Thai-Kiwi

Thanks pon18n - my Thai is too weak and Mrs TK usually helps if I am curious.

But there was no complimentary upgrade of pax. The 747 was operating only 2 classes - business and economy. The seats in the First class section are usually allocated to High Value Customers (Plat/Gold) or to so-called Thai VIPs. This happens all the time.

My resolution would be that deadheading crew should have travelled in allocated seats and an operational decision made on whether they were sufficiently rested for further duty on arrival in Bangkok (if this aspect is even an issue).

I note specifically that it was the 2 senior pilots who got allocated the First Class seats, 2 other pilots went to the regular Business class seats. That suggests to me (a former professional pilot) that crew rest was not the key issue and so the Pilot in Command was wrong.

And to add. There was also a risk of the flying crew exceeding crew duty limits, which would then result in them unfit for duty and so a much longer delay for all concerned. I would estimate that with a 2 hour delay, they were already close to maximum duty hours.