He expressed shock that MAS did not seem to have any contigency plan to effectively alleviate the problems faced by the passengers who were struck in Kuching, Sibu, Bintulu, Miri and Kota Kinabalu after their flights were delayed or cancelled.

Yesterday, he expressed disappointment over the attitude of a senior staff member that he called at the airlines' control centre in an effort to check if there were any plans to assist the stranded passengers.

""Following my concerns over the problems faced by the stranded passengers whom I personally met at Kuching Airport while waiting for my flight to Kuala Lumpur, I immediately contacted the MAS control centre to find out the problem and proposed suggestion... only to be rediculed by a senior staff there, " he said.

Asked what he meant by being ridiculed, he said the officer whom he could only identify as "Mohamad Nor" cynically suggested that it would be better for him (Tiong) to raise the matter in parliament or to set up his own airlines.

Earlier, he said the officer could not provide convincing answers as to why the airlines failed to utilise Boeing 737 aircrafts to enalbe the passengers to continue their journeys when all the airports concerned were able to accommodate such planes.

"When the officer reached a situation where he could not answer me, he told me to check with the relevant minister.  He also refused to reveal his full name.  This arrogant attitude is not a reflection of the "Golden Smile" service always hailed by MAS all this while, " he said.

Tiong pointed out that MAS had the practice of having contract crews or pilots on standby to be deployed when there was insufficient number of workers to continue with their operation.