Cathay Pacific hostie’s leaked audio enrages entire nation

The alleged audio recording of flight attendants mocking passengers on-board a Cathay Pacific flight has surfaced.

Cathay Pacific has fired three flight attendants. Picture: Anthony Wallace/AFP

Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific has fired three flight attendants after they were accused of mocking non-English speaking passengers.

Cathay Pacific chief executive Ronald Lam apologised in a statement on Tuesday and said the airline had “zero tolerance” for employees violating the company’s policies and code of conduct.

According to local media reports, an audio recording of the alleged incident on the flight from Chengdu, China to Hong Kong on Sunday was posted to Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu.

It has since been doing the rounds on social media.

“If you cannot say ‘blanket’ in English, you cannot have it”

From alleged recording of Hong Kong airline @cathaypacific inflight crew insulting Mainland Chinese passengers “for hours” over their English, making comments such as “they cannot understand things in human ways” pic.twitter.com/HyL4GY92Q0

— Cyril Ip (@cyril_ip) May 23, 2023

In the alleged audio, a flight attendant can be heard saying: “If you cannot say blanket in English, you cannot have it.”

Laughter could then be heard.

A flight attendant also allegedly made fun of a passenger who asked for a “carpet” instead of a “blanket”.

“Carpet is on the floor, feel free … to lie on it.”

Cathay Pacific has fired three flight attendants after complaints they allegedly mocked non-English speaking passengers. Picture: Anthony Wallace/AFP

In Mr Lam’s statement, provided to news.com.au, he said an investigation into the incident had concluded and as a result, the three cabin crew members involved were terminated in accordance with the company’s policies.

He said the incident was a “valuable lesson” for the airline.

“To avoid any similar occurrences in the future, I will personally lead a cross-departmental task force to conduct a comprehensive review into our service flow, people training and relevant mechanisms to further enhance Cathay Pacific’s service quality,” Mr Lam said.

“Importantly, 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.”

On Thursday Mr Lam wrote a memo to staff, that was seen by Bloomberg News, explaining the incident set back the airline’s recovery and has caused significant damage to its image

“The incident has been widely circulated in the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong media, causing significant damage to the image of Hong Kong and Cathay,” he reportedly wrote. “We had to respond and act swiftly, which was necessary to protect the interest of the company and in turn our people overall.”

Cathay Pacific chief executive Ronald Lam said there would be a review of staff training, which Hong Kong authorities want completed as soon as possible. Picture: Paul Yeung/Bloomberg via Getty Images

“This incident has reinforced a perception held by some customers that we have not been able to provide high-quality services to customers from different backgrounds consistently,” he continued.

“Many commentators refer to this long-held perception about us. In other words, they believe this is about more than this single incident, but is something much deeper which we need to address.”

Meanwhile, authorities in Hong Kong released a statement following the incident.

Transport and Logistics secretary Lam Sai-hung said he was “distressed by the inappropriate comments” made by Cathay Pacific cabin crew members.

“The incident is a serious breach of Hong Kong’s reputation for service excellence, longstanding values and ethical standards,” he said.

“I have expressed my deep concern to Cathay Pacific and demanded the management to improve their services immediately.

“I noted that Cathay Pacific has terminated the cabin crew members concerned and will conduct a comprehensive review in light of the incident, including re-examining its service flow, staff training and relevant mechanisms, with a view to improving service quality.”

He added that he hoped the review would be completed as soon as possible and “fundamental improvements” would be made.