Cathay Pacific Sacks 3 Crew Members For Discriminating Against Non-English Speakers

Cathay Pacific Airways has dismissed three cabin crew members accused by a passenger of discriminating against non-English speakers on a flight from Chengdu in southwest China to Hong Kong on Sunday.

The passenger complained in an online post that some crew members made fun of passengers' English ability when they asked for blankets and other disrespectful behavior.

Airline CEO Ronald Lam reiterated his company's “zero tolerance” of any serious breach of its policies and code of conduct while expressing his apologies to the passenger and the community over the incident.

Lam emphasized that there is no compromise for such violations.

Cathay issued an apology on Monday on the Chinese social media platform Weibo for “the unpleasant experience” suffered by passengers on the flight.

On Tuesday, a Weibo account of the Chinese People's Daily newspaper sternly criticized Cathay over the incident.

According to the newspaper, it seems that Cathay’s culture still maintains a sense of superiority that worships foreigners and respects Hong Kongers but looks down on mainlanders.

Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Secretary for Transport and Logistics Lam Sai-hung expressed his deep concern to Cathay and asked the management to improve the company's services immediately. He called the incident a “serious breach of Hong Kong's reputation for service excellence."