I have been fighting Air Malta’s unreasonableness over the allowed weight of suitcases.

My husband and I were travelling to Vienna just before Christmas to board a liner for a Danube cruise. We decided to fly Air Malta and travel business as this would be more comfortable and enjoy extra baggage allowance. The business class allowance of 32 kilos of hold luggage each, plus hand luggage of another 15 kilos each seemed perfectly generous and we planned how to space the cargo out among several suitcases.

We were told we were entitled to one suitcase each of 32 kilos. I can only lift about 17 kilos. I contacted Air Malta about taking an extra suitcase and got no answer except for a silly comment. I also wrote to the Times of Malta. Air Malta did not even condescend to make silly suggestions. So, I wrote again to this newspaper and this struck – power of the press.

When I learnt that a person from Air Malta’s call centre had been trying to call me, I explained that many other airlines make concessions to older and less robust passengers but the person I spoke to obviously did not have the authority to make such a decision, so I suggested she consult her manager and come back to me. Air Malta went dead again.

We then booked an extra suitcase for another €60. We were irritated and our irritation exploded when we discovered this only covered one way. When we attempted to get a luggage voucher for the return journey, Air Malta’s website was not working properly and did not register our request. So we had to book again. Happily for Air Malta, the website had been working sufficiently for it to charge twice and our extra suitcase cost us €180.

Despite the hassles, my husband and I did have a wonderful flight to Vienna. Air Malta in-flight staff really could not have been nicer and more efficient. The food was simple and good and there was lots of nice Maltese wine. The flight home was just as good.

It is therefore a shame that the highly-competent, careful and so friendly in-flight staff are so poorly mirrored by highly incompetent, surly and customer-unfriendly call centre staff.