Korean Air VP Charged in 'Nut Rage' Incident

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

What seemed like one of the strangest and more humorous on-board airline incidents at the time is no laughing matter to the South Korean government.

Or for Heather Cho Hyun-ah, for that matter.

Cho – formerly a vice-president of Korean Air and the daughter of the airline’s CEO – has been formally indicted on four charges after the now-infamous ‘Nut Rage’ incident on Dec. 5, when she used her position to order an aircraft back to the gate in a dispute over how nuts were served on the flight.

South Korean prosecutor Kim Chang-hee said on live television Tuesday that Cho’s tantrum was "threatening (to) the safety of the flight and causing confusion in law and order." Cho, who resigned her position, was arrested on Dec. 30. She was indicted on charges of forcing a flight to change its normal route, the use of violence against flight crew, hindering a government probe and forcing the flight's purser off the plane. According to The Financial Times, she faces up to 15 years imprisonment if convicted.

The incident aboard a Korean Air flight scheduled to leave JFK International in New York for Seoul happened as Cho was given macadamia nuts as a snack as the plane was boarding and eventually began to pull back from the gate. The flight attendant did not ask Cho if she wanted the nuts, and they were given to her still in the bag and not served on a plate, as per Korean Air protocol.

Cho then asked to see the chief flight attendant and told him to bring out the procedure manual. When he failed to find the guide, and gave Cho what Korean Air said in a statement were “lies and excuses” to questions she had, Cho had the taxiing stop and ordered the plane returned to the gate – and the chief flight attendant to be removed.

If anybody would know about proper service procedures on the airline, it would be Cho. She was Korean Air’s manager for catering and in-flight sales business, cabin service and hotel business divisions. Thus, the airline said in a statement at the time that it was perfectly normal and reasonable for Cho “to raise a problem in service.”

But only the pilot has the authority to return to the gate if there’s a problem in the cabin. Korean Air, which apologized to the 250 passengers on board, nonetheless said in a statement that it was not that far from the gate when the incident happened and the flight only arrived 11 minutes late to Seoul.