BEIJING: Eight Chinese women are suing Malaysia Airlines for a total of over 400,000 yuan (RM180,850) as compensation after their long-awaited dream to become air stewardesses was shattered.

According to Xin Jing Bao (Beijing News), only three of the eight plaintiffs attended the hearing at the Beijing Chaoyang District Court here on Monday morning.

A plaintiff, identified only as Chen, from Zhongqing, said she answered an online job advertisement for MAS air stewardesses through the Beijing Foreign Airlines Services Corporation (Fasco) at the end of 2004.

Fasco informed her in June 2005 that she would be sent to Kuala Lumpur for training within four to six months. But she has neither heard from Fasco nor MAS.

When Chen called the MAS headquarters in March last year, she was told that the company had decided not to hire new cabin crew.

When contacted, a MAS official here said that as the airline could not recruit directly, it had to go through Fasco, the other defendant