The story about a Bulgarian teenager who was literally forgotten on board a flight and slept blissfully through her trip back to Malta might sound like something of a comedy sketch, but it could have been a very serious matter indeed.

People will laugh, but forgetting a person on board a flight, leaving them sleep and then returning them to the point of departure (Malta) is not something that should have been allowed to happen.

The airline in question was our very own illustrious carrier, Air Malta.

Surely, being plastered over the world through the net as what is known in the trade as a funny story is not going to do Brand Malta any good at all.

Recently, this newspaper’s sister publication ran an article about Brand Malta needing to start on a plane as soon as people get on.

Air Malta is the first contact that people have with our country and forgetting passengers onboard a plane is just simply not on. At all.

Jokes and mirth aside, this person was awaiting pickup by her parents who were frantic when she did not disembark the plane – surely not a nice thing for any parent.

But this is where the matter gets serious. What if this person was not asleep? What if, for argument’s sake, she had taken a heroin overdose and was slowly dying in her seat while people ignored her.

She could also have died, people have died on airplanes before – heart complaints, asthma attacks, all sorts of things have happened to people and the buck would have had to have stopped with Air Malta on this one.

Luckily enough, it was nothing at all tragic, but it could have been.

Air Malta is understood to be conducting an investigation into the matter, but again it begs the question, was this aircraft cleaned while it was being ‘turned around’ in Bulgaria.

If it was cleaned, then why did the cleaners not alert the crew? One also has to point the finger at the crew, standard practice for airlines is for the purser or steward/ess to go round the aircraft, primarily to check if people have taken all their belongings.

If the crew had followed this procedure, they surely could not have failed to notice that a girl was blissfully snoozing away in her seat. The matter is clear as the light of day, this aircraft cabin was not properly checked.

Where does this leave us now? Air Malta are understood to be of the opinion that people should not sleep on a plane.

Come off it, who are they trying to kid? Do they think people like being cooped up like sardines in a long metal tube with wings on? Maybe for the four to six age bracket, but what are people supposed to do? Get together and play Cluedo on a flight to London… it might just get you through the three-hour flight.

Besides, why then does Air Malta give out blankets and pillows to anyone who asks for them. Why is that? Is it to have a pow-wow? Of course not, it’s because people want to sleep on aircraft, you can’t do much else.

Air Malta has to take the responsibility for this. It was a gaffe, don’t try and get out of it, take it on the chin and admit a mistake.