PETALING JAYA, Dec 22 — A traveller has criticised Malaysia Airlines over an incident in which her luggage was transported without the necessary tags, and made worse by an insult later scrawled on her bag.
In a Facebook post on Dec 20, a user named Rose Kuruvilla said workers at a check-in counter at the KLIA had moved her luggage onto the conveyor without affixing the identifying labels and tags.
Concerned the luggage would not make it onto the flight to Sydney, Australia that she, her husband and 11-month-old child were boarding, Kuruvilla said she asked the airline’s supervisors to retrieve the bags.
However, Kuruvilla said she was encouraged to board the flight regardless, which she refused to do until her luggage was found.
“The bags were untagged and had no name on them, so how would they be able to identify that it belongs to me when I arrive in Sydney?” she wrote.
An hour later, the workers located the bag and put Kuruvilla and her family on another flight scheduled 12 hours later, but offered no apology then.
Upon arriving, Kuruvilla found insult added to injury.
“I have always had the label ‘THIS IS NOT YOUR BAG’ pasted onto my luggage. I do this, so to avoid others accidently taking my bag,” she explained.
The label was defaced with the message “So? Angkat Sendiri Lah! (So? Carry it yourself, then)”.
Kuruvilla said she had been prepared to let the matter go, but decided otherwise upon seeing the written taunt.
In a brief response today, MAS said the matter had been subject to an internal investigation, after which “stern” action was taken against the staff responsible.
“We regret the unfortunate experience that Ms. Kurivilla and her family faced with our ground services.
“Malaysia Airlines takes this incident very seriously and we apologise to Ms. Kuruvila for the unacceptable behaviour of our staff. We always endeavour to provide the best service to our guests.”
