Starlux Airlines’ Chairman is potentially facing a fine, after letting an influencer into the cockpit on the carrier’s inaugural flight to Los Angeles.
Continue reading: Starlux Chairman Faces Fine For Letting Influencer In Cockpit
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Dumb.
Sam Chui if probably the most, if not one of the more dedicated and enthusiastic travel bloggers/av geeks out there, and with this no cockpit rule (and fine), Starlux is shooting themselves in the foot. All Sam can possibly do is create good PR for Starlux, and of course he had no way of knowing about this rule...
I believe almost every Asian country got this no cockpit rule in their operating handbook.
He’s also a pain in the backside
Honestly getting sick of all these “ influencers”
How is Starlux shooting themselves in the foot? This rule was made the Taiwan aviation authorities, not Starlux.
Sam is generally one of the most insistent and annoying passengers that an airline will come across. I'm sure he wouldn't take no for an answer on the cockpit photo and now landed Starlux a fine for his behavior. I wish more airlines would ban folks like him as he is generally unpleasant to be around when doing his self-promoting 'work'
The chairman must be more than happy to pay for a relatively insignificant fine in contrast to all the free publicity he and the company are now being given.
What a joke!!!!! WOW !!!! (again)
Starlux operating like an amatuer LCC.
It's not like this is the chairman's first exposure to an airline.
Starlux just fall from very interesting airline to try down to another wanna be player, right above those real fictitious startups.
Bring em on haters 🙂
I read this review, and I believe the aircraft was doing a media promo over by cargo at LAX.
These fines are nothing, but result in millions of dollars of free press.
This is definitely the case. Paying fine is cheaper.
Some rich people can be above the law. Just pay the settlement and deny wrong doing or at worst plea no contest pay fines and get away with crime.
Not a good example for a chairman whose career is in civil aviation.
Should have let some VP as the fall guy. A lot to learn for capitalist America.
Not surprised, Taiwan is so behind on practically everything. It used to be the head of Asian’s four dragon. Now, it couldn’t even see the tail of the third dragon. Vey sad, indeed.
I have taken your quote ad verbatim "First let me say that Taiwan’s rule prohibiting anyone from entering the cockpit is just plain stupid, in my opinion".
It's not stupid, but Taiwan is regarded by China as a break-away province and during the '70"s and '80's there were incidents of hijackings between China and Taiwan.The Taiwan Government still is today on a war footing with China ( and vice versa), which goes back decades and there's still many security arrangements applicable as regards to the China-Taiwan state of affairs.It's not stupid,but what is stupid is that I,as an Schengen passport holder but living in the USA , still need up today (May the 10th,2023) to show an inoculation certificate for the none existent Covid whereas any American or Green Card holder can fly in and out of the US without having a certificate, now that is real stupid.
I’m sure the chairman knew of the potential fine but figured for the cost of it Sam’s video coverage would more than outweigh its cost…
Good. Sam Chui is a biased, dishonest sycophant. Airline that suck up to him deserve to be punished.
Sad to say, but I expect Starlux and its CEO to face far greater problems when they are (the airline) forcefully incorporated into Air China, and (the CEO) sent somewhere unreachable for "Reeducation". I hope that I am wrong but I see the writing on the wall, without much done here to prevent it from happening.
As to the incident itself, while regulations , however stupid, must be adhered to, it pales in comparison with a flight I took with a certain airline not very much after 9/11, during which the cockpit door of the 767 remained open during the whole flight between Africa and JFK. The airline at the time code-shared with Delta (not anymore). I am happy to report that I have since used them many times (I still do) and that the cockpit door irregularity never happened again.
What a sad fanboy you are, you realise his reviews are heavily biased to whoever is giving him freebies that week, nothing objective about it
If you think one photo with this idiot (who people that know anything about aviation ignore because his reviews are just biased towards whoever gives him something free) would do anything you know as much about aviation as it shows you do
I wonder what the definition of authorized personnel is and whether the airline can designate them. If so the chairman can probably authorize on the spot :)!
Sam Chui causes trouble like this were ever he goes….he knows the rules….but still asks to get into cockpit….Royal Nepal Airlines and Air Tahiti ATR to name a few!
Ben might not realize that Taiwan has had serious hijacking issues in the past and that might be why they have these cockpit restrictions. Taiwan doesn't even have freedom of speech. I always wondered when Sam Chui would get someone into trouble.
Knowing the American authorities at the FAA and NTSA will have a very dim view of this security breach as these rules are very much driven by what the American authorities require of international carries who are given rights to fly into the USA. Watch this space - the US might withdraw their landing rights which would be just desserts for an airline that pays such scant regard for the regulations related to international airline flights.
Funny to see all these pathetic Sam Chui haters... They are basically jealous of his lifestyle.
The man travels all the time, enjoys life while receiving millions of views. A stark contrast indeed with the life led by the losers who posted negative comments here. Sam does even know you exist...let that sink in losers
Lol. You can guess Sam has some daddy power seeing him available to move to HK from mainland China back in 80-90s.
And now he's just some j**jetter plus individual Skytrax, just feels a little less on the nose. love his video in some subpar 300-ish-bucks-per-night airport hotel pool while still praising it. yea he's the most honest aviation blogger ever. yay!
Sam is one of the ultimate avgeeks whose reports cover the spectrum down to freighter flights, supply flights into Antarctica and his love of replica model aircraft. Call him an influencer if you will, but he is at the top of the pyramid with access to otherwise unobtainable, non retail flight experiences. And yes, Starlux should just claim he was a contractor.
So yes, I am a fanboy.
Doesn't diminish Ben as his focus is on retail, be it points or pay which is where I live and travel,
So petty. Appears that some higher power in Taiwan is looking out for EVA Air (and China Airlines) and trying to screw Mr. Chairman
Rules make no sense. I wonder if Starlux will get fined a second time when SC went into the cockpit after landing at LAX
Sorry did you just call Sam Chui an "influencer"? He isn't. He's an overprivileged hack of a...whatever you want to call it, who has absolutely no concept of reality.
This is not the first time Sam has landed a pilot in trouble with his cockpit visits. A Nepal Airlines pilot was suspended from duty following his unauthorized visit.
If he truly was an avgeek, he would have known that the cockpit is generally a no-go zone after 9/11. But profits and ego matter more to him and it's clear from his actions that he has no qualms getting pilots into trouble if it fits his motive.