27 December 2022
Transport Minister Anthony Loke has instructed Batik Air to reach out to all passengers of its KL-Kuching flight who were stranded for over eight hours at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) last Friday night.
He also ordered the airline’s management to apologise to all the passengers.
Loke has also reached out to the management of the airline, formerly known as Malindo Air, to be more responsible towards their passengers.
The Transport Minister’s response comes after one of the flight’s passenger Mohammad Firdaus Jailan’s complaint on his and other passengers’ treatment as well as predicament went viral on social media.
His anguish after being stuck at the KLIA also touched the nerve of other netizens who wanted the government to pay attention to the matter.
In his video posting on Twitter, Firdaus said he was waiting for his flight to Kuching, but it was delayed from 11 pm to 6 am and he had to stay overnight at the airport.
“I was waiting for my flight to go back to Kuching at 11.30 pm, but when I arrived and checked in at the airport, I only got to know that they delayed the flight to 2 am.
“Then I continued asking whether it would still be delayed or not. They said it won’t. But it was delayed to 4 am without any notice. And then it was delayed again to 6.30 am.
Firdaus said that the airline manager and officers did not provide any explanation on what was transpiring on the flight and its delay.
“They did not make an announcement or explanation about the reason the flight was delayed. And we wanted to know why.
“There was no staff working at this time, and it was crazy to wait that long. If I knew it would be delayed for so long, I would have checked in at a hotel and slept there.
“It’s cold here and no blankets and neck pillows were given to us as we waited for more than eight hours. There were senior citizens and young children who were waiting and shivering at the airport while sleeping on the floor and seats.
“There were no food stores open at that time so we could not get any food. And due to security concerns, we could not leave the area. So we’re basically stranded there.
“We asked the police on guard to send a message to the management of the airline to send someone or an officer to come and look at the current situation at the airport, but no one came down.
With his frustration boiling over, he took to his social media to complain about the airline’s poor treatment of its passengers and tagged the Transport Minister to look into this matter.
Source: www.nst.com.my
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