Unruly passenger faces blacklist

A woman faces blacklisting by a local airline for trying to stop crew closing the cabin door as she waited for her daughter to finish her duty-free shopping in Bangkok.  

Spring Airlines said on Thursday that it is evaluating the situation but was considering putting the passenger on a blacklist because of her behavior. 

Flight 9C 8892 to Pudong was delayed by half an hour early on Wednesday morning due to the incident.

One passenger was missing when the flight was about to take off and when the crew failed to reach her by phone it was decided to leave without her. 

However, the passenger's mother, who was already on board, became hysterical and tried to stop the chief flight attendant closing the aircraft's door. 

She claimed her daughter had called the police because her luggage was on the plane that was about to take off without her, the airline said.

The crew then had to find and unload her belongings. The mother was also permitted to get off the plane. 

The aircraft and its 160 passengers landed at Pudong airport at 9:14am, the airline said.

"Spring Airlines denounces such wrongdoings and reminds passengers to reach the boarding gate 20 minutes earlier than the takeoff time," the carrier said.

According to a witness on the plane, a female passenger sat on the ground near the cabin door and was claiming she felt uncomfortable. She asked the crew to wait for her daughter who had been delayed because she was shopping at the Bangkok airport's duty-free store.

In a video clip widely circulated online, the woman is seen to be blocking the door while the captain, flight attendants and some passengers try to persuade her to move. 

Under civil aviation regulations, anyone who violates safety regulations or disturbs flight orders should be punished and have demerits added to their personal credit account. The duration of the demerit record could be two years.

In 2016, five domestic airlines, including Spring Airlines, released a joint statement to establish a list of unruly passengers to be shared among carriers. Those listed would receive limited services from airlines and could even be barred from buying flight tickets.