A long rant about Malaysia Airlines.
I made a call twice to Malaysia Airlines hotline on 3rd Nov for my daughter to travel on 14th Nov. Her PNR is PZFAFJ. She is an unaccompanied minor and I requested for assistance. Was told that the fare was $87. When I asked if there was any additional charges, answer was NO. The amount that I needed to pay was $87 flat. Was told by the second agent by the name of Lisa that the reservations is already confirmed and will be on hold till 13th Nov 12pm. If the UMNR form is not submitted by then, bookings will be cancelled. I agreed. When I asked how do I make the payments, she told me that once I have submitted the form, someone from the call center will contact me for my CC details. No mention of any service fee that I need to pay. I received the itinerary shortly after.
Emailed in the UMNR form on 7th Nov at 1.20am. No reply till this afternoon. Was told to call the call centre again to have my daughter’s ticket issued before they can update the UMNR details. That was when my nightmare started.
Made the first call and spoke to Jerome, explained to him why I called. Was being told that the booking was cancelled in the system but he can put up the reservations again and I need to now pay $97 as the price has gone up. Told him it is unfair because the flight was not cancelled by me. He apologised and said that “I’m sorry but the booking was auto cancelled by the system and now since the price is $97, you have to pay $97.” And till now, no mention of the service fee of $50 that I will need to pay for the UMNR assistance. It is not just about the $10 difference but it is a matter of principle. Why am I being penalized in a way when it is not even my fault to begin with.
Requested to talk to someone of a higher authority. I was assigned to Nick. Apparently he is the call center Supervisor but I strongly doubt so given his unprofessionalism. After repeating the whole story to him, he agreed to take my payments for $87 but I need to pay the service fee of $50. Which at this point of time, I had a GREAT shock because this fee is unknown to me from the very beginning. He then offered me another option. That is to pay the ADULT fare for my 9 years old daughter then I don’t have to pay for the service fee. HOW RIDICULOUS IS THAT? Why should I pay for an adult fare when my daughter is only 9 years old?! This fee is also not stated in your website. Malaysia Airlines is one the world renowned airline and you don’t even have full information on your website. Nick then directed me to this link –
https://mab-community.force.com/…/My-child-is-travelling-al….
I’m NOT asking for escort FROM KL Sentral. When I asked for his full name, he REFUSED to tell me. He said he cannot tell me. Then why work in a call center unless he is hiding something from me or is trying to charge me extra for some non existence fee? I couldn’t take the conversation any longer, I hung up.
I called again, hoping to able to speak to someone who will be able to assist me. I’m so wrong. Spoke to Helen, explained all over again, she initially said no charges then she said there is. Asked if there is the manager on duty that I can speak to, she said Alex. When asked to speak to him, Alex suddenly was unavailable to talk as he just went into a meeting. I seriously am not sure how true is that. She then transferred the call to Hasni. I was kept on hold for very long time each time and this time round, I was transferred to Mia.
Mia is apparently the call support manager. She told me that because she is not working for Malaysia Airlines she cannot do anything about the service fee. So what hotline did I call all the while? Mind you, I made the roaming calls for close to 3 hrs in total and out of which, more than half the time, I was put on hold. She ended up saying that she will proceed to process the payments for me for $87 and she will get Malaysia Airlines to email me about the waiver of the service fee. I agreed. She put me through to the automated service for me to key my CC details in. Halfway through, to my horror, the line got disconnected just like that. After an hour plus on the line. Imagine my frustration. Emailed for a call back, nothing.
Still concerned about my daughter’s booking, I had no choice but to call the call center again. This time round, I spoke to Jericho Wilson. I had to repeat everything all over again. He put me on hold for at least a good 25 minutes out of the 33 minutes conversation we had. And yes, as you would have guessed it, nothing was solved. He told me that airline policy is to buy for my daughter an ADULT ticket. When I asked for higher management, he said goodbye to me. I gave up.
I totally give up with Malaysia Airlines. I am utterly disappointed with the service provided to me One of the top airlines but even a simple booking cannot be made with ease. I choose to have my daughter to fly with Malaysia Airlines because of the service but even before flying with Malaysia Airlines, the experience is SO BAD. I STILL cannot believe this is the service that I got from Malaysia Airlines.
Regards,
Aishah Lim