A furious Thai airport worker stopped a tourist from flying in an angry row over hand luggage that was 0.4kg over the limit.
The Chinese tourist arrived at the boarding gate for his flight home at the Don Muang International Airport in Bangkok on Tuesday.
But the women at the NewGen Airways boarding gate demanded to weigh his case – which was allegedly found to be 5.4kg. This was over the airline’s 5kg carry on allowance.
Angry scenes followed when the pair were seen standing over the scales as man refused to pay extra to have the case checked in to the hold and would not remove any of the belongings.
Mobile phone footage from another shocked airport user shows how the Thai desk worker repeatedly yells at the tourist and tells him he will have to stay in the airport.
She’s heard saying: ‘’If it’s not OK, get out. Don’t go. You stay here. I’ve been talking to you for 10 minutes already, why won’t you do it?’’
Some witnesses blamed the Chinese tourist for causing the argument by not following the weight rules while others accused the worker of being unprofessional.
They said the row started when the airport worker refused to let the man board the plane with his overweight case.
However, the airline today (Wed) apologised for the incident which happened before the Boeing 737-800 flight E3 829 from Bangkok to Guiyang, China.
A spokesman for NewGen Airways said: ‘’We sincerely apologise for the inappropriate behaviour of our officer. She had been warned and promised to behave thoughtfully.’’
Seats on the flight had been bought up entirely by a Chinese tour company and was full of holidaymakers from the same trip.
The company’s tour guide was seen in the video calmly trying to explain and convince the man to follow the airline regulations. But afterwards he angrily raised his voice, pointed at him, and walked out.
Tour guides from the trip eventually managed to persuade the man to remove some of the belongings from his case and give them to other passengers to carry.
Phetphailin, a NewGen Airways officer, said that the male tourist started the airport chaos first by assertively shouting and throwing his luggage in front of the gate.
She said: ‘’The tourist started swearing at an airline worker after she told him that his carry on luggage exceeded five kilograms.
‘’The officer also suggested him to load the baggage onto the aircraft’s hold, but he still insisted to take it with him without reducing the weight.’’
The incident divided views on social media, with some saying the airline worker should have ‘’acted more professionally’’ with others claiming the man appeared to be uncooperative.