I WRITE to voice my displeasure at budget airline Firefly, which recently introduced a Subang-Johor Baru air service with much fanfare, only to terminate it quietly on Jan 13.

I have a JB-Subang booking for travel in the immediate post-Chinese New Year period and got to know of this route cancellation by chance, since there was no email, SMS or phone advice from this airline.

A call centre inquiry confirmed the route cancellation, the reason offered was “major route reorganisation”.

Under this airline’s conditions of carriage in Clause 9, it is stated: “At any time after a booking has been made, we may change our schedules and/or cancel, terminate, divert, postpone, reschedule or delay any flight where we reasonably consider to be justified by circumstances beyond our control or for reasons of safety or commercial reasons.

“In the event of such flight cancellation, we shall at our option, either:

“Carry you at the earliest opportunity on another of our scheduled services.

“If you elect for a refund, we shall refund you.”

It would thus appear that since the route is no more in service, the only recourse would be a refund. A full-service airline would have booked an alternative flight with another airline.

This raises the question of an unfair advantage to Firefly at the consumers’ expense.

It also brings to question the oft-used strategy employed by a low-cost carrier in terminating non-profitable flights with neither care nor consideration for passenger convenience.

Is there no regulatory body to monitor such practices? Does the airline realise the amount of inconvenience it can cause to travellers by such route termination according to its whims and fancies?

W.S.W., Kuala Lumpur

Source: NST – January 17, 2008