Korean Air Vice President Heather Cho is under fire for turning a plane around in order to kick out a crew member who didn't know the airline's policy for serving nuts.
On December 5, Cho interrupted Flight 86 from going on its usual route from New York to Korea. When an attendant served Cho nuts without her asking for them, Cho called for the head of the service crew (or the purser) and asked him to recite the airline's policy on serving nuts. When the purser could not answer correctly, Cho ordered that the plane turn around so that the purser could be kicked out.
According to the airline, as the plane was only 10 meters (approx. 33 ft) from the gate at the John F. Kennedy International Airport, it was able to return back to the gate in two minutes. The plane was 11 minutes late when it arrived in Korea on December 6.
Although the disturbance was minor, Cho is still being heavily criticized for her actions. Some point out that according to the aviation law, only the captain is supposed to manage the crew and make these kinds of decisions. They claim that Cho exceeded her authority, and that her actions are an example of chaebol or large corporation families feeling privileged to do whatever they please as Cho is the daughter of Korean Air Chairman Cho Yang Ho.
Korean Air has apologized for any inconvenience it caused to the 250 passengers that were onboard Flight 86, but they argued that Cho's actions were "reasonable," that she had the support of the pilot, and that one of her responsibilities was to check in-flight service quality. The Transport Ministry is looking into the issue, saying that it will take action against the airline if it turns out that Korean Air really did violate regulations. As for Cho, on December 9, news outlets reported that she has resigned.
The madness doesn't stop here though. It has also been reported that Korean Air is censoring crew members in their phone messages. On December 9, an informant told MBN News that the airline is looking through crew members' messages and instructing crew members to say that the purser was lacking in qualifications and was thus removed.
An aviation industry representative told MBN, "Last time there was that 'ramen executive incident' and since then, since a long time ago, [Korean Air] has been censoring [their crewmen]; it's their management style and so (this censorship) isn't new [for the airline]." The "ramen executive incident" he refers to is when an executive board member of POSCO Energy assaulted a flight attendant on a Korean Air plane.
Meanwhile, Korean Air denies that they are censoring the crew members, saying, "We were checking with not the crew members but those in charge of the cabin; there's no truth to that [accusation]."
News regarding the censorship can be seen here:
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