MAS Boleh!

[joeyjoe 0]

Had a bad encounter with MAS this morning, which made HB missed his flight today. Am really disappointed with their work ethics and attitude in handling matters. HB always say, dun mind paying more to fly with MAS coz service better, but then, now we really got phobia flying with them oredi.. this is what happened today at KLIA :-

• Flight - 9.30am, should check in 2 hrs before, i.e. 7.30am
  
• We were slightly late, reached the ticketing office at 8.00am
  
• Due to the fact the I've booked the ticket for him online (1st time.. normally we purchase over the counter a day before), we need to get the ticket from the ticketing office on level 3 before check in
  
• Upon reaching the ticketing office, I took number for economy flight (numbers for counter "B") then seeing no one at the help desk/reception counter.. I went to the last counter to ask if I shld get the ticket there since I bought it online. Was told by Ms Thiru to get a number, which I have oredi did. Then I saw in the number, there's still 10 ppl in front of me.. it's getting late, I am worried.
  
• I asked the same person, Ms Thiru, again.. insisting that my flight is 9.30am and should I still queue up like this coz I'll definitely miss my flight if so.
  
• She asked me to get number "C".. that's all. No assistance was provided further.
  
• I took number "C".. 5 persons in front.
  
• When my turn came, the ticketing officer issued the ticket without saying anything, except to ask me produce my credit card to verify the online purchase.
  
• Then we proceeded to check in at Level 5
  
• Delay was again partly due to the queue and also a group of Indons who took ages to check in due to the fact tht each of them are carrying 2 hand luggages and they have many oversized/overweight luggages and also one of them has liquid stuff in the hand luggage.
  
• When it's our turn, the check in officer merely asked.. "You just came arr? It's closed oredi, go to C19 for assistance"
  
• When we went to C19, the man there upon knowing our flight is to Guangzhou, said.. "Who asked you to come here.. this is to Manila, not guangzhou. Who told you to come here? Nothing to do with us! Go to E counter" - E counter which we tried to check in earlier mar... so he grumbled a bit and then made a call, then told us to go to E19
  
• At E19, another Malay man told us, sorry, it's closed. You cant check in anymore.
  
• I was furious - bcoz of the "take number and wait" thing, we were told we're late and cant check in anymore. He told us bluntly, I only in charge of check in, if you tell me the ticketing office ask u to wait, it has nothing to do with me!"
  
• I asked whom should I talk to regarding this? He said.. if you still wanna stand here also no use. Stand how long also no use coz I cant help u. I m only in charge of checking in.
  
• He asked me to go back to the ticketing officer who asked me to still take number and wait despite me telling her my flight is 9.30am and I'll miss my flight.
  
• At this point, I know it's useless to do anything.. coz I see the pattern here.. the "tai chi" pattern.. pushing the blame around. I'm 100% sure the ticketing officer WONT admit its her mistake
  
• Anyway, we went down to Level 3 again and upon telling Ms Thiru about my predicament, she got defensive and asked me.. who ask me to find her (I told her the E19 special assistance counter man asked me to look for the person who asked me to take number and wait despite knowing my flight is 9.30am and it's late oredi!)
  
• Ms Thiru said. It's not my fault. You came about 1 hour and 15 minutes before your flight and I already help you by asking you to take number "C" which is for immediate flight. You still have to wait, but I've oredi helped you. You refer to the person who issued you the ticket.
  
• I asked, how come if you oredi know the policy tht if someone does not check in 45 mins before departure, the person will be denied entry, then why didn't you at least inform me of it? Why still want me to go thru the hassle of waiting for my number to be called, get my ticket, run up to level 5 to queue again to check in, only to be told to go to C19 then E19 for special assistance.. which is to direct me back to YOU and then now, you ask me to go to the person who issued me the ticket
  
• The person who issued me the ticket, Ms Suriani couldn't do anything as well. She said, you have bought your ticket online so regardless of whether you can fly or not, I have to issue you the ticket. I am only in charge of the ticketing. I dunno about the checking in.
  
• Ms Suriani asked me to see the duty manager
  
• Up we went again to Level 5 to find the duty manager's office behind Tie Rack shop, but where you know - the toilet alley there!
  
• Mr Daud, the Duty Manager asked to hear our side of story. Then he called Ms Thiru to hear her side of story
  
• Then Mr Daud got cocky, despite maintaining a very soft spoken voice...
  
• Mr D said Ms Thiru said you came to the ticketing office 30 minutes before your flight departure time. WTH! She said to me 1 hr 15 mins, now she said to u 30 mins? Liar! To this.. Mr D said.. "Tu-lah, I wasn't around when this happen.. so I cant say who's telling the truth. She said this and you said this.. Sorry I cant help
  
• I told Mr D.. tht was why, I asked your staff at the special assistance counter, whom should I see regarding this problem. Who is the right person I should talk to. He should have just directed us to YOU, instead of asking us to go back to the ticketing girl, then ticket issuance girl.. and then finally back to you. Why bring us go one whole big round!
  
• Mr D proceeded to say... you said you came at 8.00am.. that is 1.5 hours before departure time. You should come 2 hours before. If everyone is like you, coming in at only 1.5 hours before, and need us to give you special attention to speed up, then my staff all will be very busy entertaining ppl like you? If 100 ppl like that, means I have to accommodate all 100 ppl?
  
• Mr D even had the cheek to say.. a flight has 260+ passengers. If all other passengers have no problem with checking in early, then why only you have this problem?
  
• Joe told dear Mr D that we're not here to pursue who's to be blamed. We just wanna know how to solve this problem now. I also asked if my ticket to Guangzhou is burnt, then what about my flight back to Msia in a week's time. Is it still valid?
  
• To this Mr D said.. I dunno. This you have to ask the ticketing office ppl. I am just GENERAL here. I am not doing ticketing. I cant issue you a ticket here. Do you see a printer in my office here? No? Yeah,that's right, I cant issue you one, you have to go back to the ticketing office to do so. No, I'm not pushing you around again!
  
• If you want to complain, you can write in, but if you want me to waive the fee, sorry, I cant do so. If you have asked to see me on the spot, I might be able to authorise you to check in still.. but no, it's too late, I cant do anything for you now, You can write in to us though.
  

When we went to Mr D\'s office, the flight to Guangzhou belum berlepas lagi!

One thing.. is it really tht rigid to follow the rules mati-mati? Must take number then only can serve you. If hospital also like that, then emergency case ppl early early die oredi lar? The thing is.. I know this can be avoided if they\'re willing to help. The 1st step is that Ms Thiru, mati-mati asked me to take number to queue up. Last yr, when they issued me a wrong ticket (entirely their fault tht time), the check in counter ppl asked me to go to ticketing office and ask them to reissue the ticket - dun need to queue up, straight go to the counter coz we were late of check in oredi, might miss the flight. When I went to the counter, this cocky Malay girl asked me to get a number and queue up. I repeated that it\'s the check in counter guy who told me to come straight to the counter immediately without taking number coz we\'re late for check in oredi.. she repeated.. Can you please get a number and queue up. Cant you see I have a customer here? WTF right... tht customer is a man dressed in long sleeves with tie.. so, look down on us lar is it.. and tht guy also \"special case\" one, coz I heard the Malay girl talking on the phone, arranging for this guy to be checked in immediately.. if one yr ago they can do tht for someone, why not today for us? Just bcoz we r economy class passengers? Just bcoz we r clad in tshirt and jeans only??

And I seriously think not only Ms Thiru got work ethics problem.. even tht duty manager, Mr Daud has a bigger problem. As a frontliner in the service industry, he shouldn\'t have the attitude of pushing the blame on us the customer and citing examples like if other ppl can make it, why cant you? There are so many many in this flight.. if everyone like you, we die lar? And he didn\'t try his best to help the distressed us to arrange for rebooking of flight the next day, instead still wanna sound so snobbish saying cant we see there\'s no printer in his office, he cant do tht.. or tht he is the GENERAL person, not the ticketing person, etc

Before I left, I did remark tht they should seriously consider paperless ticket. Just like AirAsia. Yes I mentioned that. With Air Asia, I can book online, print out the booking confirmation, then use tht to check in without any hassle at all. If I still have to go to the ticketing office to take number and queue up like the rest of the ppl there.. what is the purpose of online booking? I might as well line up like the rest of the ppl there who takes a number to queue up to buy their ticket! dun you think they should have a counter specially for ppl who bought the ticket online to collect their ticket on the flight date? This way, we dun have to line up together with all other ppl who is there to buy ticket.. makes a lot of difference in timing wise.

Grrrrrrr~~~

[jean_jj 0]

Hi Joey,

Sorry to hear about what happened to you. But I suppose you could write a letter to MAS's customer service manager to complaint about the quality of their staff as well as pushing you here and there. Though they might not be refunding you the ticket. But it's always good to bring this matter to them so that they can improve (though god knows if they will)

I suppose next time, it's always safe to reach earlier, esp u know that u need to go to the counter to get them to issue the ticket. You and me know their service efficiency :P (No offense ya)

[joeyjoe 0]

jeanjj, actually this is my 1st time purchasing the ticket online and I honestly thought that I only need to go to the ticketing office to get the ticket and go. I didnt know that we had to go thru the same procedure AGAIN like other ppl who were there to buy their tickets!! Anyway lesson learnt, HB said to go camp there at 3am tonight!!!

[nafnaf 0]

ya...joeyjoe, i think ur hubby has a good idea..might as well burnt tat 3 hours of sleep and camp straight in front of their office front door.. before camping though, u could put a card in front of u and tell them u r there coz their service is slow and always push ppl around. tat's why u all came 6 hours early!!! let other customers see see..just to get revenge next time...hahhaha...i bad or not..

[hungsiew 0]

Joeyjoe,

To be honest, I think both parties are at fault here.

1) MAS people - very bad service. NO matter who is at fault, should always put customer first and try to help the customer instead of coming up with tons and tons of reasons to protect themselves. And I think they should have helped to monitor the number of ppl who still haven't checked in for the flight when it's almost close to departure time. Air Asia does monitor this and if there are still a lot of ppl lining up to check in when it's close to depature time, they will open extra counter to make sure everybody can check in, in time.

2) HB and you - You really need to be there earlier! I also kena once when I arrived 30 minutes b4 departure time for a local Air Asia flight and they didn't allow me to check in. After that, I don't dare anymore. Have you used Singapore Airlines? They are even more strict, if you are late, they don't entertain you and they ask you to board the plane 45 minutes b4 departure! For international flights, you should allow even more time because of the immigration process. For international flights, MUST be there 2 hours b4 with TICKET in hand. Last time I also kena at SG airport where I needed to change from MAS to Japan Airlines and I needed to rush back to ticketing office to get the endorsement. They also ask me to take number even though I'm almost late for check in lo... luckily JAL staff very nice still let me check in...

Anyway, hope your HB can get on a flight to Guangzhou soon...

[Escudo 0]

Sigh~ No wonder MAS dun make $$$ but they still dunno the reason?

It's called customer service, you have to serve your customer with the right attitude. Customer might come late, as there might be reasons (like minor accident, etc), and the MAS staff should try their best to help, not simply push customer like this.

I understand about the SIA 45 mins policy, but they are efficient, put customer's needs first AND their system is more advance (they have paperless system now as well as online check in). Does MAS have that? If no, they should have been more understanding to customers!

In this case, Joey arrive 1 and 30 mins earlier, if the flight only has 260 passengers, this is more than enough time to check in. But her problem is bcoz of the fussy and lazy Ms. Thiru, as well as the "kick football" mentality of the staff, bentar gate E, then gate C, dunno what the heck they are doing. If for me, I will insist standing in Gate E and demand manager to come.

And what irks me is the so-called manager attitude, why insists on pushing the blame instead of helping Joey to solve problem? Even if cannot solve, if he sounds caring and understanding, surely that will help soften the blow.

1 more thing, complaining in any form, website, letter, verbal are useless to the thick skinned MAS lah~

[sdkgirl 0]

1 more thing, complaining in any form, website, letter, verbal are useless to the thick skinned MAS lah~

[fluene 0]

MAS become like this because it is too 'manja'. Protected too much by government. If lose money, then just say people prefer other airlines, request other airlines to reduce their flights or request the government to stop the rival airlines route.

[funlover 0]

Actually i hate MAS all this time..I will try to avoid using their flight whenever possible...

This reminded me MAS ppl attitudes.

In yr 2002 before CNY. me was flying to S'wak for the 1st time to my wife hometown. Due to CNY , my wife was booking the tickets for us on Aug 2001. MAS was putting us in waiting list..Usually i let my wife to do the ez thing like checking the availablility of the flight up & down. The answer they always said is not place. So one day, my wife told me that her frens who booked ticket 2 mths later the us manage to get a seat back during CNY. This really make me pissed off, immediately i called the customer service officer & i screwed them like here including their supervisor & guess what. The supervisor asked me to call back the next day & promised to get me a seat. When i called back the next day, wah...he really got the setas for us...so what u think with this kind of service...screw them kaw kaw only will gip me the seat. I only got the seat to fly back to s'wak & not return ticket from there to here. Again i let my wife handle the situation...the i said never mind i will take charge again. While i talking to their customer service again, the lady damn rude..she hang out before i finiished my word. Again this make me really pissed off & immediately i went to their office at toown. When i spoke to the mgr about this & guess what..again they said they have seat for us to flying back...

Mannn...with this kind of attitude which need us to screw them kaw kaw only will 'seng mok' how u expect them to become efficient airline & making money...

Wondering how much MAS paying for the best cabin crew award..........

Actually many story to relate but lazy lar....useless airline..

[chongsw 0]

That's why I will go to KLIA 3 hours before take off. I don't take chances. The check-in process is too slow and not many counters are open. At times, the queue was so long that it reached the main entrance.

[FarFarAway 0]

Hi all,

I have flew a lot in my time and I have to sadly admit MAS is one of the worst airlines I have flown with.

And in terms of prices for international flights, they're also not the cheapest. So I try to avoid them when I can.

It's more or less like a government office type of administration. The service is bad, the coordination is sloppy and staff generally have bad attitude. First class for long long flights is SIA.

I don't understand why you had to collect online tickets??? Online tickets usually means you buy online and print the ticket so that you don't have to collect. If have to collect, what's the value add? So in this case if you go to a travel agent's office and get ticket stright away, that's even better than online ticket ler.

For all my travels here, I buy online, print the ticket and when check-in, there's express DIY check-in machine. You skip the queue by entering the online ticket code into the machine. Then it produces your boarding passes.

Sigh...you know all these MAS and Maybank etc, they're dragging the whole quality of Malaysia down. To protect them, the government is making all other competitors life susah. You know, when I was working for an international bank, they had a perfect e-banking solution but the government didn't allow them to launch. Reason? Have to make Maybank the first to launch in Malaysia. And when did Maybank get off their arses to launch this? 3 years later! Yeps, you and I are deprived of better services and products cause of this kind of protection.

But what can we do? Passport and IC says we're Malaysian woh...

[bumblebee 0]

I once had to DIY my own flight itenerary including transfers because of cost factor and more importantly, timing. SQ was fully booked tt time, so the trip was an SQ flight into KLIA, and then transit to Melbourne via MAS. 2 diff airlines. and i purchased all my tix online too. for SQ, i could go paperless, meaning, only my printout will suffice. for MAS, i had to collect my tix. AND although MAS had an SG office, becoz i purchased in RM which was cheaper, i had to collect from a Malaysia Office. They wouldn't let me collect my flight tix from the SG branch becoz it was against their coy policy. and they had nooooo other alternatives, like sending the tix to u. nope. gotta go collect. JB was out of the question for me tt time, so i was assured because my flight was to arrive at 7:30in the morning in KLIA, i have time to collect my tix at KLIA for my 945 flight. Which means instead of the normal transit, i gotta checkout at KLIA, collect tix, then check in again at the MAS counter. Yup, i was in the state of panic allll the way. esp when it's not like ur baggage claim is immediately after u touch down. i was at the office at close to 8:30. 1:15 min to go with a queue in front of me too. I asked the customer service and guess what she said, gotta wait like the rest, we cannot simply treat u like VIP. even though i was late because of another flight and the checkout process. Not their problem, they say. I know it's not, but it wasn't necessary to be rude right? i wasn't even demanding, i was practically begging. i made it to the checkin before 9:15 (thank god) and the ppl at the counter were friendly and helpful enough (double lucky) to let me in. I count myself really lucky, but the whole sage really wasn't worth the worry. Never never will i ever do that again (arranging own transfers within hours apart).

that was in 2004. It's already 2007. I dun understand why even Air Asia can go paperless, yet MAS is still so old school. And i gotta agree that the service at MAS really sucks. Guess what an ex-staff of MAS said (don't quote me yeah), MAS = mana ada system.

[Escudo 0]

Guess what an ex-staff of MAS said (don't quote me yeah), MAS = mana ada system.

Hahhahh.., more like MAS = Mana ada service?

[chongsw 0]

A few not so pleasant incidents happened while on the MAS flight from Istanbul to KL. This is an 11 hour flight.

1. No plain water, only juices. MAS implemented the security policy that no Liquid or gel or whatever to bring on board. Can you imagine they don't have plain water?

2. The Airbus A330-200 is old and some of the seats' are not in good condition. Imagine, that your sit can't stay upright or can't bring it down.

3. The entire flight's in-flight movie radio was down.

4. Flight delays from 2 hours to 24 hours.

[mhyap1 0]

4. Flight delays from 2 hours to 24 hours.

this is what AIR ASIA is famous for... is MAS trying to catch up with AIR ASIA on this also...? :P

[fusionista 0]

Actually, I have had better luck flying with MAS than American airlines. MAS services overseas are very much above par overseas, and the planes are in so much better condition than those from US. Food wise, so much yummier than US ones too. And the staff are much friendlier and helpful than angmohs... The best part is, you even get individual screens in the economy class whereas with US airlines, you hv to stretch your neck long long to watch a movie 20 rows in front of you, and peek between ppl who are over 6 ft. tall

I've never flown MAS for domestic, so I don't know la....

[joeyjoe 0]

This is what my friend commented...

Mostly other country, like u said, ppl oredi use e-ticket. When reach airport, self check in or go counter check in. self check in means u key in the details in the machine & the boarding pass will come out, then only check in the luggage at counter (luggage check in counter)....

But for SIA, u can even check in kat internet (u can even choose ur seat liow) or via sms. When u reach airport, just check tell them ur no at the counter, & they'll check in ur luggage & give u boarding pass. As long as u reach airport 30 mins (dis is after u check in arr via internet or sms), u still can masuk kapal terbang....

But MAS, no choice, have to feed all the PIGS... u know lah, PIGS work slower mah.... N oso no brain.... Wat u expect.... Dat's y MAS rugi like shit in terms of last yr financial...

So, tell me lah... how to compare.....

Hahahahaha... yup yup, FFA.. I agree that if the ticket is purchased online, why still need to go thru trouble collecting the ticket somemore.. wht's the value added here right! I'm not even looking at monetary compensation or even to blame who's in the wrong. A simple thing as to how to solve the problem from here also cant be done. Instead, still kena belittled somemore.. and i think the duty manager post is redundant lor.. dun need him at all if all tht he can do is to rub salt on wound some more... he is not there to help distraught passenagers with their problems.. he's merely there to see how they can push the blame on the passengers and help MAS save face.

I also had bad experiences with AirAsia few yrs back but I guess they have improved a lot since then... if even a low cost budget airline can go paperless, why a big, reputable one like MAS is still so ketinggalan zaman? And they always chant *go take a ticket and wait, go take a ticket and wait* regardless of what situations. Dun they know rules are dead, human are alive? So kaku one mer.. and HB was saying.. if we were flying 1st class or biz class, dun think they will do this to us lor!

[wegness 0]

I was shocked when i was reading this because i thought they are good (since their price is relatively high) . I only took three times MAS so far.

One was from KLIA to Japan (which i had pleasant trip with them...the flight attendants and staffs were very friendly and helpful--but it was back then 2002.)

Two times from SGP to KL and From KL to SGP..The counter staffs not that friendly but still did what i need. The flight attendants were so so...since it was just a short trip.

Compared to American Airline, i think MAS still much better based on the experience that i encountered.

The most recent unhappy experience i had with American airline--From New York JFK to Boston Logan:

It was supposed 45 mins flight after my long 24 hrs flight from KL. However, i was kept telling that the flight was delayed---delayed for 6 HRs(normally drive from New York to Boston about 4 hrs).......finally i can on board. When everyone was seated, they announced that the flight attendant schudele is time up. He cannot do more than the schedule hours. So, they need to rearrange and get another flight attendant from other jet. Fine....since i had wasted 6 hrs with them...i didn't mind another 30 mins. But guess what, it took one hr to get the flight attendant while we all seated in the SMALL jet. I thought we can take off after the flight attendant got on the jet. However, the silly announcement made again...no enough gas...need to pump gas...Why can't they do it while waiting for the flight attendant. Fine...then when the jet got ready to take off, they made announcement again that the traffic in JKF was pretty bad....we stucked there for another 1 and a half hrs. Finally it was clear that we can take off. They made announcement again that now the pilot time schedule was time up . He cannot take off and need to get back to the gate. The whole jet passangers were pissed off. There was a passenger lost his job due to this stupid incidence. Finally it took another 1 and a half hr to take off. In total 10 hrs.....waste my time.....I was really pissed....however, the flight attendant still being nice..even the passengers were kinda of rude to him. It seem like the ang mo system is about the same with MAS......

Most of my flights were with Cathay Pacific. I would say they have really good service from ground to airbus....i really enjoyed flying with them. Even i am eco class...but i carried my big ballgown wedding gown with only gourment bag and hanger. When i reached entrance, they just smiled and gave me a hand and asked if they can help me to hang my gown in first class cabin closet....from NY to HK and from HK to KL ...both flight attendants are really friendlt and helpful.

[joeyjoe 0]

I flew with China Airlines to Taiwan.. good good, would recommend this.. comfy and got own screen, Christine! Even very new movies and songs..wide selection...Hehehehe...

Oh BTW, I was asking the Special Assistance counter man why didnt they announce about last call for check in, usually they will ask those who is still in the queue and have not checked in for a flight which is going to be late oredi, to go to a special counter for immediate check in.. then they will also mention your names if by certain time you still havent do so... I was told by this man tht they're NOT obliged to announce names so it's not compulsory to do so. Anyway, for my case this morning.. even if they've done so, we wouldnt have heard it coz we were still stuck between getting the ticket from the ticketing office and rushing to the check in counter.. somewhere in between lar. Was told tht if they announce so, you cant hear it downstairs in the ticketing office on Level 3. Was thinking, maybe at tht time I was still holding to my queue ticket waiting diligently for my turn to come? Hehehehehe...

Aiyah, all in all, just so disappointed with their work attitude lar. I think customer service in Malaysia still has a longgggggg way to go lor.. How to expect us to shout "Malaysia Boleh" like this?!!! !st time bought online oredi like this.. usually we will get the ticket a day or two before from their office in KL or KLIA... *sigh*

[fusionista 0]

For overseas flights, we cannot get e-ticket even though the tix was purchased online. We still have to wait for the paper ticket to be sent in the mail. Domestic tix bought online can be printed from the website.

The worst service I've ever received was from Northwest Airlines, although the worst planes I've ever been on were United Airlines and Sri Lankan Air. Detroit is the main hub for Northwest, so maybe they think that they can be bossy and eksyen, but once I dropped my sister off to fly back to Fargo, North Dakota from Detroit and we were stuck in the traffic jam for over 1 hour. Normally, it should take us 20 mins to get to the airport from my house. Nonetheless, we got to the airport with 40 mins to spare. We had e-ticket but my sister's bags were 2 - 5 pounds overweight and they made us repack everything with only 30 mins to spare. As we packed and re-weighed frantically, we broke some newly bought Japanese bowls and the staff at the counter were unapologetic for the trouble.

It wasn't their fault, but they made us repack a few times although the bags were not THAT MUCH overweight. By the time we were done re-packing and weighing, they told us we can't check in anymore because there was only 15 mins left before the gate closes. We were damn furious because we were only late because they were being so unhelpful and for lack of a better word, @ssh0L3s about the few extra pounds! They then told us in order to get on the next flight, we would have to pay extra USD$125 to get a guaranteed flight out of there!!! The total ticket price to fly my sister back to Fargo ended up being USD$400!!!!

I would boycott them if I could, but unfortunately Detroit is their main hub and we're pretty much stuck with their unfriendly, crappy service! However, the Northwest Airlines staff at the overseas counters were much more helpful, although still very rigid about the 2 extra pounds.

[chongsw 0]

I flew with China Airlines to Taiwan.. good good, would recommend this.. comfy and got own screen, Christine! Even very new movies and songs..wide selection...Hehehehe...

Oh BTW, I was asking the Special Assistance counter man why didnt they announce about last call for check in, usually they will ask those who is still in the queue and have not checked in for a flight which is going to be late oredi, to go to a special counter for immediate check in.. then they will also mention your names if by certain time you still havent do so... I was told by this man tht they're NOT obliged to announce names so it's not compulsory to do so. Anyway, for my case this morning.. even if they've done so, we wouldnt have heard it coz we were still stuck between getting the ticket from the ticketing office and rushing to the check in counter.. somewhere in between lar. Was told tht if they announce so, you cant hear it downstairs in the ticketing office on Level 3. Was thinking, maybe at tht time I was still holding to my queue ticket waiting diligently for my turn to come? Hehehehehe...

Aiyah, all in all, just so disappointed with their work attitude lar. I think customer service in Malaysia still has a longgggggg way to go lor.. How to expect us to shout "Malaysia Boleh" like this?!!! !st time bought online oredi like this.. usually we will get the ticket a day or two before from their office in KL or KLIA... *sigh*

My last trip to Istanbul was on 18 July. I took MAS. The flight was supposed to take off by 9am. Somehow, the captain delayed the flight because of those who were late. They informed that the ground staff were doing their best to trace them. I was astonished to find out that those who were late were not Malaysians and MAS waiting for them. I wonder our fellow Malaysian will be given the same treatment or not!

[fluene 0]

Actually, I have had better luck flying with MAS than American airlines. MAS services overseas are very much above par overseas, and the planes are in so much better condition than those from US. Food wise, so much yummier than US ones too. And the staff are much friendlier and helpful than angmohs... The best part is, you even get individual screens in the economy class whereas with US airlines, you hv to stretch your neck long long to watch a movie 20 rows in front of you, and peek between ppl who are over 6 ft. tall

I've never flown MAS for domestic, so I don't know la....

I agree with you. MAS aircraft and services are much better compare to American Airlines. MAS just launched the e-ticket thing meaning before that, any ticket purchased online have to be collected from the office whereas now, you can just print the e-ticket or get the confirmation number. I purchased a ticket for British speaker last month and he had to collect the ticket from the Heathrow MAS office. At least one consolation is that MAS treat everyone the same, whether you are Malaysian or a foreigner.

Anyway, during the last trip I made to US, I had this 'kasta' treatment. I travelled in business class and went to the business class check in counter at KL Sentral. The staff looked at me and said in a very bored voice with a disgusted look at his face 'you class apa?' When I said business class, he did not believe and said rudely 'mana you punya ticket?' I showed it to him and immediately the face had an about turn and grinned like a chessy cat and start saying 'let me help you check in ma'am'. Every sentences ended with the saluation ma'am.

[fusionista 0]

Sometimes I'm at lost when I go back to Malaysia... it seems like you can either:

1) Be on their side; i.e. speak Malay and show them that you are still a proud Malaysian so that you don't get discriminated and searched at customs or held up at the immigration counter

OR

2) Appear to be superior than them; i.e. speak English with a slang so that you can muscle your way through and get better services from them by appearing to be far more superior in class than them

I have to admit that I have employed both tactics and they both work in my favour... very useful when you want to polish their shoes / angkat their kaki.

[meiteoh 0]

Urm...I've travelled with airlines that are worse off than MAS - but these are overseas flights. The Middle East airlines (Qatar, Emirates, etc) can be really dodgy when it comes to service and China Airlines can put you off with their sticky trays. =.=

My mum flies with MAS regularly up to KB, and she enjoys their service and etc. For me, I've always found them pricey so...I reckon sometimes it's not so much the in-flight service BUT the attitude of the ground staff that needs fixing. I've always felt that if you're not happy with the service, take down names, and write in a recommendation letter. I wrote a couple of letters to Air Asia about their horrible scheduling and am pleased to see how things have change somewhat slightly for their airline. My dad once sent in a recommendation on an airline napkin about clean-ups. Nice to see that a few years down the road, they actually use his idea.

Chong, yes, fellow Malaysians are given the same liberty...especially moreso if the flight you were on was a transit flight.

I have seen better service by other airlines though. My HB was due to be on an SIA flight from KUL-SG and he had just landed in KUL via Gulf Air which was delayed with less than 30 minutes to run to the other side of the airport and make it for his flight to Singapore. The SIA guy was waiting at the exit for my HB with a cart and everything, rounding up the people for the SIA flight like a mother hen - he literally went "ARE YOU MR GROUSSON????" the moment he saw us leaving the plane. I had to quickly say my goodbye and before you know it, he whisked my HB off for his flight. According to my HB, they took off on time and the guy was there to rush everything for them - check-in, etc. Very pleasant service though...

And no, I never had an e-ticket for overseas flights - they will still issue print tickets for those. E-tickets can be iffy sometimes. :S

[Escudo 0]

CL.., I dun think they know who is the customer, this is first time i heard customer needs to polish seller's kaki oooh!

Use SIA best service and aircraft. :)

For overseas flight, even long haul, they are using ticketless system, meaning, purchase online, print out and check in, or check in using their webbie.

The flight attendants are super efficient and friendly (not to mention pretty and sexy too!), hehehe~

MAS used to be one of the best aircraft, but the quality dropped like nobody business.