In the early ‘80s I was flying an F27 from a regional airport. Did the walk-round and all was normal. About 20 later minutes after boarding, a passenger reported that a main-wheel tyre had deflated – in fact it was completely flat. He was dead right. I made a PA and invited the passenger to the flight-deck to thank him. The pair of wheels were changed and we departed an hour late. Wrote it up in the tech log, submitted the ‘80s equivalent of an ASR. No complaint letters, no come-back, all was sweetness and light.
Fast forward to 2017 and I would be subjected to trial by YouTube and Facebook, with a recording of my PA and video of the wheel available to the whole planet before we departed, accompanied later by multiple claims for compensation.