Just First Class Allowed In Singapore?

Last week we proudly announced of getting another award for being ranked 1st. But there are some news lately that make me a bit worried Singapore heading in the right direction long term.

Here are just a few:

• The rising prices for rentals and daily needs is a developmet that not only happens in Singapore but you can find similar reports in European which is a downside of a good economy.

But the following 2 headlines are more of a concern to me:

• Parkway to build hospital with A Class suites only
• SIA to convert all direct non-stop flights to Los Angeles & New York to Business Class only

Is this a healthy direction for Singapore? Does that mean, reading in between the lines, Singapore only want's to attract the rich and famous in future? Some Singaporeans are already feeling the pinch and to calm them down the government is giving out insentives for their citizens.

From a business perspective it's understandable everything "First Class" shows better figures in a P&L than "Coach"and I'm talking in general not about airlines only.

However in long term isn't a "coach class" customer the one who has to be groomed, to be pampered for he might be a faithful future customer and step up to business class once or maybe even to "First Class"??

Isn't it very dangerous for potential Singapore visitors to everywhere read how "First" everything here is, because to many of the average tourists, "first" will always be equaled with "expensive" as well. Reading about how many million visitors Singapore wants (or has) to attract every year "first class" passengers would not be enough to satisfy Singapore's appetite of the travel cake.

Talking about Singapore Airlines decision to convert all direct flights to the US into Business Class only, again I do understand the big profit they will make, however have they forgotten about the not so great times just few years ago when September 11 and SARS hit the economy so bad? When hotels and flights were almost empty and many companies had their staff fly economy or not fly at all?

Non of us hopes these things to happen again however there is always the possibility, just watch the US and oil prices now..........

What about families flying to the US many of then were ready to pay the premium for a nonstop flight for the convenience of shorter flying times but paying business class fees only for a minority. I've seen quite a few split families where either dad or mom fly business (for whatever reason) and the rest of the family coach. Not possible anymore, even the business class dad has to take a longer flight now! Mind families with kids, they are your future customers and you're pissing them off at a young age already! They might consider using other carriers and liking them since all want to catch up with Singapore Airlines standards.

How will the all the "First Class" oriented react to lure back customers if something happens.......?