On September 12 a group of Maltese holidaymakers were due to return to Malta on Air Malta flight KM 659 from Verona. They were at the airport well before the check-in counter opened for the scheduled departure at 4 p.m.

However, two couples belonging to the group were not taken on board, and were left behind in Verona. The reason given was that the flight was overbooked.

Normally, with group travel, the return flight is booked and paid for concurrently with the departure flight, which in this case was KM 658 Malta-Verona on September 5. So how is it that the two couples were not allowed to board the flight, when their return journey had already been booked?

If Air Malta wants to retain its image as a reliable carrier it should investigate the matter to establish whether the overbooking was the result of a genuine mistake or of negligence or, even worse, made deliberately to accommodate somebody else.

It is also in the interest of the tour operator concerned and other tour operators to follow up the issue. Passengers travel knowing that their return flight is assured and nobody would like to have their hard-earned holiday spoilt at the last minute.

It would there be interesting to know what Air Malta has to say to this.