From: venugop@athena.cs.uga.edu (ABDUL PETER IYENGAR)
Subject: Re: Bad experience on Malaysia Airlines
Organization: University of Georgia, Athens
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 03:11:17 GMT

In article <1992Nov19.175107.9090@doug.cae.wisc.edu> ravi@cae.wisc.edu (Vijayaraghavan Ravi) writes:
>In article <1eeoalINNl9v@uwm.edu> mahadeva@point.cs.uwm.edu (Aruna Mahadevan) writes:
>>
>>Hello,
>>
>>I travelled to India from California during the month of October on
>>Malaysia Airlines.  I had heard a lot about the *EXCELLENT* service on
>>Malaysia and Singapore Airlines, but my experience was just the
>>opposite.  The flight leaving from LA was delayed by almost 2 hours and
>>no explanation was given.  Subsequently, all connecting flights were
>>delayed by 1.5 to 2 hours with no explanations.  When I asked them at LA
>>about my Hotel reservation in Kuala Lumpur, they were very rude.  As for
>>the food, it looked like they had scraped off all the leftovers from the
>>First Class and Business Class meals for us Coach class passengers.  The
>>rice was dry, the vegetables weren't good, and we had the same food all
>>through!  
>>
>>We landed at Kuala Lumpur a few hours later than scheduled, had to wait
>>to get the transit visa from immigration and then get our hotel rooms.
>>We were given vouchers for the transportation to/from the hotel and for
>>breakfast.  There was a long line for taxis and there was this guy who
>>kept sending off people from the back of the queue in the taxis that
>>arrived.  So, after waiting around for a couple of hours, we decided to
>>grab the first taxi that came along since there was no queue system
>>anyway.  At the hotel, the manager claimed that he didn't have rooms and
>>asked us to pay $10 for the taxi to take us to another hotel.  We
>>refused to pay and demanded separate rooms for the three of us that had
>>reserved our tickets individually.  After a while of trying to extract
>>money from us, he relented and gave us rooms.  By this time, it was
>>already 3 am and our onward flight was at 9am.  So we barely got 4 hours
>>sleep.  
>>
>>The seat I had was very close to the business class.  I am a non-smoker
>>and cannot stand smoke.  I had asked for a seat in the non-smoking
>>section and was given this particular seat which was close to the
>>smoking section of the Business Class.  When I complained about the
>>smoke, I was moved to another seat - this time right next to the
>>toilets!  I also gave them a written complaint about the smoke but things
>>were not any better on the return journey.
>>
>>I have travelled by Air India before and found the service and food to
>>be much better than this!  It's been a while but I think the flights
>>were on time when I travelled on Air India last.
>>
>>Aruna
>>
>
>I have an even more interesting story to tell about Malaysian Airlines.
>It took us 4 days to go from LA to Madras. Five hour delay at LA,
>With a days delay at Hawaii, 10 hour  unscheduled stop over
>at Kuala Lumpur and a five hour delay  at Penang.
>The authorities at Kuala Lumpur are rude and treat you badly. 
>
>THe service throughout was pathetic and they were discourteous. I
>would strongly recommend that people dont travel by Malaysian Airlines.
>The first time I travelled I didnt have any problems, but last
>december it was pathetic. Spent 6 days of my 25 days vacation at
>the Airports and in the aircraft. Ill elaborate on this later
>when I have time.
>
>
>
>--Shivakumar

MS Aruna Mahadevan thinks like most Indians abroad do,A couple of
trips between here and India and they nominate themselves as members of the 
elite jetsetting club and expect the air hostess and stewards to wait hand
and foot on them.Apart from getting your meals on time and soft drinks or 
liquor which they promptly do are they supposed to to a song and dance
sequence to prove the are polite.
I don't understand what every netter means when he or she say service
was courteous.
This may be related to the thread of tipping the waiters. For the
paltry salary and gratuity if they earn any,what else do we expect
pay obeisence to us for the one meal we eat or the one trip we take.
In any case a bulk of the price we pay goes to the owners of the 
concerns and these people are just a rung on the ladder that is above
the cleaner and sweepers. even if this job is to quench the fire in their
belly how many of us will do the job without being frustrated?
How many of us can maintain a consistent face with the hundreds of 
different people with their different peculiarities and whims and fancies.
The amount we spend posting these ridiculous anecdotes and gripes would
be more expensive than waiters we can tip for a coupole of years. That 
is how priviliged we are.
It is like discussing poverty in a five star hotel.
gopa
ABDUL PETER IYENGAR