Air carrier flight crew deviated from an ATC request in order to avoid severe weather.

Attributes
ACN	1343886
Time
Date	201603
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Large Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 176 Flight Crew Type 15000
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Airspace Violation All Types Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

Narrative:

I was instructed by center to turn left and leave the airspace because the area was going hot for the military. My only recourse was to refuse. There were level 5 thunderstorms on either side and behind us that we were able to circumnavigate. Once we were committed to the route we had chosen; there was no turning back without severe structural damages to the aircraft and passengers.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier flight crew deviated from an ATC request in order to avoid severe weather.

Narrative: I was instructed by Center to turn left and leave the airspace because the area was going hot for the military. My only recourse was to refuse. There were Level 5 thunderstorms on either side and behind us that we were able to circumnavigate. Once we were committed to the route we had chosen; there was no turning back without severe structural damages to the aircraft and passengers.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.