The National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia (Nufam) has given the thumbs down to the Australian media for a news report discrediting Malaysia Airlines pilots as the search for the missing flight MH370 entered the fifth day.

Calling it disgusting, Nufam said that the report by Australia's Channel 9 television station and republished by the Daily Telegraph were a form of publicity, not news.

“During this time of uncertainty and distress, the families of those affected by MH370 need more comforting news than this form of news reports,” Nufam said in a statement.

Channel 9 yesterday featured South African Jonti Roos, who said MH370 co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid had taken her and a friend into the cockpit during the one-hour flight from Phuket, Thailand, to Kuala Lumpur in 2011.

"Highly possible these passengers were paid to talk about their short rendezvous flight, which portrays as a form of a cheap publicity to the world's audience. Our members condemn these news reports and callsupon the public to do the same," Nufam said in its statement.

MAS has similar expressed shock by the woman's claim. It said that it took the allegation seriously but that it was currently too tied up with the MH370 crisis to investigate this.

Flight MH370 off-radar less than an hour after taking off from the KL International Airport at 12.41am on Saturday. The Boeing 777-200E aircraft with 239 people on board never reached its destination, Beijing.

MAS commercial director Hugh Dunleavy today defended the pilots of MH370, saying they were experienced and professional, adding that MAS has no reason to believe that they erred. He also rubbished the Channel 9 report.