Thai airline oversells tickets on domestic flight causing passengers to miss wedding

Four passengers looking forward to a wedding sadly didn’t make it in time after a Thai airline allegedly oversold tickets on a domestic flight from Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok to Udon Thani in northeast Thailand this morning.

At 8am, Phaiboon Sawanprai – a subdistrict chief from Rayong province – told reporters that he had bought four valid plane tickets via the airline’s application for a flight that took off from Suvarnabhumi Airport at 7.05am and landed in Udon Thani at 8.20am.

Thai media didn’t specify which airline allegedly made the mistake but a quick Google search reveals that the only airline flying Bangkok to Udon Thani at 7:05am on Wednesdays is ThaiVietJet.

Phaiboon and his family arrived at the airport and checked in as normal. But as they prepared to board the plane, they were told by airline staff that the flight was full, despite their having tickets and seat reservations.

The staff told Phaiboon there had been a “sales error” and that the airline accidentally sold too many tickets for the flight. The next flight they could take was at 1pm, the airline staff told Phaiboon.

However, 1pm was no good because Phaiboon and his family were scheduled to attend a wedding in Laos today. They already paid for a hire car which they planned to pick up from Udon Thani and drive northward and cross the border into Laos.

Phaiboon was annoyed that he wasted money on the flights and hire car but more infuriated by the fact that he and his family missed the important wedding. He said he had a central role in hosting the wedding, which was an “auspicious event” that he didn’t want to miss.

The subdistrict chief said he wants the airline to provide clarification about what went wrong and take responsibility for the incident. The airline should ensure this never happens again, he added.

The airline has not made a public statement addressing the incident as of yet.