Josh Cahill had a "horror" flight to London. But when he whinged about it on social media mid-flight, things in the cabin got a lot worse, news.com.au reports.
A frequent flyer says he was bullied by Malaysia Airlines crew mid-air after he slammed the "horror" flight in an online review posted during the journey.
But the passenger, who is an award-winning travel blogger who shares airline reviews with his 53,000 YouTube subscribers, has released a video explaining his "horror flight", despite what he believed was the airline's attempt to stop him.
Josh Cahill, who runs the blog GoTravelYourWay, takes about 150 flights a year.
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Advertise with NZME.He was only a few hours into Malaysia Airlines flight MH4 from Kuala Lumpur to London when he decided it was a "nightmare" and "the most disappointing flight of the year".
Taking to his Instagram page, where he has close to 20,000 followers, Cahill wrote: "Very unfriendly crew (where did the amazing Malaysian hospitality go?), broken in-flight entertainment (asked the crew to fix it and they never got back to me) which leaves me 13 hours without entertainment, dreadful food served on a sticky and filthy tray and on top of that I was probably assigned the worst seat on that plane."
He described the airline's performance as "really poor" and said he would be posting a full review of the flight on his YouTube channel.
Cahill told news.com.au he had permission from Malaysia Airlines' social media team to film in-flight, which is how he reviews airlines.
But after he posted the mid-flight Instagram post, things went downhill in the cabin.
He said he believed someone from the airline saw the post and contacted the captain about it mid-flight.
"After the captain was informed mid-flight by the (airline's headquarters) about my post they asked me why I would post and complain," Cahill told news.com.au.
"They started ignoring me then, wouldn't offer me any water when the crew came around. They then told me I should stop filming or I won't get served anymore."
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Advertise with NZME.News.com.au has reached out to Malaysia Airlines for comment.
Cahill contacted customer service from the plane and got a message back, which said the they had seen his Instagram post and contacted the captain so crew could work on making his flight more comfortable.
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But Cahill said he was still denied service and felt "bullied and very uncomfortable" the rest of the way to Heathrow Airport.
"When we landed in London, there was a guy standing inside the jet bridge with a sign with my name on it. I was afraid that they would make me delete my footage," he said.
He said a manager asked to meet him at the airport and apologised. Cahill also received "template" apology emails from a few airline employees, including the chief executive officer, who "didn't seem to care much".
"I think it was clearly to prevent me from getting more footage and create a bad review on my YouTube channel," Cahill told news.com.au.
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Advertise with NZME."I had a rather disappointing flight with Jet Airways earlier this year and the video was watched over one million times and I guess they are afraid of bad review from me."
Cahill, who flies around 150 times a year, said he had never come across an experience like that before.
"I have had bad flights obviously, but that I was denied service and told off, that has never happened to me before," he said. "I also have never heard of a similar case."
Cahill has posted a 20-minute review of flight MH4 despite being told to stop filming on the plane.
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But it would probably be the last time he flew with the Malaysian flag carrier, which he said used to have a reputation as one of the best in the world.
"In all fairness, I had a great flight with Malaysia Airlines the day before but I won't ever fly them again," he said.
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Advertise with NZME."I felt bullied and treated in the worst possible way and I wont ever get on a Malaysia Airlines flight."