Cathay Pacific has come under fire after a netizen recently reported on social media that its flight attendants were discriminating against non-English speaking passengers. The incident has now become a hot topic on Weibo, China’s leading social media platform, and sparked widespread discussion.
Cathay Pacific issued a statement last night acknowledging that a passenger had an unpleasant experience on its flight CX987 and expressed sincere apologies. The airline said that it has always been committed to providing high-quality services for passengers and takes this incident seriously. The company has contacted the relevant passenger to further understand the situation and will conduct a thorough investigation. Once again, the airline apologized for any inconvenience caused by this incident.
Previously, a netizen posted on Xiaohongshu, a popular social media platform in China, claiming that a flight attendant had discriminated against non-English speaking passengers on a Cathay Pacific flight. The netizen took the CX987 flight from Chengdu to Hong Kong on 21st May. He happened to be sitting at the back of the plane, where the flight attendants prepared meals and rested. During the flight, the Cathay Pacific crew members continually complained about passengers in English and Cantonese, saying, “If you cannot speak blanket, you cannot have it” and “Carpet is on the floor.”
According to the netizen, a passengerin the front row tried to ask the flight attendant how to fill out the immigration card in English, only to receive an impatient response. Moreover, one of the flight attendants used Cantonese to say to her colleague, “They don’t understand anything,” which deeply hurt and angered the netizen. The netizen felt that the flight attendants’ insulting remarks and sarcastic comments lasted for the entire two and a half hour flight, and wondered why the airline would harbor such malice towards passengers who do not speak English or Cantonese. The netizen argued that while they did not expect any extra effort from the flight attendants, basic respect and professionalism should be a given.
该网友称，其于2023年5月21日搭乘国泰航空CX987航班，由成都飞往香港，恰好坐在最后一排乘务员准备餐食及休息之处。该网友描述，国泰航空空乘人员在飞机飞行过程中，不间断使用英语、粤语抱怨乘客：“If you cannot speak blanket, you cannot have it”（如果他们不会说毛毯的英文，那他们就不配毛毯）、“Carpet is on the floor”（地毯是在地上）……
