Aleem Ibrahim, oldest serving employee

Aleem Ibrahim, the almost indispensable Assistant Manager, will be appointed "Head of Project" in the cabin crew dept from 1 April 2017. His retirement is being extended another year (from 67 to 68), making him the oldest serving employee of SIA .
Congrats brother!

Had lunch with ex-school teacher

I spent my Saturday afternoon with my ex-school teacher Mr Koh Beng Thiam and a classmate at the City Square Mall near Farrer Park MRT Station. We had our lunch at Food Republic on the 4th floor. We had the above for lunch followed by a kopi session at Toast Box. Initially, Mr Koh invited us to his place which is just a 7 minute walk from City Sq. Mall to have coffee. However, due to the rain, we decided to proceed to Toast Box instead. We stayed at the Mall and Toast Box for about 3 hours. We chatted about our school days among many other things.
Incidentally, Mr Koh was also the first principal of Jurong Junior College from 1981 to 1986.
He was Mr Lim Ching Beng's (SIA first CEO or MD) classmate in Raffles Institution. He told us he was in charge of the RI swimming team whose captain was Mr Goh Chok Tong, the former prime minister of Singapore.

81% said yes, 19% said no

This was the poll I conducted on my blog (www.bohtong.org) for the last 2 months. I asked the readers whether I should continue blogging about airline matters and stories since some had asked me to stop blogging. Now the results are out and 81% asked me to continue whereas only 19% asked me to stop. Since I have the mandate to continue blogging, I will do my best to entertain and keep you informed of airline issues.
Thank you for your feedback!

Ex Madame Tussauds SIA Girl Suet

Former Madame Tussauds SIA Girl Lim Suet Kwee will be promoted to Head of Crew Performance Department in Cabin Crew w.e.f 1 April 2017. She will be the assistant to Manager of Crew Performance. Congrats Suet!

Pilot boyfriend 5-timed stewardess

Her husband was a slut, so she claimed ...read more

Prawn Mee near Lavender MRT Station

We had prawn noodles for breakfast. The place was the North Bridge Road Food and Market Centre. It's about 100 meters from the Lavender MRT Station and the ICA Buiding. Must admit that the noodles were good. The soup has a strong genuine prawn flavour. Each bowl cost $2.50 which is one of the cheapest in Singapore. Be prepared to wait for 15 minutes as the Q is quite long and the old hawkers are slow.

I too was not promoted but did not blame the company

Some of my colleagues were 10 to 20 years junior in service to me in the company and were promoted ahead of me. I did not begrudge them because they were willing to sacrifice their family lives and devoted their time to SIA. They worked very hard, much harder than me and so they deserved the promotion.
Some did not even report sick for many years whereas I did quite often due to vertigo. So when I was not promoted I did not blame the management nor envy my colleagues. The difference in salary between those who were promoted and those who were not, was as much as $2,000 a month.
This is a fact of life and so the crew should learn not to blame the management for not promoting them if they take too many MCs or do not participate in ECA. But as I understand, MCs and ECA form a small part of the promotion process.

Don't be trigger happy with your Whatsapp

Above is an example of Whatsapp message complaining about a fellow colleague


A supposedly confidential  Whatsapp message from one crew to another badmouthing the company or their fellow colleagues could land oneself in trouble especially when the matters are being forwarded or circulated. The crew has been told explicitly not to use any form of social media to discuss company's matters. All grouses, unhappiness regarding work, fellow colleagues and passengers should be brought up to the office.
There were cases where crew were hauled to the office and given warning letters for circulating messages of unhappiness and hate through the social media. A good example was a crew who circulated a Whatsapp message to fellow colleagues regarding the behaviour of a passenger. This message was fowarded to hundreds of crew. Another, badmouthed his superior to fellow colleagues. He is now being investigated and if found guilty, will be dealt with accordingly.
Many think the Whatsapp messages' sources could not be traced but trust me, the company has a network of people who are capable of tracking down these people.

Biting the hand that feeds you

Sadly, there are many employees who will go around bad mouthing their employers. These are the employees who are unhappy either because of salary issues or conditions of work. Cabin crew is no exception too.
Recent news regarding the death of a leading stewardess during her nightstop in SFO triggered this sentiment among some crew that their employer is uncaring and punitive. Thus, besides expressing their unhappiness in the social media they complained to their customers, the passengers.
Passengers pay for their travel and expect to be given the services promised by the airlines. They
do not want to waste their precious time listening to the complaints dished out by the crew regarding their bosses and condition of work. By complaining to the passengers, the crew thought they would get sympathy from the passengers. In fact, most passengers
One passenger blasted the company and accused it of being discriminatory, abusing the crew by making them attend classes at 9 am after returning at 6 am from flight duties which is difficult to believe.. etc.