SIA, in 2nd U-turn, removes auto opt-in travel insurance amid public outcry

SINGAPORE — Singapore Airlines (SIA) has backtracked on a decision to automatically charge passengers for travel insurance, the second time in a month the national carrier has had to make a U-turn in the face of a public backlash.

"We have taken customer feedback into account, however, and have amended the booking flow on our website to offer travel insurance as an 'opt-in', rather than 'opt out', feature," an SIA spokesman said in response to queries on Thursday (Feb 1).

The "auto opt-in" feature, said to have been introduced last year in Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong, sparked public anger after some passengers wrote complaint letters to The Straits Times. Some of the passengers said they only realised they had been charged for travel insurance after their bookings were confirmed, while others said the process of asking for refunds if they did not want the insurance was tedious.

This followed an earlier U-turn on Jan 4, where SIA had to ditch its plans to levy a credit-card service fee on outgoing flights from Singapore — one day after after news of the fee emerged and sparked outrage.

The airline had planned to levy a credit-card service fee of 1.3 per cent of the total amount, capped at S$50, for customers who booked tickets under its new Economy Lite category from Jan 20.

SIA chief executive officer Goh Choon Phong addressed the credit-card service fee fiasco briefly on Monday, saying: "We have to accept that some things may not work … and we have to show that if it doesn't work, that we learn quickly, and move on."