British holiday airline TUI has taken the definition of “no frills” to a new level after a family boarded one of its planes and discovered their seats were missing.

The airline is now under scrutiny by authorities after the British family spent part of the flight sitting on the floor.

The Taylor family were flying with TUI to Birmingham from a holiday in Menorca in June and boarded a plane to discover an empty space where their seats — 41D, E and F —  should have been.

“We all just looked at each other as if to say ‘where’s our seats gone?’,” Paula  Taylor told the BBC.

The one remaining seat on the plane was given to the Taylors’ 10-year-old daughter, Brooke, while the adults were shown to flip up seats in the crew section.

The Taylors said the after take-off the crew was busy serving food and other items stored behind the flip down seats.

This meant they then had to go and sit on the floor in the space where their seats should have been. They were joined by Brooke because she did not want to sit alone.

Airlines prevent people from sitting or sleeping on the floor because of the risk of injury if an aircraft hits unexpected turbulence.  Many make an announcement to this effect during the safety briefing.

READ Airlines will use big data to avoid dangerous turbulence.

In this case, the family got home safely but Mrs Taylor told the BBC she was given short shrift when the raised the matter with TUI and was initially offered a goodwill gesture of £30.

But TUI, which said seat problem was due to a last-minute aircraft change,  subsequently offered the family a full refund of  £1300 after being contacted by BBC’s Rip Off Britain: Holidays.

The UK Civil Aviation Authority, which is looking into the matter, told the broadcaster that while passengers are allowed to sit in crew seats under certain conditions, they must not be left unseated during any stage of the flight.

It could be another four to five days before potentially crucial audio can be downloaded from the recently recovered Lion Air Flight 610 cockpit voice recorder, according to Indonesian officials.

The second black box was found Monday by an Indonesian naval vessel and the device lifted on to the deck of the ship to cheers from divers and crew.

It was buried under 26ft (8m) of mud and found inside the current search area, Navy spokesman Lt Col. Agung told CNN.

The find comes two months after the Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft with 189 passengers and crew plunged into the sea shortly after leaving Jakarta on October 29.

The hope is it will help determine how the crew reacted to problems stemming from a faulty sensor on the aircraft.

Indonesian investigators told reporters at a press conference the recorder must be dried for up to four days and cleaned for another day before the audio could be downloaded.

The so-called black boxes are designed to survive a crash and investigators are highly skilled at retrieving data but there is always an element of uncertainty.

A spokesman for Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT), Captain Nurcahyo Utomo, said investigators were not just interested in the conversation between the pilot and co-pilot.

“We also want to investigate other sounds in the cockpit — that will help us find out what happened and help us investigate what caused the crash,” he said.

Indonesian authorities had already recovered the flight data recorder and issued a preliminary report on the fatal crash in November.

A final report is expected to take 12 months but authorities could issue an interim report or make recommendations if they uncover something that threatens wider aviation safety.

The CVR is needed to give further insight into how the flight crew reacted to the sequence of events leading up to the crash and specifically to problems with the aircraft’s angle of attack sensors and stabilizer trim system.

A crew the previous night experienced similar problems but landed safely after shutting down the automatic trim system according to procedures.

However, the crew on the fatal flight appeared to fight the system until the end.

US law firm Gardiner Koch Weisberg and Wrona, which has launched legal action against Boeing on behalf of Flight 610 co-pilot Harvino, said it was prepared to review new evidence after the discovery of the CVR.

“We are pleased to know that the cockpit voice recorder has been found, and we look forward to reviewing this new evidence in order to seek justice for Harvino, his widow, and his three children,” said Tom Gardiner, attorney for Harvino’s estate.

The firm’s lawsuit alleges that the aircraft’s sensors provided inaccurate information to the flight control system, improperly activating an anti-stall system that ultimately caused the aircraft to nose-dive into the ocean. It also claims Boeing failed to provide proper training to pilots regarding the 737 Max 8’s features.

A new addition to the MAX was a flight control law known as the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS).

MCAS was software introduced to take into account differences between the 737 MAX and its predecessor — such as the MAX’s greater power and different center of gravity — and ensure the new planes react to an aerodynamic stall in a manner consistent with their older counterparts.

The introduction of the software, which incrementally pushes down the nose in a stall, sparked controversy among pilots and some argued Boeing should have provided more information and training on the change.

Others contended the problems experienced by the Lion Air pilots were covered by long-standing procedures to deactivate a runaway stabilizer trim regardless of the cause.

READ The facts, the questions and the fiction of the Lion Air tragedy.

There have also been claims of maintenance lapses. The Wall Street Journal over Christmas reported that investigators had made a preliminary conclusion that the improper calibration of an angle attack sensor had touched off the sequence of events that led to the crash.

Lion Air has denied the maintenance claims.

Indonesian officials say that its navy has found the cockpit voice recorder from Lion Air flight JT610 which crashed in October last year.

All 189 passengers and crew died when the Boeing 737 crashed into the sea after take-off from Jakarta.

The new search was launched on January 8 using the naval ship KRI Spica.

The move came after a 10-day search funded by Lion Air failed to find the missing black box.

The airline used a specialized ship at a reported cost of $US2.8m to search a section of sea floor where the fuselage of Lion Air Flight 610 is believed to be buried in mud.

The October 29 Lion Air crash which killed 189 and proved the deadliest in a year where the aviation industry’s safety record took a hit.

Investigators have retrieved the flight data recorder and issued a preliminary report on the sequence of events leading up to the crash.

The CVR is needed to give more insight into how the flight crew reacted to problems with the aircraft’s angle of attack sensors and stabilizer trim system.

A crew the previous night experienced similar problems but landed safely after shutting down the automatic trim system according to procedures.

However, the crew on the fatal flight appeared to fight the system until the end.

The renewed search comes as lawyers representing the family of the co-pilot have filed legal action in the US against manufacturer Boeing claiming wrongful death.

The lawsuit alleges that the aircraft’s sensors provided inaccurate information to the flight control system, improperly activating an anti-stall system that ultimately caused the aircraft to nose-dive into the ocean. It also claims Boeing failed to provide proper training to pilots regarding the 737 Max 8’s features.

A new addition to the MAX was a flight control law known as the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS).

MCAS was software introduced to take into account differences between the 737 MAX and its predecessor — such as the MAX’s greater power and different center of gravity — and ensure the new planes react to an aerodynamic stall in a manner consistent with their older counterparts.

The introduction of the software, which incrementally pushes down the nose in a stall, sparked controversy among pilots and some argued Boeing should have provided more information and training on the change.

Others contended the problems experienced by the Lion Air pilots were covered by long-standing procedures to deactivate a runaway stabilizer trim regardless of the cause.

READ The facts, the questions and the fiction of the Lion Air tragedy.

There have also been claims of maintenance lapses. The Wall Street Journal over Christmas reported that investigators had made a preliminary conclusion that the improper calibration of an angle attack sensor had touched off the sequence of events that led to the crash.

Lion Air has denied the maintenance claims.

Dubai-based Emirates will reduce flights by 25 percent in April and May due to the closure of Dubai International Airport’s southern runway and has outlined a 2019  schedule that will see increased capacity to Europe and Africa.

The 45-day flight reduction at Dubai will take place between April 16 and May 30.

The airline said limitations around operating flights at the airport meant many would be canceled, re-timed or see changes in operating aircraft to reduce the impact on customers.

This would result in 48 Emirates aircraft not being utilized and a 25 percent reduction in flights over the 45-day period,  it said.

Like other Gulf carriers, Emirates has been facing tougher times in recent years and the 2019 schedule is not all about expansion.

READ Emirates predicts tough times as profit slumps.

Emirates will cut its Sydney-Bangkok service from June 1, suspends its second daily Perth service from March 31 and end a linked flight to Santiago via Sao Paolo from June 1.

On the plus side, increased peak season flights to Europe will see services added to Athens, Rome, Stockholm and Zagreb, Croatia.

A second daily flight will service Athens between March 31 and October 26, but not during the runway shutdown.

The service will be operated by a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft from  March 31 to April 15 and between October 1 and October 26.

The 777 will be replaced by a bigger Airbus A380 for the summer peak between May 31 and September 31.

Rome will get three Emirates flights over the same period, but the additional Boeing 777-300ER flight will again be suspended during the runway closure.

Additional capacity to Stockholm will see a double daily Boeing 777-300ER service in July and August while Zagreb will see a daily B777-300ER from March 26 to October 31, reduced to four times a week while the runway is closed.

Destinations to get seasonal Airbus A3980 services include the US city of Boston and Scotland’s Glasgow.

African destinations to see a boost include Casablanca, which gets a second B777-300ER flight from June 1, and Abuja, Nigeria which will see three additional flights per week from June 1 to give it a daily service. There will also be increased services to Ghana and Senegal.

The airline will suspend flights EK 418/419 between Bangkok and Sydney from June 1 but will continue to service Australia’s biggest city with three flights a day non-stop to Dubai.

It said Emirates customers wishing to travel between Bangkok and Sydney would have choices provided by partner Qantas.

Effective March 31, Emirates will suspend EK 424/425 to Perth and serve the West Australian capital with a once-daily Airbus A380 service non-stop from Dubai.

The airline said Emirates customers traveling from Perth would continue to enjoy rapid two-way connections through Dubai as well as a seamless Emirates A380 experience to 20 European destinations.

Fleet optimization on South American services will see a newly refurbished, two-class Boeing 777-200LR on the daily service to Rio de Janeiro. This service will continue on to the Argentinan capital Buenos Aires for four days and to Chile’s Santiago for three.

“At Emirates, we pride ourselves on being a customer-focused airline with a commercially-driven business model,” Emirates president Sir Tim Clark said in the announcement.

“We invest in a modern and efficient aircraft fleet so we can offer industry-leading comforts to our customers, and we are agile in deploying our aircraft to destinations where it best serves customer demand.

“The changes we are implementing to our network schedules in 2019 are in line with this approach, taking into consideration global market dynamics and operational limitations including the maintenance work on Dubai Airport’s Southern Runway.

“Through the year, we will continue to keep a close watch on global markets and will maintain our flexibility to optimize the usage of our aircraft assets.”

In terms of fleet changes, the airline said it would take six new Airbus A380s in 2019 and retire seven older Boeing 777s.

The airline took delivery of its last B777-300ER in November and will start taking delivery of  B777Xs in 2020.

A new payment system that allows passengers to securely buy tickets on airline websites using money transferred directly from their bank account has successfully undergone its first live test.

The International Air Transport Association tested the new  IATAPay system with UK-based financial technology company ipagoo as well as members Cathay Pacific Airways, Emirates and Scandinavian Airlines.

The direct-debit option would be made available alongside other methods of paying for airfares such as credit card, PayPal and Bpay.

The airline group is working with Deutsche Bank on a prototype for Europe, excluding the UK, which is expected to undergo testing in early 2019.

It will start with the German market but the intention is to introduce it in other regions.

IATA says the process offers a high level of security for both users and recipients and can be instantaneous.

It helps airlines because it will be cheaper and faster for them than alternatives and a simpler payment process is expected to result in fewer lost sales.

There are similar benefits for consumers.

“Today’s consumers, and especially millennials, have expectations of multiple payment options including mobile and peer-to-peer. IATA Pay responds to these expectations,’’ said IATA senior vice president of financial and distribution services Aleksander Popovich.

“At the same time, airlines are trying to manage significant card payment costs — $8 billion per year and rising.  A large part of this cost is incurred in direct purchases from airline websites.”

Separately, the airline association reported passenger traffic growth in November moderated but remained healthy.

READ IATA warns on global trade after November cargo flatlines.

Global traffic rose 6.2 percent compared to November 2017, a slight deceleration from the 6.3 percent growth in October, but failed to keep pace with a 6.8 percent growth in capacity.

This saw the load factor dip 0.4 percentage point to 80.0 percent, only the third time this had happened in two years on a year-to-year basis.

“Traffic is solid. But there are clear signs that growth is moderating in line with the slowing global economy,’’ said IATA director general Alexandre de Juniac.

“’We still expect 6 percent demand growth this year. But trade tensions, protective tariffs and Brexit are all uncertainties that overhang the industry.’’

An Australian teenager who thought it funny to type “I have a bomb” into an Air New Zealand in-flight messaging app has been deported from New Zealand.

The 19-year-old was traveling back to Sydney from Tonga when he typed the comment into the  Air New Zealand app.

Airlines take security threats extremely seriously and a TigerAir Australia plane flying from Sydney to Melbourne was forced to return to Sydney in December because of a written note.

The act, described by the teen’s lawyer as the “grossly stupid event of the century”, prompted emergency services at Auckland Airport to scramble as the Airbus A320 on which the teen was traveling was forced to return to the gate.

READ US pilots warn government shutdown is affecting safety.

He appeared in the Manukau District Court on Thursday charged with breaching the Civil Aviation Act by falsely communicating safety information.

New Zealand website Stuff.co.nz reported that the teen, Meke Fifita, faced imprisonment or a fine but was deported after his father paid a $NZ3000 repatriation sum.

His lawyer, Jane Northwood, said she had never seen anyone “more distressed or remorseful and overwhelmed’ and she had arranged for immediate sentencing because of concerns for his safety in jail.

Judge Anna Johns said that Fifita’s actions came at a huge cost to the taxpayer, emergency services and Auckland airport.

“Anyone with half a brain would understand that this is not a funny thing to do, given the times we live in,” Stuff quoted her as saying.

This is the second time Air New Zealand has hit the international headlines recently.

It also made the news after an Air New Zealand flight traveling from Hong Kong to Auckland was forced to divert to Cairns when a passenger died on board.

Local media reported passengers were stuck on the plane for two hours because ground crew were initially unavailable to assist with the removal of the body from the plane