A passenger who complained online about his flight's diversion is being sued by Thai Airways

[Eugene]

Source: Business Insider

A passenger who complained online about his flight's diversion is being sued by Thai Airways

Pete Syme
Mon, February 5, 2024 at 7:56 AM EST·2 min read

Thailand's national airline said Thursday it is taking legal action against a passenger who accused it of wrongly diverting his flight.

In a Facebook post, Thai Airways said the passenger had shared "damaging words" after the flight had to land at a different airport due to weather conditions.

Four days earlier, an Airbus A350 flying from Bangkok to Melbourne, Australia diverted to Sydney. It reached its intended destination four hours later than scheduled, per data from Flightradar24.

Aviation news website SimpleFlying reported that a heavy fog obscured the sky and ground visibility was reduced to 200 meters, so it would've been dangerous to attempt a landing.

But one passenger took to Facebook to criticize the captain's judgment. ...

-snip-

Read more: https://news.yahoo.com/passenger-complained-online-flights-diversion-125646089.html

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The article goes on, stating that the traveler deleted the post, after it was rebutted by the flight's first officer. However the traveler may still be afoul of Thailand's strict libel and "false information" laws.

[hlthe2b]

1. That's an article that definitely needs to be read & no assumptions made from headline...

I envisioned just simply bemoaning a flight diversion and the inconvenience. It seems that passenger went full-on attack in total disregard for weather-related necessities and safety issues. Not sure a lawsuit is the best way to deal with this, but I see the airline's point. Maybe the passenger, having now deleted the post will apologize and post a follow-up explanation... They should.

[AllaN01Bear]

2. even with all the fancy modern dodads , pilots still have to look out the windscreen and complete control

of the plane , id rather take the safe route and not risk a deadly landing or other . hem well whaa.

[Major Nikon]

3. Most reasonable people get this even if they may not specifically know why

You can't land if weather is below weather minimums, period.

For the airlines, they can't even attempt an approach if the reported weather is below minimums prescribed for the approach selected and every instrument approach in the world has prescribed weather minimums. Every approach is designed with these weather minimums so they can be executed safely.

The thing about it is it isn't just in Asia where this happens. People blame the FAA and the airlines for the weather all the time when the reality is the whole system is designed for safety. The controls we have in place today were written in blood by the people who died before they came along. Weather creates more delays, diversions, and cancellations when it comes to air travel. No way around it.