Singapore Airlines Lost Luggage Nightmare

Singapore Airlines lost, then found, then lost my luggage for nearly 5 days and caused me great stress and major inconvenience, both of which nearly ruined the first part of my trip to Indonesia.

Normally, I wouldn’t bother to spend my time writing a post like this; I’d accept the basic compensation and move on. But in this case, I just had to. When you read this, you’ll understand why.

By the way, I started writing this a couple days ago—in the middle of the crisis–but could barely do it.  I was crying and my head felt like it was going to explode from a nasty tension headache. What made it all the more more intense was/is the fact that I’ve been simultaneously dealing with culture shock.

Where am I?

In a village—Payakumbuh—in Western Sumatra, Indonesia, a rural area where I’m amazed my unlocked iPhone 4S even works. I’m surrounded by rice paddies, mountains and palm trees. (Sorry re: the quality of this photo; it was shot on an iPhone.)

Payakumbuh, Western Sumatra, Indonesia

So, what the hell happened?

Why were my bags lost in the first place? And how did they go from lost…to found…to lost? And why did this take so long to be resolved?

And the bottom line, for me now, is what is Singapore Airlines going to do to compensate me for what I’ve been through?

The Story

I don’t normally check bags, but for this trip, I decided to. Why? Well, in addition to a small day pack, I had two bags.  My main backpack (sort of large) and a smaller one containing teaching materials to help me with a volunteer experience I had planned for the first half of June.

Also, I had certain things that aren’t allowed in the main cabin—crucial items that are more than a few ounces in weight and thus, not allowed in one’s carry-on luggage.

So, I figured that since I was flying Singapore Air—an airline with a stellar reputation—there wouldn’t be a problem. I went ahead and checked my bags. When I checked in back at JFK last Wednesday, I asked if the bags would go all the way to Pekanbaru, my final destination in Indonesia, I was told they would. No need to reclaim and re-check them along the way.

So…I said goodbye to my friend who drove me to the airport and to my bags and flew out of New York at 8:30 pm on Wednesday, May 30th. Flight no: SQ 0025. That flight—and the one that followed to Singapore—was hellish, by the way.  (Please note: this is not part of my official complaint–just something I’m sharing.)

Why? Twin screaming babies—cute, but demonic in their approach to torture. (Note: photo below is of the actual child…it’s not borrowed.) For this alone, I should get an upgrade to first class on my return flight.  Seriously, it was that bad. Noise-cancelling headphones didn’t work at all.

Child who screamed for the duration of two flights with his twin brother who cried all night--20 hours of hell

Unexpected Running to Catch My Connecting Flight

When I got to Singapore—exhausted and disoriented—I realized that there was precious little time to catch my final leg of my flight, which was via Silk Air. The board said, “Last call.” I had to make a run for it and use an air train to get to my gate. This really sucked. I was, as you can imagine, a bit panicked.

PS:  No one was there as I deplaned to tell me I had to hurry. Good thing I figured it out as fast as I did.

So, while running to catch the plane, I briefly wondered about my bags…

Would they make it? If I had to run, what were the odds my bags were being transferred fast enough? I put the thought out of my head. It was Singapore Airlines, after all.

(Now, in retrospect, I do believe this is where/when the bags got misplaced. Singapore Airlines’ schedule for these types of connecting flights seems to be tight and/or unrealistic.)

When I arrived in Pekanbaru at 8 am or so on Friday morning (June 1st)–22 or so hours later–I was exhausted and disoriented. Thank goodness a new Indonesian friend named Dino (a friend of a friend named Sysilia) was there to meet me.

Bags Not There When I Arrived

I went to pick up the bags and sure enough, they weren’t there. No one spoke more than a few words of English, so I began to panic. Fortunately I was greeted by Dino, who quickly jumped in to help out.

I filled out a baggage claim report and was told by a baggage claim representative named Bobby that someone would contact me later. Perhaps the bags would come in later that night and be delivered to my hotel in Pekanbaru, but for sure, it would be the next morning. It seemed as if they’d been through this sort of thing many times.

Of course, I was upset, but I let go of it, believe that things would work out. Bobby was super helpful and reassuring. He gave me and Dino his special airport mobile phone number.

Later that day, we heard from him. He was told by the reps at the Singapore Airport that the bags had been located and that they would be coming in the next morning—Saturday—on an early flight from Singapore. I was thrilled. All would be OK.

Of course, I was still in my clothes that I’d worn on the flight. Not happy about that. Good thing for layering and good deodorant, right? And thank goodness I’d packed my migraine pills. Believe me, I felt one coming on…

Making Plans Based on Misinformation

So, I made my remaining plans around this information. I would shower on Saturday morning, Dino would take me to the airport, I would get my bags and I would change into fresh clothes. Then I’d take my shared taxi to Payakumbuh, the rural village where I’d be volunteering for a few weeks.

I was happy with this plan, thinking I’d have the teaching books/CDs, my personal items I needed (including special mosquito repellant and a net, etc.). Things were coming together.

Well, I couldn’t have been more wrong.

When we got to the airport on Saturday morning and tried to reclaim the bags, we were told they weren’t there yet. Bobby was apologetic, of course, and said he’d done his best, but to no avail. Unfortunately, he’d just received another message that the bags were not, in fact, on their way…yet. They would come there later and then they’d be sent to Payakumbuh.

“Really?” I replied. I was incredulous. The thought of the bags being transported to a remote Sumatran village 5 or so hours away on iffy roads just didn’t make sense to me. But then, again, I thought—well, it’s Singapore Airlines/Silk Air. They’ll make it happen. Again, I believed the information Bobby had been given.

$32 in Compensation…Really?

By the way… I was given 300,000 rupiah for my inconvenience. To buy clothes with or whatever. Sounds like a lot, right? Well, it’s not. It’s about $32.

After a quick chat with Dino, my friend, I decided to stick to my original plan. I would take the 10 am shared taxi to Payakubuh in Western Sumatra. There was no reason not to, right? The bags were allegedly coming.

So I said goodbye to my new friend and began the trek to Payakumbuh. The ride was rougher than I thought—like a mini chicken bus ride—but OK. All I kept thinking was—once I’m there, I’ll relax for a while, wait for my bags. Once they arrive, I’ll take a nice shower, get into clean clothes, put on some different shoes…etc.

I arrived exhausted. I met my friend Eti, the teacher with whom I’m working, and we chatted for a few minutes and soon, I was whisked over to her school on a motorbike (holy crap—that was a wild ride). My culture shock now intensified as we bumped along on the bike and I saw the palm trees and rice paddies and village homes. I was truly in a different world.

We entered the school for a special ceremony of sorts and I noticed that I had some missed calls. From Bobby.

Uh oh.

I excused myself and called him outside. And soon found myself in tears. Really losing it now.

Bags’ Status Went From Found to LOST

The bags were not simply on their way or running late. They were now LOST. Again.

WTF??

How could this be?

He wasn’t sure. Perhaps they got sent to Jakarta somehow and were lost there. No one really knew.

But he was doing his best, of course, and said he “could understand how I was feeling.”

Really? Could he? Did he know what it was like to be in a village experiencing total culture shock wondering what would happen when the sun went down, the mosquitoes came out and there was no repellant to be used? Did he know what it was like to have been in the same clothes for several days?

I think not. (And by the way, I’m not mad at the guy at all. He was nice and professional. I was just venting….)

I slumped against the side of the school and burst into tears. It was simply too much. He reassured me once again that the bags would be located somehow. At this point, I wondered if the bags were lost…forever.

The rest of my day and night—my first in the village—were not pleasant. I was exhausted, frustrated and sick of wearing the same clothes. Sure, I could have gone shopping, but it wasn’t so simple. The woman I’m staying with had things to do at her school. Also, because I tend to be a size 10/12 in the U.S., finding clothes in Asia is difficult.

Anyway, my sleep wasn’t so good that night, as you can imagine. I really wanted my things. Needed them, in fact. The repellant would have come in handy.

The next morning, I felt awful. I began thinking that if my bags were truly lost and not to be recovered, that I would leave Sumatra. Skip the volunteer thing and maybe even return home. The thought of buying everything new here—including a bathing suit—sounded like a pain in my butt. This is supposed to be a two-month trip, after all.

Then, right after breakfast, I received another message from Bobby and his supervisor, Ravin. The bags had been located. They were in Singapore! The problem? No flights were going directly to Pekanbaru. They’d have to send the bags to Jakarta first. Yikes, I thought. More room for error.

The next part of the plan would be to have the bags sent here. They opted to use the same shared taxi I came here in via a local company that knows the area. Smart idea, right?

The bags did finally arrive at 3 o’clock this morning. Monday. (I flew out last Wednesday. That’s a long time, is it not?) About 2 hours later than anticipated. Eti, her husband and I had waited in the living room for them, starting around 12:45. She made calls to the driver who got lost and her husband had to take the motorbike out to meet the guy a couple miles away.

More inconvenience and frustration. More lost time. Almost 5 days. And now others were involved.

Thanks a lot, Singapore Airlines.

So, my friends/readers, why am I sharing all this?

A) To show that Singapore Airlines, despite its reputation, can really screw up; and it needs to get its act together.
B) To ask the airline to look at its Pekanbaru flights/connections with Silk Air. Are they realistic? I suspect not.
C) To ask Singapore Airlines to compensate me for the high level of stress and inconvenience they caused me.

PS: I tweeted about this several times (and it was retweeted), using the #SingaporeAir hastag. No one responded.

The first part of my trip has been ruined. The crying/screaming twins on the plane were just a drop in the bucket. It’s more about the stress, the anxiety and the lost time over the past several days. The misinformation that led to it. (Whoever gave the incorrect info the Bobby in the first place should get in trouble.)

I’ve spent countless hours on the phone, checking messages, speaking to people, waiting, wondering, etc. I didn’t need this. And I certainly didn’t expect if from an airline like Singapore Airlines.

Your Thoughts/Experiences/Suggestions

What kind of lost-bag experiences have you had? How long were they gone for? What sort of inconvenience did you experience? And how did the airline compensate you?

In my particular case, based on the extreme nature of this case, what do you think SA owes me?

• An upgrade to first class on my return flight?
• A separate flight—free?
• A separate first-class flight free?
• 100,000 miles added to my account?
• A return flight to EWR (closer to home)  instead of JFK (I believe this would put me in business class since that’s all that flies to EWR)
• Or something else?

Thanks for listening to my horror story. As awful as it’s been, I feel slightly better.

PS to Singapore Airlines: I want to say that Bobby and Ravin, the local Singapore Airlines/Silk Air baggage rep and supervisor, were excellent. They did their best to help me and were empathetic and professional throughout the process.

I do believe that the real culprit in all this was someone over at the Singapore Airlines office in Singapore. The person who supplied the misinformation and then somehow lost control over the whereabouts of my bags. This person should be reprimanded or suspended from work somehow. The guys I dealt with–who were really just the unfortunate ‘messengers’–did their jobs well.

PPS to readers:  Sorry if there are any typos in this post or if it seems disjointed. It’s been a rough several days and I’m sitting in an Internet cafe that lacks AC. Internet is so so here, too, so everything takes longer.