Malaysia Airlines has had enough trouble without inviting more, first MH370 disappeared in April, MH17 was shot down during an injudicious fly over a region in conflict. They recently had the GPS go out during a flight, necessitating a return to the departure point. There are reports of flights with just one or two passengers.
Well, I am in Miri, Malaysia and need to fly to Gunung Mulu National Park. I visited several online booking sites but ended up being directed to MASwings.com.my or MalaysiaAirlines.com.
MalaysiaAirlines.com requires an area code and a phone number. They don’t ask for the country code. It wants a three digit area code. I have no idea how I am supposed to enter my Malay phone number, so I just typed in 600 for the area code as 60 is the country code and 0 is the first digit of the phone number. At least MASwings asks for a country code with a pull down and a phone number.
However, neither site would process my credit card, although my bank was never contacted, they were having technical difficulties.
I set off to the airport and entered the ticketing room and took a queue number, number 65. When I noticed that the next man to walk up was holding ticket #70, I objected that the numbers were not being served in order. I was told that my number had been passed. There is no overhead display and the woman was calling out numbers in Malay. I got a new number, she took walkins without numbers while I sat there and waited. I protested, she told me to wait until they called my number and then took another walkin.
Finally I booked a flight and took a taxi back to my hotel. If Malaysia Airlines fails, it will of their own doing.
Jonathan Allen LaFleur