Merpati: Number one?

The official schedule of Merpati Airlines, effective June 30 till July 31, which has been posted up in every Merpati Office, shows for flights MZ 606 and 615 (Denpasar-Maumere-Denpasar) a Fokker 28 aircraft, one hour 15 minutes flight time and a Rp 721,000 one way fare.

In reality Merpati changed -- without notifying their passengers -- to a stone-age Fokker 27 which could hardly make the trip in two-and-a-half hours, but at the same price. I simply call this cheating the customers: Merpati offers a certain quality (Fokker 28) for a certain fare (Rp 721,000), but after having paid, the passenger realizes that he is going to be traveling in a "flying bemo".

Delays of more than four hours or even canceled flights are apparently the rule. Besides that, an absolutely rude and impolite ground staff member (to wit, a Ms. Rit) at Maumere's town office further added to the negative impression.

On its (poor) website, Merpati's mission is stated as "On time performance and center of excellence", while its vision is "To become the most preferred (sic) airline in Indonesia."

Let me tell you this: You are light years away from achieving these goals. I would rather call Merpati the "Pay most, get least airline".

Merpati really spoiled our beautiful holiday in Flores.

MICHAEL BEER, Amlapura, Bali