Transport Minister Anthony Loke has refuted his predecessor Wee Ka Siong’s claims of exorbitant flight tickets from Kuala Lumpur to Tawau, Sabah during the Hari Raya season.
Wee earlier claimed that ticket prices from Kuala Lumpur to Tawau from MAS reached a whopping RM3,138 on April 20.
“I have contacted the Malaysia Airlines Group CEO Izham Ismail and confirmed that all economy class tickets for the Kuala Lumpur to Tawau flight on that day are sold out and there are only business class tickets left.
“He (Izham) also confirmed that the ticket price is not for the economy class but for the business class, and it is RM2,863.40 and not RM3,138.
“These are facts which must be corrected. As the former transport minister, I am sure Wee understands the difference between business class and economy class tickets,” Loke said in a statement posted on Facebook today.
Loke thanked Wee for his concern over the issue of exorbitant flight ticket prices and his views on airline capacity.
The minister said he would hold a press conference at noon tomorrow to address adding more flights for the Hari Raya season this year.
Previously, Wee posted on Facebook a screenshot showing a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Tawau costing RM3,138.
He said airlines have no excuses not to increase flight frequency as long as there is capacity, especially now that passenger load is no longer capped as it was during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The former transport minister also lamented that the ministry’s “standard answers” on issues pertaining to exorbitant flight tickets are a “hard pill to swallow” for the people.
He said it was disappointing that the ministry’s usual response to such issues is that it has no control over airfares and that prices are determined by a dynamic mechanism.
Checks on prices
Meanwhile, checks by Malaysiakini on the AirAsia website – which also produces results for MAS flights – for the same direct route showed RM3,138 for some of the flights on April 20, with RM2,222 being the lowest priced tickets.
The prices are labelled for economy class.
However, when checked on the MAS website with the same parameters, it only showed results for business class tickets starting from RM2,863.37.
In an immediate response to Loke, Wee said he checked several times to ensure the price of RM3,138 that he saw was for economy class tickets.
Wee said he has even asked three of his aides to check today on the same application used by several complainants from Tawau last night and they all had the same results.
“I am speaking based on facts. If the information on the application is not accurate, please take immediate action to protect the consumers,” he said. - Mkini
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