Deborah Schembri says it was the purser who took her to sit near Norman Hamilton in club class

Published: December 11, 2014 at 6:55pm

David Thake has just rung Deborah Schembri live on Radio 101 to ask her about her free upgrade to Club Class courtesy of Norman Hamilton (the new Air Malta manager) last Monday.

“M’ghandix kumment x’naghmel,” she said, and slammed down the phone.

Now David and George are playing the Malta Taghna Lkoll campaign song.

———–

Now they have phoned Deborah Schembri again and she has replied, after sending them a text message. She says that it was not Norman Hamilton who went in to economy class to get her, but the purser. He took her to sit near Norman Hamilton in club class.

Deborah Schembri II




39 Comments Comment

  1. Nana says:

    Well she’d have to go club class as she won’t fit in the economy class.

    • chico says:

      So what. She is part of the club isn’t she? And let’s face it, I’m sure the economy will fare better without her.

  2. Benny Bradlee says:

    Qisha kielet b’hames ihluq.

  3. Nighthawk says:

    So now perhaps an Air Malta spokesman (presumably an ex-One employee) will let us know what the criteria for free on board upgrades are.

    Presumably balancing the weight distribution on the plane is not one of them, and neither is one’s gender. Wonder what that leaves.

  4. Reporter says:

    Norman told the purser to fetch her …

  5. Candy says:

    OK, so it was for ballast.

  6. George Grech says:

    Fuq lhiema kriterja ddecieda il-purser li Deborah Schembri jisthoqqilha aktar minn haddiehor li tigi upgraded ?

  7. bob-a-job says:

    It is normal for a purser to move people around to balance the aircraft.

    It is obvious that Deborah Schembri was moved to the front because the back of the plane was overweight by around ten people.

    Dejjem lesti tikkritikaw inthom in-Nazzjonalisti.

  8. Dumbo says:

    Whoever and whatever, she accepted. Da zgur la minn fuq dahar il-poplu (they usually euphemistically say “b’xejn”) nitpaxxew. Majtezwel.

  9. JoeS says:

    If I am not mistaken, when an airline passenger gets a free upgrade from economy, all other passengers with a fully paid Club/First Class ticket are entitled to claim from the airline the difference between what they paid and the cost of an Economy Class ticket.

    Maybe some airline expert can comment on this.

  10. CiVi says:

    So, who should we believe?

  11. R Camilleri says:

    Iva ghad-divorzju. Iva ghal-upgrades. Iva ghal-gideb.

  12. edgar says:

    Now why am I finding it difficult to believe you and tend to believe the original version.

  13. Martin Felice says:

    Does the purser have authority to upgrade passengers to Club Class? I do not think so. Your contact at Air Malta should be in a position to clarify this. Have no doubt that Hamilton ordered the purser to upgrade her.

    [Daphne – See Air Malta chairman’s reply in separate post, but also comments here by people who heard her.]

  14. Salvu says:

    David Thake phoned Maria Micallef, Air Malta chairman, and she confirmed that it is not normal practice for a purser to give upgrades to MPs from economy to club class.

    Simply brilliant.

  15. Jozef says:

    http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-12-11/local-news/Labour-Party-marks-40-years-of-the-Republic-of-Malta-with-ceremony-at-the-Republic-Day-monument-6736127194

    The main artery obviously closed that Muscat worship at il-perit’s squiggle of peasant utopia.

    And any celebration of the Republic should include the physical presence of its President.

    It’s in the nature of the Republic to allow itself incarnate, and that in the President alone.

    Muscat thinks otherwise obviously. A man of state he isn’t.

    • H.P. Baxxter says:

      How supremely Maltese: you restore the monument, then you shit all over the constitution.

      • Jozef says:

        There cannot be a monument to the Republic.

        What he implies is that it’s dead.

        Giovanni Bonello and Austin Bencini please note.

  16. Tal misthija says:

    David Thake phoned Maria Micallef, Air Malta chairperson, and she denied that it is normal procedure to upgrade members of parliament on Air Malta.

  17. James Caruana says:

    I guess the other passengers on her row were relieved.

  18. simca says:

    Find the purser and just ask him whether it was his own initiative or what.

    Does he do this on a regular basis? What criteria does he use to upgrade?

    Has he been given a free hand to upgrade whoever he deems fit?

  19. fm says:

    Ipokrita ohra.

  20. silvio Farrugia says:

    L-Allat ta’ Malta Taghna Lkoll l-gdida.

  21. Rumplestiltskin says:

    Airlines only upgrade passengers at the check-in desk, never on flights.

  22. Alex says:

    Wasn’t there that time (some years back now) when Joseph accepted an upgrade to club class, leaving Mish and the tots in cattle?

  23. Confused says:

    The sense of entitlement that these people have is bewildering. They’re all so pushy and arrogant.

    I find myself wondering many a time what it is that would make them realise how pathetic they are and what it is that might make them change their ways.

  24. Toni Borg says:

    U jkompli tiela il hmieg f’wicc l-ilma.

    Ghalkemm bil-piz ta’ Hamilton u Deborah f’salt, ma nafx kemm tista titla f’wicc l-ilma.

  25. gorg says:

    When flying Air Malta I noted many ordinary people changing from Economy to Business; depends on how the stewards are acquainted with them. Plus loads of wine bottles and free food to certain ‘friends’. So why all this fuss for a minister?

    [Daphne – Deborah Schembri is not a minister. I fly Air Malta regularly and have never seen anything of the sort. Upgrades are always made at the check-in desk, and they are generally made because economy is overbooked so late arrivals are left without a seat and put in club class, as an alternative to the airline having to compensate them financially or find them an alternative flight. I have often seen MPs in economy and they stayed in economy. Nobody put them in club class, and I don’t think it was because I was on the flight as well and they thought I might say something if they did.]

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