Japanese airline tells passengers cabin crew 'won't help them'

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government filed a complaint against a Japanese budget carrier and the Consumer Affairs Agency requested that it remove the notices, which informed the passengers that the carrier would not accept complaints during flights, a major newspaper reported.

Instead, the passengers were told to direct their complaints to public consumer centres.

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"We cannot condone an attitude of directing complaints about a company's services to public organisations," said Hirohiko Fukushima, the head of the Consumer Affairs Agency.

The airline's eight-point "Service Concept" guidelines were introduced aboard its aircraft in mid-May and stated that cabin staff would not help passengers stow their bags, that attendants were not required to use "polite language" when talking to customers, moreover, the crew's primary task is not to attend to passengers but to serve as safety personnel.

"We will not accept any complaints made on-board. In case a passenger does not understand that, we will ask the person to leave so that we can take off as scheduled. If passengers have complaints, we urge them to contact our customer service centre, the National Consumer Affairs Center or other related agencies," the notice added.

However, the airline gave in to the pressure and said it would revise the notices.
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