KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 14 — Chaos ensued at Doha International Airport on Tuesday when passengers travelling to Kuala Lumpur from Doha, Qatar on a scheduled Malaysia Airlines flight MH165 were made to wait for 24 hours at Hamad International Airport after an aircraft experienced engine issues.
In a statement, the airline issued an apology for the prolonged delay of its flight MH165 from Doha to Kuala Lumpur on August 12.
It attributed the delay to aircraft engine issues and acknowledged that subsequent flights were also affected.
In the same statement, the airline said it was committed to resolving engine issues and minimising future disruptions.
It also offered rebooking on Qatar Airways flights and hotel accommodations with meals in Doha for affected passengers.
Irate travellers took to social media to express their dissatisfaction.
On X, Faizal Hamssin asked what the airline was going to do to mitigate the problem in the long run, adding that the Kuala Lumpur-Doha flight was a missed opportunity for Malaysia Airlines to showcase its product to Qatar Airways codeshare passengers.
He went on to say that passengers had still not received their hotel vouchers after five hours of waiting.
A scene of chaos at Doha International Airport.Some passengers have been stranded here since 24hrs ago (8am Qatar time).These are codeshare pax waiting for their onward flight to Kuala Lumpur on @MAS .I arrived here 2 hours ago; my flight has also been “retimed” to tonight. pic.twitter.com/gVs8qkitsb
— Faizal Hamssin (@faizalhamssin) August 13, 2024
Angry stranded passengers waiting at this small door (?) for answer. pic.twitter.com/23BzsyT89i
— Faizal Hamssin (@faizalhamssin) August 13, 2024
About 16 hours after arriving in Doha, he posted a video aboard the flight.
Another passenger, Dr Helena Wright wrote on X that the same thing had happened on a Malaysia Airlines flight last week.
She claimed that during that time, she was stuck in Doha for 60 hours without access to luggage while priority was only given to business class passengers.
It's literally crazy that the same thing happened to us on a #Malaysiaairlines flight last week! We got stuck in Doha for 60 hours without access to luggage. Babies were not given priority, only business class passengers. It must be a major systemic issue at Malaysia Airlines....
— Dr Helena Wright (@_HWright) August 13, 2024
Meanwhile, another passenger said this was why he would never pick Malaysia Airlines over QR (Qatar Airways).
“And this is why I’ll never pick MAS over QR for transit flights in Doha. Crazy how theres no word from MAS whatsoever and we have to rely on bloggers like refined points to even find out about these delays.”
And this is why I’ll never pick MAS over QR for transit flights in Doha. Crazy how theres no word from MAS whatsoever and we have to rely on bloggers like refined points to even find out about these delays
— Sean Dempsey (@seandempsey139) August 13, 2024
A check with flight tracker Flightradar24 showed that MH165 was scheduled to depart at 8.05am local time from Hamad International Airport on August 12 but was later cancelled.
The same flight was scheduled to depart yesterday at 8.05am but was delayed to 11.52am.
Today’s flight is estimated to depart as scheduled at 8.05am.
