A while ago, you may have read my article on my flight review of my first ever flight on an Airbus A330-900neo which I had hoped to enjoy. Unfortunately, it turned out memorable for other reasons. I thought that the episode might have ended there, but a few weeks back, a certain “cabin crew” decided to contact me to demand I remove the article. Here’s what happened and how Thai Lion Air unsurprisingly reacted to this situation.
If you have not read my initial flight review yet, click here to read about my worst flight experience ever on Thai Lion Air SL104 from Bangkok Don Mueang to Singapore by Airbus A330-900neo.
I had received an email from someone claiming to be the “cabin crew (I) previously mentioned on (my) article”, which addressed me by my flight booking/boarding pass name, which is not in the correct order of how it is positioned in my passport or other identification documents. Furthermore, my personal name is not publicly released on RailTravel Station yet, unless you personally know me, of which you would know the order of my name.
Unfortunately, the “cabin crew” failed to actually provide me with his/her name, only signing off with a 2-letter initial, preventing me from actually knowing who sent it. The email address is also a generic free email account, not an official email address from Thai Lion Air, and did not provide any direct lead to any name.
Nevertheless, I decided to reply to this “cabin crew” out of respect that he or she took the time to write me an email, so that I can clarify the half-truths of him or her accusing me of posting in the article. As a measure of goodwill, I had also removed the cabin crew’s photo from the article for the time being, while Thai Lion Air conducts their investigation.
In tandem with this, I contacted Thai Lion Air regarding this incident, which this “cabin crew” advised me to do so in his or her initial email.
And so, here is the email I sent to Thai Lion Air.
Thai Lion Air does not have a dedicated feedback email or feedback channel on their website, just a generic one at info@lionairthai.com found under the contact details of almost every international office that they have at https://www.lionairthai.com/en/Contact. There is, however, a dedicated Singapore email at sinkk@lionair.co.id found on Lion Air’s website at http://lionair.co.id/contact-us/branch-locations, so I included that too.
However, there was no reply at all, both from the generic “info” email or the Singapore “sinkk” email – not even a generic automated receipt email.
After 15 days, I sent this reminder email, and also to include the Tourist Assistance Center under the Ministry of Tourism and Sports (MOTS) into the email thread hoping that this will make Thai Lion Air reply.
True enough, Thai Lion Air did reply swiftly. Yes, it was swift, but it was appalling nonetheless.
“Dear Sir / Madam,
In regards to your email, we do apologize for the bad experience you had with us and the unplesant time you had with our service.
To address your concern we have made sure that the responsible department and relevant staff have received a copy of your compliant so they can review their existing procedures and develop improved ones to prevent this from recurring in the future.
Sorry for your inconvenience.
Best Regards,
Thai Lion Air”
Very swift indeed, just about 6 hours instead of more than 2 weeks. Unfortunately, all I got was a generic Dear Sir/Madam email which doesn’t even address any issue at all. The email addresses of the Tourist Assistance Center under the Ministry of Tourism and Sports (MOTS) were also all removed.
Obviously unsatisfied with their couldn’t-care-less attitude (who would be?), I sent them another email.
Despite having my personal information taken by the “cabin crew” and threats of legal action, I am appalled by the generic replies that Thai Lion Air is confident of sending me so easily and so quickly, despite after more than 2 weeks of ignoring me.
“Dear Sir/Madam,
In regards to your email, we do apologize for any inconvenience. We are unable to inform how to improve or develop procedures because it is a reason internal of organization. But we make sure that they can review their existing procedures and develop improved ones to prevent this from recurring in the future.
Sorry for your inconvenience.
Best Regards,
Thai Lion Air”
In reply to my reply, Thai Lion Air sent me another email 5 days later, which feels just a little bit edited from a template reply to follow from their original template reply. Furthermore, the email clearly states that they are “unable to inform how to improve or develop procedures (sic)”.
Googling through Thai Lion Air complaints which are currently on the internet, it seems like it is not just me who is getting these templates though. Among other TripAdvisor, Skytrax, and other forum links to customer experiences (read: complaints), though I don’t necessarily agree with all of their complaints, here is one other guy 4 years ago who has gotten a similar template email text as me.
Hey Thai Lion Air, consider changing your template replies every few months so that everyone on the internet might think that it isn’t one.
I now truly worry about flying with Thai Lion Air ever again in my life considering that my personal information is currently held by someone supposedly from Thai Lion Air on a personal capacity on the internet.
I did not reply to Thai Lion Air’s second email to me because I don’t see the point of continuing this conversation with a copy-and-paste-r who can’t be bothered about my situation. Nevertheless, I am still keeping replies from Thai Lion Air open should they wish to investigate the case and/or reply me, with more template replies or otherwise like addressing me by my email name or something more detailed like my actual name to prove that they actually read my email and/or looked into my case, just like how the “cabin crew” managed to retrieve my personal booking details.
This is truly the worst travelling experience I have had in my life, during and weeks after the flight. Not even the times when my flight gets delayed for more than 6 hours or travelling companion’s baggage was torn and items missing (before I started RailTravel Station) could match up with this series of appalling incidences.
For now, I’m pretty sure I’m flying other airlines to Thailand, even if they are more expensive or have less interesting aircraft.