We have spoken many times about wanting to raise the bar in terms of our level of customer service in Malta. As a proud Maltese citizen, I’m disappointed to say that we never seem to learn.

I booked a business class return flight from London with Air Malta in August. When I got to the airport to return to London, I was downgraded to economy due to overbooking. At the desk, I was advised to write to Air Malta to get a refund and when I asked for the e-mail address, I was told “it’s on our website”.

After writing in to explain my disappointing experience, I had to follow this up almost 10 days later, as I had not even received an acknowledgement. Fifteen days on, after having to chase up on a response, I was advised that after investigation, they wanted to offer me a “free upgrade”.

Of course, by “free upgrade”, they meant that they were going to refund me for the service I paid for, which I never got, not a compensatory free upgrade, and I needed to sign a release form by a stipulated date to be able to get my refund. I refused the wonderful offer and wrote back to ask them to escalate this for review. I did express that, of course, I expected a refund, but also expected compensation for the way the incident was managed.

Six working days later, I once again received no acknowledgement or response. I was really frustrated at the total disregard, so I e-mailed the CEO, Louis Giordimaina, who recently stepped down, to ask someone to respond to me. I got a response from an executive in customer relations who apologised for the incident and offered me a refund (without the release form).

For the last time, I expressed my disappointment that Air Malta felt there was no need to compensate me for this incident, given my loyal custom, and that against my will I will be forced to use other options, now that British Airways has started to fly directly to Malta.

The response? A short e-mail ignoring my frustration and disappointment to tell me that my refund for the business class element will be processed immediately. Where is our emotional intelligence and passion for customers?

My next flight to Malta has already been booked with British Airways, not that Air Malta care of course, as apparently they make too much money already, in view of how they treat customers.

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