Why do passengers think that they are entitled to know what is in a company's operations manual? The OMs are part of the airline approval that CASA provides so thats all you need to know. If CASA requires the airline to conduct a headcount and passengers are required to sit in their allocated seats then thats the end of it.
I didn't say the passengers need to know. The Ops Manual and rigid adherence to it was being held up by another poster as the reason for the situation. If indeed CASA do require passengers to sit in their assigned seats for safety, is that not something CASA should bring to the attention of the passengers (outside of the airline's Ops Manual). Can't say I've ever seen CASA signage at airports about seating requirements. Strange that the airline doesn't see it necessary to impart that information to the passengers either via their Conditions of Carriage. Can't be that safety critical if no one feels it's necessary to actually tell passengers that requirement. How can you expect compliance if people don't know they have to comply?