MYAirline Addresses Claims Asking Family To Disembark From Flight
A Facebook user Fear Dawooz’s 2-year-old son would not sit on his own seat and the family was denied an infant seat belt.
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A Facebook user Fear Dawooz recently shared a poor experience he had flying with MYAirline.
On 24 May, Fear and his family (a wife and two children) were scheduled to fly to Kuala Lumpur from Langkawi via MYAirline.
The family’s first hurdle was during check-in at the counter. They have done the web check-in but based on their previous experience with ground staff in KLIA2, they were told it was better to have a physical boarding pass.
MYAirline doesn’t have a kiosk to print physical passes, so he had to go to the counter. The staff insisted that Fear bring his whole family and their baggage before he could print the family’s boarding passes.
Fear found this strange but decided to follow the staff’s instructions. Based on the picture Fear shared, the family has four hand-carry luggage, 2 backpacks, 1 shoulder bag and a stroller.
The staff said the family would have to check in all their bags because the plane is full and to prevent overload. Fear refused and just wanted to print the boarding passes.
The family managed to avoid checking in their bags because they were all within the hand-carry limit.
While waiting at the departure hall, an MYAirline staff approached them to offer to check in their baggage for free. Fear understood that the airlines wanted to prevent hogging up overhead cabin storage so he agreed to get their bags checked in.
The family’s second hurdle came when they were on the plane because their 2-year-old child wouldn’t stop crying and refused to sit in his own seat.
A flight attendant asked Fear’s wife if their child had his own seat. Fear’s wife said her son has his own seat but due to his tantrum, she asked if she could be given the infant seatbelt instead.
After checking with the crew leader, the flight attendant told the family that they couldn’t get the seatbelt and insisted that 2-year-olds must be seated in their own seat.
Fear’s wife tried to put their son on the seat again as the plane was about to take off, but he kept crying and moving around in his seat.
A flight attendant came over to gently remind their son to stay seated. Once again, Fear asked for an infant seatbelt but kept getting refused.
Their son kept crying and was now standing on the seat because he refused to sit alone. This time, the cabin crew chief came to warn the family and said the flight couldn’t take off unless their son stayed seated. She allegedly told the family to do whatever it takes to get their son to sit still.
The cabin crew chief also informed the captain about the issue. This led the captain to make an announcement directed at Fear’s family that they would be forced to disembark from the plane by on-ground security if they do not “cooperate to remain seated.”
One of the flight crew, Sharma, politely apologised to the family but explained she couldn’t help the family much due to the airline policy. She tried to convince the cabin crew chief to give the family the infant seat belt to no avail.
In the end, Fear’s wife allegedly held their distressed son down in his own seat so the plane could take off.
Once the flight was stable, their son stopped crying and the situation returned to calm. Fear claimed he recorded evidence about the flight incident.
The family was stopped by on-ground security
Upon reaching KLIA, the family was confronted by four to five on-ground security staff. The cabin crew chief allegedly informed security to stop the family because Fear illegally recorded a video during the flight incident.
The security asked him to explain what happened on the flight. However, the cabin crew chief interrupted and claimed the family made the flight difficult.
The security then apologised and asked Fear to delete the video. Fear refused to do so because it was evidence.
The security asked if he would delete the video if the cabin crew chief apologised. Knowing the other person wouldn’t apologise, Fear refused.
The security followed the family to the baggage claim area and tried to convince Fear to delete the video, claiming they could lose their jobs.
Fear said he would provide names, contact numbers and email so that security could raise the issue and he could get a sincere apology from the management.
The security agreed and said they would investigate the matter and email him the result.
Fear said he didn’t receive any follow-up regarding the issue and couldn’t contact MYAirline on their social media page. Instead, he commented on one of their videos promoting the availability of seat belt extenders for children.
MYAirline released a statement
MYAirline apologised for the family’s poor experience flying with the airline.
According to their policy, they provide a passenger with an infant seat belt in accordance with the safety requirement set by the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM).
Children below 24 months old must be seated with a parent or a guardian with an infant seat belt. However, children above 24 months old must be fastened with a seat belt on their seats for safety purposes.
MYAirline promised to investigate the matter to fill in the gaps in their service and take immediate corrective actions to prevent a repeat of similar situations.
MYAirline also promised to learn from this experience to enhance its services and ensure a positive travel experience for its passengers.
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