Thai Airways Confronts Social Media Storm Over Faulty Seats

[webfact]

 

In response to a deluge of grievances on social media, Thai Airways has acknowledged the presence of malfunctioning seats on eight of its aircraft. They promise to have it sorted by July this year.

 

Representatives from Thailand's flagship carrier addressed the issue at a press conference earlier today. This comes on the back of a number of passengers taking to social media to complain about defective reclining seats on certain Thai Airways' flights.

 

Chai Eamsiri, Thai Airways' Chief Executive Officer, confirmed that the faulty seats are aboard four of the Airbus A350s and four Boeing 777-200ERs. Amid assurances that the company has been proactive about resolving the issue, he revealed that on-going discussions with the plane manufacturers, Airbus and Boeing, are underway. Given that multiple airlines operate the same fleet, securing service slots and spare parts is proving time-consuming.

 

In an immediate measure to ensure passenger comfort, Thai Airways are reassigning the affected aircraft to shorter routes with lighter passenger loads. This will allow them to isolate the faulty seats until the necessary repairs are executed. 

When queried about the delay in addressing the issue, the airline's management confessed to an initial ignorance about the exact planes plagued by the problem.

 

Looking ahead, Eamsiri stated that if passengers discover more defective seats, on-site engineers will attempt immediate repairs. However, if these prove unfixable and no alternative seating is available, passengers will be eligible for compensation courtesy of Thai Airways. 

 

This move by Thai Airways to swiftly acknowledge and confront the defective seat issue is crucial in an era when social media can heavily influence a brand's reputation. For its legion of flyers, the promise of quick resolution offers some comfort amid the turbulence.

 

File photo courtesy: Wikipedia

 

-- 2024-05-11

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[dinsdale]

Surely putting these complaints onto social media is a computer crime that puts Thailaaaaaa.......Ah! No. That's only if foreigners do it. Silly me.

[DjSilver]

Come on, everyone knows that Thai Airways has really terrible planes that are overpriced.

 

As an example:

With Thai Airways, someone pays let's say $1000 for something that isn't even worth $300. Compared to let's say Qatar and Emirates, where one might pay $800 and gets double or triple better seats, service an food, than on Thai Airways.

[malibukid]

terrible food and terrible service

[Zack61]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

This comes on the back of a number of passengers taking to social media to complain about defective reclining seats on certain Thai Airways' flights.

Hopefully the complaints were made from outside the country free from potential prosecution for their negative reviews. 

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Chai Eamsiri, Thai Airways' Chief Executive Officer, confirmed that the faulty seats are aboard four of the Airbus A350s and four Boeing 777-200ERs. Amid assurances that the company has been proactive about resolving the issue, he revealed that on-going discussions with the plane manufacturers, Airbus and Boeing, are underway. Given that multiple airlines operate the same fleet, securing service slots and spare parts is proving time-consuming.

Seats can easily be bought on the spares open market... he's making excuses.

[chiman]

I quit flying TG for a few reasons including the loss of their FAA certification.  Not that the FAA sparkles these days like they once did.  But another reason is the interior condition of the planes.  I would fly Business and the screen didn't work or the seat was faulty in some way and the airline didn't care.  There are plenty of other choices and step onboard Singapore Airlines, ANA, Cathay and you see a well maintained plane.   

 

Long time ago..buddy told me to look at the toes.  If the toes are clean, so is the rest.  If they can't maintain the interior, can't imagine whats going on mechanically and don't want to risk my safety.  

[Skipalongcassidy]

This is Thailand... there is no translation for "routine" or "preventative" maintenance... never was never will be...  When queried, the airline's management confessed to an initial ignorance. 

[findlay13]

"Amid assurances that the company has been proactive about resolving the issue"

ROTFLOL

[herfiehandbag]

31 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Seats can easily be bought on the spares open market... he's making excuses.

Indeed, weren't they enthusiastically flogging seats to raise some cash a couple of years ago?

 

Now no spare seats, and no cash.

 

Best fire up the doughnut woks again...

[AAArdvark]

What exactly is wrong with the seats?

[khunjeff]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Given that multiple airlines operate the same fleet, securing service slots and spare parts is proving time-consuming.

 

That may be true, but it doesn't explain why TG was still assigning the broken seats to passengers. During the incident that started this whole discussion, the flight attendants told the passenger that the seats had been identified as defective months earlier, but continued to be sold.

 

50 minutes ago, chiman said:

I quit flying TG for a few reasons including the loss of their FAA certification.

 

Thailand was downgraded by the FAA, not TG. The FAA doesn't assess individual foreign airlines.

 

"FAA conducts the International Aviation Safety Assessment Program (IASA), assessing the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of each country that has carriers operating to the United States. Because of the provisions of the Chicago Convention and national sovereignty, FAA is not permitted to evaluate a foreign carrier within its own sovereign state."

 

https://www.faa.gov/travelers/international_travel#:~:text=If the CAA meets standards,are released to the public.

 

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-34981372

 

 

 

[khunjeff]

2 minutes ago, AAArdvark said:

What exactly is wrong with the seats?

 

They didn't recline properly or turn into lie-flat beds as they were supposed to.

[Peterphuket]

Yeh, clear, unfortunately I don't use social media perhaps that is the reason why, to date, I have not received my money from the cancelled trip, by Thai, from Hong Kong to Bangkok.
It seems Thai is almost going to force you to have to participate in social media to get a response from them.

[Peterphuket]

2 hours ago, DjSilver said:

Come on, everyone knows that Thai Airways has really terrible planes that are overpriced.

 

As an example:

With Thai Airways, someone pays let's say $1000 for something that isn't even worth $300. Compared to let's say Qatar and Emirates, where one might pay $800 and gets double or triple better seats, service an food, than on Thai Airways.

This is all true, but to sit next to a passenger at Emirates who is loudly and clearly professing the Koran, which happened to me recently, makes me reconsider whether I will ever fly there again.

[Sydebolle]

Yesterday's arrival from Frankfurt in Bangkok was the last nail in the TG coffin. The crew was too busy with being so overly important and the food was absolute rubbish; some tiny meat chunks inmost of some overcooked rice and two tiny carrots and had to ring three times for some water refill. 

TG charged EUR 450; SQ would have been EUR 320 - albeit via Singapore. Trust me, next time I rather opt via Johannesburg if I can avoid Thai. 

[thaibeachlovers]

2 hours ago, malibukid said:

terrible food and terrible service

Not when I was flying with them, and I did so for 10 years.

 

I swore never to fly again with British Airways and Air NZ after experiencing their terrible cabin service, and Thai was just fine. However, I didn't like the seats on the 777, preferring the 747.

[cowellandrew]

Ah it's only the seats,

Wait until its engines, or tyres!

😂

[thaibeachlovers]

2 hours ago, chiman said:

Long time ago..buddy told me to look at the toes.  If the toes are clean, so is the rest.  If they can't maintain the interior, can't imagine whats going on mechanically and don't want to risk my safety.  

Given the mechanicals are looked after by a different mob than the interior cleaning, and have to pass checks to fly I think you are being somewhat alarmist. I used to fly Saudia, and on one trip part of the wing fell off. Rather more important than if the seat legs got cleaned properly. I never had a flight on Thai when part of the wing fell off.

 

NHS hospitals were pretty filthy when I used to work in a few, but the important bits, like the theatres were pretty good. The cleaners didn't maintain the operating equipment.

[hotchilli]

1 hour ago, AAArdvark said:

What exactly is wrong with the seats?

Probably nothing wrong with the seats. Just that the seat in the said position does not have the correct function for that position.

[brianthainess]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

on eight of its aircraft. They promise to have it sorted by July this year.

Jeez how long does it take to repair a seat, take out a defected seat, take to a workshop for repair, I'd bet a M/C mechanic could fix them. One spare seat as a replacement.    

 

[NanLaew]

3 hours ago, chiman said:

I quit flying TG for a few reasons including the loss of their FAA certification.  Not that the FAA sparkles these days like they once did.  But another reason is the interior condition of the planes.  I would fly Business and the screen didn't work or the seat was faulty in some way and the airline didn't care.  There are plenty of other choices and step onboard Singapore Airlines, ANA, Cathay and you see a well maintained plane.   

 

Long time ago..buddy told me to look at the toes.  If the toes are clean, so is the rest.  If they can't maintain the interior, can't imagine whats going on mechanically and don't want to risk my safety.  

 

For clarity, THAI never lost their FAA certification. The FAA downgraded CAAT to Category II status. Since THAI had no plans to serve the US, it was a moot point.

 

THAI unaffected by FAA Category II status of Civil Aviation Administration of Thailand (CAAT)  

 

          
            Bangkok, 1 December 2015 – Mr. Charamporn Jotikasthira, THAI President, said that due to the result of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) report from the audit of CAAT in October 2015, there remain oversight matters requiring the FAA to issue a Category II status to the CAAT, from Category I.  A Category II status of the CAAT signifies that all air carriers certified under the CAAT are not able to increase flights or operate to new destinations in the United States of America.  

However, for THAI there is no commercial or customer impact as THAI had already ceased operations to its only US destination of Los Angeles as of 25 October 2015.   Although THAI is no longer operating its aircraft to the USA, THAI continues to serve customers through codeshare and interline partners to USA destinations.   

THAI confirms its commitment to aviation safety standards, and assures all that THAI operates with the highest international aviation safety standards.

 

https://www.thaiairways.com/en_GB/news/news_announcement/news_detail/FAA_News.page?

 

 

[cowellandrew]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Not when I was flying with them, and I did so for 10 years.

 

I swore never to fly again with British Airways and Air NZ after experiencing their terrible cabin service, and Thai was just fine. However, I didn't like the seats on the 777, preferring the 747.

Ahh 555 who who fly BA?

😁😂

[Aussie999]

6 hours ago, dinsdale said:

Surely putting these complaints onto social media is a computer crime that puts Thailaaaaaa.......Ah! No. That's only if foreigners do it. Silly me.

In Thailand it is both a computer crime and defamation.

[dinsdale]

12 minutes ago, Aussie999 said:

In Thailand it is both a computer crime and defamation.

I think everyone knows this but thank you for your correction.

[Livings In paradise]

Even before the reorganization and huge bailout by the government, this airline provided little value and even less service. Always over priced and under performing. An extremely poor example of a national airline. Better value, service and seats that work elsewhere.

[Roo Island]

Just flew Thai to Paris. Great service, fair food, terrible equipment. A very old plane. Entertainment screen was barely functional. Seat was old and worn out. Extremely uncomfortable. The next row had the button that holds the tray table in pop out. They were looking for it, but it was broken. Had to leave it down for landing.

 

Scale of 1 tp 10? About a 6. We normally fly Qatar, Emirates, etc. But found a good price, for once, and it was a direct flight. I'd rather not fly with them again.

[Roo Island]

2 hours ago, brianthainess said:

Jeez how long does it take to repair a seat, take out a defected seat, take to a workshop for repair, I'd bet a M/C mechanic could fix them. One spare seat as a replacement.    

 

On our flight, the seats were functional, but the cushions worn out and flat. Very uncomfortable.

 

Everything in that plane was old and worn out. Except the staff who were great.

[Lancelot01]

5 hours ago, Zack61 said:

Hopefully the complaints were made from outside the country free from potential prosecution for their negative reviews. 

If they are legitimate complaints then the computer crime laws will not affect the complainant. 

The law is there to protect individuals and companies from malicious postings. 

[natway09]

Not so concerned that the seats were faulty but to keep selling them when they knew faulty ?

Hope this attitude does not spread to the plane maintenance