Airline bans couple after racist row over reclined seat
Two travellers have been banned from Cathay Pacific flights after an argument over seat etiquette descended into racist insults.
The incident occurred on a flight from Hong Kong to London, with a woman documenting her experience in a video posted on Xiaohongshu, China's version of Instagram.
The woman, from mainland China, explained, "The lady sitting behind me asked me to put my seat up because it was blocking her husband's view of the TV. I politely declined, and she started stretching her feet onto my armrest, kicking my arm and cursing at me like crazy."
A flight attendant stepped in to find a solution to the issue, but when the woman continued to refuse to put her chair up, the situation only escalated.
"When (the female passenger) realised my Cantonese wasn't so great, she started throwing around some nasty comments, calling me a 'Mainland girl' and other derogatory stuff," the woman said, explaining how people from Hong Kong speak mainly Cantonese, whereas mainland Chinese mainly speak Mandarin.
"Once I started recording, the husband behind me even shoved his hand on my armrest and started shaking it like crazy. I felt my personal space had been completely violated," added the woman, who said other passengers then intervened.
In footage of the incident uploaded by the woman, a female voice can be heard saying in Mandarin: "You're old enough — why are you bullying a young girl?"
And others can be heard shouting in Cantonese: "You're embarrassing us Hongkongers!"
"After some passengers spoke up for me, the flight attendant finally said I could switch seats. I felt it was absurd—what if no one had backed me up? Would I have just been left to deal with it on my own?" the passenger said.
"As a major airline, isn't Cathay supposed to know how to handle such disputes? Shouldn't treating passengers differently get some consequences?
In a statement released Saturday, Cathay Pacific said it wanted to "sincerely apologise" for the "unpleasant experience," with the airline saying, "We maintain a zero-tolerance policy for any behaviour that violates aviation safety regulations or disrespects the rights of other customers."
"We will deny future travel on any Cathay Group flights to the two customers involved in this incident."
Image credits: Shutterstock