Passengers on diverted flight complain of unacceptable treatment

Passengers on an Air Malta flight that had to be diverted to Paris on Wednesday night because of cabin pressure problems have complained that the manner in which the airline treated them was unacceptable.

Reacting to the comments, a spokesman for the national carrier said: "Air Malta believes the airline tried its best to manage the situation and coordinate all the logistical arrangements in this case. Any other airline would have encountered these same difficulties".

A number of the 144 passengers that were on the flight from Heathrow complained with The Times that no airline representative was at Orly airport to help them out when the place landed safely early on Thursday morning.

Some passengers also said that the Servisair representative who assisted them barely spoke any English.

Passengers had to resort to drinking tap water because two of the hotels they were accommodated in did not sell any food or drinks during the night, and, The Times was told by irate passengers, nothing was offered to them before they left the plane.

Air Malta said on Thursday that Servisair staff "provided all the necessary assistance to minimise the discomfort", a statement that is being strongly contested by passengers who spoke to The Times.

"I admire Air Malta's choice to put safety first, but the way the whole issue was handled is unacceptable," a passenger said.

Godwin Palmier, a regular Air Malta passenger, has vowed never to fly with the national airline again, claiming passengers were "treated like cattle".

Mr Palmier said Servisair's representative was unable to handle the situation.

Deana Bartolotta, who was travelling with her two young children, said staff at the French airport would not even help her carry her luggage.

Sarah Spiteri said it was only 10 minutes before the plane eventually landed at Orly airport that the passengers were informed of the diversion.

The airport was closed at the time and the passengers spent about 90 minutes on the plane until they were told to disembark and collect their luggage.

After about an hour waiting at the airport, a coach arrived to take passengers to the nearby Kyriad Hotel. People travelling with children were given priority. On arrival at the hotel, passengers realised the staff had not yet been informed of the situation and it was only after 45 minutes standing outside in the rain that they were assigned rooms.

Mr Palmier said he did not board the first coach and had to wait another hour before the second one returned and took passengers to the Hotel Mercure.

The third group of passengers were taken to another hotel.

"Nobody told us what was happening, when we would be returning to Malta or simply where we were being taken that night, apart from the hotel receptionist who told us we would be picked up at 9 a.m.," Joe Cilia said.

When they returned to the airport on Thursday morning the passengers again found no Air Malta representative to tell them what to do or what was happening.

"A few of us were sent to queue at the Servisair desk at the end of the terminal, from where we were again sent to the check-in counter, where we had to start queuing afresh," Mr Cilia said.

"The least Air Malta could have done was offer us food and drinks and also a way to contact our families to tell them our flight had been delayed," Mr Palmier said.

"A simple three-hour flight from London to Malta took us a total of 19 hours," Mr Cilia said.

Contacted by The Times for his comments, a spokesman for Air Malta said the unexpected landing at Orly - which was closed at the time - took place in the early hours of the morning, and the national airline, through Servisair, had to call the airport to take care of the passengers.

"It wasn't an easy task to find hotel accommodation for this amount of people at 1 a.m. during peak holiday season," he said, adding that Servisair staff accompanied the passengers to the three hotels.

He confirmed that there was some miscommunication between Servisair and the Kyriad Hotel, adding that this was sorted out as soon as Air Malta was informed of the situation.

The spokesman said a ground hostess was assigned to take care of two unaccompanied minors who were travelling on the flight and stayed with them overnight at the Hotel Mercure. Their families were supplied with the hotel's telephone number and the name of the hostess.

He said that at the time of landing it was not possible to establish on which flights the passengers would return to Malta. He emphasised that the problem was unpredictable.