Passengers want MYAirline to take responsibility for flight cancellations

KOTA KINABALU: MYAirline Sdn Bhd passengers here want the company to take responsibility for their losses following the cancellation of flights and the suspension of flight operations that came into effect on Thursday (Oct 12).

Suziana Ottoh, 36, only realised the cancellation of the flight at about 10 am today after arriving at Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) here from Lahad Datu which is more than 400km from here, at 6am on Thursday.

She and her five children were scheduled to fly to Kuala Lumpur on Oct 14 at 4.20pm but it was postponed to 9.50pm.

"But I'm not sure if the 9.50pm flight has been cancelled or not. If it's cancelled again like today, it'd be a waste of my time," she told Bernama at KKIA here on Thursday.

MYAirline Sdn Bhd in a statement early on Thursday morning said its operations were suspended effective immediately until further notice due to significant financial pressure.

Suziana said she had to come two days earlier so as not to miss the flight as had happened before where the airline did not allow her to board the plane because she was a few minutes late.

Fresella June Gunihas, 22, who came to the MYAirline sales centre wanted an explanation about her flight schedule which was supposed to be on Oct 18 but was changed.

She said following the problem she had to pay RM1,600 due to an error in the company's system which changed her flight date to November.

"I was required to pay an additional price and penalty which was not even my fault. I really do not understand this MYAirline system," said Fresella who wanted to go to Kuala Lumpur to visit a sick family member.

Fadzhil Rosleh, 32, also expressed disappointment when the flight ticket to Kuala Lumpur for his sister, mother and nephew that was scheduled for this afternoon was cancelled.

He said his sister Diana Rosleh, 31, arrived from Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday (Oct 11) and was supposed to return to Kuala Lumpur on Thursday afternoon.

"Right now we don't know who we have to deal with, the MYAirline sales centre is also closed.

"The tickets have already been bought and they are not cheap," said Fadzhil who was from Kota Kinabalu.

Two flights namely Kota Kinabalu - Tawau and Kota Kinabalu - Kuala Lumpur were cancelled by the company.

In Sabah, the use of airplanes, especially from Kota Kinabalu to the East Coast and inland areas, was a necessity because of the short time taken compared to the route by road which takes eight to nine hours to travel. - Bernama