Air Malta forgets two passengers and pays the price
If you thought you were having a rough day at work, this story about the crew of Air Malta flight KM 146 should make you feel better. The crew learned it had forgotten two passengers 40 minutes into a flight from Luqa, Malta to Manchester, England. Shockingly, the plane was ordered back to base to pick up the pair, which sucks for just about everyone on board. But nobody got a a more raw deal than two Air Malta staffers who had paid for discount tickets on the fully booked flight — they were forced to give up their seats, as full-price fares take precedence.
Financially, the entire affair reportedly cost Air Malta €2,000, and the airline launched an internal investigation. Air Malta told the Times of Malta this week the details of the report is “not for public consumption” owing to “sensitive security information.”
Nonetheless, the airline did sound somewhat apologetic and promised action:
“The airline commits itself to implementing the report’s recommendations without hesitation, prioritising safety, security and passenger well-being. We have taken this incident extremely seriously. A thorough investigation was concluded within five days and the corrective action required will be applied immediately.”
That sounds great, of course, and hopefully is proved soon, but it's hard not to feel a bit skeptical after the airline first wrote off the incident as “a security precautionary measure following a discrepancy in the number of passengers and baggage on board” (standard procedure since the Lockerbie bombing in 1988) rather than admitting the mistake from the get-go. Plus, the airline will not allow any independent probe.
We're not exactly sure how you can "forget" two passengers at the gate. It seems you either make your plane in time for takeoff or you don't, but Road Warrior Voices has yet to hear back from Air Malta after reaching out for comment. We'll update the story if we receive a response.
In the meantime, fliers can debate what's worse, forgetting passengers or forgetting all the luggage, which forced a Ryanair flight to turn around in July