State-owned Thai Airways announced earlier this month that it won’t sell business class tickets on its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner to passengers with a waistline larger than 56 inches.
But the policy was implemented for a reason. Pratthana Pattanasirim, Thai Airways director of security and flight standard division, explained yesterday that the business class seats of the Dreamliner have been installed with the new safety belts and an airbag system, and therefore, passengers with a waistline of over 56 inches, as well as those traveling with an infant, won’t be able to fasten the seatbelts, Khaosod reported.
“If we put fat people in business class and they can’t fasten the seatbelts, the captain won’t be able to fly that plane because it hasn’t met safety standards, so we won’t sell business class tickets to fat people,” Pratthana said of the Dreamliner plane.
Meanwhile, there’s no restriction for economy class.
Currently, Thai Airways has two Dreamliner planes which are used on two routes: Bangkok-Auckland and Bangkok-Taipei.
Well, at least Thai Airways knows their crew won’t have to force a large passenger who can’t fit in their seat off a flight (and prevent the PR disaster that would inevitably follow). This story reminds us of the Kevin Smith incident, when the American director unleashed his anger in a tweet after he was kicked off a Southwest Airline flight in 2010.
