Loke ducked questions about cheaper flights, says Wee

 

Wee Ka Siong (left) and Loke Siew Fook have locked horns over domestic flights after Wee questioned the high price of a return ticket from KL-Tawau.

PETALING JAYA: Former transport minister Wee Ka Siong has accused his successor, Loke Siew Fook, of dodging questions about cheaper domestic flights after two days of jousting over the cost of a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Tawau.

Wee also asked if the transport ministry would take action against Air Asia’s Super App after he was ridiculed by his successor, Loke Siew Fook, for using the app to check prices of Malaysia Airlines flights

He noted that Loke had said MAS did not authorise AirAsia to re-sell MAS tickets. “What is the transport ministry doing about this? Or will they be turning a blind eye on this and continue to allow this practice?” Wee said.

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“If there are allegations of unreasonable price increases for tickets of certain airlines on these apps, isn’t it the responsibility of the transport ministry and its agencies to check and make sure consumers are not being taken for a ride?” he said.

Wee said it was common practice for consumers to use third-party aggregator apps to search for cheap flights or hotel rooms and compare prices to get the best deal.

He accused Loke of not answering questions about the need for more and cheaper domestic flights and asked if the minister would take action “so that more Malaysians can have the chance to return home to celebrate the festivities”.

Wee said he was previously criticised by DAP leaders because return flights between East and West Malaysia cost more than RM1,000 but current prices could still exceed RM1,000 for flights from Kuala Lumpur to Tawau “and there are still not enough seats to accommodate demand”.

Wee and Loke have been engaged in a back-and-forth over domestic airfares after Wee said yesterday that a Malaysia Airlines economy class return ticket from Kuala Lumpur to Tawau on April 20 would cost RM3,138.

Loke said the price quoted was for business class tickets and posted an image of a one-way ticket costing RM2,863.40. However, Wee said today that checks on the airasia Super App showed that a two-way Malaysia Airlines economy class flight from KL to Tawau would cost RM3,138.

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In response, Loke said Wee should have used the Malaysia Airlines app or website to check the prices of its flights rather than use a third-party app. - FMT