Lion Air disappoints

Lion Air should not only upgrade the maintenance of its fleet, but they should also upgrade their customer care services. On Nov. 8 my wife and I went to Singapore by Lion Air for medical treatment, the complications of which unexpectedly prolonged our stay. I called the Lion Air office in Singapore to change our return flight reservation, explaining to the employee, Zena, the reason for the change.

However, not being able to get through to the Lion Air office on the departure day, despite calling all morning from the hotel and doctor's office, we were horrified to discover -- too late -- that the flight we were to take at 5:30 p.m. had already left -- at 12 noon! Zena never informed us of the time change.

Obliged to return that very day to Jakarta, we ended up spending S$512 for two one-way Lufthansa tickets.

A complaint e-mail sent to Lion Air received an answer 13 days later, signed by the manager of the Lion Air branch office in Singapore, Devi Yahya, who not only said that I was the one who was mistaken, but also informed me for the first time that my ticket was only valid for 14 days, and thus I had no right to any reimbursements.

To summarize, it was not worth flying with Lion Air, which clearly does not care about their passengers. This time, we only lost money.

ANDRZEJ JAKUBOWSKI, Jakarta