Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific was accused of looking down on mainland Chinese after a flight attendant mocked passengers who didn’t speak English.
A Chinese man posted on social media on May 21 an audio recording showing a flight attendant for Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific refusing a passenger’s request for a blanket and mocking him for not speaking English.
“If you can’t say the word blanket in English, you can’t have a blanket. The mat is on the floor, feel free if you want to lie on it,” said a flight attendant, according to an audio recording that went viral on the internet.
The incident occurred on Cathay Pacific flight CX987 from Chengdu City, southwest China’s Sichuan Province to Hong Kong and caused a wave of fierce criticism on Chinese social media.
The People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party of China, posted comments saying it was shocked by the incident with Mandarin-speaking passengers and criticized Cathay Pacific’s corporate culture of “worshiping people”.
“Cathay Pacific cannot always just apologize, but must strictly amend, enact rules and regulations and prevent harmful trends from the root,” the newspaper said.
The People’s Daily also said that Mandarin is becoming more popular in Hong Kong and that “the tendency to adore English and despise Mandarin will certainly disappear”, the newspaper added.
A Cathay Pacific passenger plane prepares to land in Singapore in 2018. Photo: Reuters
Cathay Pacific released a statement saying it “sincerely apologizes” for the passenger experience on flight CX987. CEO Ronald Lam said the airline had fired three flight attendants over the incident following an internal investigation.
“I would like to reiterate that Cathay Pacific has a ‘zero tolerance’ approach towards employees who seriously violate company rules and ethics,” said Lam.
He added that he will lead the internal working group to comprehensively assess the service process, personnel training and related systems to improve the company’s quality.
“Most importantly, we must ensure that all Cathay Pacific employees respect passengers from different backgrounds and cultures and provide professional and consistent service in all areas served,” added Lam.
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee said on May 24 that the discriminatory actions by Cathay Pacific flight attendants were serious and cannot be repeated.
“The Commissioner’s words and actions hurt the feelings of compatriots in Hong Kong and the mainland and undermined Hong Kong’s traditional culture and values of respect and courtesy,” Lee said.
Cathay Pacific is Hong Kong’s largest airline. The airline has been hit hard during the Covid-19 pandemic due to flight cancellations, border closures and strict quarantine measures for cabin crew, resulting in a sharp drop in staff numbers since 2020.
Huyen Le (according to Reuters)
