[6LLvveMx2koXfwn]

re corruption:

I was flying from Kathmandu to Bangkok in 2000 and I couldn't book a ticket on the plane until the day it flew as 'half the plane' was reserved for 'Government Officials' 'just in case'. Amusingly they were all on one side of the plane too, the side that can see Mount Everest during the flight.

[bombcar]

Honestly that’s kind of polite in a strange way.

They could have just bumped anyone when they needed a ticket.

[alchemical_piss]

Yeah, just like it’s polite to maim someone when you could have killed them.

[barbazoo]

I don’t quite see how this is indicative of corruption

[JumpCrisscross]

It’s a shadow tax on non-government consumers. Imagine if you ran a restaurant and had to always keep a table free for the mayor’s family.

[citizenpaul]

People really don't have an understanding of just how destructive this kind of corruption is. Extorting the current businesses is only the direct effect.

The longer term is literal desolation. People simply do not start business as time goes on so there is nothing to exploit as time passes. Business that exist simply don't operate in that country anymore so there is not even anything to buy if you have money. Then the violence and enslavement starts.

[Yeul]

People do which is why when a police officer that asks for money during a traffic stop is told to fuck off in a Western country. Smart people did this math as far back as the 19th century.

[barbazoo]

You used the word "always", the person I responded to didn't.

> I was flying from Kathmandu to Bangkok in 2000 and I couldn't book a ticket on the plane until the day it flew as 'half the plane' was reserved for 'Government Officials' 'just in case'.

The "just in case" sounds like speculation to me so all it sounds like is the flight they were on was reserved.

[daveguy]

But just the side of the plane that has the best view. If you don't recognize that as corruption...

[brendoelfrendo]

I believe the implication is that those seats would in fact be available to you if you knew who to bribe. And the fact that they were all on the Everest-facing side of the plane suggests that whoever controlled those seats realized that they could get a premium for them.

[tocs3]

Also, (speculation warning) it could be the government paying for airline seats to "keep them available" is a kickback. That is, lobbyist paying government officials for a contract that is not needed.