Nicholas49
To be clear, I am not saying that the captain cannot disembark the passengers, the statute says that and the police could be summoned to assist. The pax would go. That is clear from a theoretical point of view.
However, post hoc, there may be a price to pay.
Regardless of the terms, what about the implied terms and conditions?
This appears not to have been a denied boarding, but rather that the carrier failed to manage the loading of fuel and as a result did not fulfil their obligation to transport the passengers who were subsequently offloaded.
So surely a passenger contract has an implied term and condition that the carrier will use reasonable efforts to ensure that the passenger will be carried? If the aircraft is loaded well in excess of the fuel load required, it would suggest to me that there was negligence, thus breach of contract.
In summary, I see how my posts may have read ambiguously, all I was saying is that it seems to me that offloading the flight using the ANO may be unlawful in the context of the contract.
It seems clear from the ANO that the passengers cannot refuse the captain's order to disembark, although as Piltdown Man (an airline pilot) says, how it would pan out in reality is another matter.
Last edited by Joao da Silva; 15th Jan 2011 at 08:48.