"Horror Flight on MH161"

[Mushrif A 3]

Is it a case of the 5-star crew having blonde moments? And as usual, MH customer service department is probably as real as the loch ness monster.

 

 

From Malaysiakini:

 

"Horror flight on board MH161

Radhika Iyer-O'Sullivan | Jan 20, 09 3:55pm

 

I am a Malaysian currently residing and working in Dubai. On Dec 25, 2008, I flew with Malaysian Airlines flight MH161 to Kuala Lumpur to visit my parents. I was in seat 36H (an aisle seat) and the seat next to me, 36K (window seat) was vacant. The flight stopped over at Karachi for an hour.

 

In Karachi, more passengers boarded the plane. One male passenger boarded, showed his boarding pass to a stewardess and she pointed to seat beside me (36K). The man looked at me and said, ‘She's a Hindu, I cannot sit beside her.’ The stewardess responded, ‘So what? What's wrong with Hindu?’ The man then began to yell and shout that he would not sit next to a Hindu.

 

The crew insisted that he had to because there were no other seats available because the plane was full. Then this passenger sat down but began to verbally abuse my faith and the crew members. I sat in my seat but was physically cringing away from him. The flight supervisor was summoned and until then the man was still seated next to me. Imagine my shock, horror and fear in being next to a hostile, abusive person.

 

One steward did stand next to me but did not offer any help and I did not feel safe or reassured. I reached out and told that steward that I did not feel safe anymore. I said this to him softly in English and he told me to sit and wait. He then walked off and a female crew member took his place. All this time I was under the impression that this hostile passenger beside me was a Pakistani.

 

I then told the stewardess in Malay that this man should not be seated beside me after what he had said about me. There were other Malaysian passengers sitting in the same area and all of them heard me. She smiled and merely nodded.

 

Finally, the flight supervisor, ‘SB’, approached the passenger and after an angry exchange, the passenger said, ‘Move her then!’ and SB replied, ‘Yes, we will move her’. More angry words were exchanged and it was revealed that the passenger was actually a Malaysian. When this news was revealed, the passenger actually stood up with his fists up, ready to be physically violent. I was then hauled out of my seat and taken to the back of the plane. I was kept in the kitchen.

 

By this time I had gone into shock and was crying uncontrollably. I was shaking with rage because I was in a position where there was nothing I could do to defend myself. No one else seemed to be doing anything too.

 

I could not see what was happening from the rear of the plane but I did see uniformed security personnel approaching my original seat. I could not hear or make out what was happening as there was a group of people standing around my original seat. Eventually, the group left and it was announced that the plane would be taking off.

 

All this time I was in the kitchen, shaking and crying. All that was done for me was crew members taking turns to ask me if I was okay and offering me Coke and water! The plane began to taxi and I was then taken to another seat (42H). As I sat down, I asked the steward, ‘Is he off the plane?’ and the answer was, ‘No.’ I was appalled.

 

After the plane took off, the flight supervisor, SB, came and sat beside me. He explained to me that they could not put him off the plane because he was a deportee and if they had insisted on putting him off, then the plane would not have been cleared for take off. I was still crying at this point. I asked, ‘Why am I in a different seat? He should be!’ but my question was not answered.

 

The plane was not full. There were eight seats vacant in the rear, four on the right aisle and four seats on the left. Seat 42H, where I was put, was one of those vacant seats in the rear. If the MAS crew knew there was a deportee boarding, should they not have made arrangements to place him at the rear of the plane? What kind of airline policy allows a deportee to sit beside a female passenger travelling alone?

 

I spent the next five and a half hours on the flight in tears. I was not able to sleep because I knew that a hostile passenger was only six rows down from me. I was not afraid but in rage. My friends who are reading this would know the kind of person I am. I have always stood up for my rights and for the rights of people whom I love. I would not usually tolerate such abuse and I would not have hesitated in defending myself.

 

What stopped me was knowing that I was on a plane, in a confined space and that there were other passengers around me too, women and children. The abusive passenger was not removed from the plane and when we landed at KLIA, he disembarked like a normal passenger and was not escorted or arrested. I also disembarked knowing that I was now in the same terminal, on my own, as this hostile passenger.

 

I am very disappointed with the way MAS dealt with the incident. That passenger should have been taken to the rear of the plane and restrained. I was the victim of the incident yet I lost my chosen seat that I had paid for. Apart from offers of water, Coke and some verbal reassurances, the crew did not do anything else for me.

 

I have contacted other major airlines and this is how they would have dealt with the matter: I would have been moved to Business/First Class and I would have been escorted into the terminal until I safely exited the airport. MAS did not do anything for me. First of all, they jeopardised my safety and well-being by forcing the passenger to sit beside me knowing that he was hostile towards me and then they did nothing else to keep me safe.

 

I was in the same cabin as that passenger, wondering if he was going to walk by or pass me. I spent the entire five and a half hours in tears because I could not stand up for my rights and also because I had to keep my own rage pent-up.

 

Once I landed, I rang my husband in Dubai and related the events to him. He took immediate steps to contact MAS but to no avail. I stayed for one week in Malaysia and every single day, I tried to call their Customer Complaints Department. All I got was a voice mail. I left numerous messages but no one called me back. No one contacted my husband in Dubai. It is only after he put it up on the MAS blog that we have received some kind of response. Fourteen days after the incident, someone from MAS called me to offer an apology.

 

My husband also received an email from someone who has offered me 25 percent discount on a return flight from KL to Dubai and actually referred to that abusive passenger as a ‘fellow customer’! She also clearly stated that measures taken were to prevent that passenger from getting angrier. So in other words, they do admit that.

 

These are the questions I posed to MAS:

 

Why force a passenger who is racially abusive and hostile to my appearance and faith to sit beside me? There were other seats available at the rear as I discovered later.This was not a passenger who was merely fussing about his seat, this was a passenger who was potentially a threat to another passenger.

 

Why did the flight supervisor immediately give in to his demands and agree to move me? I was not the passenger causing trouble.

 

Upon retrospect, I think I was lied to. I do not think the passenger was a deportee. It was a lie told to me to keep him on the plane and keep me quiet. If a lie was told, that means that the crew took measures to protect the hostile passenger and themselves but not me, the victim. If so, then the MAS crew perpetuated the racism and discrimination initiated by the passenger.

 

If this is the case, then the entire crew participated in jeopardising my safety and appropriate action should be taken against them. If the passenger was truly a deportee or an INA (inadmissible because of visa) then the plane captain should have documents about him. If a deportee or INA caused trouble on a flight, the captain should have been informed immediately.

 

Why was the captain not informed and if he was, why did he not come to see me? I have been informed that KLIA security had been called but there was no one waiting when the plane landed. The abusive passenger disembarked like any other normal passenger. Why was he not nabbed or restrained? Why did not the crew ensure my safety in the terminal too?

 

I am demanding a formal, written apology from Malaysian Airlines. I want a truthful, reasonable explanation for all the five points I have listed above. I want some compensation for what I suffered. So far, I have only received an e-mail informing that the matter is under investigation."

 

 

 

 

[Alan B. 5]

Shocking! The crew should have handled this better. They were more pre-occupied with the abusive passenger, forgetting to comfort the victim.

 

If the person was a deportee, the crew would have his passport and handed him upon arrival to ground services.

 

Sad that till this day, there are still people that are unable to respect other faiths.

[Kenneth Chong WT 0]

Mushrif...do you have this lady's email add....I know someone who might help her....

 

I dont understand...why was the guy so abusive?? She was a fellow Malaysian...

 

I feel that MAS might not have dealt with such incident before thus the lack of attention...hopefully they will learn from it.

 

I was on a KCH-BKI flight before...deportees (Fillipino ladies) were seated in the last row of the 737...wonder why this wasnt the case on this flight. I was once on a KCH-JHB flight, a convict was handcuffed and flew with 2 policemen, they were also seated in the last row....hmm...I feel bad for this lady...I know I would be fearful too...

 

Being me...If I was onboard, i would readily change my seat with her....so sad....

[Teoh Z Yao 0]

I would say a formal apology from MAS wouldn't help much in terms of what happened, perhaps an apology from MAS would only restore the self-esteem and heal her injured emotion.

 

A deportee on a civilian flight? Do I get it correctly?

 

With the a deportee hurling abusive words at a passenger, MAS should have responded with prudence. Security personnels should have been summoned to deal with the situation. And it's really disturbing to learn that MAS personnel didn't relocate the deportee but instead relocated a properly seated customer. It wasn't a bad thing, but it could have been better off seating the deportee at a seat more desirable to him...

[Min 6]

easy, MAS will respond if the lady (the one who got abused) is white tourist. then MAS will do something. but because she's local.. Who cares... typical

[Mushrif A 3]

The crew should have moved that moron to a less desirable (isolated?) seat, instead of moving the poor lady elsewhere. It seems that the crew was more interested in not escalating the problem (by avoiding it, sweeping under the carpet, etc) rather than trying to resolve it.

 

The crew was probably fibbing about the deportee status - maybe it was for a minor immigration offence (overstayed?) - but they could assessed fairly immediately the suitability of seating the moron next to the lady, and aware of the pax's special status if he was really a deportee.

 

And also, here we have further anecdotes that warrant Jala to really invest in having a proper customer service A-team. There has been far too many tales about the non-responsiveness of MH customer service unit - which just adds insult to injury. Offering a 25% discount for future travel is not an appropriate remedy in my opinion. It is a situation which was in full control of the airline, and here we have MH telling the aggrieved to "please spend more money to fly on our crappy A330s on the DXB route". A visit would have been quite appropriate. (I find these as being a direct consequence of perhaps cutting all fat to have a great bottomline - hence, not enough personnel to man the customer service unit or even to react in a decent time, and the remedy offered is to enhance the bottomline even more by asking the aggrieved party to please "give us more money - not as much as before - but more money please.")

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 20, 2009 by Mushrif A

[izzuan halim 0]

why there is malaysian who behave like a stupid anti-racial like this guy...?

[Jen Hau 0]

Pity to that woman.

And more shocking is that that guy is a Malaysian. .

Action taken by the crew is not fair and not wise at all, just like ' shut up, you sit , when arrive, just get out. ' .

Formal apology is meaningless, what happened is already happened,

Edited January 20, 2009 by Jen Hau

[Khaled 2]

MAS has dealt with this kind situation many times. As long as the pax showed violent act such as fist up, the cabin crew can restrained the pax after a verbal warning which obviously was not done. A deportee will normally be escorted on any flight. I can guarantee that the capt was not informed of the situation.

Edited January 20, 2009 by Khaled

[Imran K. 0]

Unbelievable...such individuals should be whacked senseless upon arrival :angry:

 

 

 

 

 

[S. Huang 0]

What's MH's definition of a deportee? AFAIK, there are 2 types of deportees:

 

1) Over-stayer, illegal immigrant, asylum seekers etc - these passengers have to be escorted onto and out of the plane and handed over to the relevant authorities on arrival. Their passports are always kept under lock and key by crew in case they destroy or flush their passports down the toilet (happens alot for asylum seekers). The airline would know many days before hand if a deportee will be on their flight. The captain will also be informed.

 

2) Passengers who do not have the proper travel documents (visa) but were accidentally let through by the airline at point of origin. This happens alot for passengers holding certain types of passports going to certain destinations e.g. Sri Lankan passport holder going to Europe where visa guidelines are not very clear. These types of passengers are treated as normal passengers and hold on to their own passports. They are sent back on the first available flight and the airline is fined a hefty sum. For such cases, airlines are obligated (by immigration authorities) to offload paying passengers to accommodate this type of deportees if the flight is full. Not all airlines refer to such passengers as 'deportees'.

 

In any case, a deportee under (2) is usually a last minute addition to the flight and have to take whatever seat is available. MH shouldn't have asked the poor Hindu lady to accommodate the deportee's demands.

 

It does appear that MH crew didn't handle this incident well at all... and had a hand in making matters worse for everyone.

Edited January 20, 2009 by S. Huang

[Victor A. 2]

MAS has dealt with this kind situation many times. As long as the pax showed violent act such as fist up, the cabin crew can restrained the pax after a verbal warning which obviously was not done. A deportee will normally be escorted on any flight. I can guarantee that the capt was not informed of the situation.

 

the Capt of the flight should have been informed earlier of this hostile passenger by ground crew of the departing airport, am I right? and again by his flight crew, correct? before the hostile passenger even board the a/c, there must be some security officers escorting him to the a/c and thus would have create attention by other passengers & flight crew. my point here, MH ground crew should have taken the necessary action in giving the bugger suitable seats in the a/c. i don't blame the flight crew in such instances, its the ground crew that's supposed to be responsible. to make things worst, no immediate action by Customer Service is really, really, really bad.

[haansel 0]

From what some crew told me this MH161 is another horrid route.Pax like this are commen. not only in EY but also Bcc also.Normaly in this conditions Ground staff in Karachi should be blamed and the possible reason for the crew to move the victim is maby because there might be other women or the two seats emty so that the "Hero" could be contained .If at all they moved him it might not be a good view to pax on board.So if the crew cuffed him chances is it would have make things worst.But then again he should indeed be hand cuffed.IFS would have thought that is causing a fight wit the "hero"would caus delays and mountain of paper work and all the pax on board to be unhappy.For my belive Crew would have done their very best to controle this situation.We do have to keep in mind that 4 crew has to take care of 30~40 pax at the same time.IFS would have informed Kuala Lumpur and again ground staff in Kul would have ignored it or would have been lazy to attend to this.Knowing MAS Costemer service is well u know what i mean .We also have to take into account that we dont see a nother in the Pax name list your religon.So this would have been a compicated situation to deal with.No one goes around with their for head written i m a racist.For all i can say .The crew has done the best they could.MAS no matter what still belives.If a pax pays he is a pax eventhough he is a serial killer.Like Sia i heard Pax like this are band form booking the airline rite?Mas Should inprove in their costemer service not on board but at ground.Untill now correct me if i m wrong the tickitng counter where they give your boarding pass will never smile when they give u your seat.They give the look like we are traveling on their expence.About the informing the Captain.Yes it must have been informed because she said the the IFS said that the aircraft was not allowed for clearance to take off.It is also a must to inform in such information to the capt.This is because Both Ifs and Capt has to write it down black and white on their VR or report.This is also a must if the pax did complain about this to the compeny.MAS would have belived the the situation was handled well and moved on .so that could be a posibility why MAS responded to her later or in a odd way.

 

Regards,

Haansel.

 

PS:I m just a guy whom gave his views.Please dont think of me wrong if i fell on either side.

[Imran K. 0]

I echo some of the sentiments surrounding this particular sector...

 

DEFINITELY one I have tried to avoid incessantly for years on end...and successfully too

[Ryan Soh 3]

Oh my god...

 

My heart totally goes out to this poor Hindu lady. It is one thing to be at the receiving end of an abusive tirade, but to have the cause of it based on the way you look presents anothe low blow. What kind of person in this day and age in a forward thinking country like Malaysia is allowed to fester such thoughts? This is a bit archaic, isn't it? So what... was he a Moslem / Buddhist / Christian who didn't want to sit next to a Hindu?

 

the Capt of the flight should have been informed earlier of this hostile passenger by ground crew of the departing airport, am I right? and again by his flight crew, correct? before the hostile passenger even board the a/c, there must be some security officers escorting him to the a/c and thus would have create attention by other passengers & flight crew. my point here, MH ground crew should have taken the necessary action in giving the bugger suitable seats in the a/c. i don't blame the flight crew in such instances, its the ground crew that's supposed to be responsible. to make things worst, no immediate action by Customer Service is really, really, really bad.

We are all assuming that he WAS a deportee but cannot be sure. Aiyo. What happened to the World's Best Cabin Crew on a 5-star rated carrier? It is really sad that most of the cabin crew shrunk away and didn't take an active role in trying to pacify the "victim". If I were the IFS, I would have immediately assigned a "mentor" to the poor Hindu woman to make sure she would have been fussed over throughout the flight and paid special attention to her needs (assuming if JCL is indeed too full to upgrade her). KHI-KUL is a flight long enough to have pockets of nothingness and the assigned crew could have used that time to sit next to her just for an idle chit chat to ensure her mind would have been off-loaded as much as possible about the ugly incident. Something simple like an arm across the shoulder, reassuring "it is alright, we are doing what we can to make sure he is dealt with" goes a long way.

[Nik H. 3]

BAD MH. Very BAD MH. BAD IFS.

 

BUT. Need to verify story from all sides.

 

That sector is known as the 'Upgrade Me and Everything is OK' sector.

 

MH Customer response should do something about it. If it is true, every word as described, then proper action should be taken against the crew concerned, ( verbal warning, written warning, increment potong, demote or sack ), the Customer Response staff if it is not handled well, ( verbal warning, written warning, increment potong, demote or sack ), or, IF shown that it is a frivolous complaint, passenger should be revealed as such.

 

Alan B. knows how seriously the company will come down on a Cabin Crew should a written complaint is received, its like 'Guilty Until Proven Innocent'.

 

I can't do much as I'm busy having fun working hard to make money in my little area.

 

Cheers.

 

Ps. This is why I never believe in the saying about "The Customer is Always Right" . I believe that only "The Right Customer is Always Right"

 

In this case, both are customers. But only one is the right customer. The other is one we can do without. IF the story is true to the last detail.

[Sanjay Thaker 0]

BUT. Need to verify story from all sides.

 

That sector is known as the 'Upgrade Me and Everything is OK' sector.

 

 

Very true. Many would be surprised if they were to hear the 'rationale' reasons that many pax would give just to get an upgrade.

 

There's something I am curious about though. I wonder how did she "Check with other MAJOR airlines" on how they would deal with the issue...I dont suppose that it is something you can find out by giving the airline a call.

 

Nevertheless, there COULD have been a better way to handle the matter especially on ground. We have only ONE SIDE of the story though, and conclusions or blames cant be hurled at anyone involved, pax 1, pax 2, or crew members.

 

 

[Azri 0]

If I were the IFS, I would have immediately assigned a "mentor" to the poor Hindu woman to make sure she would have been fussed over throughout the flight and paid special attention to her needs (assuming if JCL is indeed too full to upgrade her). KHI-KUL is a flight long enough to have pockets of nothingness and the assigned crew could have used that time to sit next to her just for an idle chit chat to ensure her mind would have been off-loaded as much as possible about the ugly incident. Something simple like an arm across the shoulder, reassuring "it is alright, we are doing what we can to make sure he is dealt with" goes a long way.

 

Now that would be a "Five Star" service.

 

The best course of action by MH crew is to re-assign the seat of the abusive passenger, not the poor lady. After all what she has been through, an upgrade to JCL is necessary.

 

The worse part is, after this has become an issue, MH still has the guts to offer 25% discount on the return journey (I hope not 25% out of published fare). A free upgrade on the return journey would justify what the lady has gone through. What MH has got to loose if they upgrade the poor lady. The JCL is half empty anyway (most probably). Personally, a 25% discount on return flight would be an insult to me. Its not the money that is of the main the concern to the lady. Its her dignity and traumatic experience on MH. You need to gain her trust.

 

Handled carefully and tactfully, MH can turn this incident into their PR success. But again, MH fails in their PR department.

 

I assume this particular incident does not at all reflect MH crew accross the board. I am sure different IFS would react differently and on that particular flight, the IFS is simply "not thinking" and should be sent for re-training. This kind of incident also determins if a particular crew has the edge ove the other.

 

MH should also take this incident as example in their crew training and to set a Standard Operating Procedure for their crew when confronted with this kind of situation.

 

I also believe the abuse passenger is immigration related deportee and not criminal in nature. Otherwise he woud have been hand-cuffed and escorted. Thus MH cannot be blamed for not specifically assigning the seat of the passenger.

 

[Alan B. 5]

I can guarantee that the capt was not informed of the situation.

 

I am not saying that this is the case in this situation but I have from my own experience, have had tech crew who do not want to enter the cabin when we have problems. Many times I have been told to handle it myself or pass to ground staff. Believe me, there are many "Captains" but very few "Commanders".

[Tamizi Hj Tamby 1]

My goodness.So sorry to hear her story

 

I simply can't believe that MH overlooked this serious problem

[Attan 0]

I thought a deportee is a non-Malaysian. Where else can we deport a Malaysian except back to Malaysia? Or have I gone cuckoo? Maybe?

 

Whatever it is the cabin crew and maybe the lsecurity marshall (if there was one on board) were all incompetent in my opinion.

[Andrew Lim 1]

Some customers have a knack of twisting and turning their complain stories to have things go their way.

 

I very much doubt that the lady's story is anywhere near the truth. Otherwise, the man would be taken off the plane and be made to take the subsequent flight, with police escorts.

[Ahmad M 1]

I thought a deportee is a non-Malaysian. Where else can we deport a Malaysian except back to Malaysia? Or have I gone cuckoo? Maybe?

 

Whatever it is the cabin crew and maybe the lsecurity marshall (if there was one on board) were all incompetent in my opinion.

 

 

So quick to call people incompetent without knowing the whole story and just to show the level of knowledge there are no such things as "security marshall" onboard MH planes. Maybe the crew could have done better but we should hold judgement before all the facts are known.

 

[Jannar T 0]

Very very sad to hear this. I think its the worst complain i have read or known about MH. In our Safety Emergency Procedure Manual there's a checklist for the cabin crew & tech crew to follow in handling a disruptive passenger. Based on the report this person definatly qualifies as a disruptive passenger. so sad.

[Sharil Abdul Rahman 0]

I wonder if the complainee should have written to MAS about the incident?

or She has written and did not get any answer and then resorted to writing to the papers?