Imagine what it would feel like to be awaiting the arrival of your family at Tampa International Airport and suddenly learn that the plane had disappeared without a trace and hear nothing more for weeks.
Family members of the passengers on Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 have been awaiting news regarding the missing aircraft since March 8. Finally, after 17 days of waiting, Malaysia Airlines sent out a text message to family members delivering some bad news. According to CNN, the text message read, “Malaysia Airlines deeply regrets that we have to assume beyond a reasonable doubt that MH370 has been lost and that none of those on board survived.” This text message was followed up by a press conference held by Malaysia’s Prime minister to further address the families of the lost passengers as well as inform the rest of the world.
It seems people are concerned with Malaysia Airline’s chosen method of delivering this news.
“I don’t know that I would love being informed by a text message, but I would understand,” said Cassandra Luddy, a senior criminology major. “I think initially, I might be confused or upset that my loved one had been pronounced dead via text message, but once I realized why they chose to do it that way, I would understand.”
An article from ABC explained Malaysia Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya’s reasoning for notifying families via text message. At his press conference, Ahmad defended the company’s decision: “…[Our] sole and only motivation last night was to ensure that in the incredibly short amount of time available to us, the families heard the tragic news before the world did.”
A text message was certainly the most effective way to notify numerous family members simultaneously before the press got hold of the story. If it were me, I would prefer to find out from the airline directly, regardless of how they informed me, before the story leaked to the entire world.
“Yes, it sounds cold on the surface,” commented user Samuel Sands on the CNN article. “But given the situation and the state of technology and the general vultureness of media, a text may have been the most humane, not to mention efficient, way.”
On the other hand, in response to Sands, CNN user Jacobo Cortes commented: “Even a letter could have been more “humane”, [sic] a text message was not the proper way to tell the relatives what really happened.”
Cortes is not looking at the big picture in this situation. As Sands stated in his comment, on the surface, a text message may appear very insensitive, but I believe Malaysia Airlines officials’ actions were nothing but thoughtful. We must keep in mind that they did not want families to learn of their conclusion from anyone other than them.
Learning that you have lost a loved one is not easy, no matter how you receive the news. Malaysia Airlines dealt with this situation in a responsible manner, ensuring that the people closest to the lost passengers found out before the rest of the world.
Elizabeth Rockett can be reached at elizabeth.rockett@spartans.ut.edu