Rayani Air: Handwritten boarding passes to be thing of the past

KUALA LUMPUR: Rayani Air will not issue any manually handwritten boarding pass with immediate effect.

In response to the viral posting of Rayani Air's handwritten boarding passes, the country's first Syariah-compliant airline in a statement said passengers would only be receiving printed boarding passes for its flights.

"Rayani Air apologises to all passengers who were affected by the flight delay and the confusion caused," said the airline.

It said the handwritten boarding passes that were issued to the airline passengers last Saturday were written with details similar to that of printed boarding passes and on Rayani Air's official thermal paper, the same paper used for a normal boarding pass.

The handwritten boarding passes were issued when Flight RN154 from Kuala Lumpur to Kuching was delayed from 11.30pm Friday to 1.45am Saturday due to a hydraulic leak which needed to be rectified for the safety of passengers, it said.

"The flight, however, eventually took off at 5am Saturday and due to the delay, passengers who checked in at the counter after 12am on March 19 were given a manual boarding pass as the system was unable to roll back and print any boarding pass due to the backdated details of the initial flight time.

"The manual boarding passes were issued to tally with the number of passengers on the flight manifest.

 "This act of reconciliation is needed to determine the actual number of passengers as some chose to cancel their flight."

The flight with 127 passengers on board took off from KLIA2 at 5am on March 19 and arrived in Kuching at 6.45am.

Last Monday, Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said Rayani Air was likely to face suspension if it failed to comply with airline regulations.

 Liow said the ministry was closely monitoring the airline company following complaints from the public on flight delays and cancellations as well as handwritten boarding passes. - Bernama