The Hari Raya holidays are coming up and everyone’s excited! Unfortunately, current and former ministers of transport Anthony Loke and Wee Ka Siong have gotten into a squabble over it instead.
Just yesterday (16th April), Wee Ka Siong allegedly proved that flights were expensive due to the upcoming holidays, and reportedly criticised the ministry for claiming they had no control over airplane fare prices. But, today (17th April), Anthony Loke refuted the claim, even rebuking Ka Siong for “misleading” the public.
A day ago, former transport minister Wee Ka Siong claimed that an economy class flight ticket price from Kuala Lumpur to Tawau on 20th April would cost RM3,138. However, Anthony Loke reportedly called Ka Siong out on his ‘research’.
The current transport minster claimed Malaysia Airlines had informed him that all economy class tickets for that particular date had been sold out. As such, only business class tickets were left. Additionally, Anthony himself uploaded a photo of the flight fare with the same flight details, but priced at RM2863.40.
Ka Siong later scathingly responded that he did indeed know how to distinguish between economy and business class fares. The former minister then claimed he had gotten three assistants to check the fares again using an app which users from Tawau had reportedly used and complained about. He even uploaded ‘photographic proof’ of his claims; a screenshot of Malaysia Airline’s flight price at RM3138, allegedly on the AirAsia app.
However, shortly afterwards, Anthony Loke addressed Wee Ka Siong about the issue. “It is impossible for the former minister (of transport) to not know that Malaysia Airlines has its own app. If you want to check Malaysia Airlines’s fares, why (did you) use AirAsia’s app?” he asked. “It’s like going to McDonald’s when you want to buy KFC. It’s unreasonable.”
The current minster even went a step further to check on Malaysia Airline’s fare on the spot. The app allegedly showed that the fare, from KL to Tawau on the same date, was less than Ka Siong’s research. Reportedly, it is RM2863.30 for business class at 10am and RM739 for economy class around 9pm.
Anthony Loke then reprimanded Ka Siong, claiming he should not mislead the public as the public might not understand how airline tickets were priced. Anthony also opined that as Ka Siong was a former minister of transport, he ought to know how the airline industry worked, and not just rely on comparing prices via the flight apps.
However, current transport minister Anthony Loke did agree that there were usually expensive tickets being sold during the festive season. Still, he alleged that such high-priced tickets were usually only bought at the last minute, as a last resort.
Well, all this back-and-forthing between the two is certainly enlightening. Still, we can understand why the duo are concerned. We sincerely hope you guys were able to purchase cheap flights, be it for your holidays or simply to balik kampung. If not, it might be time to look into ways of getting cheap flights!
Sources: China Press, Malaysia Gazette, Utusan Malaysia, Free Malaysia Today
