- Details
- Published on Thursday, 28 August 2014 12:20
- Written by Ashraf Wahab
- Malaysian Digest
pic: Ping's twitterKUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian Airlines (MAS) have today come out to express their gratitude to 2014 Masterchef UK winner Ping Coombes for defending them against attacks by the media.
Ping originally posted a photo to Twitter on 18 August after her flight was upgraded by MAS. She wrote:
“Omg! We got upgraded on @MAS. I was excited now I’m beyond ecstatic!”
The specific photo was captioned:
“Thank you @MAS it is an amazing surprise!”
However a few news portals had used the photo to report that the national airliner is facing mass losses in revenue by pointing out the empty seats as shown in the photo.
Ping responded to the reports via her Instagram posting, explaining that the picture was taken before other passengers had boarded the flight.
“Woke up to this picture in the media! For anyone who has been on a plane knows, Family with children get boarded first, the flight was not empty, it was in fact full.”
She added:
“It’s really sad that a thank you on a kind upgrade that I was offered is being used to attack an airline which has had such a difficult time. We should be offering support and compassion.”
When contacted, MAS reacted to the news reports by saying there are always two sides to every story. “Our way of telling the story is by encouraging our passengers to share their photos on board MAS flights via our social media platform. The results have been very encouraging.”
They also thanked Ping for her defence of the airline. “MAS appreciates that Ms. Coombes has come out to defend us. It is unfortunate that her photo was misused by others to create untruths about MAS. We thank her for taking time to set the record straight. MAS feels very touched for the ongoing support of our loyal guests.”
MAS also stressed that they strive to provide world-class service via their warm hospitality and through this experience they believe will create loyalty among their respected guests.
The actual passenger number on board on that particular flight was 464. It was MH01 from London to KL on 17 Aug 2014.
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