No more hotel stay for families of MH370 passengers after May 7
Families and next-of-kin of passengers aboard flight MH370 will have to return home soon as Malaysia Airlines will not be footing their accommodation bill after May 7.
MAS group chief executive officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahya (pic) said the national carrier was adjusting the mode of services and support.
"Instead of staying in hotels, the families of passengers aboard MH370 are advised to receive information updates within the comfort of their own homes.
"The information updates will be on the progress of the search and rescue operation, investigation and other support by MAS," he said in a statement today.
Ahmad Jauhari revealed that in line with the adjustment, MAS will be closing all of its family assistance centres worldwide by May 7.
"MAS will keep in close touch with the families on news updates through telephone calls, messages, the Internet and face-to-face meetings."
He said Putrajaya will be assisting the airline in setting up Family Support Centres in Kuala Lumpur and Beijing.
"The detailed plan of follow-up support and services will be informed in person to the families and relatives," Ahmad Jauhari said.
He also revealed that MAS would be making advanced compensation payments to the nominated next-of-kin who are entitled to claim compensation.
"We will make these payments as soon as possible in order to meet their immediate economic needs," Ahmad Jauhari said.
He clarified that these advanced payments would not affect the rights of the next-of-kin to claim compensation according to the law at a later stage.
"However, the advanced payments will be calculated as part of the final compensation.
"MAS representatives will meet the families and relatives at the earliest opportunity once they have returned home," Ahmad Jauhari said.
"The meeting will be to initiate the advanced compensation payment process."
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared on March 8 with 12 crew members and 227 passengers, the majority of whom were Chinese nationals.
Ahmad Jauhari said despite the massive search operation in the Indian Ocean, the hard reality was that there was no trace of the aircraft.
"The largest search and rescue operation in human history has failed to yield any clues, and the fate of missing passengers and crew members remains unknown until today." – May 1, 2014.
