Man calls out Scoot for lack of consideration after uncle’s hospitalisation, but others tell him he should have got travel insurance

SINGAPORE: A man took to social media to express his disappointment with Scoot, the low-cost arm of Singapore Airlines. After his uncle was hospitalised, he had hoped to transfer his uncle’s air ticket to another relative through a name change. However, the charges for this were even higher than the original ticket price, and his request for these charges to be waived was denied.

While many netizens commenting on his post were sympathetic, they reminded him that his problems would have been solved if he had availed of travel insurance.

The man wrote about his experience in a post on the COMPLAINT SINGAPORE Facebook page on Saturday (Jul 12). He added screenshots of the name change fee he was being charged, an email from Scoot, and proof of his uncle’s hospitalisation at Sengkang General Hospital.

“Reasonably, under such circumstances, the additional fee should only be the Admin name change request, and the air ticket fare difference due to time of purchase should be totally waived. Despite these circumstances, FlyScoot still insist to charge the fare difference,” the post author wrote.

He added that the situation is a “genuine” one, backed by legal and medical documentation, and that other airlines would have been more understanding, and hopes that the company would reconsider its policy for “anyone facing real-life difficulties.”

According to Scoot’s Conditions of Carriage, bookings are non-transferable unless specific Fare Rules permit it. In those cases, transfers are subject to fees and applicable fare differences.

Airlines do not generally allow a person’s ticket to be assigned to another passenger, but the original passenger may request a refund when valid reasons for not flying are presented. In cases where refunds are not issued, passengers are given vouchers for later flights.

Additionally, name changes are usually only allowed when there was an error in the name on the ticket issued to the original passenger.

Commenters on the post wrote that there is a way to avoid this situation.

“If there is insurance purchased, u can just submit to get a refund instead of going through the trouble,” wrote one.

“You should always buy insurance after you purchase your flight ticket,” added another.

“Travel insurance is for cases like this. The claim should be from the insurer. Also, not forgetting that you are buying from a budget airline. Full carriers will have more flexibility in such cases,” wrote a third.

A netizen observed bluntly: “For all budget airlines, assume zero customer service. You book the flight and appear, or the money is gone. That’s it.”

“This is budget treatment. When booking Scoot, be sure because there’s no flexibility. Any changes, you pay. Usually lots more,” chimed in a commenter.

The Independent Singapore has reached out to Scoot, as well as to the post author, for further comments or updates. /TISG

Read also: 100 Air India pilots to be offered the chance to work on Scoot flights