his leukaemia. But the disease got the better of him and finally after months of treatment and struggle against the disease, Andrew passed away.
This is a true love story with tragic end. Xcrew.



....Thank you "Xcrew" for that heart wrenching story...from boh tong.

THE CABIN CREW SUPERVISOR WHO CHEATED SIA OFF MILLIONS.

Many of you would have heard of the supervisor who cheated SIA $35 million over a 12 to 15 year period. He was a supervisor from the cabin crew division and one of his duties was to get the accounts department pay the cabin crew
their meals and nightstop allowances. A flight tour duty of say 5 days to Europe would amount to an average of $1,000 per cabin crew ( depending on the crew's rank). Most of the time, the flight would leave with 1 or 2 crew short but Henry (the supervisor) would filled out the name or names of the crew as well as their staff numbers and the bank account numbers( every SIA staff has been assigned a staff number when he /she joins the airlines) on a document and submit it to the accounts dept( as though the flight was not short of crew). Then the accounts dept. would instruct the bank to deposit the allowances into the respective crew's account as well as Henry's.
SIA over the years unknowingly transferred over $35 million to Henry's and his relatives' accounts in this manner.
Most of us knew Henry for many years. He was never a generous colleague even with all the ill gotten gains from SIA. In fact, he was a miser and at times,scrounged from his poor colleagues. He was short and had bugs bunny- liked teeth. Not many colleagues like him. He did not mix around much except with his manager's secretary whom he often took out for lunch.
Henry changed his Mercedes quite often and when asked, he would tell us he striked 4D ( a 4 digit lottery).
Do you know that Henry was awarded the "Best Employee" in cabin crew at one time? Why not? he was often in the office by 7 am and would not leave the office until late in the evening......must be busy tranferring SIA's money to his bank accounts.
The one who benifitted most was his Malaysian Chinese mistress. She had accumulated "gifts" from Henry to the tune of $8million. She disappeared after Henry was arrested.
Henry was charged and sentenced to 24 years behind bars. He has already spent 6 years in prison and has 10 more years to go( one gets a remission of 1/3 of the total sentence for good behaviour). By the time he is released, Henry would be 64 years old but would he still be rich?.....thats anyone's guess.

There is no end in sight.

I think enough is enough "Bors" cos I am not going to entertain you anymore especially with your latest posting asking me about my private life and accusing me of having an affair with Beh.
You either stop your nonsense or else I will .........

My answers to Bors' accusations.

I don't want to be seen as one who has "nothing better to do" than to spend my time, in front of my PC, answering those accusations and questions put forward by the "Bors".But then like one of my loyal readers Sze Li puts it:"if u ignore,ppl will assume it's true"
Yes, people will assume that the "Bors" are right and I had gained from "sucking" up to those super rich passengers.
Alright then, I will rebut.
I had served Robert Kuok in the 1970s when he was a regular passenger and also MSA chairman.He had bought me and my whole set of cabin crew a pkt. of char siew duck rice each ex London( it wasn't the food but the thoughtfulness of this humble man that touched my heart).He did not buy me any gifts or gave me cash.
As for Eric Chia, I had dinner with him once in Tokyo. No gifts nor favour from him.
The late Tun Mustapha? ...it's zero and so was Sutopo Yap. I had never even gone out with either of them. The stories I posted in my blog regarding these gentlemen were told to me by my crew who had met and gone out with them.
As for Ms Betty Wong,she was one of the managers in cabin crew but I did not work under her.
Regarding the Malaysian bloggers like Rocky and Zorro, I got to 'know' them through Tony, an ex MAS crew whose wife, ex Chief stewardess Audra Yew had her services terminated because of her 3rd pregnancy.
Why not ,if I can get more visitors to my blog through the Rocky and Zorro?But that was not my intention in the first place.
As for SIA shares,I made some money but not enough to cover my other losses.
Hope my readers would be satisfied with my answers.

The Bors are a nuisance.

The Bors are a nuisance and they had been hounding and accussing me with all kind of things, like the lastest post of theirs.
If I ignore the accussations,then will my readers think I am guilty? Or should I rebut them?
If I were to entertain them,there might be no end in sight because they might even ask more ridiculous questions.
There is nothing for me to hide and that's why I even highlighted their blog for them so people can read their post to see for themselves, how ridiculous these people are.
As for now,I will play by the ear and see how many visitors want or do not want me to 'humour' those Bor idiots.

There are mean people around.

There are mean people around no matter what you do. Here I am trying to entertain with some honest stories and there are people who accused me of all sorts of things.
They said that I am a bored old frustrated man who is sored with SIA because I was no longer needed.
Let me tell you this that SIA gave me a choice,to stay or opt for early retirement. I did not feel the need to work anymore and that was why I left. I had enough of the job after 35 years.I was bored with my job.
To be honest,blogging is more fun than flying or doing admin work or conducting training for SIA. But blogging doesn't earn me a salary and that's the only setback.
Well,without a salary,I will just have to 'cut my clothes according to my cloth'.Nevertheless,I am having fun with blogging even though some people are unkind towards me.
Can't explain this phenomenon but it is true blogging gives you that 'high' and its very addictive. Ask any seasoned blogger and see if that is a fact.
Sometimes,I wonder what will I do that would be satisfying without blogging? So to hell with all the unkind people and their comments because I will blog and blog till the day I can't anymore.
Below are some of the mean remarks made by some:

Anonymous said...
From his blog U can see that BT is a frustrated old man after not wanted by SQ !
March 5, 2007 4:32 PM

Anonymous said...
Irregardless ! As long as they don't moan and growl after being asked to leave the airline !
March 4, 2007 2:46 PM

Anonymous said...
I'm Proud of you guys man ! (refers to a blog by a rival group)
2 Thumbs Up ! Keep going man !
March 4, 2007 12:27 PM

And so many more which I had deleted.

Top Malaysian Bloggers Helping My Buddy from MAS.

From Zorro:
A little explanation is appropriate. It is a follow up to my earlier : Let's Walk with Audra & Tony post.Audra was chief ari-stewardess for MAS. She was terminated because she contravened the Collective Agreement which allows no third pregnancy. In no uncertain terms, although only verbalised but not in writing, she was told to terminate her pregnancy. I think this is complicity to commit murder. It is some four years and the case has been dragging on and the next hearing is in September. Yesterday, her husband Tony who has his own blog to "fight" for his wife (since the MAS union has employed a lawyer to represent Audra and nothing more than token representation). Tony was told by MAS lawyer to bring down his blog. This is an affront.This posting is Zorro's contribution to the cause. Watch this space.
March 3, 2007 5:59 PM


Friday, March 02, 2007

Third blogger to be sued in Malaysia? by Malaysian Top Blogger "Rocky"
Flying low. Another corporate giant has threatened to take a blogger to court for creating a blogsite dedicated to discussing the decision by the company's decision to terminate the services of his wife. The blogger has been told to shut down his blog (or else ...).Read the heart-breaking story in one of the blogs here over the weekend.

Spying on me?

Fancy this,some groups or individuals had set up a blog to spy on what I post here. They claimed they were staff and ex staff of SIA. The name of the blog is quite similar to mine. Got the cheek huh? They also want to make sure the contents I put up here are genuine. They are really 'kaypos' with nothing better to do than to mind other people's business.
On reflection,I feel flattered. I must have attracted a lot of attention from cyberspace or otherwise what is the use of spying or checking on me.
To this people, I have this to say to them: 'Get off my back,will ya?'

My blogger friend may be sued by his ex employer, MAS!

So sad, Tony aka Alliedmartster our forum member was told to shut down his blog or else.....? For more details click here.

SIA Is Making Its Staff Rich!

A long serving A/O or CCE recently made an average of $10,000 to $18,000 through the share option scheme (if they had sold them before the recent market correction). They were given these SIA shares at an average price of $14 a piece and could have sold off at around $17. Each one of these staff could have made at least $3 a share. They had around 5,000 to 6,000 share each.

Can you imagine how much more the top brass made? They were given many times more of the shares than the junior staff .We understand that some of them recently made as much as 1 to 2 million $ per person or more. Phew! that's a grand sum alright.
No wonder, these people must see to it that SIA remains very,very profitable at all cost.

A Company Formed By My ex-Colleagues.

When we,the CCEs left SQ in 2003, more than half a dozen of us joined hands with an entrepreneur and formed a recruitment and training firm for cabin crew.
This Company had since trained cabin crew from an Indian airline as well as a less heard off European airline.
I understand,most of my ex-colleagues had sold their shares at a loss in this particular company and left due to some problems with the other major partner.
It has never been easy to work with "outsiders" for these ex-CCEs.They were veterans in their field of expertise and some had put in 40+ years with their former company.They did not like to be told what they were supposed to do by an "outsider",even if the other guy was a major holder or their SVP. They had to be handled with care and if one had the skill to handle them well, one would get wonderful results.
Of course, not everyone of these ex-CCEs were good. There were a few of them who were king bullshitters (pardon my language) and kiasu kings.
Getting rid of those few would have had been a good idea.
I understand a few of them had gone into property and are doing fairly well.
The others are enjoying their retirement and one has opened a learning center in Sengkang area.
Oh yes, there is another one,currently working as a cabin crew trainer with an Indian carrier in India.

Stray hair incident reported to food caterer

Its the correct attitude on the part of SIA to reply to the complaint's letter to the Straits Times regarding the "two strands of hair" incidents.For other online letters to the ST.click here

I refer to the letter by Mr John How Kam Chong, (Online forum, Feb 28).
We have been in touch with Mr How regarding the two incidents and extended our apologies. We take these concerns very seriously, as the high quality and standard of inflight meals and service are as important to us as they are to Mr How.

We have taken this matter up with our contracted caterers who have since reviewed their processes and implemented the appropriate preventive measures.

We thank Mr How for his interest and support, and assure him, and your readers, that we take his concerns very seriously.

Betty Wong (Ms)

Vice-President Inflight Services

Singapore Airlines

Tips on how to pass the 1st round of SIA Stewardess Interview.

The above walk-in interview will be held at The Sheraton Tower Hotel on 4 March 2007. Click here.

TIPs:

Do's:

• Wear business suits or dressed up smartly.
• When coming into contact with the reception staff to show your documents,height measurements etc. be nice and courteous (these staff has strong influence on the interviewers. One unfavourable comment from them to the interviewers and you are out)
• Remeber to wear that charming smile on your face.
• Wear some perfume and light make-up.
• Sit upright and do not slouch.
• Swith off your mobile phones.
• Read up a little bit on SIA's history,management setup, types of airplanes they have etc.

Don'ts:

• Do not bad-mouth SIA even to your co-applicants,always say nice things.
• Do not ever wear tattered and torn jeans/clothings or earings/studs on your nose,lips etc. even they are supposed to make you look 'cool' because the interviewers are a little 'old-fashioned'
• Mustn't tell them you are attending the interview because you are on the 'way' to the city etc.
• Don't chew gums.
• Don't talk loudly or be noisy even outside of the interview rooms.
• Don't be or looked nervous,just be cool and calm.

Disclaimer:

The above are only guidelines to a successful interview. Observing the above will give you an advantage but not necessarily the job.

Good luck,

Boh Tong.

Do you believe SIA service is that bad?

Two online letters to the ST forum were republished below in this blog. These two were complaints from SQ paxs. One was about a steward making fun of a "serious" situation and another one was about "two strands of hair in the food".
I had a few comments from my readers and apparently they did not totally believed those compliants were genuine.
Some even suggested the complainants had ulterior motives for complaining and one even suggested that the pax was not telling the full story.
I,for one,as an ex-instructor for umpteen years with SIA cabin crew could hardly believe the service on SIA was that bad. It is no better than those good old days but SIA service,as I was told by my most of my friends,like the one who is a PPS and just arrived at Japan on SQ flight commented in his blog about the Japanese stewardess who served him in the Business Class,that SQ service is still very good.
What do you all think?

Click for me if you like my blog

My Friend in Japan.

Anyone interested to read about my friend's blog on Japan? He arrived Tokyo this morning and already blogged about the service on SIA flight. He is a PPS passenger and on a working trip. I have asked him to blog about his trip in Japan.To access his blog,click here.



Click above if you like my blog.

Hair in airline food: No calls, no explanation from SIA

28 Feb. 2007 Article from Straits Times Online Forum. Click here
Singapore Airlines has been voted one of the best airlines in the world for many years. But I have found that its public relations skills are not up to par.
Within a span of two months, I had two very bad encounters with its inflight services. On both instances, I was being served in Business Class.

The first incident occurred on a flight back from Brisbane. I found a strand of hair while having my entree course. Feeling disgusted, I proceeded to the main course even though the attendant had apologised and offered me a replacement set.

Nevertheless, while enjoying my meal, I was appalled to find another strand of hair in it. This is too much of a coincidence and it has totally spoilt my appetite!

After highlighting this to the steward, the customer service officer apologised and offered to credit some points to my account but there wasn't any explanation given.

The second incident was more startling. During a flight to Perth, I was being served with a cracked glass and a wine glass which was chipped off the rim. This unbelievable experience has made me feel uncomfortable and a need to protest on the services provided.

After putting in my two cents worth to the company, likewise, not a single mail came thru on explanation or any preventive actions to avoid similar accidents or to check on my well being.

All they did was to credit some points in the account and expect you to be satisfied with it.

Up to now, I haven't heard of any explanation from SIA.

Where is the personal touch? A call or letter of concern will be appreciated.

John How Kam Chong

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