MAS is not the best afterall!

Staring at the big poster which proudly proclaimed to the passersby "KLIA - World's Best Airport for 15-25 Millions Category, I was wondering how authentic the claim is. Our flight was cancelled. We had been made to wait for the next flight for 3 hours at the airport. I am supposed to chair the Mission Consultation at 4.30pm in Bangkok. The next flight is 3.15pm. I could see the outburst of anger and the irritation displayed by some passengers. The ground crew had to invent silly excuses to appease the wrath of passengers. Apparently the cancellation of flight has been a normal occurrence. MAS could not have enough passengers to make it economically viable to fly to Bangkok. So conveniently the staff were instructed to cancel the flight. Its a vicious cycle. The more frequent MAS does it, the more it loses its customers. At the end its an issue of integrity. In the eyes of the passengers, MAS is no longer trustworthy.

When Idris Jala first took over as CEO of MAS, I have been praising him sky high. He does a good job by turning the airline around. But the recent episodes of constant delays and cancellation of flights do not augur well for his reputation. It is not what an organisation claims itself to be, what matters is how consistent can one lives up to its claim, ethos, mission and vision statement. This applies not only to MAS but also to any organisation including church.

I decided to make the best of time. Instead of ranting and grunting, I cheered my friends who travelled with me to the consultation. I blogged at the airport. I read and slowed down my pace of life. I thank God for the free lunch compensated by MAS. I was hoping for the opportunity to be upgraded to Business Class. But there were too many (25 passengers) passengers to be compensated for. I was contented to have the next flight. Often we are not in control of life situations, but we are always in control of how we respond to events. I chose to be positive, to look at the brighter side of things, to believe that God is control of my life. I do not need to make a fuss of the delay of flight. The 3 hours delay gave me the opportunity to have good fellowship with my colleagues in the ministry. We have a good time.