I understand what you say but even if you disagree with not only the law but also the way in which the Minister exercises discretion, you don't have the right to turn around, say 'up yours' and break the law. It's just not the way business is done in this country. As you can surmise, I don't have much sympathy for the plight of any law-breaker.
True but in this case EK was painted into a corner by rules and regulation. If they couldn't take off what were they to do? Leave everyone onboard overnight and run into a whole bunch of new legal problems?
In the instance I talked about before which was in the papers at the time; EK was well and truly caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.
However you are correct in what you say and being PIC it would be a pretty tough call as you are deliberately breaking the law, but lock everyone up overnight and you could end up on criminal charges.
Will be interesting to see what their legal argument will be.