Cancer patient purportedly had to delay medical appointments after being ‘off-loaded’ from Scoot flight
A cancer patient apparently had to delay her medical appointments after she was “off-loaded” from a Scoot flight from Singapore to Sarawak, Malaysia.
Nicholas Xiang, a Facebook user, said in a post in the Complaint Singapore (Anonymous) group on June 8 that his mother’s Scoot reservation was cancelled “due to an apparent overbooking situation”.
Accompanying the post was a photo of a letter that appeared to be from Scoot, informing passengers that they had been rebooked from flight TR412 on June 8 to a flight departing on June 15.
As a token of apology, Scoot offered each affected passenger a $150 travel voucher and the option to receive a refund for the affected flight.
Xiang said he was shocked to discover that the booking had been cancelled only when they arrived at the airport’s check-in counter. He claimed that they had not been informed beforehand and described the situation as “ridiculous”.
“Purchase air ticket doesn’t secure a seat?” he asked.
Medical appointments postponed
Despite explaining that his mother needed to attend pre-booked medical appointments in the coming days, Xiang said the counter staff told them that their hands were tied.
“My mother’s medical appointment no choice had to be postponed. She is a cancer patient, this delay may cause serious implications for her ongoing treatment and medical care,” he added.
He said that his mother had prepared just enough medication for her original travel schedule, and the unexpected disruption had “created considerable anxiety and concern regarding her health”.
“This lack of communication caused significant inconvenience, distress, and affected several arrangements,” Xiang wrote.
Stomp has reached out to Xiang for more information.
Passenger transferred to subsequent flight: Scoot
In response to Stomp’s queries, a Scoot spokesperson said that the flight in question had departed on schedule on June 8.
“We regret the off-loading of the affected customers,” the spokesperson said, but did not explain why the bookings had been cancelled.
The representative added that arrangements were made to transfer the affected customer to a subsequent Scoot flight, and that the airline had reached out to her to provide further assistance.
‘Disappointing’: Netizens react
Netizens offered support in the comments, suggesting that the passenger apply for travel insurance or pursue the matter with the airline.
Others said such situations were common across the airline industry, while some described the incident as “disappointing” and “irresponsible”.
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