Malaysia Airlines defends 'no baby' policy
Malaysia Airlines will not allow babies in first class on its A380 planes, defending the policy after receiving complaints from well-heeled passengers about noisy infants.
The state-owned carrier eliminated baby bassinets from the first-class cabins of its Boeing 747s in 2004, and said it would apply the same policy when it starts taking delivery of Airbus superjumbos next year.
"We do not take infants in 1st Class whether on their own seat or on the lap. We do lose some revenue but many ppl complained," chief executive Tengku Azmil Zahruddin said in a Twitter posting on Wednesday.
The policy has sparked online debate as Malaysia Airlines prepares to take delivery of the first of six A380 superjumbos it has ordered in the second quarter of 2012.
"As I said earlier, it is a tough call. There will be unhappy (passengers) either way," Azmil tweeted.
Malaysia Airlines uses the Boeing 747 for flights on long-haul routes from Kuala Lumpur to destinations such as Buenos Aires, London and Sydney.
In a statement Wednesday, the carrier said it had reconfigured the first-class section of its 747 jumbo jets in November 2004 to reduce the number of seats from 18 to 12.
The revamp was designed give its elite passengers more room, and to introduce space for a luxurious ottoman seat, the airline said.
"As a result of this seat revamp and the introduction of the ottoman, there was no facility for positioning bassinets in the first class of the B747s," the statement said.
Source: Yahoo
