Chitchat Thai Pilots Kicked Two High SES Passengers Out Of First Class Seats For Fellow Off-Duty Thai Pilots!

[JohnTan]

BANGKOK — Thai Airways International president has apologised to two passengers who were forced to give up their first-class seats for two off-duty pilots deadheading from Zurich to Bangkok.

The aircraft's departure was reportedly delayed for about two hours, with the on-duty pilots refusing to take off until first-class seats were made available for their off-duty colleagues.


The national airline posted the apology from president Sumeth Damrongchaitham on its Facebook page late on Thursday night (Oct 18).

He said the matter was severe and affected the airline's image. He had ordered an investigation and would ensure such an incident did not occur again.


"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," Mr Sumeth said.

The incident reportedly involved THAI flight TG971 from Zurich to Bangkok on October 11.

It was scheduled to depart at 1.30pm but the duty pilots refused to take off unless some first-class passengers agreed to give up their seats to two THAI pilots deadheading to Bangkok.

All first-class passengers initially refused to do so. After about two hours of delay, a couple finally vacated their seats so the flight could depart.

They later filed a complaint, saying the two off-duty pilots should have been given vacant seats in business class, rather than taking all passengers hostage to achieve what they wanted.

The flight was over an hour late arriving at Suvarnabhumi airport. BANGKOK POST

https://www.todayonline.com/world/thai-airways-apologises-after-passengers-forced-vacate-seats-crew

 

[ginfreely]

Commercial airline pilots have been pampered for too long. So much so they think they are king and entitled to trample others!

 

[ginfreely]

Commercial airline pilots have been pampered for too long. So much so they think they are king and entitled to trample others!

They are just overpaid drivers! Not like fighter plane pilots that can kill enemies!

 

[syed putra]

Thai first class seats fully booked. SIA?

 

[ginfreely]

Commercial airline pilots have been pampered for too long. So much so they think they are king and entitled to trample others!

Btw this is called a fact substantiated by what happened in this case and what happened to me working in office.

 

[eatshitndie]

bro bonding is very strong among thai pilots and military officers. all others can fuck off. that's one way to make a cuntry strong and great again.

 

[bobby]

Was it froggy?

 

[Froggy]

Was it froggy?

Oh no no no wasn't me, all was well and I was sleeping like a baby after the champagne and caviar

 

[maxsanic]

Actually based on my understanding, pilot social prestige and remuneration in the market has gone down considerably in the past decade as air travel becomes more and more accessible with the advent of budget airlines and private service airlines.

A lot of bad behavior and outrageous pay/benefits afforded to pilots seem to be mostly attributed to unionized pilots working in national carriers whereby it is almost impossible to take any disciplinary or termination action against them. Case in point is Cathay Pacific's recent pay package cut for its pilots - it was revealed that these guys were making outrageous S$400-500k all-in every year and when requested to cut costs the resistance became so strong that the government had to intercede.

 

[ginfreely]

Actually based on my understanding, pilot social prestige and remuneration in the market has gone down considerably in the past decade as air travel becomes more and more accessible with the advent of budget airlines and private service airlines.

A lot of bad behavior and outrageous pay/benefits afforded to pilots seem to be mostly attributed to unionized pilots working in national carriers whereby it is almost impossible to take any disciplinary or termination action against them. Case in point is Cathay Pacific's recent pay package cut for its pilots - it was revealed that these guys were making outrageous S$400-500k all-in every year and when requested to cut costs the resistance became so strong that the government had to intercede.

I hope self driving planes is a reality soon and these “O” level or “A” level pilots that think and act like they are kings just because they drive a plane will become jobless beggars.

 

[Boliao]

I hope self driving planes is a reality soon and these “O” level or “A” level pilots that think and act like they are kings just because they drive a plane will become jobless beggars.

Planes are already capability of self driving ages ago, including landing and takeoff. Pilots don't do shit except system checks, handle emergencies or paid to crash the plane.

 

[AVIATORCYY]

I feel that people are viewing this situation slightly wrongly...

Although I find it's wrong to kick passengers out of their seats that they paid for, these off-duty pilots were seated seated closer to the cockpit because they would be able to reach the cockpit quickly to aid the on-duty pikots in case of an emergency. Perhaps a more professional option would've been to either move the first class passengers to business class and refund them or seat the off-duty pilots in the business class.

Please do not take these pilots as a representation of ALL pilots. Some are good, some are not. Please do not be too quick to judge others...

 

[AVIATORCYY]

Commercial airline pilots have been pampered for too long. So much so they think they are king and entitled to trample others!

Some pilots are underpaid! Being a pilot is also extremely exhausting and most often suffer from fatigue. The maximum number of flight hours allowed for commercial pilots are 16 hours and if you think about it, short and medium haul would have little rest in between these flights in order to finish up their 16 hours quota. Being a pilot is sometimes not easy and getting high pay requires many years of hard work to become a more professional pilot to pick long haul flights which would fill their 16 hours quota quickly with just one or two flights.

 

[Gary Ho]

Planes are already capability of self driving ages ago, including landing and takeoff. Pilots don't do shit except system checks, handle emergencies or paid to crash the plane.

Very common misconception...

1. Planes do not have any kind of system that allows for an automatic takeoff. 100% of the time the takeoff is handled by the Pilot Flying (PF) of the flight manually.

2. Even though planes can land automatically with the guidance of the ILS, the is only used when the visibility or the weather is bad. Majority of landings are done manually

3. The duty of pilots are to ensure that the aircraft is in perfect condition for flying, enter the flight management system which is the computer that gives commands the aircraft for it's flight path, calculate fuel required, be wary of inflight dangers such as adverse weather where they may have to deviate off course to avoid it, ensure passenger compliance onboard the aircraft. That was just to name a few, they don't get paid to do nothing.

For the most part if your flight is 3 hours long, the pilot would probably have to spend an additional 2 hours to prepare for the flight. But they are only paid for that 3 hours of in-the-air time though they would have worked for 5 hours.

Before anyone becomes a pilot, they must go through flight school which is not cheap at all. And there is a lot of studing to do to pass all the tests which makes it feel like taking O and A levels over and over again.

There are more tests and exams a pilot has to take including simulator check rides and aircraft safety recurrent training which takes place annually, if not more than once a year.


You may think of Pilots in a certain way, but that impression you have does not represent each and every one. I became a student pilot not because I get to see new places and the salary. It was because I was always interested in aviation since young and wanted to pursue my dreams. Many pilots out there share this same passion as well including my father who flew as a pilot and retired.

If anyone thinks being a pilot is easy, I'll recommend Seletar Flying Club. I'll wait and see what you'll say and how much you have spent on the day you receive your PPL which still doesn't allow you to fly commercial airliners.

 

[ginfreely]

I feel that people are viewing this situation slightly wrongly...

Although I find it's wrong to kick passengers out of their seats that they paid for, these off-duty pilots were seated seated closer to the cockpit because they would be able to reach the cockpit quickly to aid the on-duty pikots in case of an emergency. Perhaps a more professional option would've been to either move the first class passengers to business class and refund them or seat the off-duty pilots in the business class.

Please do not take these pilots as a representation of ALL pilots. Some are good, some are not. Please do not be too quick to judge others...

This few years I realised that when outrageous things happened due to big self entitlement, they don’t occur out of a vacuum but are a symptom of underlying disease or ugly truth of the people. Unfortunately I made the mistake of too slow to judge people, should have judged some people MUCH faster. I remember this Malaysian accounts clerk last time who was very self entitled to on the radio whole day at her cubicle and I didn’t understand why she felt so entitled to disturb others and even refused to listen to radio via ear piece. Now I can totally understand why. Basically this big self entitlement is just a symptom of her fellow ccb Malaysians that felt so entitled to do whatever they want within their boundary, with zero consideration for neighbours. I should have realised that and saw this sign from GOD the ugly truth of ccb Malaysians and not give people the benefit of doubt until they steal slander and harass me until India Iran.

 

[ginfreely]

Some pilots are underpaid! Being a pilot is also extremely exhausting and most often suffer from fatigue. The maximum number of flight hours allowed for commercial pilots are 16 hours and if you think about it, short and medium haul would have little rest in between these flights in order to finish up their 16 hours quota. Being a pilot is sometimes not easy and getting high pay requires many years of hard work to become a more professional pilot to pick long haul flights which would fill their 16 hours quota quickly with just one or two flights.

I have NEVER heard of any pilots that are unpaid. My ex boss even boasted to me his pay was multiple times of graduate pay from DAY ONE of his pilot career. And pilot jobs are not exhausting at all with pilots only working for 12 or 13 days a month from what I heard aka plenty of free time.

 

[ginfreely]

Very common misconception...

1. Planes do not have any kind of system that allows for an automatic takeoff. 100% of the time the takeoff is handled by the Pilot Flying (PF) of the flight manually.

2. Even though planes can land automatically with the guidance of the ILS, the is only used when the visibility or the weather is bad. Majority of landings are done manually

3. The duty of pilots are to ensure that the aircraft is in perfect condition for flying, enter the flight management system which is the computer that gives commands the aircraft for it's flight path, calculate fuel required, be wary of inflight dangers such as adverse weather where they may have to deviate off course to avoid it, ensure passenger compliance onboard the aircraft. That was just to name a few, they don't get paid to do nothing.

For the most part if your flight is 3 hours long, the pilot would probably have to spend an additional 2 hours to prepare for the flight. But they are only paid for that 3 hours of in-the-air time though they would have worked for 5 hours.

Before anyone becomes a pilot, they must go through flight school which is not cheap at all. And there is a lot of studing to do to pass all the tests which makes it feel like taking O and A levels over and over again.

There are more tests and exams a pilot has to take including simulator check rides and aircraft safety recurrent training which takes place annually, if not more than once a year.


You may think of Pilots in a certain way, but that impression you have does not represent each and every one. I became a student pilot not because I get to see new places and the salary. It was because I was always interested in aviation since young and wanted to pursue my dreams. Many pilots out there share this same passion as well including my father who flew as a pilot and retired.

If anyone thinks being a pilot is easy, I'll recommend Seletar Flying Club. I'll wait and see what you'll say and how much you have spent on the day you receive your PPL which still doesn't allow you to fly commercial airliners.

Yes pilot training is expensive but the pilots didn’t pay for it. All paid for by the carrier. So it’s a good deal for pilots indeed. It’s like earning Ivy League salary but you don’t need to pay for Ivy League school fees. And frankly the flying is not difficult from what I see, it’s all computer and not mechanical at all. I tried the training aircraft simulator and did a landing of aircraft with one try only. Not difficult at all.

 

[Gary Ho]

Yes pilot training is expensive but the pilots didn’t pay for it. All paid for by the carrier. So it’s a good deal for pilots indeed. It’s like earning Ivy League salary but you don’t need to pay for Ivy League school fees. And frankly the flying is not difficult from what I see, it’s all computer and not mechanical at all. I tried the training aircraft simulator and did a landing of aircraft with one try only. Not difficult at all.

It depends on which carrier u fly for and which route you take. Not all carriers pay the training fees for you. Programmes such as the SIA ab initio pilot programme pays for the pilots but however carriers like Cathay has stopped doing so. Budget airlines like Scoot do not open its doors to ab initio pilots but turn to pilots who are already type rated on the aircraft they operate namely the A320 family and the B787 series to cut costs and their ab initio programme is only subsidized partially. And the fully subsidized ones it are never easy to get in so many pilots actually pay to achieve their dreams and from what I know many of my seniors who now fly for airlines now went to the US to train as it is cheaper. Singapore Youth Flying Club (linked with the RSAF) offers free Private Pilot License programmes to students but their intake is rather small for each year. And I would like to hear more about your simulator performance. What kind of simulator was it? Was it a level D motion simulator? And your rate of descent during touchdown and centreline deviation. I've heard from my flight instructor of some people that are born to fly maybe you'll like to take the journey to become a pilot since its so easy for you.

For the automation part, indeed technology has helped a lot in managing a commercial pilot's workload but as I have mentioned, keying in the flight plan, talking to ATC and Flight system management are performed manually. On planes such as the Airbus A350, they have multiple flight computers that monitor each other on its fly by wire systems such as flight controls and thrust derating but without a human to operate the computers none of them will work.

 

[Gary Ho]

I have NEVER heard of any pilots that are unpaid. My ex boss even boasted to me his pay was multiple times of graduate pay from DAY ONE of his pilot career. And pilot jobs are not exhausting at all with pilots only working for 12 or 13 days a month from what I heard aka plenty of free time.

Well then you haven't heard about new pilots in the USA being eligible for food subsidy stamps then. They pay so much for their training but their pay is so mediocre that they are probably eating last night's leftovers. That's why many of them are moving to Asia where there is demand in the field of aviation for engineers and pilots. And the pay is way better than back home.

 

[ginfreely]

It depends on which carrier u fly for and which route you take. Not all carriers pay the training fees for you. Programmes such as the SIA ab initio pilot programme pays for the pilots but however carriers like Cathay has stopped doing so. Budget airlines like Scoot do not open its doors to ab initio pilots but turn to pilots who are already type rated on the aircraft they operate namely the A320 family and the B787 series to cut costs and their ab initio programme is only subsidized partially. And the fully subsidized ones it are never easy to get in so many pilots actually pay to achieve their dreams and from what I know many of my seniors who now fly for airlines now went to the US to train as it is cheaper. Singapore Youth Flying Club (linked with the RSAF) offers free Private Pilot License programmes to students but their intake is rather small for each year. And I would like to hear more about your simulator performance. What kind of simulator was it? Was it a level D motion simulator? And your rate of descent during touchdown and centreline deviation. I've heard from my flight instructor of some people that are born to fly maybe you'll like to take the journey to become a pilot since its so easy for you.

For the automation part, indeed technology has helped a lot in managing a commercial pilot's workload but as I have mentioned, keying in the flight plan, talking to ATC and Flight system management are performed manually. On planes such as the Airbus A350, they have multiple flight computers that monitor each other on its fly by wire systems such as flight controls and thrust derating but without a human to operate the computers none of them will work.

It was the Learjet simulator in Australia. I was following around my Singaporean colleague based there and so I tried the simulator for a few minutes, together with a pilot too. I do not know what rate of descent but I was the one that pulled out the landing gear. And it didn’t crash!