Airlines seek payment for Thai MPs cancelling bookings

[webfact]

POLITICS
Airlines seek payment for MPs cancelling bookings
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Low-cost carriers are seeking Bt5 million from Parliament to cover unpaid airfares for flights booked by MPs but not flown from October-April.

MPs are eligible to fly free at taxpayers' expense.

AirAsia is seeking Bt700,000 and Nok Air Bt4.3 million in fees and airfares incurred by MPs who made multiple reservations and urgently changed or cancelled flights, Democrat MP Bunyod Sukmuthinthai said.

However, the airlines failed to show the signatures of MPs or their aides on documents, said Bunyod, the House parliamentary affairs panel spokesman.

Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt wants budget carriers to stop requiring the names of passengers so MPs can use the reservations made by other MPs who cannot take the flight.

Airlines should provide reservation documents with MPs' signatures to collect payment, he said. Chart Thai Pattana MP Korawee Prissanananthakul said airline officials insist they must follow policy to charge airfare for every passenger booking a flight.


-- The Nation 2013-06-21

[theblether]

Rip off Thailand.

[Sing_Sling]

Lobotomy 101 Thai Style:

Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt wants budget carriers to stop requiring the names of passengers so MPs can use the reservations made by other MPs who cannot take the flight.

and then

Airlines should provide reservation documents with MPs' signatures to collect payment,

[CelticBhoy]

I thought everyone knew already that all MP's are flight risks!

[pedro01]

I thought everyone knew already that all MP's are flight risks!

lol!

bravo!

[Ricardo]

The Transport-Minister thinks LCCs are going to change one of their core-policies, and allow free name-changes on reservations, shows how in-touch he is with his industry !

[Bellweather]

How typical this is, as soon as something affects MPs a whole industry has to stop what it's doing and change everything to suit them.

[rubl]

"MPs are eligible to fly free at taxpayers' expense."

What's the problem? MPs can forward a bill or receipt to the designated office for processing. Just follow the normal procedure for reservations should be no problem.

How does this work for normal, taxpaying people? If I make a reservation what details and payments are required to get such reservation?

[A Member]

More nonsense from an official who opens his mouth without bothering to think first.

If names are not required will proof of identity will be dropped too ? Have PTP forgotten it was them in the guise of TRT that insisted on I/D after the bomb that never was on a flight Thaksin was due to take. He was screaming " assassination plot " until Boeing proved it was the fault of an engineer who had failed to follow the relevant maintenance handbook.

[lemonjelly]

Wonder if the MPs are claiming the expenses and pocketing the cash ?

[yoshiwara]

Wonder if the MPs are claiming the expenses and pocketing the cash ?

You might wonder indeed. One of the old scams was not only demanding that they and their whole entourage travel First Class on Thai Air for free but cheekily insisting that they were entitled to the frequent flyer points as well.

[Thai at Heart]

Huh?

Where would a signature be on a reservation?

They are issuing tickets before they pay for them? Can I get my travel agent or online reservations to do that?

Might make them stick to their schedule a bit better and stop treating Thai airways like a taxi service.

[rubl]

Huh?

Where would a signature be on a reservation?

They are issuing tickets before they pay for them? Can I get my travel agent or online reservations to do that?

Might make them stick to their schedule a bit better and stop treating Thai airways like a taxi service.

Thai Airways? Please note that the OP only mentions "Low-cost carriers"

[whybother]

Huh?

Where would a signature be on a reservation?

They are issuing tickets before they pay for them? Can I get my travel agent or online reservations to do that?

Might make them stick to their schedule a bit better and stop treating Thai airways like a taxi service.

Thai Airways? Please note that the OP only mentions "Low-cost carriers"

Maybe TaH thought they said "Low-service carriers".

[Thai at Heart]

Huh?

Where would a signature be on a reservation?

They are issuing tickets before they pay for them? Can I get my travel agent or online reservations to do that?

Might make them stick to their schedule a bit better and stop treating Thai airways like a taxi service.

Thai Airways? Please note that the OP only mentions "Low-cost carriers"

Maybe TaH thought they said "Low-service carriers".

Well either way, I call my agent, give my credit card and pay. If I change, they tell me what it will cost and I pay.

If it was company stuff, the agent would bill every month. No one signed a reservation. So basically they have invoices that no one wants to approve, but the airline sure as hell has a computer record of all the bookings and changes.

Why should that airline eat the cost, or require a signature every time some idiot changes a reservation?

[OzMick]

Perhaps they should publish a list of the MPs with the highest travel expenses, both for the fares they used and those not used but paid for. Doing so can be very effective in getting them to revise bad habits.

No prize for guessing which MP would be at the top of the list, though the cost of travel might raise a few eyebrows.

[Jasun]

Good luck with that, airlines.

[Thai at Heart]

Perhaps they should publish a list of the MPs with the highest travel expenses, both for the fares they used and those not used but paid for. Doing so can be very effective in getting them to revise bad habits.

No prize for guessing which MP would be at the top of the list, though the cost of travel might raise a few eyebrows.

Of course, it would be a little too forward thinking for the parliament to have a travel office to organise all this stuff. MPs flying around here and there, booking their own random stuff here and there, as though this wouldn't ever be open to possible corruption?

[moe666]

Perhaps they should publish a list of the MPs with the highest travel expenses, both for the fares they used and those not used but paid for. Doing so can be very effective in getting them to revise bad habits.

No prize for guessing which MP would be at the top of the list, though the cost of travel might raise a few eyebrows.

Come on there then they would sue the airline for defamation

[Sydebolle]

Many years ago I flew from Chiang Mai to Bangkok.

After one hour into the flight the plane landed somewhere in Isaan (I think it was Buriram); a stair case was wheeled to the aircraft and one short, obese clown got off the flight. Stair case wheeled back, start-up and off we went to Bangkok. The flight arrived with almost one hour delay (on a scheduled one hour flight). No explanation, apology or anything else got offered by cabin nor cockpit crew; the fellow next to me when ballistic as he got his connection to Singapore screwed up.

Nice going I thought, being an MP comes with perks. If the fellows now produce no-shows then get them to pay like anybody else. I need to prepay with my credit card. Introduce standards applicable to all; no-show = debit a juicy fee. I am sure that on a budget flight from X to Z the swindle sheet reads a full one way airfare as per IATA tariff book (latter being printed for precisely only this reason I assume). Pathetic!

[drdoom6996]

PTP MP's don't make mistakes. All airlines should change the rules for them.

[bangon04]

Huh?

Where would a signature be on a reservation?

They are issuing tickets before they pay for them? Can I get my travel agent or online reservations to do that?

Might make them stick to their schedule a bit better and stop treating Thai airways like a taxi service.

Thai Airways? Please note that the OP only mentions "Low-cost carriers"

You are quite right. Thai Airways is the designated taxi service for all PooYais and their entourages, plus anyone else with connections. As a state owned enterprise, Thai Airways does not have a requirement to operate as a business like other operators.

[Payboy]

Maybe airlines should think twice now before they bump off paying passengers to accommodate last-minute VIP travelers.

[SICHONSTEVE]

"MPs are eligible to fly free at taxpayers' expense."

What's the problem? MPs can forward a bill or receipt to the designated office for processing. Just follow the normal procedure for reservations should be no problem.

How does this work for normal, taxpaying people? If I make a reservation what details and payments are required to get such reservation?

I wonder how long it will take them to realise that an MP was sitting on a plane going to Nakhonsithammarat at the same time he was sitting on a plane going to Chiang Mai...........and can I have my money for these flights please!!!

[slapout]

It would appear that Nok is the one most abused, compared to Air asia. I just wonder which one has a large stock block, owned by the PM's family?

[OzMick]

Perhaps they should publish a list of the MPs with the highest travel expenses, both for the fares they used and those not used but paid for. Doing so can be very effective in getting them to revise bad habits.

No prize for guessing which MP would be at the top of the list, though the cost of travel might raise a few eyebrows.

Come on there then they would sue the airline for defamation

Normally it is the government that would publish such information in the name of transparency and good governance. After all, why shouldn't the expenses MPs charge to the public purse be a matter of public record.

[Thai at Heart]

Perhaps they should publish a list of the MPs with the highest travel expenses, both for the fares they used and those not used but paid for. Doing so can be very effective in getting them to revise bad habits.

No prize for guessing which MP would be at the top of the list, though the cost of travel might raise a few eyebrows.

Come on there then they would sue the airline for defamation

Normally it is the government that would publish such information in the name of transparency and good governance. After all, why shouldn't the expenses MPs charge to the public purse be a matter of public record.

God knows how many tickets they actually buy. These entourages run to dozens and dozens sometimes.

[SICHONSTEVE]

Perhaps they should publish a list of the MPs with the highest travel expenses, both for the fares they used and those not used but paid for. Doing so can be very effective in getting them to revise bad habits.

No prize for guessing which MP would be at the top of the list, though the cost of travel might raise a few eyebrows.

Come on there then they would sue the airline for defamation

Normally it is the government that would publish such information in the name of transparency and good governance. After all, why shouldn't the expenses MPs charge to the public purse be a matter of public record.

Please tell me!!

I can't hold back on the excitement, does this persons first initial begin with..........a Y???

Edited June 21, 2013 by SICHONSTEVE

[stoli]

Rip off Thailand.

I hope what the MP's ask prevails. If one MP can not go on the booked flight, but another MP can, why not? Then extend that right to all passengers on all flights around the world. It is not Thailand ripping off anyone in this instance, it is the airlines that have been ripping off the passenger for years. We are paying for the seat and it does not matter what the name of the passenger is that sits in it. Until they go to someone extra expense such as supplying a gold plated name plate on my seat, it is just a seat. If it the seat flies empty is totally different, but this is not the case here.

[SICHONSTEVE]

Rip off Thailand.

I hope what the MP's ask prevails. If one MP can not go on the booked flight, but another MP can, why not? Then extend that right to all passengers on all flights around the world. It is not Thailand ripping off anyone in this instance, it is the airlines that have been ripping off the passenger for years. We are paying for the seat and it does not matter what the name of the passenger is that sits in it. Until they go to someone extra expense such as supplying a gold plated name plate on my seat, it is just a seat. If it the seat flies empty is totally different, but this is not the case here.

Too common sense by far and besides, the airlines will lose out on this so that is not going to happen soon!!