Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon shakes hands with residents during a visit to the Khiew Khai Ka community in Bangkok's Dusit district on Friday. Criticism was sparked after costs of the flight were shared and an unconfirmed list of 46 passengers on the flight was released online. According to Mr Pisit, flying a regular commercial flight is as expensive as flying a chartered flight on this trip as a first-class seat on a regular flight to Hawaii is estimated to cost 300,000-600,000 baht because there are no direct commercial flights from Bangkok to Hawaii. A scheduled flight takes between 16 to 33 hours depending on the flight routes while a chartered flight takes about 11 hours. The defence minister also rejected deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's remark calling on the regime not to "bully" his sister, saying the government did not do such a thing.

Source: Bangkok Post October 07, 2016 23:03 UTC