Cathay Pacific flight attendants fired for mocking passenger's English
Three Cathay Pacific flight attendants have been fired after they were accused of discriminating against a non-English-speaking passenger.
During a May 21 flight from the Chinese city of Chengdu to Hong Kong, a passenger claims that they asked a flight attendant for a blanket. However, according to Al Jazeera, the flight attendant allegedly made fun of the passenger for mistakenly asking for a carpet instead of a blanket in English.
Hong Kong International Airport (Lester Balajadia/Shutterstock)
An online post from someone who identified themselves as the passenger described the incident, saying that the flight attendants complained among themselves and mocked the passenger.
In a clip shared online, a person 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.”
Listen to the audio of the alleged incident below:
“If you cannot speak blanket, you cannot have it.”
Hong Kong-based airline, Cathay Pacific Airways @cathaypacific, has come under fire after a passenger accuses flight attendants of ridiculing and refusing service to those unable to speak English, prompting an apology from the… pic.twitter.com/kr6K7najqr
— Ifeng News (@IFENG__official) May 23, 2023
In a statement, Cathay Pacific announced it had fired the three staff members involved.
“I would like to reiterate that Cathay Pacific takes a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to serious violations of company rules and ethics by individual employees and will not tolerate them,” stated CEO Ronald Lam.
The incident has sparked outrage online.
So people who can’t speak English well should not take a flight and deserve being mocked and treated in this way by attendants? Is this what you, as the offspring of the colonized who has internalized coloniality, imply here?
— Miss Moss (@PanaceaDu) May 27, 2023
@cathaypacific staff openly mocked customers for not speaking correct English. I’ve lost a bit more faith in humanity. This indicates the kind of internal culture they have. Firing a couple of their staff is not solving the problem. The problem is deeper.
— Brian (@0xbrianjing) May 26, 2023
Err, it’s not the use of English as the official language that is the problem. It’s the arrogance of their staff and unnecessary mocking of non-English speaking customers that is.
Could have easily avoided it by telling the staff to watch their attitude towards who they serve.
— Park Get Go (@ParkGgeeG) May 25, 2023
Yale Law School Professor Taisu Zhang tweeted about the difference in how English speakers are treated in Hong Kong compared to those who speak Mandarin.
Just arrived in Hong Kong for the first time in 8 years. Still getting better service when I speak English, compared to Mandarin. Some things never change, I guess…
— Taisu Zhang (@ZhangTaisu) May 28, 2023
Lam stated, “We need to ensure that all Cathay Pacific employees must at all times respect customers from different backgrounds and cultures and that we provide quality services consistently across all markets that we serve.”
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