Really rude and disrespectful ground staff, she yelled and shouted at me in public for a mistake that's later found to be hers!!

On Sunday, 12 July 2015, my parents, my brother and I transited at Changi Airport, Singapore on our way to Surabaya, Indonesia from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The boarding pass for our second flight (to Surabaya, Indonesia) was already given in Kuala Lumpur to us. Our flight to Surabaya was supposed to leave Singapore at 11:10am.

After getting off the plane from Kuala Lumpur, we rushed to our next flight’s gate, which was quite a bit far off. On the way there my mum felt really sick. She felt the needed to throw up so we had to find a restroom. She was holding both of my dad’s passport and hers (with the respective boarding passes inside each passport). I told my dad and my brother to head down to the gate first as it was nearly boarding time. My mum then handed one of the passports (with the respective boarding pass) to my dad before she and I went to find the nearest restroom. After throwing up many times, even though she felt weak, I slowly walked her to the waiting room at our gate, as it was nearly boarding time. I saw that my dad and my brother were already inside. At the exit, my dad who were already inside the waiting room passed on the passport that my mum initially handed to him. Apparently, it was my mum’s passport and apparently, he didn’t realise it either when he was being checked in. Immediately I thought that my mum must have passed on the wrong passport (hers) to my dad as she was rushing to the restroom (the two passports were identical from the outside). Funnily, my dad could get into the waiting room. That means, the jetstar lady at the counter (wearing black uniform) checked him in without checking on the passport he had!

Never mind, I thought we’d do the right thing (checking her in with her passport). So I let my mum went in first. As she was feeling really weak, I was carrying her things (including her passport and my dad’s passport). When I checked her in, I accidentally gave the jetstar lady at the counter (wearing black uniform) the wrong passport; it was my dad’s passport. Soon after I realised, I quickly grabbed the passport from the lady and gave the right passport to her (my mum’s passport). The same jetstar lady at the counter (wearing black uniform) then asked me whose passport it was (while pointing at the first passport-my dad’s passport- I gave her). I said it’s not hers (pointing at mum). She was going to ask more questions but I asked if she could please just check my mum into the waiting room first. After my mum got in, it’s my turn to be checked in. After I handed in my boarding pass and my passport, the same jetstar lady at the counter (wearing black uniform) asked me again whose passport it was while pointing at my dad’s passport that I still had on my other hand. I said that it is someone else’s. She then started yelling at me, threatening me saying that she wouldn’t check me in if I didn’t tell her whose passport it was that’s on my other hand! I was so shocked that she would yell at me with no respect just like that in public without any hesitant. I replied also in a loud voice saying “Why are you yelling at your customer? Your job is to check me in as I have handed you my passport and my boarding pass”, she yelled at me again saying “I will not check you in if you don’t tell me whose passport it is!” (While pointing at the other passport in my other hand).Because she was so rude to me, I replied “It is none of your business!”. She refused to check me in and I said, “This is ridiculous, is this how jetstar staff treat their customer?”. She yelled at me again, “How come you have another passport in your hand? Where is the owner of that passport?”. I said, “the owner is inside!”. She wouldn’t lower her voice down that it really attracted the attention of everybody in the waiting room. I felt so embarrassed as I thought that this did not need to happen if only she would just check me in as I had all the requirement for her to check me in, she was just looking for problems!

She continued yelling at me, trying to put me down by saying, “How can you know that the owner is inside? I don’t believe what you’re saying!!”. I said “I know because he is right over there!”, while pointing at my dad in the waiting room. She yelled again, “How can he be inside when his passport is outside?”. Initially, I didn’t feel the need to expose her mistake if she’d just let me in, but because she was pushing me with really loud voice, I yelled back and said “Because you did a mistake! You checked him in with the wrong passport, with my mum’s passport!” and then my dad yelled from the inside of the waiting room “You should have checked each passenger’s passport whether or not they match the passenger’s face!”. At that point she shut her mouth as she finally knew that she did a big mistake. I on the other hand was really angry because of the way she treated me and because of the unnecessary embarrassment that she had caused me. Realising that she could no longer blame me, she checked me in. After she checked me in, I went to her counter again from the other side (from the inside of the waiting room). I said to her that I would like to see her manager. She said rudely “You will never see my manager!” and I said “OK, then what is your name?”. She said rudely again “I will never tell you my name!!”.

This person, to me represented jetstar really badly. Not only did she treat me, her customer, without courtesy and respect, she embarrassed me in public for a mistake that is actually hers! If she checked the passport when my dad was being checked in and found that it was the wrong passport, he wouldn’t have checked my dad in and my family could rectify the problem amongst us (my family) before checking in with the correct passport. On top of that, this jetstar lady at the counter (wearing black uniform) refused to let me see her manager and refused to let me know her name (she didn’t wear a name badge either). This prevented me from reporting this incident and as a result her mistake wouldn’t have been heard by the management. Therefore, there is no feedback that could go through management and that she could do the same thing again and again in the future without a proper attention being given from the top management. This would result in the image of jetstar being worsen by staff like her, while the top management is not aware of such thing, hence no rectification or disciplinary action being taken.

I then decided to take her photo with the intention to bring this matter to the eye of jetstar management so that a proper disciplinary action could be taken (as she refused to tell me her name). After she realised that I took her photo, she yelled and threatened me again, commanding me to delete the photo or else she would call the police. Another lady behind the counter who was wearing jetstar orange jacket also said that she would call the police if I didn’t delete the photo. If the lady who was wearing jetstar orange jacket was in fact the supervisor, I could clearly see that amongst the staffs, they all tried to hide mistake from top management’s attention and refused to reveal their identity so no feedback could be given to the top management and no disciplinary action could be directed these people. The jetstar lady at the counter (wearing black uniform) seems like she has an Indian background with a short dark hair that has been coloured light brown. It would be such a shame if jetstar does not use this as a way to better correct and discipline their staffs as I am sure things like this really do put customers off from buying Jetstar tickets in the future.