20 Passengers Get Off Malindo Air Flight After Pilots Heard Arguing In The Cockpit
The passengers refused to fly even after the pilots apologised for the uncomfortable situation.
By Sadho Ram — 07 Feb 2015, 05:26 PM — Updated almost 10 years ago
On 5 January, some 20 passengers onboard a Malindo Air flight bound for Subang from Penang disembarked minutes before it was about to takeoff after hearing what they claimed was "a loud argument from the cockpit"
After an apology from the pilot, many of those who had disembarked agreed to get back onboard, but 7 of them refused to take that flight
A passenger said seven of them eventually decided not to continue with their flight from the Bayan Lepas International Airport while the rest went back on board after the pilot apologised.
The one-hour flight with the remaining 52 passengers finally departed at 10.30pm on Thursday after a 50-minute delay and landed safely in Subang.
Malindo Air, confirming the incident, said most of the passengers remained on the flight, except a handful who “decided to take other options”.
However, a Facebook post of the incident, supposedly written by a friend of one of the passengers, had since gone viral. The passenger, who only wished to be known as Kee, said they heard a loud yell from the cockpit when a stewardess opened its door to come out.
“Apparently, the pilot and the co-pilot were having a serious fight. It was so loud that all the passengers were shocked,” said Kee in an interview here yesterday.
“A foreigner sitting on the front row then stood up and asked for permission to leave the aircraft. About 20 of us followed him.
“We went into the airport building and after a while, the pilot came down from the plane to apologise to us and invited us back on board,” said Kee, who often flies on the airline between Kuala Lumpur and Penang for work.
While most of the passengers chose to go back, Kee said he and six others, including the foreigner, felt that both the pilot and co-pilot were unfit to fly due to their emotional condition.
He said they later lodged a report at the airport police base.
He also complained that the airline's customer service hotline could not be bothered with their complaint on the pilot's emotion, saying it was not their concern and not boarding the plane was the passenger's own choice
The Facebook user expressed disappointment that the majority of the passengers did not exercise their right for safety by continuing with the flight.
“This really scares me a lot, our people are giving up, they are not holding on to any hopes or expectations any more because they failed so hard every time they try to do something.”
“Now, they just give up, easily, even when it’s just the basic rights and benefits. An airline company cannot simply handle the incident in this way, credits to those people who don’t fight for your own right, who don’t want to create any trouble. Never give up, people! Giving up does not help, in any way!”
therakyatpost.com
Apologising for the delay and misunderstanding, Malindo public relations and communications director Raja Sa'adi Raja said the situation could have been misinterpreted
"From both the voyage report of the flight and our understanding, the captain was instructing a third observer-trainee pilot in a stern manner as he and the co-pilot prepared for takeoff."
"However, upon hearing the loud instruction, a passenger decided to offload himself from the aircraft due to reasons unknown to us. About 18 others followed while most remained on the aircraft."
"Both the captain and co-pilot did as per standard procedures and explained the situation to the passengers. The pilots also apologised for the uncomfortable situation that could have been misunderstood by a handful of passengers," he said, adding that the flight departed at 10.30pm with all but the few who decided to take other options.
Meanwhile, Malindo Air chief executive officer Chandran Rama Muthy denied the claims made in the Facebook post, saying that it may have been over exaggerated
He said the co-pilot was working alongside a training captain and getting instructions from the latter.
“Perhaps they appeared to be talking loudly to the point that some passengers mistook them as quarrelling. I have ascertained the matter with a report from the pilots,” he said when contacted by The Rakyat Post.
Chandran said the claims made in the Facebook posting might have been over exaggerated. Nevertheless, he emphasised that Malindo Air, Malaysia’s hybrid airline, had always valued feedback and suggestion from passengers.
therakyatpost.com
"We are still investigating the claim that passengers heard the pilot quarrelling, as the cockpit door is supposed to be locked during flights," Chandan said
On claims that the ground crew did not do anything for the passengers who declined to continue with the flight, he said a refund or reroute would be applied according to the ticket fare rules.
therakyatpost.com