Thai Airways flight delay drama: Couple tell their side of the story

 

Image: Sanook

 

A married couple compelled to give up their expensive seats on a Thai Airways plane from Zurich have gone online to tell their side of the story.

 

Flight TG 971 was delayed more than two hours bound for Bangkok after four off duty pilots insisted it was their right to select seats ahead of fare paying passengers. 

 

The pilots known as "dead heads" were bound for the Thai capital to take up their duties on other flights. 

 

But they insisted on travelling in business class where the husband and wife had their seats. 

 

The pilot of the plane agreed with his colleagues and insisted that the couple move. 

 

The couple went on social media to slam Thai Airways for the way they handled everything. They said that they eventually gave up their seats for the sake of other passengers on the flight. 

 

If they hadn't the delay would have just gone on and on. 

 

They called the situation "strange".

 

Other empty seats were reportedly available in business class but the pilots insisted on theirs. 

 

Thai Airways have promised a full investigation with senior executives scurrying to limit damage from the story that has caused much negative comment online for the national carrier. 

 

Source: Sanook

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2018-10-20

So did the couple get other business class seats or what?? 

This story gets more ridiculous in the retelling. Now it's 4 pilots who wanted to pick their own seats in business? Nothing to do with first class as reported before and how the <deleted> were 4 pilots going to share 2 seats. This whole story is a huge steaming load. So was there 4 pilots or 2  and were they off duty or "deadheads" and what they just walked onto a TG flight and said oh yeah I want to sit there? Hard to know what the truth is here with so many conflicting reports and I have zero idea of airline policy regarding this but if this account has any semblance of truth then all 4 or 2 or however many pilots there were should be sacked and those on the flight deck who caused the delays should face suspension and absorb all associated costs. Hahaha oops this is Thailand none of that gonna happen

 

Edited October 20, 20187 yr by starky

if they were 4 dead heads they probably wanted to sit together and needed the couple's seat for that. Understandable but stubborn and not justified.

Sometimes a group of passengers (in bc) cannot sit together, too because seats are allocated to other passengers. 

Thai airways should be shamed for this - btw. can every "high so" still fly for free in fc or bc? A reason for me to avoid them. Middle eastern airlines have a better service

Their rights? 

What of the paying passengers rights? 

 

These types of disrespectful customer unfriendly procedures and policies don't gain in popularity when attempting to secure and regain their [Thai Airways] faltering status. 

 

Imagine the situation if the said pilots were important Thai monks.

Monks/Abbots fly free on TG [another mindless policy]

Just another good reason to avoid this shambles of an airline...as if there weren't enough reasons already !

this is all about "status" "face" and ultimately STUPIDITY Immaturity culminating in a total lack of respect for any foreigner, me me me me me

 

Surprised they didn't pull out a gun when they weren't getting what they wanted

16 minutes ago, zzaa09 said:

Their rights? 

What of the paying passengers rights? 

 

These types of disrespectful customer unfriendly procedures and policies don't gain in popularity when attempting to secure and regain their [Thai Airways] faltering status. 

 

Imagine the situation if the said pilots were important Thai monks.

Monks/Abbots fly free on TG [another mindless policy]

once they set foot on that plane they are "for all intents and purposes" in Thailand 

Sound more like dickheads than dead heads

All (european) passengers of this flight should ask for compensation. If they do, they will get 250 euro. 

 

https://www.claimflights.com/air-passenger-rights

 

Let's say 200 passengers do it,

 

200 X 250 euro = 50.000 Euro.

 

It would be fun to see Thai Airways to pay that fee. 

1 hour ago, zzaa09 said:

Their rights? 

What of the paying passengers rights? 

 

These types of disrespectful customer unfriendly procedures and policies don't gain in popularity when attempting to secure and regain their [Thai Airways] faltering status. 

 

Imagine the situation if the said pilots were important Thai monks.

Monks/Abbots fly free on TG [another mindless policy]

If it was their full right to pick the chairs they wanted than the couple better read their rights as well....

 

So from now on we know that at Thai Air the passenger has less rights on his seat than the deadhead pilots have.

 

Is that the same at other airlines?

2 minutes ago, Thian said:

If it was their full right to pick the chairs they wanted than the couple better read their rights as well....

 

So from now on we know that at Thai Air the passenger has less rights on his seat than the deadhead pilots have.

 

Is that the same at other airlines?

Regardless of said policy [towards any carrier], it's simply not a decent service-oriented business model. 

Unethical practice, comes to mind. 

2 hours ago, starky said:

Nothing to do with first class as reported before

It would be expecting too much from such reporters to find that there is no first class on this flight

26 minutes ago, Thian said:

If it was their full right to pick the chairs they wanted than the couple better read their rights as well....

 

So from now on we know that at Thai Air the passenger has less rights on his seat than the deadhead pilots have.

 

Is that the same at other airlines?

Yes it is. Most carriers place deadheading flight crew at the front of the bus, usually in the quietest seats, ie. front row, away from the galley. They have to get sleep in order to comply with the industry's strict rest-hours v flying time protocols.

 

This should have been handled better by the Zurich ground staff and they had the responsibility of having these passengers relocated before they boarded.

 

As its stands, the couple were relocated to other available seats in Business Class so if they argued the toss for two hours before moving, then maybe they just added to the situation that was totally mismanaged by Thai ground staff.

 

It could have been a lot worse if the stand-off went longer with the aircraft's own flight crew running up against the maximum on-duty hours clock and having to stand down and the flight canceled. I experienced similar with a very delayed departure from Houston to Rio where a couple of 'technicals' resulted in the flight crew going off the clock and a further delay while others, probably 'deadheads' were flown in.

Edited October 20, 20187 yr by NanLaew

35 minutes ago, zzaa09 said:

Regardless of said policy [towards any carrier], it's simply not a decent service-oriented business model. 

Unethical practice, comes to mind. 

I agree but IF those pilots have the right to claim those seats than they should have gotten them...Which they did.

 

Now let's see if they will keep those rights (if they ever had them before).

This report is from Sanook...I would believe the accounts from other more reputable media outlets...

20 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

t could have been a lot worse if the stand-off went longer with the aircraft's own flight crew running up against the maximum on-duty hours clock and having to stand down and the flight canceled

If that plane had 5 hours delay in the EU ALL passengers could claim 5-600 euro for the delay...

 

Now i wonder what this couple will get to compensate them.

3 minutes ago, Thian said:

I agree but IF those pilots have the right to claim those seats than they should have gotten them...Which they did.

 

Now let's see if they will keep those rights (if they ever had them before).

Ok. Fair enough.

What the respective airlines should do in these cases is to set aside said seats for the pilots in transit, well knowing of their travel plans anyway - instead of the overbooking practice, in which most international carriers are guilty of. 

 

A little simple business foresight might be applied in situations of this sort. 

2 hours ago, Jazz5555 said:

So did the couple get other business class seats or what?? 

What difference does that make?

 

Putting staff before paying customers/passengers is simply disgraceful! If it weren't for paying customers, these clowns wouldn't even have a job. 

3 minutes ago, zzaa09 said:

Ok. Fair enough.

What the respective airlines should do in these cases is to set aside said seats for the pilots in transit, well knowing of their travel plans anyway - instead of the overbooking practice, in which most international carriers are guilty of. 

 

A little simple business foresight might be applied in situations of this sort. 

In this case they should have offered those passengers 10.000 euro each if they would move to business.....if they refused make it 15k each...That would have been much cheaper than the damage they have now.

2 minutes ago, zzaa09 said:

Ok. Fair enough.

What the respective airlines should do in these cases is to set aside said seats for the pilots in transit, well knowing of their travel plans anyway - instead of the overbooking practice, in which most international carriers are guilty of. 

 

A little simple business foresight might be applied in situations of this sort. 

That's true. But sometimes the very nature of the deadhead is to address a more recent and unexpected event like a pilot calling off sick, or a Chief Officer going over the clock due to a previous, unrelated disruption elsewhere on the network. Regardless, in this instance, the original passengers should have been requested to move before boarding. Other alternatives on overbooked flights is to downgrade Business Class pax to Coach (with compensation) with the knock-on effect of the Coach pax with the most restricted (cheapest) ticket getting pitched since their compo will be much less than that of the BC pax.

 

Thai Airways Zurich ground staff cockup.

6 minutes ago, Thian said:

In this case they should have offered those passengers 10.000 euro each if they would move to business.....if they refused make it 15k each...That would have been much cheaper than the damage they have now.

Sure.

But you're still missing the big picture.....if any.

 

I guess there is a place for corporate/establishment defenders and apologists.

3 minutes ago, Thian said:

In this case they should have offered those passengers 10.000 euro each if they would move to business.....if they refused make it 15k each...That would have been much cheaper than the damage they have now.

agree,

but somehow I doubt that TG is mentally capable to figure that out

 

have been in similar situations myself a couple of times,

my response is; show them my ticket, and say, look here - you refund the cost of the ticket here and now and I walk off,

no - not office later or tomorrow, cash here and now and I am off

I never got any cash

 

9 minutes ago, djayz said:

What difference does that make?

 

Putting staff before paying customers/passengers is simply disgraceful! If it weren't for paying customers, these clowns wouldn't even have a job. 

It's not about placing staff before paying customer. It's about ensuring customer safety and resting flight deck crew in compliance with laws. The trolley dolly's take the bus.

2 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

That's true. But sometimes the very nature of the deadhead is to address a more recent and unexpected event like a pilot calling off sick, or a Chief Officer going over the clock due to a previous, unrelated disruption elsewhere on the network. Regardless, in this instance, the original passengers should have been requested to move before boarding. Other alternatives on overbooked flights is to downgrade Business Class pax to Coach (with compensation) with the knock-on effect of the Coach pax with the most restricted (cheapest) ticket getting pitched since their compo will be much less than that of the BC pax.

 

Thai Airways Zurich ground staff cockup.

I disagree strongly with what you say.

You are making allowances for airlines to sell products for money and then later not deliver.

Your arguents are just disgusting.

 

sell and collect money for business class - downgrade to tourist - RUBBISH

and really - a clear case of fraud

 

1 minute ago, melvinmelvin said:

agree,

but somehow I doubt that TG is mentally capable to figure that out

 

have been in similar situations myself a couple of times,

my response is; show them my ticket, and say, look here - you refund the cost of the ticket here and now and I walk off,

no - not office later or tomorrow, cash here and now and I am off

I never got any cash

 

Kan Air paid me and Mrs Nan our compensation for a canceled flight (had to depart Chiang Mai one day early) in hard cash at the 6 AM check-in. Took pictures for their website, gave us traveling bags with neck pillows, lounge passes and other fripperies.

 

They eventually went broke I hear.

3 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

It's not about placing staff before paying customer. It's about ensuring customer safety and resting flight deck crew in compliance with laws. The trolley dolly's take the bus.

rubbish

its about selling products and not delivering

because they suddenly fancy giving the product to someone else - fraud

 

not many business lines can deliver that kind of rubbish

 

 

50 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

It would be expecting too much from such reporters to find that there is no first class on this flight

Well said, quite possible piss poor reporting, anybody surprised?

39 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

Yes it is. Most carriers place deadheading flight crew at the front of the bus, usually in the quietest seats, ie. front row, away from the galley. They have to get sleep in order to comply with the industry's strict rest-hours v flying time protocols.

 

This should have been handled better by the Zurich ground staff and they had the responsibility of having these passengers relocated before they boarded.

 

As its stands, the couple were relocated to other available seats in Business Class so if they argued the toss for two hours before moving, then maybe they just added to the situation that was totally mismanaged by Thai ground staff.

 

It could have been a lot worse if the stand-off went longer with the aircraft's own flight crew running up against the maximum on-duty hours clock and having to stand down and the flight canceled. I experienced similar with a very delayed departure from Houston to Rio where a couple of 'technicals' resulted in the flight crew going off the clock and a further delay while others, probably 'deadheads' were flown in.

Quite correct.

 

in *most* cases staff traveling as must-ride NRPS’ are of a higher or highest priority — and that includes over and above a full/fare F class pax.  Unsavory to the visual?  Yes, absolutely, but that’s how it is.

 

in many cases where the carriers contractual obligations to a passenger intersect with that of a carriers contractual obligations to a staff member, usually the staffs right take precedent.

 

one thing I think that is also worth noting is that a specific seat assignment is rarely ever a contractually guaranteed element of travel and in most all cases a carrier retains the right and is free to change that seat assignment at any time, without advance notice to the passenger and with no requirement for compensation*

(so long as the new seat is still in the same ticketed cabin, otherwise it would be an IDG) 

5 minutes ago, melvinmelvin said:

agree,

but somehow I doubt that TG is mentally capable to figure that out

 

have been in similar situations myself a couple of times,

my response is; show them my ticket, and say, look here - you refund the cost of the ticket here and now and I walk off,

no - not office later or tomorrow, cash here and now and I am off

I never got any cash

 

One day i had 6 hours delay on my flight Amsterdam-Dubai.--Bangkok....

 

When we arrived in BKK i went to Emirates and asked for the form to claim my 600euro for the delay...they had never heard of it and were laughing at me...

So i got the form online and sent it, no answer for 2 weeks and suddenly they confirmed and paid same day.

 

It was funny the Thai Emirates groundstaff had never heard of those European rules.