A few days ago I wrote about the ridiculous situation that unfolded at Garuda Indonesia. A popular Indonesian vlogger posted a review of a Garuda Indonesia business class flight from Sydney to Bali.
The flight had some minor issues, which he pointed out, like them running out of alcohol, and also them not having printed menus. So he posted his review, but the response from the airline was a little nuts:
- They banned people from “documenting activities on the plane”
- A Garuda Indonesia spokesperson expressed disbelief as to how the passenger was presented with a non-printed menu, almost making it seem like this was some conspiracy theory
- The vlogger was allegedly summoned by the police over the incident, related to defamation of Garuda Indonesia
To say that their response was an overkill would be an extreme understatement. They should have either said nothing or just apologized.
Well, I guess this shouldn’t come as a surprise given the backlash the airline has received, as they’ve now come to their senses. First of all, Rius had some sort of a ceremonial handshake with the CEO of Garuda Indonesia.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0FUmxzHLy0/
More importantly:
- The airline has backtracked on their new policy against “documenting” Garuda Indonesia flights
- The police summons has also been withdrawn; this was allegedly issued by Garuda Indonesia Labor Union, and not management as such, and it was issued because the situation had “caused negative perception among people in regards to Garuda Indonesia’s services as the country’s national flag carrier”
I’m happy that Garuda Indonesia came to their senses. The craziest part in all of this is that shortly after Garuda Indonesia shot themselves in the foot, Lion Air followed their lead and also banned people from “documenting” flights for “security reasons.” Will they backtrack now as well?
Vloggers in Saudi Arabia get death punishment or get killed outside the Kingdom and cut in pieces.
The vlogger has been garnering some fame locally. He's like the one vlogger in Indonesia who bothered to try to introduce the concept of miles to the Indonesiam public. So I have to disagree about him being a social media whore.
That said, his girlfriend is actually an FA for "the international airline of Indonesia".
Garuda did overreact ridiculously, but let's face it - the pax was a douche. A social media likes-whore who blew the whole thing up to get more followers. Superdouche.
I was climbing the stairs to my plane yesterday. There was an ass in front of me who was documenting the whole 'experience'. Took twice as long in the +40c heat and humidity as he kept stopping to adjust.
I for one can't stand people walking up and down the cabin filming pax just enjoying a flight with a drink, meal or movie - or worse..as they sleep. Luckily most crew of the airlines that I fly tell them to film only their personal space and ensure no crew or passengers were included unless permission is granted. I was chuffed to witness one such knob on a flight to Melbourne last week being forced...
I for one can't stand people walking up and down the cabin filming pax just enjoying a flight with a drink, meal or movie - or worse..as they sleep. Luckily most crew of the airlines that I fly tell them to film only their personal space and ensure no crew or passengers were included unless permission is granted. I was chuffed to witness one such knob on a flight to Melbourne last week being forced to delete the content in the galley and told not to do this again. Incredibly, he was J class and thought it a good idea to stand in the aisle filming the crew serving us meals and pax enjoying the offerings. No one liked that. Bizarre.
I'm not sure why anyone would actually want to document a Lion Air flight, so kind of a moot point.
@other James
Sometimes they have monopoly over routes to and between not so popular cities/areas or at least the best time frame/slot between those destination.
Lion Air could care less about bad publicity. I do not know why people even fly them Eapecially foreigners.
They are good at nothing and often not cheap as well
Lion Air probably enacted the ban so that in the likely event of another accident, there won't be a video on social media of it.
Streisand Effect at it’s full power here...