Thai apologises for bumping first class passengers for crew

Thai Airways, still licking their PR wounds from the, as yet, unexplained plane-skidding-off-the-runway incident, have today been forced to apologise to two passengers for bumping them out of their first class seats.

The seats were required for two ‘deadheading’ off-duty pilots (flying as a passenger on company business to get to work. eg. You may have to deadhead to New York to work a flight back to Los Angeles, so you are deadheading to New York).

The on-duty pilots refused to take-off until first class seats were made available for their off-duty workmates. The couple, bumped from their first class seats, filed a complaint with the airline.

The Zurich to Bangkok flight on October 11 was delayed two hours whilst, initially, all first class passengers refused to give up their seats. The two off-duty deadheading pilots refused to sit in business class. Eventually a couple gave up their first class seats.

Thai Airways president Sumeth Damrongchaitham has apologized for the incident after ordering an investigation into the bizarre on-plane fracas.

He was quoted in the Bangkok Post saying “”I express sorrow and apologise to all passengers affected by the unprofessional action that caused the delay. And I apologise to the passengers who were directly affected by the seat change. I take responsibility for the incident.”

He noted that the matter was ‘severe’ and had ‘affected the airline’s image’.