Scoot passenger blacklisted after 'hijack' threat

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http://www.relax.com.sg/relax/news/1370206/Scoot_passenger_blacklisted_after_hijack_post_on_Facebook.html

When Wayne Avison's Scoot Airlines flight to Singapore was delayed by five hours causing him to miss a connecting flight to Bangkok, he took to Facebook to rant.

In what he called a "private joke with his son", the Australian threatened to hijack and crash a Scoot flight on his return journey.

But his Facebook privacy settings is set to "public", and someone alerted the airline.

As a result, the booking for his return flight last Saturday from Bangkok to Gold Coast, Australia, through Singapore, was cancelled with no refund. He has also been put on the airline's blacklist.

In an exclusive interview with The New Paper, Scoot's chief executive officer, Mr Campbell Wilson, said the airline made the decision for security reasons.

"This was a fairly explicit statement and we have to take it seriously. There are 400 other passengers, there's the crew and it's a multi-million dollar asset we're talking about. And frankly, this statement is against the law," he said.

Mr Wilson added that airline staff were alerted to the post by a member of the public last Wednesday - about two weeks after the post had been made.

"In consultation with our head of security, a decision was made to cancel Mr Avison's booking for his return leg of the journey," he said.

Referring to a print-out of the comment, he said: "If it were just his original posting (where he merely went on a tirade against Scoot), we would've had no issues with it. But then he made that comment about hijacking, we had to do something.

"Had we not, and something had happened to either flight (Bangkok-Singapore and Singapore-Gold Coast), we would be held responsible."

Under Scoot's conditions of carriage, any passenger that is deemed a threat to the safety of fellow passengers and crew can be refused boarding.

A police report has been filed and the information shared with Scoot's partner airlines.

Repeated attempts to contact Mr Avison through Facebook have been unsuccessful.

Since Scoot took to the air in June, this is the second time that a passenger has been blacklisted, said Mr Wilson.

He said the other passenger was banned for being "aggressive and abusive towards cabin crew", but declined to elaborate further.

Mr Avison's flight from Gold Coast was one of the two Scoot flights affected by weather. The other was a flight to Tianjin, China, that had to be diverted to Seoul.

As a result, there was a five-hour delay, and by the time he arrived in Singapore, Mr Avison's connecting flight to Bangkok had left and the next available flight was 20 hours later.

Frustrated with this, he posted the expletive-filled status update on Facebook, blasting the airline for the delays and lack of accommodation.

It was in reply to his son's comment that Mr Avison wrote about hijacking.

He wrote: "...im going to high-jack (sic) the plane on the return flight and crash it..."

Mr Wilson said that Singaporeans now have a better understanding of what a low-cost carrier is supposed to be and are better managing their expectations.

"You can't pay (low-cost carrier) prices and expect Singapore Airlines-type service, it's just not realistic.

"The (SIA) link, however, means that we come from a parent with a good safety record and expertise that we can tap on," he said.