Airline Fires Flight Attendants for Mocking Passengers

by Rich Thomaselli
Last updated: 8:45 AM ET, Wed May 24, 2023

Usually, especially in this climate, an airline backs its flight attendants.

Not this time. Not on Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways.

A trio of flight attendants has been fired for mocking the English of several Chinese passengers. Apparently, some passengers asked for a blanket on the flight and were told by the flight attendants that they could lie down on the carpet if they couldn’t ask for a blanket in English.

The flight was headed from Chengdu, China to Hong Kong on Sunday.

The flight attendants have denied the accusation of racism, but there appears to be an audio recording of the incident. The flight attendants allegedly chided and made fun of the passengers for using the English word ‘carpet’ instead of a blanket.

According to the audio recording, a crew member can be heard saying: "If you cannot say blanket in English, you cannot have it. Carpet is on the floor, feel free if you want to lie on it.”

In a statement sent to Insider, Ronald Lam, Cathay Pacific CEO, confirmed the terminations and said: "In accordance with the company's policies, we have terminated three cabin crew members who were involved."

"I would like to extend my sincerest apologies again to the concerned customer and also to the community for the incident," Lam added.

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