A MOTHER and her 4-month-old infant missed their flight after they were denied entry for not displaying their boarding passes on two handphones.
Vani Tiagarajah, who was travelling alone on Jan 30, was supposed to board Malaysia Airlines Flight MH1038, which was departing from Senai Airport at 8.35am.
She told Actionline that she had checked in via mobile app MHmobile and had the boarding passes on it.
“To my surprise, at the boarding gate, we were denied entry by officers, who said that the app-based boarding passes must be displayed on two handphones.
“I requested them to show me where such requirements were stated on, as I have flown from Kuala Lumpur to Johor Baru using the same way and did not have any problem. How did they expect an infant to carry a handphone?”
As she had checked herself in, she was at the airport just 35 minutes before departure.
“I was made to run around to get a hardcopy of the boarding pass, which was not possible as the airline counter was closed and no one could help me.
“The kiosk was not able to print the boarding pass as the timeframe had passed and the MAS office was not open.
“All this was done with my infant strapped to me crying. I had requested to speak to a senior officer at the departure area to allow me in. The officer stood behind the body scanner and said ‘no’.”
She said other officers did not offer to help her.
ACTIONLINE
A Malaysia Airlines spokesman regrets the experience Vanihad to go through.
The spokesman told Actionline that passengers would receive their boarding passes on their handphones through an SMS link and email when checking in via MHmobile.
“The mobile boarding pass contains a 2D barcode, which can be scanned at airport security checkpoints and at the gate during boarding.
“Mobile boarding passes are available on bookings with multiple passengers per flight, up to nine passengers travelling as a family, or a group can access all their boarding passes on one device.”
The spokesman said if a passenger was travelling with an infant, the infant’s booking would be attached to the said passenger’s booking.
“Once both travellers are checked in, a mobile boarding pass will be generated for each traveller. On the device, the passenger will need to swipe the screen to scroll for each boarding pass.
“Malaysia Airlines regrets the experience at the airport security checkpoint where the passenger was asked to print the boarding pass.”
A Senai Airport spokesman said its airport security team was briefed byMalaysia Airlines on procedures for e-boarding passes, which allow only one boarding pass per device.
“There are two airlines — Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia — that provide e-boarding pass services at Senai Airport.
“Our airport security team has been briefed by the airlines on the e-boarding pass procedure/guideline, which allows only one boarding pass per mobile phone.
“The rules are displayed on the airlines’ website. It is also the requirement of the airlines for domestics passengers to be at the airport 45 minutes prior to departure to give an acceptable timeframe for passengers to go through the checking-in procedure, if need be.”