Air hostesses urge 'Battle of Angels' to be reasonable

The Thai Airways International Union will ask Channel 5 and Thakonkiat Viravan, an executive of the TV company Exact, to take a more responsible attitude over the new Channel 5 soap opera that portrays hostesses in a negative light.

Exact is expected to hold a press conference on the issue this afternoon.

The union along with flight attendant representatives from other airlines such as Bangkok Airways yesterday lodged a complaint with Culture Minister Khunying Khaisri

Sri-aroon. They demanded the "Songkram Nangfah" (Battle of Angels) series, aired at 8.25pm from Monday to Thursday,

to be pulled from the air.

Acting union chairman Somsak Srinuan said he was concerned whether people, especially youths, would be able to differentiate which parts were real and which were exaggerations in the programme - which includes violent scenes with female cabin crew fighting in public over a male pilot.

"Exact, which produces this show, must be responsible to society and suspend the airing until the content is adjusted so that it is not so exaggerated," Somsak said.

If Channel 5 and Exact did nothing, the union would take further measures such as asking Thai Airways (THAI) to stop providing financial support to the company and other companies under GMM Grammy Group, Somsak said.

THAI flight attendant manager Phitchitra Thaveerat said she had viewed the first four episodes last week and found they all contained irrational and inappropriate scenes, such as fighting in front of the flight attendant training centre, which would never happen in reality.

She said the hostess uniforms were also too revealing. The uniforms flight attendants wear in real life are tidy and appropriate because they represent their country as well.

"The show, exaggerated to stimulate high ratings, destroys our professional image and dignity. We want the soap opera to be suspended from its current broadcast time and be moved to air after 10pm," she said.

Bangkok Airways representative Preuksa Reunrat said being a flight attendant was a dignified profession. They take care of the safety of passengers and their belongings at every second during a flight, not just serve them food. She did not want the soap opera to devalue the profession.

Channel 5 chief, Lieutenant General Kittithat Bamnetphan, said he had not received a formal compliant from the union and that the station would not be able to scrap the show as the union wanted.

The show had passed the rating committee and obtained the "Nor 13" rating category - restricted for children under 13, he said. It also contained a message to inform the audience that it was based on fiction. There was nothing the station could do with the show until there was clear-cut information of it breaching regulations in some way, he added.

Channel 5 spokeswoman Thawinan Kongkran said there were no plans to pull the soap opera. But it would consider asking the producer to edit out some scenes that were found to be offensive. An Exact PR official said 50 per cent of the drama had been shot, so the other half could be adjusted, including having uniforms with longer skirts.

Thakonkiat and script writer Nipon Phewnen would hold a press conference at 3pm today at the GMM Grammy Building.

One of the show's actresses, Panwad Hemmanee, urged the public to be open-minded. She believed the producer had no intention to tarnish flight attendants.

"We've got no intention to offend, it's a reflection of human reality that is full of love, greed, anger and obsession - be they in any kind of profession," she said, adding there were also many good characters among the flight attendants in the show.

The Nation