Malaysian comedian Dr Jason Leong has had a pretty rough 48 hours of air travel. First, he couldn’t fly out of Jakarta because of a volcanic eruption.
Then, his Malaysia Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur to London couldn’t land at Heathrow due to a technical issue at the airport, and was diverted to Manchester instead.
Once they landed at Manchester airport, Jason said passengers on Malaysia Airlines Flight MH4 were left stranded and clueless for hours with little to no information provided on what they were supposed to do next.
According to Jason, MH4 landed at Manchester Airport at around 5.05pm local time on Sep 8.
According to Jason, passengers didn’t know whether the airline would provide hotel accommodation for the night, what was going to happen with their luggage, or if they were supposed to wait for another flight to Heathrow.
“For the three to four hours we were there, we were not told what the next steps were. Not a single person was telling us what the next steps were,” he said in a video posted to Instagram.
The crew that was on their flight were just as lost either, according to Jason.
“The flight attendants and pilots were stranded just like us. They had no idea what hotel they were going to go to, and no idea what the next steps were. No one had any clue,” he claimed.
“To abandon even your own staff and crew is beyond reprehensible,” he wrote.
In fact, most surprisingly, Jason spotted the captain himself was trying to contact Malaysia Airlines headquarters while fielding questions from frustrated passengers.
“The poor captain of the flight had to try and call headquarters, and he was fielding questions from the beleaguered passengers. How is this guy supposed to do both jobs, fly the plane and be customer service?” Jason said.
“For three to four hours, we waited for our bags. It didn’t come, and we didn’t even have a carousel number,” he said.
Jason stressed that he didn’t blame Manchester Airport. With other Heathrow-bound flights also being diverted there, he understood that airport staff were dealing with an unexpected influx of passengers and aircraft.
He also had nothing but praise for the crew on the flight.
“The cabin crew, I have to say, were very professional. The pilots and flight attendants were amazing,” he said.
His issue was with what he described as Malaysia Airlines’ crisis management and ground support.
“I have no idea why I still keep booking flights with you,” he later erupted.
8days.sg has reached out to Malaysia Airlines for comment, but has not received a response at press time.
The travel hiccups from this trip reminded Jason of the last time he was supposed to fly to Heathrow, which didn’t turn out as planned either.
A power outage had disrupted his journey, and he ended up flying to Paris before taking two trains to make it to London in time for his show.
Being a comedian, Jason naturally has his own explanation for this run of terrible travel luck.
“I think all the Chinese ghosts that I’ve been making fun of, or the feng shui masters, are all ganging up with the ghosts to wreak havoc on my schedule,” he joked.