Did China Southern Airlines’ verbal abuse incident in Singapore draw less ire on mainland than discrimination row at Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific? Observers weigh in
- Passenger says he was verbally abused by ground staff working for China Southern Airlines in Singapore when asking questions in Mandarin
- Latest incident attracted less attention than Cathay scandal because latter involves Hong Kong, which has deeper mainland ties than Singapore, observers say
A video showing the latest exchange appeared on mainland social media last week, just days after Cathay fired three cabin crew members who were caught mocking the English-language proficiency of a customer in a recording by another passenger.
In the China Southern Airlines incident, the passenger, who identified himself by the surname Yuan, told mainland news outlet The Paper that he was talking to check-in agents at the airport about a seat assignment charge after being told he had to pay a fee to sit near the exit on his Chongqing-bound flight on May 23.
Cathay Pacific fires 3 staff accused of insulting non-English speakers
Yuan said he had “never heard of” the charge and claimed he was ignored when he spoke in Mandarin to the member of the ground handling staff, who initially told him he could not understand the language when asked if he could speak it.
Yuan then asked for a number to file a complaint and began recording the exchange on his smartphone. He told the news outlet that the man “suddenly stood up and started scolding me”.
According to a video clip recorded by the passenger, a man in uniform behind the check-in desk said in Mandarin: “If you want to be a dog, I can treat you like one … We’re explaining things and you just chimed in.”
A voice behind the camera can be heard asking the employee “who is a dog, say it again”, before the clip ends.
In an email shown in a video posted by The Paper, Yuan accused the employee of “hurting the image of Singapore”.
The airline’s Singapore office on Friday issued a public apology, confirming that inappropriate remarks had been made by a contracted employee who worked for a ground agent service provider.
“During the course of providing service, a staff member had a dispute with a passenger and the use of language was highly inappropriate. We have requested the service agent to suspend the person’s eligibility to serve the Singapore branch of China Southern Airlines,” the statement said.
According to the Changi Airport website, the airline’s ground service provider is SATS. The Post has reached out to the company for comment.
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The carrier said on its Chinese website that paid-for reservation was applicable to seats with extra legroom, which were “commonly found near the emergency exits”.
Reactions from Chinese social media users over the recent incidents in the aviation industry have been divided so far.
A Weibo user commented that “this is how Singaporeans behave”, claiming that a member of staff at a hotel had told him he could not understand Mandarin but was heard speaking the language to a colleague moments later.
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But another user, “Shangguan Linyuan Aries”, said there was no need to rush to a conclusion about the latest incident.
A user also commented that he doubted the passenger’s motives, saying he appeared to be “deliberately provoking trouble”.
Cathay fired three flight attendants last week after a passenger recorded an audio clip of cabin crew mocking the English-language proficiency of a customer on a flight from Chengdu to Hong Kong on May 21.
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In the recording, a flight attendant can be heard making fun of passengers for mixing up “carpet” and “blanket”, with one saying: “If you cannot say ‘blanket’, you cannot have it.”
The person who posted the recording also accused one of the attendants of saying in Cantonese to colleagues that passengers “can’t understand human language” after making an in-flight announcement in Cantonese reminding people to remain seated when the seat belt sign was on, but an elderly person holding a child still went to the toilet.
Cathay’s social media has been flooded with comments, mostly from mainland users disparaging its service and sharing their negative experiences with the airline.
The carrier has made multiple public apologies since the controversy, with CEO Ronald Lam Siu-por announcing plans to set up a review task force and telling staff in an internal memo that the incident pointed to “something much deeper which we need to address”.
Political observer James Sung Lap-kung, from the Hong Kong Progress and Perfection Research Institute, said the Cathay incident garnered more attention on Chinese social media because of Hong Kong’s close ties with the mainland.
“[Social media users’] feelings towards the two incidents are different because while Singapore is another country, Hong Kong is part of China under the ‘one country, two systems’ principle. They think there’s no excuse to mistreat fellow Chinese nationals,” he said.
Hong Kong political commentator Sonny Lo Shiu-hing said Cathay was still seen as a vestige of colonial rule by some mainland social media and internet users, despite years of changes in the airline’s ownership structure.
Cathay to step up efforts to rescue reputation, will ‘humbly reflect’ on scandal
He added that the involvement of some Cathay staff in the 2019 anti-government protests had also “left a scar” on the carrier’s image on the mainland and that such biases had contributed to the response over the latest discrimination row.
Malaysia-based brand consultant Sagar Paranjpe advised the carrier to show the world that its management had invested in a long-term solution by addressing any discrimination in its workforce to restore its brand image.
“It ... is an issue that causes rotting from the core. People are a lot more affected by that and will want the issue to be fixed at the core level,” Paranjpe said.
