Several government agencies have launched an investigation regarding delays that were experienced by AirAsia passengers as of late. Among them is the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, as revealed by its minister, Alexander Nanti Linggi through his social media channels yesterday.
The revelation was accompanied by screenshots of complaints from several customers including former Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation, Wilfred Madius Tangau. Interesting enough, one of the screenshots also includes a post by Twitter user folkloreswifty who observed the airline’s usage of the word “rescheduled” as opposed to “delayed”:
Air Asia Tunda, Jadual Semula Penerbangan
Sebagai menteri yang ditugaskan menjaga pengguna, saya mengambil maklum mengenai rungutan, aduan dan keluhan disuarakan pengguna berhubung kelewatan penerbangan Air Asia, membabitkan pelbagai destinasi dalam negara. pic.twitter.com/lpZMoFJjDk
— Alexander Nanta Linggi (@AlexNantaLinggi) May 9, 2022
It is not known how true is the claim but surely, the tweet has garnered massive attention as it has since been retweeted by almost 5,000 other Twitter users at the time this article goes live. Meanwhile, Alexander has also revealed that his ministry is working together with the Ministry of Transportation to look into the matter.
He also noted that the authorities have noticed the complaints from AirAsia customers since late last month. While he said both ministries will work together to sort out the issue, Alexander also said that consumers should submit an official complaint to the airline first before contacting the Malaysia Aviation Commission (MAVCOM).
Even though he is not wrong at all as it is indeed part of MAVCOM’s complaint SOP, the irony is still not lost on us because it is quite clear from those screenshots that passengers were quite appalled by all the delays that they have experienced. If we have to guess, they most likely want MAVCOM to just come in and put its authority into action.
As the statement didn’t include any reference to penalties or legal actions that AirAsia may face from the investigation, we do wonder if the latest move by KPDNHEP and MOT has an actual “bite” to it. Furthermore, AirAsia has yet to respond to the statement made by the minister even though it has been more than 18 hours since it was published, although we still like to believe that the statement didn’t simply fly over the airline.
