Two tourists who lost their shit because they couldn’t sit together on a flight got off easy after forcing their plane to return to Don Mueang, but Chinese authorities say they’re in for a world of hurt.
China’s state tourism organization said Saturday the young couple, who assaulted an AirAsia flight attendant with scalding water, shouted bomb threats and threatened to commit suicide will be severely punished for damaging China’s image.
READ: Instant noodle attack and other weirdness forces Air Asia flight back to Bangkok
After the Nanjing-bound flight returned to Don Mueang on Thursday, the couple was forcibly removed from the plane but released without charge.
The incident, portions of which were captured on video, comes after a Chinese campaign to encourage upright behavior by its citizens abroad following worldwide attention on a series of embarrassing incidents.
Fair or not, Chinese tourists have gained an unsavory reputation in Thailand after a huge surge of visitors from the mainland, many of whom traveled to Chiang Mai following a blockbuster film set there two years ago became the highest-grossing film in Chinese history.
According to the Associated Press, the China Tourism Administration did not specify how the travelers would be punished, but said it would also go after their travel agency for “failing to offer proper behavior guidance and that the tourists should be blacklisted for bad credit.”
Photo: Weibo
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