Woman returning to China from Changi for father’s death anniversary told plane was full, Jetstar apologises with S$150 voucher

Woman unable to return to China for father’s death anniversary due to full Jetstar plane

A woman trying to return home for her father’s death anniversary was stopped from boarding the plane at Changi Airport.

The 49-year-old Ms Han (transliterated) had bought a Jetstar ticket from Singapore to Haikou for 7.25am on 28 Aug.

That day, she arrived at Changi Airport at 6am, but was unable to perform her check-in using the check-in kiosk, reported Shin Min Daily News.

She then queued up for check-in procedures at the counter instead. When it was her turn, however, the counter staff told her the plane was full and she would not be allowed to board despite having a ticket.

The staff offered to put her on a flight to Haikou on 30 Aug instead, but Ms Han refused and burst into tears.

Ms Han needed to return on that day because the one-year anniversary of her father’s death was on 29 Aug.

“My father had fallen ill, but I was working hard in Singapore and didn’t take care of him. I feel regretful over that, so I hoped to properly pay my respects to him on his death anniversary.”

Though Ms Han pleaded, the staff insisted that there were no seats left. She ultimately left Changi Airport at 8am, after the plane had taken off.

Jetstar apologises and offers S$150 travel voucher

A Jetstar spokesperson apologised to Ms Han for the inconvenience and said that they were looking into the details of what happened.

They said that they had arranged a flight for her on 30 Aug and, as a gesture of goodwill for the distressful incident, provided her with a S$150 travel voucher.

Ms Han refused the voucher, saying that she had specially taken leave to go back to Haikou and that she had just over a week of allocated leave left before that.

“Now that my plans have been ruined, even a S$1,000 travel voucher would be useless.”

Ms Han felt that the airline had a responsibility to ensure there were enough available seats on the plane for all their customers who had bought a ticket.

She also pointed out that she did not arrive late for the check-in either, and through no mistake of her own, had missed two days of her visit home.

Ms Han left on a plane for Haikou at 7.25am on 30 Aug, after having arrived three hours early at Changi Airport at 4am to do her check-in.

Also read: M’sian woman misses flight after mistaking 01:15 boarding time on plane ticket for 1.15pm

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Featured image adapted from Shin Min Daily News on Facebook and Will Waters on Unsplash, for illustration purposes only.