Airline: Malaysia Airlines

Here's a story of dodgy attitude to safety our Malaysia Airlines flight MH391 from Xiamen to Kuala Lumpur, one of the airline's longest 737 services (about 4.5 hours).

While we were taxiing out of Xiamen, there was knocking noise coming from the wheel compartment ... we were sitting overwing. Kim thought this was an unusual noise having been crew on the 737 in his career.

He got so concerned so I asked "If you were working on this flight today, would you say something to the flight deck?" He replied in the affirmative so he advised a flight attendant who conveyed it to the inflight supervisor.

There was no feedback or acknowledgement or thanks for bringing up a safety matter, or reassurance that it would dealt with. It was as if we were making their day difficult. Aircrew are trained in "crew resource management" and should always value safety observations from other crew (eg. junior ones) or passengers.

The insult came as we were disembarking in Kuala Lumpur. As Kim walked past the Iniflight Supervisor, she said to a collegue "Apa masaalah dia?" or "What's his problem?". Obviously an attitude problem ... or maybe it reflects the whole safety attitude of the airline?

We reported this incident to the airline and after about six months receive an apology with big letters "WITHOUT PREJUDICE". This airline doesn't know how do handle bad customer experiences!