Hong-Kong Airline Cathay Pacific Bans Couple After Seat-Reclining Spat

Cathay Pacific a Hong-Kong airline has banned two passengers who participated in a seat-reclining spat that led into xenophobic comment.

The female passenger recounted the incident her experience with the couple in a video posted on Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book), China’s version of Instagram.

“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,” she said.

A flight attendant came to mediate the situation by suggesting the woman rised a seat up but she refuse and the matter escalated

“When (the female passenger) realized 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.

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.
Female voices could be heard from the video uploaded by the woman say in Mandarin “You’re old enough – why are you bullying a young girl?” and another saying in Cantonese “You’re embarrassing us Hongkongers!” and “Stop saying you’re from Hong Kong!”

“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 statement released on Saturday by the Cathay Pacific it read that they want “sincerely apologize” for the “unpleasant experience”

“We maintain a zero-tolerance policy for any behavior that violates aviation safety regulations or disrespects the rights of other customers,” the airline said.  “We will deny future travel on any Cathay Group flights to the two customers involved in this incident.”

While the incident fuels the unending g debate about seat-reclining it also highlights the tension between people from China mainland and Hong-Kongers. The result of differing political views and cultural identities fueled by the 2019 democracy protest in Hong-Kong.

The woman later posted a follow-up video in which she said she thought the incident was “an isolated case and a personal issue; it doesn’t need to be blown out of proportion.”

“Whether on the plane or online, many Hong Kongers came to help and support me. There are still plenty of nice people in this world!” she added.

However this is not the first time Cathay Pacific has gotten into hot water with the Chinese. Some of its stuff joined 2019 protest which lead to backlash from the Chinese government and this is not the first incident of alleged anti-china discrimination on board in Cathay flight.

In May 2023 the airline had announced they fired three of its cabin crew after a passenger from mainland China complained about discrimination. In the statement released by the Cathay Pacific CEO Ronald Lam said he would personally lead a task force to improve service and avoid similar incidents in the future.

“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,” he said.