ON MARCH 9, sales executive Sandra Tan and her family had checked in their baggage and were raring to begin their holiday - but they did not make it past the security officers at Changi Airport's Budget Terminal.
They were held back because Ms Tan mentioned the word 'bomb' twice during a security check - and they subsequently missed their flight.
Although the case has now been resolved, Ms Tan, 34, told her side of the story in an e-mail message sent to the authorities earlier this month.
She said that she complied when the officers had asked her to take off her boots for screening.
But when her 13-year-old daughter asked why she had to do so, Ms Tan explained that the officers were 'afraid we might keep bombs in our shoes'.
She claims that an officer - an employee of the Aetos security management company - asked her to repeat what she had said.
Ms Tan replied that she was explaining to her daughter that 'you guys are afraid we will keep bombs in our shoes'.
She was then told to step aside and, Ms Tan claims, a female security officer told her she could be thrown in jail.
Even the sergeant on duty did not buy her story that her utterance of the word 'bomb' had been taken out of context.
The police were then called. They assessed the situation and said Ms Tan and her family could leave.
But by then, the family of four - Ms Tan, her husband and their son and daughter - had missed their flight to Darwin, Australia.
They returned home and never made it for the holiday.
But Ms Tan could not take the disappointment lying down.
She wrote to the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and Ministry of Home Affairs, complaining that the security officers had 'taken things way beyond what was necessary'.
She also asked if the family would be compensated for the $4,200 they lost on tickets and hotel bookings.
The police, CAAS officials and Aetos security management officers have since met the family and arrived at a resolution - although it was not revealed what, if anything, was given to them.
The CAAS and police said that, given the importance of security in air travel, it is necessary for staff to be vigilant.
But they agreed that the issue could have been handled better by the Aetos officers and are working with the company in this area.
When contacted by The Straits Times, Ms Tan said on Tuesday that she and her family 'are satisfied with the action taken by the CAAS to redress the situation and the matter has reached an agreeable closure'.
