PUBLISHED: Aug 27, 2014 08:29pm
UPDATED: Aug 27, 2014 08:29pm
Malaysian MasterChef winner slams Aussie portal over picture misuseIn her Instagram posting, Catharine Chin Wan Ping Coombes (right) clarified that the picture was taken before other passengers had boarded the MAS flight on Aug 18. — Pic credit Ping Coombes Instagram
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 27, 2014:
MasterChef UK 2014 winner Catherine Chin Wan Ping Coombes has slammed a report by an Australian daily which used a picture she uploaded on Twitter to claim that Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flights were deserted and filled with empty seats.
The news portal news.com.au had reported that the national airliner is facing mass losses in revenue following lack of passengers in their flights.
The report had used her picture taken with her husband and daughter among other pictures to depict empty seats within the plane.
In her Instagram posting, Coombes clarified that the picture was taken before other passengers had boarded the MAS flight on Aug 18.
“Woke up to this picture in the media! For anyone who has been on a plane knows, family with children get boarded first, the flight was not empty, it was in fact full,” she clarified.
Coombes also expressed her sadness that her show of appreciation to the national airliner was misused by the media to report negative news.
“It’s really sad that a thank you on a kind upgrade that I was offered is being used to attack an airline which has had such a difficult time. We should be offering support and compassion,” she added.
Coombes’ original Twitter posting of the photo was captioned with the message
“Thank you @mas it is an amazing surprise!”. Ipoh-born but UK-based Coombes won the reality cooking contest MasterChef UK 2014 recently after serving wanton soup and nasi lemak during her final round.