Shenzhen Airlines punished for mishandling passenger dispute
Shenzen Airlines has been ordered to suspend its Shenzhen-Nanjing-Harbin service from April 30 for mishandling a passenger dispute that posed threat to airport safety, according to a decision made by the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
On April 10 a Shenzhen Airlines plane on route to Nanjing, 270km west of Shanghai, was forced to land at Shanghai Pudong International Airport due to a thunderstorm in Nanjing.
The next morning, about 20 of the 161 delayed passengers refused to board the plane and went onto the taxiway to ask for compensation. They even forced an Etihad Airways jet from the United Arab Emirates to stop before reaching its boarding bridge at the terminal, the Shanghai airport authority said.
Instead of rejecting their unlawful demand, Shenzhen Airlines buckled to these unruly passengers and paid each of them 1,000 yuan (US$158) in compensation, Youth Daily reported.
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