Seat reclined during taxiing phase of Bangkok-Kolkata flight leads to fight onboard – Times of India

NEW DELHI: An argument over reclining seat led to a fight between passengers onboard Thai Smile Airlines Bangkok-Kolkata flight on December 27. People in the know say a passenger seated on 31C reclined his seat when the aircraft was taxiing at Bangkok Airport. The cabin crew walked up to him to tell him to put his seat in upright position as per rules.
“This person did not budge. Then some other passengers, including someone seated on 37C ( the person in the white coat) walked up to the person in 31C and asked him to put his seat in upright position. There was an altercation that led to the fight onboard,” said people in the know.

Surprisingly, the airline did not get the aircraft to return to the terminal to offload these passengers and the aircraft took off for Kolkata.
“The aircraft stopped on the taxiway for a while when the fight was happening and till everyone returned to their seats. The crew did not report the incident to authorities while they mentioned the same in their flight report. Since the matter was ‘amicably settled’, the flight took off for Kolkata,” they add.
Indian authorities — both the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and Directorate General of Civil Aviation — have sought details of the incident from Thai Smile. However since this issue happened on a foreign airline and on foreign soil, their jurisdiction is limited in this case. Thai Smile is learnt to have sent the report to Indian authorities on Thursday morning.
Comments have been sought from Thai Smile, a full service airline with no business class but premium economy and economy sections.