Deborah Schembri/Norman Hamilton/Air Malta – latest installment
After speaking to Deborah Schembri, who told him that it was the purser who led her from economy class to club class to sit near Norman Hamilton, and that it is “normal practice for MPs to be given empty seats in club class when they are travelling economy”, David Thake rang Maria Micallef, Air Malta’s chairman.
Viva St Dorothy’s girls, insomma – you can always trust us to get to the point as brusquely as possible. “No, of course it isn’t normal practice to automatically upgrade MPs to club class, she told Thake. “That sort of thing can only happen with proper authorisation, and I can tell you that no such upgrade has been authorised in the last four days. I will be investigating the matter.”
Thake then tried to ring Deborah Schembri again, but she didn’t pick up.
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And then we still wonder why Air Malta’s redevelopment is NOT on track. What authorisation do these people have?
Do they have to lie even about such petty things?
Is there one single Taghna Lkoller who does not lie?
[Daphne – Come on, let’s give Ms Schembri the benefit of the doubt. She probably does think it’s standard practice, though why she would think airlines have a policy of automatically upgrading members of parliament when they’re on the flight already is beyond me.]
And to keep on giving her the benefit of the doubt, Norman does look a lot like a purser…
Many think that Air Malta is a government’s corporation, ergo not only is it owned by the government but it is an extension of the government like any other department.
As such, Air Malta should give preferential treatment to members of the government.
[Daphne – MPs are not members of the government unless they sit in cabinet as ministers of state.]
Exactly Daphne, but as long as an MP sits on the government’s benches then she or he is considered “government”.
It’s the Maltese mentality that any company in which the government has a share in, is considered as a government department. With all the PN’s privatisation in the past 25 years, many still consider certain corporations like Air Malta a government department.
Mentality tal-qamel.
Oh come on, let her be.
She only wanted to be a frontbencher for a couple of hours.
Or maybe she was after the food in club class.
If I’m not mistaken, foe a long time MPs used to travel on Air Malta for free.
Who cares? They don’t now.
The sense of entitlement lingers on
Come on, what did you want her to say – that she was upgraded because she did not fit in the allocated seat?
Deborah (Debra) fuq LGBTI forsi tifhem, nahseb jien.
Giving the Movement the benefit of the doubt is what got us into this sorry state in the first place.
It is about time that we start to take accountability seriously, perhaps then it would not take an average person’s week’s wages to cover the cost of driving a couple of kids to school abusing of a driver, a car, fuel etc, and another car and driver for show.
The person next to her in economy class must’ve thanked his/her lucky stars.
Perhaps her hymen needed stretching
Would it be possible to have sound clips please?
Hopefully they will be uploaded on Soundcloud.
https://soundcloud.com/david-thake
https://soundcloud.com/david-thake/david-thake-george-galea-11th-december
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
What a joke this is. That is not the Republic Monument it is the commemorative sign or plaque of when the road was inaugurated and named 13 ta’ Dicembru.
When will this pantomime end!
Competition:
How many pricks are around the cactus?
Let Lou tell us that – he would have studied the matter when ‘designing’ the commemoration ceremony, of course.
The sooner these deranged people stop this pathological lying trend, the better for them, for their party, for their government and for our country.
For Malta’s sake, STOP lying.
I so agree. Why they think no one will see them, and report them, in this minute island is incredible.
So much for Deborah Schembri and her supposed rectitude. She’s another one who could not resist the temptation and being caught out lies about it and gets caught lying about it
I have seen many employees traveling on Air Malta flights. The only time I saw an MP traveling in Economy Class was surprisingly enough Joe Debono Grech.
I would have expected him to have a shouting match with the stewards rather than travel economy.
A few weeks ago, Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando also travelled in Club Class from Frankfurt to Malta. He was with a woman (not Lara Boffa) board member or employee of the Malta Council for Science and Technology, who also travelled in Club Class.
And of course on our money. Why is Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando not being arraigned for fraud for frittering away public money? Look at what they’re doing to Alex Tranter, ex chairman of Enemalta, over 200 euros withdrawn from a cash machine to pay for expenses while on a business trip.
Oh, I forget, Jeffrey is a Laburist and Alex is not, so Jeffrey is not expected to be bothered with accountability. He can put a whole live girlfriend on the council payroll if he wants to, and what do you know, he has.
Norman must have been taking lessons from his brother-in-law on how to throw one’s weight about on the national carrier.
Norman always travels business class. I have seen him there on numerous occasions
Who pays?
The first part of this video sums it up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhT6qguqe9k
Phyllis Muscat travelled Club Class to London. Did she pay for her own ticket?
I listened to the programme. These people have limits how they think and do things.
Iċ-ċuċata hi għax neħlu aħna lkoll magħhom bil-praspar li jagħmlu.
So much for the 180 IQ
A bunch of liars. The whole bloody lot of them.
When David phoned her the first time, she picked up the phone and she said what she said, so then probably she continued hearing the show to see what is going on.
After hearing the chairman of Air Malta it was difficult for her to answer the phone, so another one bites the dust.
Such a liar; no wonder she switched to Labour.
She switched to Labour also because Joseph had promised her that the MLP will be in power for 25 years, and she could not wait for her iced buns till after she’s 55. So she switched. Now we know who the hypocrites are and where they are.
Does Mr DJ spend any time in London at all or are these anticipated holidays for him?
This is standard practice with several airlines.
I’ve been upgraded on several flights when I travel for work purposes and when I travel with my boss who’s a professor I can bet on getting an upgrade.
What’s strange about this is that she was upgraded while she was on the plane rather than at check in.
[Daphne – Rubbish. You don’t get upgrades when you’re travelling for work or when you’re travelling with a professor. You might get an upgrade when they have no choice – e.g. when they’ve overbooked the flight and you’re late for check-in and the only available place is in Club, or when somebody feels like being nice to you arbitrarily. But yes, it can only happen at the checkin desk. You can’t simply be moved to club when you’re on the plane already.]
Would this be one of the University of Malta’s star professors?
Doubtful. Standard practice at the University of Malta is to get three estimates and pick the cheapest one. When I travelled with a Head of Department and two professors, we were on EasyJet at the back of the plane. No perks.
Frequent fliers on other airlines get upgrades.
Air Malta NEVER gave me an upgrade even if I used it three times a month, and there were empty seats.
Once I had a late booking and Air Malta told us that the remaining seats were club class, we bought the seats because we had no choice and found that the plane was half empty.
I followed parts of David and George’s program on 101 yesterday. To tell you the truth, after Deborah phoned for the second time I thought David “lost” the battle, but the KING OF MALTESE RADIOS fought it to the end and now I am reading that he phoned the chairman herself and got the desired result.
David has the sharp wit of his father, Charles.
Deborah Schembri lied.
Daphne, there is more to the world than Air Malta and flights from Malta. It happens quite often in the rest of the world that “somebody feels like being nice to you arbitrarily” and you are moved to business class (club? is that only Air Malta?) “when you’re on the plane already”. And usually it’s done by one of the stewards/stewardesses om board.
[Daphne – Not true at all. In-flight crew are not authorised to move passengers from one class to another, though they can allow movement between seats in the same class. Upgrades are possible only at check-in. Once your boarding pass has been issued with a seat number, that’s it – the inflight crew have to stick to it.
Besides, Ms Schembri argument is that MPs are automatically upgraded to Club Class on Air Malta if there are seats available when everyone has boarded. How absurd is that. Check-in staff know at check-in whether there are seats available because a plane is not a bus. Secondly, by what right do MPs expect automatic upgrades? ]
” Not true at all”.
Completely true. Can’t believe I’m carrying on this argument, which I admit is beside the point of the Ms Schembri story.
As I said there is more to the world than Air Malta. In flight crew have regularly on long haul flights I have been on moved passengers up to business class. Latest example: my wife, a couple of months ago. Imagine her delight when the lovely Lufthansa steward asked her if she would mind swapping seats with another passnger and then, out of the blue, said come with me and up to business class she went.
Very often when we fly long haul we watch single passengers get moved up. I’ll say it again, there are many more airlines out there in the world. What your contact says about Air Malta is just that, it’s about Air Malta.
Air Malta’s Club Class seats are Taghhom Ilkoll too.
Is it true that Air Malta has chartered a Russian-built passenger aircraft?
Kemm hu tajjeb Thake. At one point he was commenting over the Taghna Lkoll campaign song and when Willy Mangion said that Joseph Muscat “iwettaq dak li jwieghed”, Thake said “Meta jkun imqajjem imma”.
They keep lying even when they know they get caught. Unbelievable!
Wara t-telefoanta ma’ Deborah Schembri, il-prezentaturi David Thake u George Galea ċemplu liċ-chairperson tal-Air Malta, Maria Micallef u staqsewha dwar dan il-kaz. Iċ-chairperson qalet li mhux prattika normali li membri Parlamenteri li jkunu qed jivjaggaw Economy Class fuq l-Air Malta, jingħataw upgrade b’xejn biex jivjaġġaw Business Class. Din l-upgrade tista’ ssir biss jekk jkun hemm awtorizzazzjoni bil-miktub mill-uffiċċju taċ-chairperson.
http://maltarightnow.com/news/2014/12/11/ic-chairperson-tal-air-malta-maria-micallef-tgiddeb-lil-deborah-schembri/
Maybe she got an upgrade for performing so well in her IQ test. If one had to apply this same yardstick proportionally, Franco Debono would be situated 3 feet in front of the plane due to his great achievements in Form 2.
How many travellers did they place on the other side of the plane to ensure that the plane did not tilt to one side with her on board?
This question of upgrading reminds me of the occasion when Mintoff was returning to Malta from Geneva via Rome. He was booked Economy Class on an Alitalia flight.
I was instructed to get a free upgrade for him, and the Alitalia representative assured me that this would be arranged.
However, at the last minute, as Mintoff approached the aircraft, the Alitalia representative came down from the plane and informed me that no seats were available in the Club Class.
Later in the day the Ministry of Foreign Affairs phoned to inform me that seats were available and Mintoff was not pleased and I had disappointed him. When I spoke to the Alitalia representative about this, he told me that he regretted that he had put me in that position but the pilot had steadfastly refused to upgrade Mintoff.
Deborah Schembri makes a lot of money from divorce law and doesn’t need to get free upgrades. She can pay for her own club class tickets.
And that means she can have more freebies from the La Valette lounge to stuff herself before boarding.
Well done to Ms Micallef for calling a spade a spade. Wouldn’t expect less from her.
Fil-kaz ta’ Sheehan m’hemmx problemi – ammetta li spara 2/3 tiri fuq bniedem mhux armat meta dan kien qed jitlaq mil-post u mhux qed jaggredih.
Air Malta is taghna Lkoll. Norman Hamilton is part of Taghna Lkoll so he can do whatever he likes when he is on Air Malta plane. So can Taghna Lkoll Deborah.
X’kanna ghall-ground crew. They must have had to shift all the suitcases to the back of the luggage hold to counter balance those two at the front of the aircraft.
Trid nghidilkom jien x’gara?
Norman Hamilton ordna sabiex Deborah tingieb hdejh.
Insaqsuh, Sur Thake? Tghid jirrispondi?
Here are the sound clips:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oQJ6_ndcNtc