'I'm sure the passengers would rather have an uncomfortable landing than divert to an airport miles away where the conditions are better.'
Not sure about that TurboT - my guess is that most pax associate an 'uncomfortable landing' with fear of crashing and would be more than happy to divert. Suppose it depends how far away the divert is?
Would make an intersting study i.e. percieved risk of injury v's inconvenience.
Ladies and gentlemen this is yoru captain speaking. Airport A is experiencing severe crosswinds conditions (insert low vis, enormous hailstones etc) currently and statistically there is a very slightly higher risk of an 'incident' occuring. Would you like to proceed to airport A or divert to airport B which is 100 miles away?
Before everyone jumps down my throat, I know that different a/c have different crosswind tolerances and that the captain is a professional etc etc - its just a hypothetical.