Originally Posted by
Icarus2001
Completely in your mind.
I have off loaded a passenger in Australia for smoking an E cigarette who was slow to desist when asked by cabin crew.
Absolutely right. But in this case the only instruction the otherwise perfectly behaved passenger disputed was the instruction to arbitrarily get off the aircraft. Are you suggesting you could tell a well behaved passenger to go screw themselves and then completely legitimately throw them out should they refuse to comply?
The captain's role and authority is one factor that will be considered in court. It will be far indeed from being the only one.