Connect with us

Travel

Month long mystery of Flight 370 wears on some air travellers, though others have ‘no fear’

Published

on

shutterstock_173477552

 

 

 

JAKARTA, Indonesia – The Indonesian mother of three had flown without her kids before, but this was the first time she gave her eldest a to-do list in case something happened on the flight she and her husband were taking.

“I never worried like this before what happened with the missing Malaysia Airlines plane,” Yulveri, who like many Indonesians uses only a single name, said at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

At airports across Asia and around the world, Flight 370 and its 239 passengers and crew, now lost for more than a month, are topics of avid speculation and sometimes anxiety. Passengers typically remain confident about the safety of air travel, but some are distressed by the disappearance, which – given the number of people involved – is unprecedented in aviation industry.

“The mystery over the missing plane had created many confusing, even terrifying, theories every day,” Yulveri said. “And the black-box must be found whenever and however, or it will become a black hole in the aviation world.”

Before she and her husband, an air force officer, left for a week-long tour of Japan’s Hokkaido island, she talked to her 15-year-old daughter and asked her to take care of her younger siblings.

“What are you talking about, Mom?” Yulveri quoted her daughter as saying. “You will come home. We all will be fine.”

Here’s what air travellers across Asia said Wednesday, Thursday and Friday when they were asked, “One month later, how does the Flight 370 mystery affect your attitude toward flying?”

___

Yue Caifei, 65, a retired engineer from Tianjin, China, waiting at Beijing Capital Airport to set off on a 15-day group tour of the U.S.:

“I’m not afraid at all. Flying is generally really safe and accidents are really, really rare. What’s the point of being afraid? We’re living a good life, our children are grown and it’s time for us to enjoy life. I’m going off to Hawaii and San Francisco and when I get back let’s go get a drink.”

___

Jin Bijian, 34, a website-television multimedia producer headed from Beijing to Hong Kong to accompany a friend on a shopping trip:

“I’m really scared. I’ve always been a nervous flier and this only makes things worse. We have to find out what happened to the plane. We need to know what the risks are. Otherwise, it feels like anything can go wrong and we just don’t know.”

___

Greg Corbishley, 49, who was heading home to London from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport after a business trip to Thailand and Cambodia:

“Flying is still probably the safest means of transport. And until we find the plane and find out what happened, I think that stays the case.”

___

Sinead Boylan, 26, of Liverpool, England, flying from Bangkok to Australia after backpacking across Asia:

“It’s scarier than it was. I’m a little more cautious, a little more worried, I’d say.”

___

Kim Hyun-shik, 56, a retired banker travelling out of Seoul’s Incheon International Airport for a 10-day trip to Turkey with his wife:

“It makes me a little nervous. … It’s amazing to think that people have disappeared, just like that. Science has developed so much, yet we can’t do a basic search of a jet. As time goes by, it will be like trying to find a needle in a river.”

___

Skander Aissa, who works in the finance industry in Connecticut, at the airport train in Hong Kong. He and his wife were travelling to Taiwan after visiting a friend:

“No fear. You take a risk when you take the plane all the time, anyway. It doesn’t matter if you’re flying now or tomorrow. It is what it is.”

___

Jacques Niclair, a 65-year-old Mauritius businessman who arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on a Malaysia Airlines flight from Colombo, Sri Lanka:

“I can tell you that I slept very well on board. It didn’t affect me. I was not worried. … As long as we don’t know what happened to the plane, we should be supportive of Malaysia Airlines. It is going through a tough time.”

___

Wajihah Abdul Fatah, 19, a Malaysian student headed home on a Malaysia Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur to her hometown in Sarawak state on Borneo island:

“I am so very afraid that something will happen to my plane like MH370, but I just have to believe in Allah and pray that I will be safe. I have to fly. I have no choice because I miss my family.”

___

Nurul Shuhada Rosnan, 19, was at the Kuala Lumpur airport to see off Wajihah, her friend:

“I have decided not to take any flight for the next two years. How can a plane just disappear like that?”

___

Joyce Cole, who lives near Perth, Australia, where she was catching a flight to Bali, Indonesia, for a holiday:

“I’m still fine with flying. But when it first happened, you think, ‘Oh my goodness.’ But you do it that regularly it doesn’t bother you. And I think that whoever took that plane, obviously it must have been something to do with terrorism, and you just hope there are no terrorists on our plane.”

___

Jane Barnes, Cole’s daughter, who also was travelling to Bali:

“I don’t feel any differently. I fly quite often, probably about every 8 to 10 weeks. But even when I do fly that often, I still have quite a few butterflies on the plane. Any little bumps, I’m just, ‘Hang on,’ and I’m holding my breath. But you just bear it. … I think you can’t let these things interfere with your life. If you have plans, and you have holidays to go to, and, what do they say about life, you just keep going with it.”

___

Duang-ramon Paaptanti, 37, a Thai woman who studies at a Japanese university and was leaving Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on a Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong:

“That was a one-off thing and things like that don’t happen very often, but it makes me want to communicate more with my family. You become more cautious. You make sure that you say your goodbyes properly.”

___

Associated Press writers Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Nick Perry in Perth, Australia, Christopher Bodeen in Beijing, Todd Pitman in Bangkok, Jung-yoon Choi in Seoul, South Korea, Kelvin Chan in Hong Kong and Yuriko Nagano in Tokyo contributed to this report.

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Maria in Vancouver

Maria in Vancouver1 week ago

Fantabulous Christmas Party Ideas

It’s that special and merry time of the year when you get to have a wonderful excuse to celebrate amongst...

Lifestyle2 weeks ago

How To Do Christmas & Hanukkah This Year

Christmas 2024 is literally just around the corner! Here in Vancouver, we just finished celebrating Taylor Swift’s last leg of...

Lifestyle2 months ago

Nobody Wants This…IRL (In Real Life)

Just like everyone else who’s binged on Netflix series, “Nobody Wants This” — a romcom about a newly single rabbi...

Lifestyle2 months ago

Family Estrangement: Why It’s Okay

Family estrangement is the absence of a previously long-standing relationship between family members via emotional or physical distancing to the...

Lifestyle3 months ago

Becoming Your Best Version

By Matter Laurel-Zalko As a woman, I’m constantly evolving. I’m constantly changing towards my better version each year. Actually, I’m...

Lifestyle3 months ago

The True Power of Manifestation

I truly believe in the power of our imagination and that what we believe in our lives is an actual...

Maria in Vancouver5 months ago

DECORATE YOUR HOME 101

By Matte Laurel-Zalko Our home interiors are an insight into our brains and our hearts. It is our own collaboration...

Maria in Vancouver5 months ago

Guide to Planning a Wedding in 2 Months

By Matte Laurel-Zalko Are you recently engaged and find yourself in a bit of a pickle because you and your...

Maria in Vancouver5 months ago

Staying Cool and Stylish this Summer

By Matte Laurel-Zalko I couldn’t agree more when the great late Ella Fitzgerald sang “Summertime and the livin’ is easy.”...

Maria in Vancouver6 months ago

Ageing Gratefully and Joyfully

My 56th trip around the sun is just around the corner! Whew. Wow. Admittedly, I used to be afraid of...