Singapore — Travelling with a toddler is challenging, but travelling with a toddler during a pandemic, you double the challenge!
Throw in flight delays due to poor weather conditions at this time of year, and you may find yourself in a world of hurt, as one mum found out.
Journalist Irene Caselli was at Changi Airport on Tuesday morning (Jan 25) when she was told that their flight home to Greece had been cancelled because international flights to Athens had been cancelled due to a heavy snowstorm.
Ms Caselli, who was travelling with her toddler, wrote about her experience in a series of tweets, starting off with a photo of her young child lying on a blanket on the floor.
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 called it “shameful” that @SingaporeAir and @flyscoot had left them “stranded in Singapore offering no sleeping arrangement for my son or alternative flights until Thursday.”
Due to pandemic restrictions, they could not leave the airport to find accommodations while they waited, and were told that the airport hotels were full.
“Can you imagine 3 days on the floor with a toddler, trying to avoid catching #COVID? @SingaporeAir, shame on you. Why won’t you put us on other flight to Europe?! #strandedatchangi,” she tweeted.
She also wrote that the ground staff seemed uncaring and “refused to put us on a different flight or offer compensation to buy alternative.”
“@SingaporeAir you have plenty of availability on other flights and offered no alternative only for your profit,” Ms Caselli pointed out.
She further wrote that she was “shocked” that the ground staff, Singapore Airlines, and the airport “are unaware of how to care for a toddler. After 12 hours here, nobody has asked how we can be more comfortable,” and claimed in a later tweet that another passenger from the same flight had been given a hotel room.
“So @flyscoot @SingaporeAir lied tp (sic) us and did not prioritise a toddler’s accommodation. How is this possible @govsingapore @ChangiAirport?” she asked.
A few hours later, Ms Caselli posted an update, saying hotel accommodation had been found for her family “after making a big fuss here and calling the Italian embassy.”
She added, “Two more days to go, but at least we have a bed and a shower available now. And, trolls, please get out of here.”
Singapore Airlines did respond to Ms Caselli’s tweets with an apology and explaining that the airport hotels had been full, as well as asking her to “continue liaising with our colleagues from Scoot should you require any further assistance.”
Changi Airport also replied to her tweets.
Some Twitter users were sympathetic toward Ms Caselli and her toddler’s plight.
However, some pointed out that she had chosen to travel on a budget airline during a pandemic, and pointed out that she had to be aware of the risks involved.
/TISG
Read also: Man who choked woman at Changi Airport stairwell so he could smell her feet get 8 months jail