MAS Problem/Crisis Management at its Best (read worst)

You would think that after numerous of events that put the company through crisis mode, Malaysian Airlines would perform better crisis management and have better SOPs to resolve issues. Unfortunately, being a GLC, regardless which ever government rules, MAS staff are just about as useless as ever.

The staff have learned nothing from the multiple issues they have been having throughout the years. To put it simply. The staff are comfortable and content. They due the bare minimum, and if a problem arises and they are required to make decisions, do extra work or duties after hours due to problem or crisis management, they too full extent take their sweet time.

My recent experience was with flight MH71, Narita to Kuala Lumpur scheduled for departure at 9:40pm 11^th Oct 2019 with an expected early morning landing at KLIA.

Chronological Order of Events

For those who have already read my chronology on social media, please take note that this has been updated to include more details and events):

1. Checked in to flight MH71.
2. Boarded flight MH71.
3. Pilot made first announcement - Departure slightly delayed due to cargo not completed loading yet.
4. After 15-20 minutes another announcement was made there were problems with the aircraft and engineer needed to inspect
5. After about an hour, pilot made 3rd announcement saying the aircraft could not fly due to flight curfew. Announcement was made that accommodation arrangement were being made.
6. Everyone was ordered to disembark, then went to the terminal where staff explained we need to re-book our own flights and book our own hotels and we can email or call to customer service. – They provided us with 2 slips of paper.. one containing the MAS Customer Service (CS) email address and the second containing CS phone number
7. I asked the ground staff, what was going on with our flight, would we be able to depart before the typhoon hit. The ground staff explained that the plane was being fixed, but could only be tested after airport curfew is lifted at 6am. There was no guarantee we could fly out before the typhoon hit.
8. Staff explained that they were waiting for MAS Kuala Lumpur to decide on how to handle the passengers. I continuously asked what were the plans and options.. what if we couldn’t get out before the typhoon? What was MAS plan to ensure the well being of the passengers. The answers were consistent that they could not help us which I claimed was totally unacceptable due to the fact that we were in this situation due to flight technical difficulties and already boarded the flight and were ordered to disembark. MAS needed to assume full responsibility. At this point one of the MAS staff started to cry.
9. We were handed sleeping bags and bottled water for the night.
10. After sleeping bags were distributed , MAS on ground staff disappeared and were no longer seen.
11. I emailed CS asking updates… automated reply that email was received, and that their office hours were only 8:30am – 5:30am Monday to Friday excluding public holidays.
12. Some passengers also emailed and received the same automated response. Other passengers called CS – some made calls up to 4 times before the call was answered. The ones who did get through said that CS informed they had no authority to confirm that hotel and new flight bookings would be claimable to MAS as the cancellation was due to the Typhoon and is categorized as a natural disaster event and there would be no flights going out of Tokyo for MAS until the typhoon passes
13. I personally continuously checked MAS website for updates – there was mention of one morning flight departing 2 hours earlier on 12^th Oct 8:40 am. Further updates at approximately 4am stated our flight was re-timed to 8:00am.
14. A fellow passenger who had been continuously on call with MAS CS, called the CS again after I showed him the update on the re-time. They informed that no flights for MAS were leaving Tokyo until typhoon passed. We (through speakerphone)  guided the CS through click by click of the website on the 8am re-time. After which the CS staff put us on hold for quite a long time.. easily 15-30 minutes before finally confirming our flight was at 8:00am. This was at approximately 5:30am.
15. We started moving our luggage to the checking counter with the assumption that an 8am flight would mean at 6am at the very least check-in would begin. The checking counter was already full of people from flight MH89 (the 8:40 flight) with many others from flight MH71. MAS Staff were no where
16. It was probably close to 7:30 when MAS staff finally started opening the counters, and asked MH71 passengers to make a line at a separate counter. They began checking in MH89 passengers (for the 8:40 flight)
17. The staff began to explain that our status was still not confirmed and conditional. IF MH89 was allowed to leave, they would begin checking in MH71. But if MH89 was grounded, then MH71 would definitely not fly. But there was no guarantee MH71 would fly even if MH89 did get clearance.
18. I told the staff, if it was not safe to fly, then its not safe to fly. But what happens to us ? Where will we stay and eat and when will be scheduled. What is PLAN B? PLAN A – MH71 flies after MH89. But if it doesn’t what is the PLAN B? They did not have a plan B.
19. After all MH89 were checked in, vacant spaces were allocated to Business Class customers of MH71
20. It was probably 9-ish when they said they would begin checking everyone from MH71 in with a queue flowing passed 3 check-in counters. I was relatively in the first quarter of the queue – more or less. And checked in around 10. Running through security, customs and the whole works arriving at the boarding gate around 10.30ish .. Gate still not open.
21. Even when boarding began, passengers who bought duty free items within the terminal the night before – whose items were needed to be collected before entering arrival, had to wait for the agents to bring our items, check the ownership and pass us through. I entered the plane barely before 11. I was one of the last batches to receive my items.
22. At around 10:55 – 10:59 the plan started to reverse and enter the tarmac, where it laid idol for almost 20 minutes, before finally lifting off.
23. We arrived at KLIA at 5:40PM
24. An item of my luggage was left behind by MAS.

Side fact

I found out at about 8am the ground staff were actually not staff at all. Apparently MAS does not have staff in Narita. They outsourced their check-in responsibilities to a local provider.

Lets get the nature of my complain straight

I am not complaining that we had to disembark due to technical difficulties. The last thing I would want for me and my family would be to fly on an unfit plane with the possibility to be stranded somewhere else .. possibly on a set from LOST – and that’s one of the more better scenarios if you know what I mean. I am not even complaining that up until 11:20am,  when the plane started its take off, there was a high possibility I would be stuck for another 3 days in Tokyo due to a typhoon. Things happen. Bad things happen. We accept the cards we are dealt and move on. But anyone who knows me or reads my blog (for what ever reason that may be .. with so many other wonderful writers in this world to actually read from) knows that what I despise the most is bad customer experience and bad complaint handling.

Through the eyes of the passengers

1. When the captain announced that the reason we could not lift off was due to the airport curfew of 11pm-6am, our assumption was that the technical difficulties of the aircraft have been sorted out. This directly contradicts the statement that the ground staff told us that the aircraft was being fixed. From our lenses the technical difficulties HAD BEEN SORTED OUT. Which meant, there would have been no issue to fly as early as 6am once curfew was lifted.
2. The fact that the captain announced that accommodation was being arranged, while we were on board, but we were asked to find our own accommodation by the ground staff was another misleading set of information. Bear in mind we were fully aware of


a.        Typhoon would be hitting the city
b.       Train services to and from the airport would be halted
c.        There was a real possibility we would not be leaving Tokyo before the typhoon hit.
To think that we would have to find our own way out of the airport, find our own hotel, at possibly our own expense – and Tokyo is not cheap mind you with no clear duration of our extended stay and personally for my self, with 2 elders, 3 kids and an infant (and my wife) . What was being done to ensure our well being?   
3. Ground staff saying they had to wait for instructions from KL ???!!!
4. Ground staff crying after being asked for options and plans??!!
5. Ground staff left after distributing sleeping bags ??!!!
6.  GROUND STAFF JUST LEFT!!!!!!
7.  Contradicting information –
a.       Captain said can’t fly due to curfew
b.       Ground staff said the flight had technical problems
c.       CS kept saying the flight was canceled due to the typhoon
d.       Website was saying flight was re-timed
8. How were we less important then those of flight MH89, in such that they were processed first – and not parallel at the very least?
9. With a possible typhoon hitting – HOW THE FUCK WAS PRIORITIZING BUSINESS CLASS CUSTOMERS TO BOARD MH89 MORE IMPORTANT THEN GETTING KIDS, INFANTS AND ELDERLY OUT SAFELY when MH71 was possibly not going to fly ?

Just imagine the emotional state the passengers were in.. not knowing if we would leave in time for the typhoon.. and if we stayed, we would not have a confirmed place to stay. And even if we did get a place to stay, it would be at our own expense with a possibility that MAS would not entertain the claim. And even if we did stay, and pay for our own accommodation – when would we be able to leave ?

MAS needs to OWN the problem

 Crisis management was beyond poor. Being agents, the ground staff had NO AUTHORITY to make decisions (without jeopardizing / or putting their selves at risk) . The flow of information was poor and snail slow. Scratch that.

A FUCKING SNAIL COULD HAVE MOVED FROM ONE END OF THE AIRPORT TO THE OTHER FASTER THEN THE RATE MAS WAS MAKING DECISIONS AND PROVIDING PASSENGERS WITH INFORMATION.

Captain, CS, Ground Staff, Websites all had different information -> NONE of which tallied with another.

This left the passengers in a hanging state of uncertainty. A state that as a family member and a group leader, with a wife and more importantly an elderly couple , 3 kids and an infant – What decision was I supposed to make ? Stay at the airport and hope we get out of the country before a natural disaster hits ? Leave the airport, and be charged premium rates well out of my credit limit for lodging for an undefined period and stay smack in the middle of a typhoon?

MAS clearly had no SOP for handling such a situation, gave their agents NO ROOM for control to provide the best options for the passengers and were just not fucking there. For all I know, the agents were trying to call HQ, but no one was answering which is why there were no clear decisions, plans and options.

I probably would have been able to accept this if MH71 was canceled due to the typhoon. But it wasn’t. It was technical difficulties. The technical difficulties lead to a situation of possibly not flying due to the typhoon. Furthermore the passengers already checked in and boarded the plane - which made MAS fully responsible for our well being there forth.

THAT IS WHY I AM PISSED. MAS needs to own up and provide proper compensation for the emotional state they put the passengers of MH71 through. And unless acceptable response and compensation is provided .. this will be extended via other means.