Robotic helicopters controlled by your very thoughts.

SIA full year profits up 12.8% but .....

Full year ending March 2013 SIA profits is up 12.8% to S$379 million. Cargo did poorly with a loss of $167m ( $119m for 2011-2012)...should at least suspend the service. Dividends declared is 0.17 cents per share.

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Nice and yummy food@ Fu Chan, Jalan Kayu

I know this may not be the blog for food but I can't resist telling my readers how yummy those food were. The place that serves the above is at Fu Chan Jalan Kayu. It starts from 3:30 pm and closes at about midnight.

Costs:

• Spinach + century egg soup $8
• 8 pcs of fried chicken wings in prawn paste $8
• Steamed Red grouper $35
• Fried spinach with garlic $ 8

Singapore falls to record-low place in press freedom ranking

Singapore fell 14 places to a record 149th position in terms of press freedom, according to an annual report by non-governmental organisation Reporters Without Borders (RWB).

Coming ahead of World Press Freedom Day, which was observed Friday, the report showed this is the city-state’s worst performance since the index was established in 2002.

On the list, Singapore is wedged in between Russia and Iraq, with Myanmar just two places behind. The former junta-led country jumped up 18 spots in this year’s ranking.

Neighbouring Malaysia dropped 23 places to 145th over repeated censorship efforts and a crackdown on the Bersih 3.0 protest in April. Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea stayed at the bottom three, while Finland stayed on top of the list followed by the Netherlands and Norway.

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Ang Moh hurt S'pore cabby

Christian Myhrhagen Sindre hurled the cabby towards a lift so hard that the man’s back hit the lift wall. -- ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW

By Elena Chong

A Norwegian man who grabbed a cabby by the neck, shoved him across a hotel lobby and hurled him into a lift, was jailed for six weeks yesterday.

All because Christian Myhrhagen Sindre, a ship charterer who earns $10,500 a month, had initially refused to pay the cabby a $4 midnight surcharge.

The 27-year-old was also ordered to pay compensation of $1,699 to part-time cabby Lee Chin Chye, 49, for his medical expenses and loss of earnings.

District Judge Eddy Tham, who called Sindre's action "both shocking and deplorable", said public transport workers must be protected against passengers who exhibit violence because they are drunk.

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BT:  The culprit should be given at least 3 strokes of the cane and a longer prison sentence otherwise there will be more of such assault cases.

Video Shows Capture of Boston Bombing Suspect No 2

After Jaia's son case.....

Now training dept has issued a circular informing all trainees to ask their guests attending their graduation to leave the moment the graduation ceremony is over.
Anyone disobeying the order will be dealt with severely.
My suggestion is if the above action is due to security concern then the invitation of guests should be abolished. It is as simple as that!

Putting fear works in cabin crew especially with the newbies. Everyone is supposed to toe the line. Offenders would usually be given warning letters or have their services terminated. They would have to pay for breaking their bond.

Do you seriously think with this tough & bullying-like approach in dealing with the trainees they be able to give off their best when they start flying?
No wonder the standard of the inflight service is going down. Remember the saying "you reap what you sow".

The discipline standard is so tough that it makes the NS training looks like a child's play. 

Jaia's son beaten down but not out.

Yes! Finally the office has withdrawn the warning letter given to Jaia's son for allowing his parents (both ex-crew) to tour the office after his graduation that day.
I am happy for the boy and I hope he will serve SIA as a fabulous steward,just like his dad who was also a cabin crew (Jaia was once voted as Mr. Courteous in cabin crew).

The top management people were the ones who considered the appeal by the boy and withdrew the punishment. It was the lower management who issued the warning. I think these people need to be more understanding.

I heard the manager who was involved in the case was transferred out to another department but my source could not confirmed whether it was related to this case.

The saga had traumatised the new steward. But silently, he has learnt that there are many predators who are waiting to pounce on their innocent preys to prove a point to their superior that they are worthy of the fat salary they draw.

If this is the trend (being punitive) then I am sad to say SIA will never recover to be the best in inflight service.

Am I helpful? Peter said yes!

An ex IFS one day called me out of the blue. He got my phone number from another crew who knew me well.
His name is Peter and he had left the airline long ago. He told me he was addicted to my blog. Yes, the one  at www.bohtong.org . Peter told me he would read my blog every morning after reading all his emails. He found the stories in my blog very interesting.
Peter also heard and told me I was a helpful person. The latest case about my ex-colleague Jaia Kumar's son prompted him to make that phone call. He praised me for putting in much effort to get the boy out of trouble ( read here) but I told him I was not sure whether I would succeed in helping him.
He also applaud me for helping Vijay one of my ex-colleagues get out of depression by providing him with a small business which is keeping him happy and occupied.
Peter also knows that I have helped many wannabes get into the airlines as flight attendants or cabin crew.
Thank you Peter for your encouragement and also for being one of blog fans.

Guess who is this gentleman?

Clues: He was an ex-cabin crew and former Singapore hockey player. And what is he doing to his dog? 

Why SIA reinstate the 2 Facebook stewards?

Hundreds if not thousands of SIA cabin crew signed a petition asking the company to be lenient to the 2 boys. It seems SIA management don't even wanna have a look at the petition. But then they reinstated the 2 crew after an appeal by the union.

An inside source told me SIA gave the job back to the 2 crew because it wanna make the union look good ( this may be or may not be true). At this point, many crew were displeased with the union leadership for  allowing the company to "reduce" their location meal allowances and other issues.

I was told, the firing of the 2 crew was unnecessary. At worst, they should be warned not to discuss about work in their Facebook accounts.

Anyway, we are pleased the 2 crew were reinstated.

Happy flying guys and don't get into trouble again!

Visit them also kena punished!

When Jaia's son joined SIA as a steward, his parents were gleaming with pride. Jaia himself was an ex cabin crew executive with SIA and his wife a stewardess of 10 years before she resigned.

It was shocking to hear that SIA cabin crew management punished the son with a warning letter for allowing his parents to tour their former workplace.
Jaia and wife thought it was a decent thing to go around greeting their ex colleagues since they were there to attend the son's graduation. But cc management thought otherwise.

Another shocker was that a few of Jaia's ex colleagues refused to shake his hand. One even told him to be formal and address him as Mr. Ang instead of just xxxxy.

What a shame! The whole drama is outrageously disgraceful and unbecoming of senior cabin crew staff!