Thai Airways Sues Passenger for Defamation

[justinbrett]

Some on here could be in for a world of hurt if airlines closer to home adopted a similar policy

Thai Airways Takes Passenger To Court For Complaining About Flight Diversion

Thailand has some of the world’s strictest defamation lawsuits, which Thai Airways uses to protect its reputation.

simpleflying.com

 

[anat0l]

Airlines here (or anywhere for that matter) already have the right to close your FF account (or probably cancel and refund your ticket and ban you) for any reason, however capricious.

Not sure which jurisdiction TG filed the lawsuit in, but - and I'm no lawyer - I'd be amazed if TG could prove defamation in that they suffered tangible damage. The customer would also have the defence that they thought what they said is true (fact). For all we know, this could be a SLAPP.

Then again, if it was filed in Thailand, a Thai hotel did go after a patron when they left a negative review on TripAdvisor*. This is much the same, except TG is owned by the government.

* this is not entirely unheard of in Australia, see David Penman.

 

[Happy Dude]

Some on here could be in for a world of hurt if airlines closer to home adopted a similar policy

Thai Airways Takes Passenger To Court For Complaining About Flight Diversion

Thailand has some of the world’s strictest defamation lawsuits, which Thai Airways uses to protect its reputation.

simpleflying.com

Just taking this a step further, but could this website be included in the action for 'publishing' the defamatory post?

 

[dajop]

If this sort of action became the norm, Josh Cahill would be in big big trouble

 

[JohnK]

This is just beyond a joke but expect anything in Thailand. Luckily the worst that can happen is this person doesn't go back to Thailand.

P.S. I'm a firm believer in free speech and to have the ability to criticise any business. Problem is way too many people happy to put up with poor service.

 

[Himeno]

If this sort of action became the norm, Josh Cahill would be in big big trouble

Josh recently posted a video that showed his experience on a DPS-DIL flight
the video showed that:
- the airline wouldn't issue a boarding pass because there was "something wrong" with his passport
- the station manager was an hour late and when arrived hid in his office refusing to deal with the problem
- when he finally came out, Josh explained the regulations and the boarding pass was issued
- the in flight meal was contaminated and Josh and a number of other passengers got food poisoning.

After he posted the video, the airline claimed (publicly) that:
- he demanded a free flight
- free accommodation
- a food allowance
- $50,000 in cash
in order to give a good review

The airline provided no evidence of these claims (such as the email they said demanded them)
Instead of providing evidence, the airline posted a photo of Josh's passport, on Facebook.

When Josh reached out to the airline about his passport being published he got no response. Upon contacting the East Temor authorities about it, he was told that the airline was within their rights to publish the passport online as the are no data protection laws in East Temor.
He then contacted IATA about it, who said that their member airline was in breach of regulations.

He was then threatened by one of the airlines pilots, publicly.

The airline in question is trying to start flights to SIN, so Josh is asking people to contact the Singapore authorities about them to ban such flights as the airline refuses to follow privacy and data protection laws.
The airlines website says they also want to start flights to Australia.

 

[p--and--t]

Josh recently posted a video that showed his experience on a DPS-DIL flight
the video showed that:
- the airline wouldn't issue a boarding pass because there was "something wrong" with his passport
- the station manager was an hour late and when arrived hid in his office refusing to deal with the problem
- when he finally came out, Josh explained the regulations and the boarding pass was issued
- the in flight meal was contaminated and Josh and a number of other passengers got food poisoning.

After he posted the video, the airline claimed (publicly) that:
- he demanded a free flight
- free accommodation
- a food allowance
- $50,000 in cash
in order to give a good review

The airline provided no evidence of these claims (such as the email they said demanded them)
Instead of providing evidence, the airline posted a photo of Josh's passport, on Facebook.

When Josh reached out to the airline about his passport being published he got no response. Upon contacting the East Temor authorities about it, he was told that the airline was within their rights to publish the passport online as the are no data protection laws in East Temor.
He then contacted IATA about it, who said that their member airline was in breach of regulations.

He was then threatened by one of the airlines pilots, publicly.

The airline in question is trying to start flights to SIN, so Josh is asking people to contact the Singapore authorities about them to ban such flights as the airline refuses to follow privacy and data protection laws.
The airlines website says they also want to start flights to Australia.

Not that I like his click bait, but sounds like Josh has got a case for suing for defamation it the airline is falsly claiming he made those demands.

But who knows what the truth is?

 

[justinbrett]

If this sort of action became the norm, Josh Cahill would be in big big trouble

80% of AFF members would be in big trouble.

 

[Gold Member]

Some on here could be in for a world of hurt if airlines closer to home adopted a similar policy

Some on here wouldn’t be here at all if AFF acted upon sock puppeting and misrepresentation

 

[anat0l]

Just taking this a step further, but could this website be included in the action for 'publishing' the defamatory post?

Depends on how much a court and a reasonable person would believe that this site has a responsibility to check the content's truth (and not defamatory) before "publishing".

Any social media platform falls under this idea. News companies have a similar defence but there is an inherent argument that if you publish content in the capacity of news then you should be doing research into the story before publishing it.

Not that I like his click bait, but sounds like Josh has got a case for suing for defamation it the airline is falsly claiming he made those demands.

But who knows what the truth is?

And in which jurisdiction would Josh instigate his action? Sounds like Timor Leste is not likely. Singapore (assuming that the airline starts operations there)?

Suing in a country other than Timor Leste sounds like a waste of time - the airline doesn't show up, judgement made but then how to collect the damages?

Companies (or even people) know that they can say whatever they like so long as there is little to no legal avenue to come after them, truth or not. Of course, everyone doesn't just do this - some people in the world have ethics...



I don't know how much it was discerned in the original article, but there's a difference between someone attempting to purport something as the truth versus pure opinion. Something that is or should have been reasonably perceived as opinion can't usually be the subject of defamation. This last one is probably what keeps a lot of us out of trouble nearly all of the time.