Chinese woman, 28, tries to change seat on AirAsia flight, no response, sends fake bomb threat to get attention

A Chinese tourist who communicated a fake bomb threat to Malaysian budget airline AirAsia was arrested and fined.

Her defence? She wanted the airline to change her seat, but they didn't respond to her messages, so she felt like she needed to do something drastic to get their attention.

What happened?

Liu Jinqi, 28, was travelling in Malaysia and booked an AirAsia flight from Tawau in Sabah to Kuala Lumpur (KL), ahead of another flight from KL back to Beijing, China.

However, she wanted to change her seat on the flight, the Borneo Post reported.

Liu attempted to get in touch with AirAsia via the website, email and even going to the "counters".

But AirAsia did not respond.

She then used the official AirAsia app's chat service, "Ask Bo", and typed "human service emergency bomb dangerous."

This message was spotted by an AirAsia staff and reported to the police.

Liu and her companion were arrested at their hotel on Sep. 20.

What's the verdict?

Liu was charged with criminal intimidation and pleaded guilty on Sep. 25, the New Straits Times reported.

She received a fine of RM5,000 (S$1,525).

In her defence, Liu said:

"I only wanted to change my seat. I had tried contacting AirAsia, but there was no response. That is why I used the word ‘bomb’ so that my message would get immediate attention."

Her lawyer argued that she had no real intention of causing fear, but resorted to the message after her other attempts to contact the airline were not successful.

However, the magistrate said such actions were serious and may cause panic.

Top image from Borneo Post and AirAsia.