AirAsia Group chief executive officer Tony Fernandes yesterday issued an apology after the public raised a furore after a member of the cabin crew was forced to lie prostrate before an autistic passenger, after her mother complained of being insulted.
“[It was] my fault. I’m the leader. We need better procedures on both sides,” Fernandes wrote on his Facebook page yesterday after meeting with Thai AirAsia staff. “An investigation will be done and action taken. I met cabin crew and it was good. Tomorrow I go to Hat Yai to meet her parents [to extend apologies].”
Fernandes travelled to Thailand to reward Thai Olympic medal winners, and also used the opportunity to address the controversy that has created an uproar on the Internet.
On Tuesday, a post on popular webboard Pantip.com asked if it was true that the mother of a 29-year-old autistic female passenger had demanded that a member the Air Asia cabin crew lay prostrate before her daughter as a gesture of apology.
Not only did that post attract huge interest, it also kicked off a storm of criticism about how AirAsia handles passengers’ complaints. Many also complained about the airline violating its staff’s rights and hurting her dignity.
“She [the cabin crew] was my friend … she only asked that passenger [the mother] how her daughter was doing because she appeared to be having convulsions,” one reply said. “[My friend] asked her twice, but there was no response, so she decided to report it to the flight captain. She never thought that this would be seen as an insult.”
Tassapon Bijleveld, chief executive officer of Thai AirAsia, confirmed the story, saying it was a “common misunderstanding” between passengers and cabin crew. “The mother filed a complaint with us so we invited both sides to settle. It ended up with the crew member having to lie prostrate in front of the daughter once,” Tassapon said.
This was followed by Fernandes’ replies on Twitter to curious observers, insisting that staff remains his priority.
Tassapon and Fernandes yesterday issued a joint statement expressing regret, acknowledging their responsibility and elaborating that they highly value the feelings of their employees. “We maintain that our executives never forced our staff to perform an act of prostration,” the statement said. “We are disheartened by what has happened to the staff member in question.”
The CEOs also assured that they would amend their policies accordingly and have their customer relations department handle future complaints without the need for a confrontation between passengers and cabin crew.
