Rude frontline MAS staff under probe

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia Airlines is investigating two of its frontline staff after a video showing them shouting at a group of passengers went viral on social media.

The minute-long clip showed two staff of MAS' Customer Service Agent telling the group, who was on transit from Singapore, to "shut up" and to "line up" in an abrasive manner.

One of the staff told the group at KL International Airport to wait while pointing his finger at them.

MAS told The Star Online in a statement that it "views this matter seriously and an internal investigation has been carried out."

"Whilst the airline has high regards to the code of conduct of its employees, the airline does not condone abusive behaviour by passengers," it said.

The video showed one of the staff, who was on the phone, shouting "shut up! one by one" after the group asked what was going on. A man in the group was heard saying that they had waited in Singapore for four hours.

The staff then banged the phone down to walk away when his colleague came to assist and telling the group to "wait until the manager comes." Someone in the group was heard saying he should have told them that in the beginning.

In attempt to quieten the group, the staff repeatedly told the group to "wait" while pointing his index finger at them.

"Don't show your finger at me, put your hand down," said a man in the group. "You don't know how to speak to your customer," another said.

MAS said the video was captured on May 1 when the staff were attending to 30 connecting passengers from Singapore to Hyderabad and Bangalore at KLIA's transit counter.

"The passengers were originally booked on MH616 (from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur) when immediate technical rectification work needed to be carried out on the aircraft," said MAS in a statement on Thursday.

"They were then transferred to a later flight on MH610 (Singapore to Kuala Lumpur), in which the 30 passengers missed their various connecting flights at KLIA."

MAS said they had prepared hotel accommodation and required transportation in advance for the affected passengers and rebooked them on the next available flights. 

"However, the passengers demanded to be transferred onto their scheduled connecting flight to Hyderabad and Bangalore, all of which by then had already departed KLIA," said the airline.

"These passengers also demanded to be rebooked on another carrier based in KLIA2."

MAS said that some passengers were denied entry into Malaysia because they did not have the required visa, hence limiting their ability to facilitate their demand to be rebooked on another carrier.

"This resulted in the ensuing strong verbal exchanges," said the airline.

Upon being alerted of the commotion, MAS said that the airline’s Duty Manager stepped in to calm the passengers and explained the situation to them. The Duty Manager then proceeded to make arrangements that were within MAS' capacity.

"The affected passengers finally acceded to the arrangement made by the Duty Manager, after which, they boarded their flight to their intended destinations the next day," said MAS.

MAS did not clarify the employment status of the two employees in the video.