Spare a thought for the flight attendant who fails to observe snack-serving etiquette in first class – particularly when the passenger in question happens to be the daughter of the airline’s chief executive.
South Korea’s government is investigating an air-rage incident on board a Korean Air flight from New York to Seoul last Friday that culminated in a senior member of crew being ordered to leave the plane by the passenger moments before it was scheduled to take off.
Reports from Seoul said Cho Hyun-ah, the airline’s vice-president and the eldest daughter of its chief executive, Cho Yang-ho, could face legal action following the incident, which forced the aircraft to stop taxiing and return to its gate at JFK airport.
Cho Hyun-ah reportedly screamed at the flight attendant, who has not been named, for not asking her if she would like a preflight snack of macadamia nuts, and then for committing the egregious act of serving them in a paper bag rather than on a plate.
At one point, Cho reportedly told the attendant to fetch the in-flight service manual so that she could check company policy on serving nuts in the first-class cabin.
Cho, who is also known by her English name Heather, then ordered the attendant to leave the plane while it was readying for takeoff, the South Korean news agency Yonhap said.
The incident delayed flight KE086’s arrival at Incheon airport, near Seoul, by 11 minutes, it added.
While Cho accused the attendant of failing to follow the airline’s in-flight service manual, the aviation executive could face a more serious charge.
On Monday, South Korea’s transport ministry said it was investigating the airline for possible breaches of aviation safety regulations. As a rule, members of a plane’s cabin crew take orders only from the captain during a flight.
“We will see if [the incident] was in violation of the law. We must review related laws as this incident is unprecedented,” a ministry official told reporters.
“Even if she is the vice-president of the airline, she was one of [many] passengers and should have been treated as such,” he said, adding that Cho should have waited for the plane to land before lecturing the flight attendant on in-flight service.
The incident drew comment from South Koreans on social media. Jessie Lee, a resident of Seoul, tweeted:
A fellow tweeter drew an unfavourable comparison with neighbouring North Korea’s flagship airline, Air Koryo.
That awkward moment when Air Koryo is better than Korean Air(CEO daughter screaming fit) #avgeek #PaxEx
— Tammy 진 (@KungPaoKimchi) December 8, 2014
• This article was amended on 8 December 2014. The flight concerned was KE086, not KE088 as originally stated. This has been corrected.
