‘Hold my Kingfisher’: Dutch airline tweets about plane seat deaths days after breastfeeding blow-up

An airline has apologised for a tasteless tweet, days after sparking a major backlash over its policy towards breastfeeding mothers.

The Indian arm of Royal Dutch Airlines has apologised for a morbid tweet about plane seat deaths — days after its parent company sparked an online backlash for a post about breastfeeding.

In the now-deleted post, KLM India wrote, “According to data studies by Time, the fatality rate for the seats in the middle of the plane is the highest. However, the fatality rate for the seats in the front is marginally lesser and is least for seats at the rear third of a plane. #TuesdayTrivia #Aircraft #Facts”

The post was accompanied by an image of a plane seat floating on a cloud with the caption, “Seats at the back of a plane are the safest!”

Social media users were bemused. “I’m not sure this is the selling point your brand wants or needs,” one person wrote. Another asked, “KLM … did you miss social media training?”

We would like to sincerely apologise for a recent update. The post was based on a publically available aviation fact, and isn't a @KLM opinion. It was never our intention to hurt anyone's sentiments. The post has since been deleted.

— KLM India (@KLMIndia) July 17, 2019

KLM India later deleted the tweet. “We would like to sincerely apologise for a recent update,” the airline wrote. “The post was based on a publically (sic) available aviation fact, and isn’t a @KLM opinion. It was never our intention to hurt anyone’s sentiments. The post has since been deleted.”

It apologised for “any distress the tweet may have caused”, adding, “We will be reviewing our Twitter protocol to better ensure appropriate content.”

Many on social media defended the airline, however, and said the post shouldn’t have been deleted. “Damn I really appreciated the fact though,” one user wrote. “It’s not like y’all said you’re planning on crashing your plane, it was just facts. People need to relax.”

The deleted tweet KLM India.

The gaffe comes just a few days after main Royal Dutch Airlines account sparked a major backlash for saying breastfeeding women would be told to cover themselves in-flight.

“Breastfeeding is permitted at KLM flights,” the airline tweeted in response to a question on its policy. “However, to ensure that all our passengers of all backgrounds feel comfortable on board, we may request a mother to cover herself while breastfeeding, should other passengers be offended by this.”

Breastfeeding is permitted at KLM flights. However, to ensure that all our passengers of all backgrounds feel comfortable on board, we may request a mother to cover herself while breastfeeding, should other passengers be offended by this.

— Royal Dutch Airlines (@KLM) July 16, 2019

As an international airline company, we transport passengers with a variety of backgrounds. Not all passengers feel comfortable with breastfeeding in their vicinity and sometimes these passengers complain to the cabin staff. >>

— Royal Dutch Airlines (@KLM) July 16, 2019

The user who asked the original question wrote, “Do you think it’s acceptable to ask a mother to cover her child while feeding? Why would breastfeeding cause anyone to ‘feel offended’? I’m very curious to know how feeding a child could be viewed as offensive?”

KLM replied, “As an international airline company, we transport passengers with a variety of backgrounds. Not all passengers feel comfortable with breastfeeding in their vicinity and sometimes these passengers complain to the cabin staff.”

The airline’s tweet was heavily “ratioed”, drawing more than 3600 replies compared with just 130 retweets, indicating the post was widely disliked by users.

One person wrote, “Vegans offended by meat. Should we ask the meat eaters to cover up? Teetotallers offended by alcohol. Should we ask drinkers to cover up? Muslims and Jews offended by pork. Should we ask the sausage eaters to cover up? This is where this logic leads. Get real @KLM.”

Another said it was “offensive” to tell mothers to “cover up while they feed their child”, while one person added, “This policy is misogynistic and creates a culture of over-sexualising and marginalising women. You should be ashamed of yourselves for perpetuating these ideas.”

Many were amazed that the airline could make two major social media gaffes in less than a week, with one joking, “@KLM: Man, we’re sure getting a lot of flak for that breastfeeding tweet. @KLMIndia: Hold my Kingfisher.”

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. @klm: man, we’re sure getting a lot of flak for that breastfeeding tweet.@KLMIndia: hold my Kingfisher pic.twitter.com/LjM0PbZC4O

— Steven (@Airwaysfoodie) July 17, 2019

Originally published as ‘Hold my Kingfisher’: Dutch airline tweets about plane seat deaths days after breastfeeding blow-up