Malaysia Airlines Changes Contest Name

3rd Sep 2014

​The airline had to change the name of the contest promo that it launched earlier after critics found the title inappropriate, and lamented the use of words considering the recent deadly incidents on March 8 and July 17 that claimed the lives of all the 537 people on board.

On September 1, the airline launched a promotional campaign which was originally entitled 'My Ultimate Bucket List' whose prizes include free round-trip tickets to Malaysia from either Australia or New Zealand, or an iPad.

The title of the campaign didn't give music to the ears of the netizens, and the public in general, as they began to lambast the airline for choosing such unfortunate words to refer to things people want to do before dying.

Three days later, the airline changed the title of the contest, which is exclusively running in Australia and New Zealand for the airline's customers down under. It acknowledged the public's sentiments and apologized for whatever mistake it may have committed, which it said was not intentional to offend any sensibilities.

The renamed contest, now 'Win an iPad or Malaysia Airlines flight to Malaysia' would ask customers who book tickets between September 1 and December 31, 2014 what destinations were on their bucket list.

The beleaguered carrier is having a hard time getting ticket bookings since the two deadly air incidents this year.

On March 8, flight MH370 vanished literally into thin air. The plane mysteriously disappeared less than an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur Airport and remains a puzzle to this day as no telltale sign of its wreckage was ever found. All the 239 people on board perished without a trace.
More than four months later, on July 17, another Malaysian Airlines plane met its unfortunate end when it was hit by an air-to-surface missile, killing all 298 people on board.

The airline was already piling up losses and mired in huge debt even before the twin air tragedies. The twin tragedies pushed the carrier way deeper into the pit.

Last week, the airline announced that it will reduce its workforce by trimming 6,000 jobs across the board and pare down its route network.