Follow us on Telegram for the latest updates: https://t.me/mothershipsg

A foreign journalist, her husband, and child, left without options after their Scoot flight home was cancelled, were forced to spend the night on the floor of Changi Airport.

Irene Caselli slammed both Scoot and Singapore Airlines (SIA) on her Twitter, where she documented the entire incident.

Tagged Scoot and SIA in tweet

Caselli is a journalist currently based in Greece.

Describing the entire incident as "shameful" and a "mess", she said that no alternative arrangements were made after their flight to Athens was cancelled due to a snowstorm.

She tweeted about her plight after midnight, on Tuesday (Jan. 25).

This is how @flyscoot @SAirlines is leaving my two year old stranded at @ChangiAirport, sleeping on the floor and offering no accommodation for the next 48 hours - for him or for us, his parents. This is inadmissible. pic.twitter.com/SmXAHzpX6G

— Irene Caselli (@irenecaselli) January 24, 2022

She and her family were unable to leave Changi Airport due to Covid-19 restrictions, and hotels there were apparently fully booked.

She also claimed that "ground staff did not care" and did not put them on a different flight to Athens or offer any sort of compensation for them to book an alternative flight.

In her tweets, Caselli tagged SIA as well, despite having booked her flight with Scoot. However, Scoot is a wholly-owned subsidiary of SIA.

"@SingaporeAir you have plenty of availability on other flights and offered no alternative only for your profit," she wrote.

Claimed staff did not check on them

Stranded in the airport, Caselli said her toddler had no choice but to sleep on the ground.

Shameful: @SingaporeAir has left us here on the floor at @ChangiAirport without options to make it home to #Greece. After #Athens shut down its airport, @flyscoot left us stranded in Singapore offering no sleeping arrangement for my son or alternative flights until Thursday. + pic.twitter.com/RgCuOkNiJG

— Irene Caselli (@irenecaselli) January 25, 2022

She said she was "shocked" by how the ground staff of Scoot and SIA "are unaware of how to care for a toddler", and claimed that no staff enquired about their situation.

Caselli then accused the two airlines of lying to her and failing to prioritise a family with children after she found out another Scoot passenger from the same flight was able to get a room at a hotel.

SIA responded on Twitter

In response to SIA's subsequent enquiry on Twitter, Caselli revealed that their next flight home was two days later, on Jan. 27, which meant her family would have had to spend more nights at the airport.

While previously she said there were no alternative flights offered, here she said she was offered a flight to another European city, but without a connecting flight to Athens.

She may have meant that she was not offered alternative flights to Athens, until Thursday.

Hi Irene, we’re sorry to hear this. May we clarify if you had approached our Singapore Airlines ground staff for assistance, and what was advised by them regarding alternative flight arrangements?

— Singapore Airlines (@SingaporeAir) January 25, 2022

After one night at the airport, Caselli updated that she managed to secure a hotel room after "making a big fuss" and calling the Italian embassy.

Scoot reached out to affected customers

In response to Mothership's queries, Scoot explained that Caselli's initial flight was scheduled to depart on Jan. 25, and then cancelled due to adverse weather conditions in Athens.

Affected customers were booked for the next available Scoot flights based on their final destinations – TR722 (Singapore-Athens-Berlin) and TR734 (Singapore-Berlin) — which were scheduled to depart from Singapore on Jan. 26 and 27 respectively.

Scoot has reached out to the affected customers to provide the necessary support and assistance.

Scoot added:

"The health and safety of our staff and customers remain our priority, and we apologise for the inconvenience caused due to adverse weather conditions. We seek the understanding of our customers whose travel plans have been impacted by unforeseen, adverse weather conditions, and we will continue to render the necessary assistance."

Changi Airport also responded to Caselli's tweets, highlighting that Scoot arranged for meals and accommodation for the family, and that "alternative flight options" were given:

Dear Irene, I am sorry to hear about your situation. I understand that the airline has arranged for meals and accommodation for all affected pax and alternative flight options were given. I hope your stay at the hotel will be a comfortable one till your next flight out. -Anthea

— Changi Airport (@ChangiAirport) January 25, 2022

Reactions

While some Twitter users sympathised with Caselli's plight, others pointed out that it was not Scoot's fault that the flight was cancelled, as the airport on the other end had shut down due to bad weather.

To put things into perspective, Athens airport is shut down so @flyscoot had to cancel their flight. What has @SingaporeAir got to do with this? Nothing it seems. Perhaps @ChangiAirport could have done better but you do know the risks of traveling in a pandemic.

— DRN (@DarienLoh) January 25, 2022

Others however, called her "entitled".

They shared that Scoot might not be obligated to make arrangements for affected passengers when flights are cancelled due to weather, and advised Caselli to simply book another flight herself, or consult her travel insurance company.

I suggest you rebook yourself onto any available flight to Europe and claim back from travel insurance. I don’t think you’re contractually entitled to be rebooked if the cancellation was due to weather

— Fiona Tay (@anoifts) January 25, 2022

In such situations, you should first refer to your travel insurance to determine if you are eligible to rearranged your flights. If you don't have one, next is checking if the airline can go out of their duties to help you. Last resort is dig into your own purse.

— br0k3n7ink (@br0k3n7ink) January 26, 2022

Why in the world is it @flyscoot's prerogative to arrange a hotel for you when it's the Athens airport that shut down?

Ever heard of travel insurance?

— Loony Gaming (@LoonyGaming) January 26, 2022

Follow and listen to our podcast here

Top photo from irenecaselli / Twitter and Changi Airport