PETALING JAYA: Immediate action should be taken if there is inaccurate information on airfare booking applications, says MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong.
“YB Anthony, I am speaking based on facts and not lies. If the information in the application is inaccurate, please take immediate action to protect users. Don’t blame me as it’s factual,” Dr Wee said in a Facebook response to Transport Minister Anthony Loke.
Dr Wee was responding to Loke’s statement over claims that airfare for the Kuala Lumpur-Tawau route on April 20 hit RM3,138 for an economy class ticket as inaccurate.
“YB Anthony Loke claimed that I did not know how to differentiate between the airfares for economy and business classes,” said Dr Wee who is a former Transport Minister.
“YB Anthony, I have asked three of my aides to check at 3.35pm on April 16,2023, via the application used by a few complainants from Tawau yesterday. The conclusion is the one-way airfare from Kuala Lumpur to Tawau was still RM3,138,” he said.
Dr Wee had expressed his disappointment over the high price of the one-way flight ticket from Kuala Lumpur to Tawau.
In another Facebook post, Dr Wee also said checks on three separate phones yielded the same results.
“These are three separate phones using the super app at the same time at 3.30pm today on April 16, 2023. They all show the same economy class KUL-TWU fare displaying RM3,138. So, am I still wrong?” he said in the post which also had a photo of three phones displaying the booking apps.
“Since I have been called out by YB Anthony for not checking before making the FB post, here’s the proof to back up my post yesterday. The KUL-TWU route as of 3.30pm today is indeed listed at RM3,138 even on three different individual phones.
“YB Anthony’s rebuttal to me was baseless in light of the evidence I am displaying here. He should retract his statement.
“The gist of the matter is what the government will do to ensure reasonable fares, instead of harping on what I say without basis,” he added.
Dr Wee urged the Transport Ministry and the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) to look into why the Malaysia Airlines website only showed that business class tickets were available while other applications continued to feature the economy option from the airline which also included the Kuala Lumpur-Tawau RM3,138 one-way ticket.
“What’s the issue here? Is there another illicit ‘super app’ showing the wrong information? Who is pre-booking such economy tickets and who is profiteering? I leave it to MOT to seek answers,” he said.
