a woman serving a bottle of wine to a woman sitting in a chair

Earlier this week, one passenger died and 70 were injured after a Singapore Airlines 777-300ER experienced unexpected turbulence over Burma. In response, Singapore Airlines has suspended all cabin service while the seatbelt light is on.

Singapore Airlines Now Suspends Onboard Service If Seatbelt Light Is On

Effective immediately, Singapore Airlines will halt cabin service, including serving meals and beverages, when the seatbelt light is on. Per a Singapore Airlines spokesperson:

“In addition to the suspension of hot beverage service when the seat belt sign is on, the meal service will also be suspended. Crew members will also continue to advise passengers to return to their seats and secure their seat belts. They will also monitor customers who may require assistance, including those in the lavatories.”

“Pilots and cabin crew are aware of the hazards associated with turbulence. They are also trained to assist customers and ensure cabin safety throughout the flight. SIA will continue to review our processes as the safety of our passengers and crew is of utmost importance.”

Even before the SQ321 incident, Singapore Airlines took a more conservative approach by suspending hot beverage service whenever the seatbelt light was on. But this takes precaution to a whole new level.

Singapore Airlines Embraces Pandemic-Era Mindset With Policy Change

This move strikes me as a COVID-style overreaction.

I hope we learned many lessons during the pandemic, but one thing I hope everyone can agree on is that in many cases there was a severe overreaction in relation to the actual threat. Schools should not have been closed when children were at such low risk. Some of the distancing and mask requirements were simply absurd and for purposes of our discussion here, airlines and hotels used the excuse of COVID-19 to rapidly dismantle onboard service, then took years to bring it back.

Pilots determine when to turn on the seatbelt light. Some are more conservative than others in turning on when experiencing the least kind of chop. I’d imagine that there will some regional flights in which service will no longer be possible on Singapore Airlines if a more conservative captain leaves the seatbelt light on for an extended period.

And yet this is not about food and drink, it is about fear and rationality. We may well be entering a period of more intense turbulence due to climate change, but one deadly incident is not enough to make that declaration. The odds of such severe turbulence are extremely low and remain low and Singapore’s response strikes me as the same sort of overreaction that led Singapore Airlines to limit meal service onboard during the pandemic…all in the name of health and safety.

Oh, how I loathe the mask era and what an unscientific, fear-based period that represented in human history.

Here, I see the same thing going on. Hopefully, though, just on a temporary basis.

CONCLUSION

Understandably, Singapore Airlines wants to err on the side of caution following the severe turbulence on SQ321. Even so, its new service policy strikes me as an overreaction. Hopefully it is only temporary and will not linger on for years like so many of the pandemic-era cutbacks.


image: Singapore Airlines

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