Relax - Secret to success? Just smile and carry on

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A NEW phrase has been making its rounds in airline circles. It’s called “pulling a Slater”.

In the now-infamous incident, JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater abruptly exited the plane that had just landed via its evacuation slide after an argument with a passenger.

This happened on Aug 9 at New York City’s John F Kennedy International Airport.

He ran to his car and drove home. He was later arrested and is now out on bail.

Perhaps the closest recent incident here was when a Singapore Airlines steward was caught on camera punching a drunk and unruly passenger in an attempt to restrain him in February.

SIA said it investigated the incident but now considers the matter closed and would not reveal details.

But such incidents are rare.

Two former SIA women flight attendants The New Paper spoke to said they have had their fair share of difficult passengers.

But the key, they said, was always to keep calm and adhere to the customer service training they went through.

Ms Jacquelyn Chan, 27, who was an SIA stewardess from 2005 to 2007, recalled her worst incident.

She said: “I was serving drinks on board a flight in 2007 and I had just served a young Taiwanese passenger her coffee when the whole cup of boiling hot coffee, which was on her tray, landed on her thigh and scalded her.”

Stunned Added Ms Chan, who now owns backpacker joint Rucksack Inn: “First thing I thought was ‘Don’t start arguing, just treat her wound.’

“So I sat her down, put towels on her thigh and continually asked her if she was feeling okay. She was quite stunned at that time and she didn’t blame me for it.”

Ms Chan also reported the matter to the head stewardess – following protocol – and continued to check on the passenger throughout the flight.

All seemed well. Until three hours later, when the woman passenger demanded that paramedics treat her on landing, which they did.

“It was strange, she was fine and didn’t have blisters on her thigh,” Ms Chan said.

The incident didn’t end there.

Two weeks later the passenger wrote in to complain about the incident, blaming Ms Chan.

“I think she just wanted to complain about me,” she said, adding that she had to write a report of the incident.

“Luckily, I had the support of my superiors and the incident ended there,” she said.

Ms Iryati Abu Bakar, 49, who was an SIA and SilkAir stewardess for 20 years, said never to underestimate the “importance of a warm smile”.

Said Ms Iryati: “It can really go far with passengers.”

Ms Iryati, who is now head of inflight services with Tiger Airways Singapore, recalled an incident in the 80s.

She said: “There was a business class passenger, who shoved his bag at me and expected me to stow it for him in the overhead compartment.

“I flashed a bright smile and politely said ‘Let me show you where to stow it, you are much better built than I to do it.’”

The passenger, who was in a foul mood when he boarded, uttered some expletives under his breath. But she ignored them.

Ms Iryati’s conclusion: Sometimes, a megawatt smile can “let you get away with ‘murder’.”

Secret to success? Just smile and carry on

By Veena Bharwani, The New Paper | Sun, Aug 22 2010

Airline crew here say they are unlikely to 'pull a Slater'.

Secret to success? Just smile and carry on

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